Ahmadinejad Honored at Columbia

"Honored," you might ask? How was he honored? Well, let me explain...

Aside from the fact, which I can only attribute to international diplomacy law of which I have no knowledge, that he hasn't been arrested and charged with war crimes the moment he set foot on our soil for supplying munitions, insurgents, and IEDs (called "bombs" in antiquity), to the Iraqi insurgency to fill his anticipated "power vacuum," he was honored by being allowed to speak at the widely-held-as-prestigious Columbia University. Speaking there is, among the left, an honor in and of itself.

What makes this a great honor is that he was allowed to speak while speaking.

On October 4th, 2006, Jim Gilchrist and two other speakers from the Minuteman project, an organization of volunteers who, in an effort to protect what's left of our national sovereignty, stand guard at our borders to monitor and report illegal entry by criminal aliens, were shouted down by student protesters who rushed the stage in an effort to physically attack, or at least physically intimidate, the guests. Said one protester, "The Minutemen are not a legitimate part of the debate on immigration."

The message is clear: At Columbia University, we honor free speech under the First Amendment, unless, of course, we disagree with you. It must follow, therefore, that they agree with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

What higher honor could there be than for a terrorist and dictatorial leader who publicly advocates the killing of Americans, who publicly states that the nation of Israel should be "wiped off the map," and who actively supplies and incites the efforts against America in the democratic nation of Iraq, to be invited to speak at a "prestigious" university in a country which is his sworn enemy?

Sure, Lee Bollinger asked some tough questions, apparently putting Moudy on the spot and making him agitated. But what choice did he have? He'd invited the terrorist to speak at his university. Then, of course, there was the normal firestorm of controversy which occurs whenever Bollinger does something.

But this time, it was more than just the normal firestorm; This time he had his own alumni up in arms about the visit.

We all know Bollinger's pat reaction is, if covertly, giving the middle finger to the common sensibilities of the country. This time, he did something so bad it upset the alumni (and it has to be bad to do that). And we also all know what it means when you upset alumni...It means your cashflow diminishes.

So what would one do in that situation? After saying, "Oops!" One would call off the speaking engagement with a sincere apology to the offended terrorist/dictator/enemy of the state. But one would most likely not be Lee Bollinger. If one were Lee Bollinger, one would keep the engagement and just hammer the speaker with some hardball questions in an effort to mask the original intent of the event and make it seems like he really is opposed to this guy being there.

I can just see the two of them talking before the show:

Lee: "Hey Moudy, listen, I'm in a bind here...I want you to speak cause I know they'll just love you here, but the rest of the country is a bit iffy...would you mind if I ask you some hard questions while you're out there?"

Mahmoud: "Not at all, my friend. The fact that I am still alive right now is a blessing. The least I can do in gratitude is make you look as good as I do."

Lee: "Oh, thanks, Moudy...do me a favor and just act upset, k?"

Mahmoud: [Nodding and smiling] "Allah Akbar!"

I have to admit, as transparent as it may be, it is a pretty good move, as it will most certainly keep the revenue stream uninterrupted, as well as shield him from any criticism from the left-wing university core, leaving him only to be criticized by conservative bloggers and radio commentators...and no one pays attention to them anyway, right?

Well, that about ends my rant. This subject got my ire up enough so that I decided to start my long-planned but long-procrastinated first blog entry.

As a side note, I want to express my sincere gratitude as an American to the Police Department of the City of New York for refusing to provide security to this monster on his planned visit to Ground Zero. This spot is hallowed ground, stained with the blood of innocent Americans, innocent citizens of many other countries, and many of the heroes who went there to try to save them. Apparently we can't stop him from going there, but we can, at the very least, not assist him. We can't keep the devil out of a church, but that doesn't mean we have to shake his hand when he enters.