or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
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"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
September 29, 2007
Columbia's Long History Of Dictator-Loving
Wonderfully enough, on the very same day Columbia president Lee Bollinger was castigating Ahmadenijad, the dictator of Turkmenistan was speaking elsewhere at Columbia. Yet Bollinger didn't seem upset about this at all. Huh.
Meanwhile, it turns out Columbia gave the Shah an honorary degree in 1955, just two years after the US overthrew Iran's democratically-elected government and installed him in power. Louis Proyect has the details on this (with pictures!) as well as on other proud episodes of Columbia's coziness with dictators.
Posted at September 29, 2007 05:47 PM | TrackBackThe utter irony that no one mentioned...Ahmadinejad was ELECTED with a 62 percent mandate in the runoff.
Posted by: En Ming Hee at September 29, 2007 11:08 PMAs I recall, there was a moderate running against him but the votes swung to Ahmadenijad after the U.S. tried to influence the election with ham-fisted propaganda. It's almost as if the U.S. wanted him to win.
Posted by: Bob In Pacifica at September 30, 2007 12:03 AMWhile it would be of interest to learn more about the connection between American intellectuals, major universities and neo-colonialism such as that between the Hoover Institute – located in the Hoover Tower at Stanford University also known as Hoover’s last erection (so sorry no pictures) -- an alleged “Libertarian” group of right wing nuts and neo-cons and their close affiliation with the Bush administration it seems military action taken against Iran, that center of all evil, is almost inevitable.
It looks as if the dangers of the industrial military complex that Dwight D. Eisenhower warned about in his 1961 speech have come to full pass, along with the interests of the energy industry, and will be the downfall of all of us as we spread the love from Iraq to Iran, Syria and the rest of the Middle East.
Apparently the over one million dead Iraqi people are only a preamble to what our national leaders have in mind. Puppets, parasites, murderers all, the sum total of what it means to be a national leader.
Posted about this some days ago
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2007/09/cmus-bollinger-.html
The Turkenistan press said:
" The University director, Lee Bollinjer, a prominent scholar and author of a number of scientific treatises, books, textbooks, welcomed the Turkmen leader at the University.
" Introducing the high guest to the teaching staff of the University, Lee Bollinjer noted that in seven months that Gurbnaguly Berdimuhamedov has been was leading the state, large-scale reforms, particularly, in education, science and culture were started in Turkmenistan.
Turkmen President speaks at Columbia University, Sept. 25, 2007
http://www.turkmenistan.ru/?page_id=3&lang_id=en&elem_id=11105&type=event&sort=date_desc
Hoover Tower is actually home to a nice little library/museum, 48 really loud bells, and some other stuff. The Hoover Institution fellows, when they are around, are mostly in a nearby building or buildings (if you listen carefully, you just might hear the beautiful, haunting mating call of these majestic beasts). I mention this as in the past there have been events in which protestors blocked access to the tower, and that sort of thing isn't going to inconvenience Dinesh D'ouchebag in the slightest.
