Hot Topics - 09/24/2007

Mahmoud the Iranian Dwarf, (henceforth known only as "dwarf") is a clown, a Persian Rush Limbaugh, noisy, powerless and functionally irrelevant. Let 'em rant.

I remember watching "I Love Lucy" as a kid on a black and white. 1961??? Damn.

Thanks LA! I wish you a lot of success on your new 'assignment'!

If you would like a special article icon for this content series (similar to those we have created for the Gather Guide content), please let me know!

GM Strike
Auto workers have attempted negotiations for the last 20 days. Will a strike get results?
Although I hope it doesn't come to this, UAW has given GM what it wanted during at least the last 2 negotiations and the upper management still get thier bonuses, perks, retirement packages, etc. It's time to pay the employees who work very hard to get the job done!

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Speak at Columbia University
He has called the Holocaust a "myth" and has reportedly supported international terrorism. After revoking an invitation for an immigration rights to speak just last week, is the university really supporting freedom of speech in a policy neutral manner?
Did you know the highest rated program on the state TV station in Iran is about a diplomat that arranged passports and visas for Jews in Germany in 1937?
Don't know about the University, but neither the immigration rights speaker or the president of Iran would be uncontroversial....


President Bush hangs his hat on Hillary
President Bush, in an interview for a book, stated that he believed Hillary would receive the democratic nomination for president.
So did Rove--RNC are hoping/praying that Hillary wins the nomination because they think she'll be the easiest to beat--bring up all the lies and shadows...and, of course, the gender issue.

Is Barack Obama "Acting Like He's White"?
A Columbia, SC newspaper claims it quote Jesse Jackson correctly when it reported that he stated that Barack Obama was "acting like he's white." Jackson seems to be getting a pass from the black community on such a statement. Who else could get away with saying something like that?

Considering us white folks have to "claim" shrub, should we really look the "Black community" and criticize it?

I'll be passing some of the historical date infor to my father-it's his birthday today. I enjoyed reading the hot topics today.

G M don't strike! I can't afford a new car as it is. We can't let Japan overtake us, or have they already.
I buy American/union whenever possible, please make it possible.

It is not OK to have a man such as Amadhinejad as the President of Iran, even it he is a clown or a short buffoon. Sam, where did you ever get that idea ... that is what they thought of Mussolini too.

Barak Obama does distinctly talk and act like he is white.
It is one of the reasons he is being taken so seriously.
There is a certain way to talk and act for a black person
and if someone does not fit into it they are really socially
ostracised or at least people think there is something
wrong with them. I like Barak Obama because I think
he has the courage to ignore that and oddly enough,
be his own man. I will not vote for him because I am
not sure that enough Americans are open-minded
enough to vote with me, but most of all because he
is too new. He is very ambitious, which, face it, every
politician is, but he is just a junior Senator. He needs
a bit more acceptance, more accomplishment, more
experience, and then he will be ready. I do not agree
with some of what he says, but I think he could do
the job, no doubt.

I also think that Hillary Clinton will not be able to
win the election if she gets the nomination. I
prefer Joe Biden to all of them, a tough, fair,
smart, experienced and open-minded real American
without the tarnish of having pandered to the
far-left-anti-war group.

Will what Jennifer offered in every Hot topic still hold true?
Here are her words:
"Please let us know in the comment thread below if you would like to write about any of the following topics or would like to pursue another current event. If you post to the appropriate Essential, we will be on the lookout for your article and you will have a chance to be featured on the homepage." This was the reason I read and responded to Hot topic articles>

Old age makes you racist and a little dim witted? That may explain why so many of the older people I know that were Liberal politically while was growing up have turned into conservative Rush ditto heads in their old age. lol

I am always confused when a man like Jessie Jackson, whom I personally admire, one minute says accept black people into society and treat us the same as anyone else, then turns around and ostricises his own by saying that they are the same as everyone else. Which one is it Jessie, are you the same as us or not?

I know I am already going to be annoyed by the anti-union folks who are going come to the defense of GM without considering the facts:

*The talks have hinged on the creation of a retiree health-care trust – known as a voluntary employee beneficiary association, or VEBA.

*A VEBA would transfer the responsibility for the automaker's more than $50 billion in hourly retiree health-care commitments to an independent trust that is expected to have oversight from the union. GM has proposed funding the trust at a percentage of that obligation, though, which workers and analysts say will result in more expensive health benefits for U.S. hourly autoworkers at some point, if not immediately.

*GM told the union that if a VEBA could not be established, the company would have to move substantial U.S. production to other countries

*General Motors spends $5.2 billion on health care for 1.1 million people, equaling $4,727 annually per person.

*General Motors is the world's largest automaker, selling nearly 9 million cars and trucks worldwide last year. It is the third-largest business in the United States, with revenue of $193 billion last year.

*GM spends roughly $9 billion a year on R & D and $4 billion a year on Advertising

Okay, now read this:

*According to General Motors it needs to be a 28-29 percent marketshare company to survive.

Now, I don't know what percentage of the market the company you work for holds, but I can assure you that there aren't too many out there that control over a quarter of the business.

GM is a joke.

It will be people like you reading this who will immediately think "Well, think of all the people they employ? Think of the effect it will have on the economy if the union forces it's workers to strike. Those greedy, self absorbed unions! All they care about is squeezing GM for all they can get!"

Just remember, it always goes both ways.

Columbia university knew what they were doing. There was not going to be any news worthy comments coming from "dwarf". Columbia wanted free air time, and the President of Col. should not have offered to let him speak. Yes, its a free country and we can say what we want. Oh wait, he's not from that kind of country, so if he wants freedom of speech; he needs to give it.

> he wants freedom of speech; he needs to give it.

Great comment.
I wish this simply obvious comment was simple and obvious to most people!

Bruce Mahmoud has no real power in Iran. He's no Mussolini, policitially or governmentally. He shares bombast if anything. Iranian power lies with the clerics and they nervously watch the middle class.

Sam, you are repeating nonsense from some misinformed source, but I'm very impressed you are on a first name basis with Iran's President.

It is really notable how some people just jump at facts they want to believe while shying away from others that they do not without any attempt at applying a reality test.

Let me refer you to a lecture by Ambassador Dennis Ross at
the Commonwealth Club at this URL

In this lecture Ross explains (1)who Ahmadinejad is and (2) why a nuclear Middle East is worth almost any cost to avoid.

1). The Revolutionary Guard who Ahmadinejad runs, the radical groups that is running the nuclear program. Not all power lies with the Mullahs, but they are a competing structure that is usually in sync with Ahmadinejad. Iran will have 8000 centrifuges operating with capacity to create material for 3 bombs a years. Time is not on our side. Ahmadinjad can be overruled by the Mullahs ... how stable is it to depend on peace on this uneasy balance that can change any minute?

2). The whole Middle East will go nuclear. If Iran goes nuclear, Saudi Arabia is going to have to go nuclear, and every other country in the Middle East ... about 23 new unstable countries with nuclear bombs and missiles.

Mussolini was no Mussolini before he gained power over his competing power structures too. This is Ahmadinejad's tragectory. Listen to Ross' lecture and learn something.

I suppose so Bruce but your contention does not bear out factually. I can say that nicely and not berate your "intelligence?"

Power resides in the "Supreme Leader," the Ayatollah who also controls the military, judiciary and the "Expediency Council" (which serves as the clerics arbiter or enforcer of over the "sectarian" portion of government) and finally the "Guardian Council" with 6 clerics and 6 jurists, (remember Judiciary is on the clerical side). All elected officials are vetted by the clerics.

Moderates held the popularly elected Presidency until Mahmoud, whose candidacy was approved and allowed by clerics, (BTW I don't believe the guy warrants me learning to spell his last name. I still like Dwarf). Now conservatives hold both sides. That does not inherently grant the Dwarf any more power than the Ayatollah or his lackeys desire.

And you don't want to even start a comparison between Dwarf and II Duce. It's just silly. If the Dwarf holds anything it's under the direct control of the clerics and on a short leash. That's the structure of Iranian government. He may gain some popular support or some from the bureaucracy but any time the clerics say so his head is on a platter, regardless of popular election or mandate. That's not real power.

What of General Abizaid?
"Iran is not a suicide nation," he said. "I mean, they may have some people in charge that don't appear to be rational, but I doubt that the Iranians intend to attack us with a nuclear weapon." The Iranians are aware, he said, that the United States has a far superior military capability. "I believe that we have the power to deter Iran, should it become nuclear," he said, referring to the theory that Iran would not risk a catastrophic retaliatory strike by using a nuclear weapon against the United States. "There are ways to live with a nuclear Iran," Abizaid said in remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank. "Let's face it, we lived with a nuclear Soviet Union, we've lived with a nuclear China, and we're living with (other) nuclear powers as well."

So Sam, you think the leader of a country can make the comments Ahmadinejad has and not be supported by the Supreme Leader or any other power in Iran? Oh, that guy, our President, just ignore him, he doesn't know what he's talking about! Guess I find that funny. Again, once Iran has them, every other counter power is going to want to have them, and war become much more likely. I'd rather see a limited conventional war now than a nuclear war later.

Yeah I know your agenda. But war with Iran will not happen. If Bush attempts it the House really will stop writing checks. So you can sweat over the Dwarf claiming murder of 6 million Jews did not happen or any other idiot bombast he utters to stoke local fever among the faithful or jerk the American chain. I still think he is a irrelevant clown. AND nukes now, were, and will ever be weapons of last resort for national defense. If we seperate from power those who threaten national soverignty to steal oil perhaps nations won't rush to develop the ultimate weapons.

I don't think there will be war with Iran either, in fact I hope we can avoid military action altogether, but that is almost impossible now. I think pinpoint bombing will suffice and I bet it happens within the next 6 months.