Eve of Destruction

Today we honor all of those lost on this day back on September 11, 2001. We also should pay tribute to all the men and woman serving in our nations military that paid the ultimate price for our freedom from terrorists on 9/11. On this day of all days there is no difference of political opinion when it comes to the thousands of lives lost in our nation on 9/11. We all lost a piece of ourselves that day with the cowardly attack on our citizens. Many of us are far less than six degrees of separation from someone that died that day. Too many of us.

My heart and prayers go out to all the families who lost a loved one in New York in the World Trade Center Towers, to the families of all the firefighters and police that ran toward the burning building rather than away from it only to loose their lives in the collapse. To the families that lost a loved one in the Pentagon, to the families that lost a loved one in the countryside of Pennsylvania, and to the families that had loved ones on all of those hijacked planes. I offer my humble thoughts and prayers.

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What we can all be proud of is the amazing ability of this nation to heal from its wounds but never forget. That is something we need to remind ourselves over and over again my friend. Politics aside, we need one another as Americans, as neighbors, and as an extended family to survive an ever changing world.

Papamoka

One last thought, if you were thinking this was a political post it isn’t. May Osama Bin Laden rot in Hell for eternity! I think we can all agree on that.

Ahmadinejad, The Voice of Iran?

Picture courtesy of Yahoo News

Crooks and Liars has this 60 Minutes interview...

Tell me that George W. Bush is the voice of America and you will get an earful from over seventy percent of the population. Tell me that Ahmadinejad is the voice of the Iranian people and you will here this Irish American with his Iranian American friends that will have an earful for you.

On the other hand, we have to listen to Bush with his theory on who is a terrorist. This is America and the man is welcome within the 25 miles of the United Nations because we are a nation of diplomats and peace keepers. We used to be anyway, and I’m sticking with my theory that we are a nation of peace keepers.

Let us just put this visit by the distinguished leader of Iran as what it is. It’s a rock star tour without the music, without the roadies that follow the bands, without the groupies and head bangers. Like Madonna or the Rolling Stones he is out on tour selling his music but the sad fact is that America can’t stand the lyrics. Something about September Eleventh and the chorus just doesn’t work.

What does work for him in his favor is that he has the guts to even come to this nation, a nation at war with world terrorism and speak at one of the greatest institutions our country has. Not just speak, he answered questions from the students. Whether they liked the answers or not was who the man is. Over at the Washington Post they have this great coverage and must read…

Ahmadinejad Met With Protests, Criticism at Columbia University
Iranian President Defends Country's Human Rights Record

By Robin Wright and William Branigin
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, September 24, 2007; 5:26 PM

NEW YORK, Sept. 24 -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was greeted with student protests and withering public criticism during a visit to Columbia University Monday in which he defended his government's human rights record, denounced Israel and rejected U.S. efforts to restrict Iran's nuclear program.

Speaking to students and faculty at Columbia a day ahead of his scheduled address to the United Nations General Assembly, the hard-line Iranian president also asserted that his people, including women, "enjoy the highest levels of freedom," and he claimed that homosexuality does not exist in his country. - Washington Post

Okay, this is where I change my opinion of this guy from Iran that says he speaks for all Iranian’s and wants a peaceful world for all men and woman. There are no homosexuals in Iran? Did they move out? I have to wonder if they moved or were just shot? If this guy isn’t in the closet then there is a serious issue with his entire concept of humanity and the percentages of life on this planet. Something does not smell right and it isn’t the dumpster at the back of the United Nations.

It gets better or it gets worse depending on your political philosophy. You know how history has recorded the deaths at the hands of the Nazi’s. It did not happen that way according to this President of Iran. Nope, never happened. No wait, he’s changing his story. But you have to look at Palestine to prove it! HUH?

Ahmadinejad, who in the past has argued that Israel should be "wiped off the map," repeated his assertions that the Holocaust should be researched "from different perspectives" and said Palestinians should not be "paying the price for an event they had nothing to do with." - Washington Post

Rather than thinking that all Iranian people back this man one hundred percent we should look at him as not a man of the world stage that he is performing on. Reality, facts, and the facts of history are obviously not in the hallowed halls that is the Iranian Government if this man is the voice of Iran.

One of my closest friends that came from Iran and became an American who is also Jewish told me of the non stop persecution of people for any reason if you did not follow the set down by the religious government. That is why his family came to America. Same scenario was happening in the 1600’s here on our shores and the same thing will continue here as long as freedom is our beacon to the world. Religious persecution and personal sexual orientation is not in Iran because they force you out. Welcome to America.

One last thought. While this son of a bitch Ahmadinejad is preaching there are no homosexuals in Iran, how many other facets of human kind are not allowed in Iran. In the same breath you have to wonder how much of his personal philosophy is just right in line with our own President?
America used to be about diplomacy and talking to people and settling our differences. Even Ronald Regan talked with the Evil Empire! Bush talks to no one, and not one person listens in turn.

If our nation has no diplomacy or reaction to settle our differences around the world then America is no better than the administration that was Nazi Germany before World War II in Berlin.

Papamoka

Professor Fired for being an Idiot?

Picture courtesy of University of Colorado

I should start off by first saying that I think Ward Churchill is a self serving intellectual moron that thinks that there are no consequences for his own words. It comes as no surprise to me that the man was fired not for saying that the victims of 9/11 were Nazis but for negligence in his duty as a professor to his students and college trust.

Over at the New York Times they have this to say about the Professor with an “I am so wicked smart” attitude….

Colorado Regents Vote to Fire a Controversial Professor
By DAN FROSCH
Published: July 25, 2007

BOULDER, Colo., July 24 — After more than two years of public tumult, the University of Colorado Board of Regents voted Tuesday to fire a professor whose remarks about the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks led to a national debate on free speech. But it was the professor’s problems with scholarship that the board cited as the cause for his termination.

The professor, Ward L. Churchill, was dismissed on the ground that he had committed academic misconduct by plagiarizing and falsifying parts of his scholarly research.

The board voted 8 to 1 to dismiss Professor Churchill.

“We wanted to do what was right for this university,” the board chairwoman, Patricia Hayes, said after the vote. “We did not address Professor Churchill’s freedom of speech as part of our discussion.”

The university president, Hank Brown, who recommended that the board fire Professor Churchill, said he deserved to lose his job because he had “falsified history” and “fabricated history.”

At a news conference after the decision, Professor Churchill, who cut a dramatic figure with his mane of gray-black hair, towering frame and dark sunglasses, criticized the process by which he was fired.

“I am going nowhere,” Professor Churchill said. “If there is a question in anyone’s mind to the political nature of the Regents, this should resolve it.”

He continued, “All this did was confirm what it was in the first place about the nature of the academic process and lack of integrity within this institution as a whole.”

Professor Churchill, a tenured faculty member at Colorado since 1991 who became chairman of the department of ethnic studies, caused an uproar when he criticized United States foreign policy in a 2001 essay written shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, characterizing some of the office workers killed in the World Trade Center as “little Eichmanns,” a reference to the Nazi Adolf Eichmann, who helped carry out the Holocaust. - New York Times

Ward Churchill thinks and believes that he is being fired based on his 9/11 statements and it could be argued that he just might be. Being a Professor at the University of Colorado grants you an audience of young minds that are not just there to be coerced into one professors ideology. Those students have parents that want their children educated with the highest of standards in mind. If my children attended the school I would question the professors teaching and the schools leadership based on such remarks.

Yes, Professor Churchill called the victims of 9/11 Nazis which I disagree with entirely for the record. Freedom of speech lets you do that sort of thing here in America. BUTT, (Big Old Hairy Butt) if you or I said that in our daily jobs, would your employer not look into what else you have said in the past? That is what the University of Colorado did and what do you know there just happened to be more than enough evidence to fire him for multiple reasons.

I was trying to think of why the University of Colorado would fire him given the controversy around him and all I can think of is money. This particular university is no different than any other in America and they all rely heavily on repeat business from their own alumni. If the alumni do not support the University with private donations as well as sending their children to the school then it gets real tough to pay the bills to keep the school going?

I’m thinking that Joe Q. Public that owns a corporation called ABC Widgets is not going to want his companies name on the same stationary as a professor that calls one of our nations greatest tragedies a self inflicted wound because they were Nazi’s? This professor was fired for being an idiot that thought he was better than his employer. The interests of his employer have never entered this mans mind in my opinion. Companies fire people that do that all the time and the University of Colorado finally served Professor Churchill his pink slip.

You can’t teach common sense at any school, it has to be learned the old fashioned way.

Apparently, the Professor was a little deficient in that department. Now that he is free and clear of the bonds of the University of Colorado he can scream at the moon what he thinks. In his mind, maybe the moon will listen and bow to his brilliant intellect.

Pack your desk and don’t let the door hit you in the ass Ward!

Papamoka

Follow up article from Newsweek...

Don Imus on Satellite Radio?

Picture Courtesy of Herald Tribune

Having been expelled from the school of public broadcasting by CBS Radio and MSNBC I would not be surprised to see the I-Man land on his feet in outer space… on satellite radio that is. When you think about it, his nine to ten million listeners may or may not already have satellite radio and if they want to hear the grumpy old son of a biscuit eater then they are going to have to sign up for whoever catches the Imus gold mine radio machine.

Some folks don’t see either of the two players in the satellite radio market wanting him? I would have to disagree with The Post Chronicle that has this piece on the future of Don Imus…


Don Imus To Sirius Or XM Satellite Radio? Not So Fast Cowboy
By Mitch Marconi
Apr 13, 2007

Don Imus Update - Don Imus, The I-Man as he is affectionately known, was fired by CBS yesterday which was inevitable. The other Imus Inevitability, (at least in the eyes of some) is where he will end up. Is it going to be Sirius or will it be XM. One might make an argument for either satellite radio entity. I'm going to argue that it will be neither.

Snip

XM has I-Faves Opie & Anthony and probably has the most money to spend, although I'm no financial analyst. Sirius on the other hand has Mel Karmazin, a former I-Boss, who knows Imus about as good as anybody in the industry. Plus Imus has often spoke fondly of Sirius. – The Post Chronicle

Having listened to the Imus in the Morning Show for over twenty years now I can not for the life of me see him just fading away. Granted he is probably a very wealthy man but his on air personality was never about the money. No, wait a second it was, but I honestly can’t see him calling his career ended. For that matter I don’t think for a minute that his wife Deirdre will put up with his sorry ass moping around the ranch in New Mexico or the apartment in New York City. Feeling sorry for himself is not a part of Don Imus reformed ______ (insert addiction here) personality. It just isn’t!



That got me to thinking that people like Don Imus are not stupid when it comes time to signing contracts with his employers. Then it hit me!

How many lawyers does Don Imus know? You can’t count them all if you wanted to do so even with a calculator. I’m thinking grumpy old bastard and any lawyers involved with his business contracts with CBS Radio and it gives me a very warm fuzzy feeling. This is the same guy that went after a major New York Newspaper for even thinking that any of his charity work at the Imus Ranch in New Mexico was even remotely questionable.

I came across this piece in the Herald Tribune from Southwest Florida…

What's next for Don Imus? Obscurity? Satellite radio?
The talk-show host's career could rise from the ashes, as it has in the past.

BY LARRY MCSHANE
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK -- Back on the radio? Or off to retirement?Answers about the future were hard to come by Friday, when 66-year-old radio legend Don Imus remained silent on his first day of unemployment after nearly 40 years -- a change from his repeated apologies and media appearances of the last week. The biggest question was whether he would try rehabilitating his image or simply slip into obscurity.

Both options held certain appeals for the I-Man, who was fired for a racist and sexist remark about the Rutgers women's basketball team and took just eight days to morph from "Imus In the Morning" into "Jimmy the Greek" Snyder. The Greek never landed another job after his 1988 firing as a CBS football analyst for racially tinged remarks.

Before either happens, Imus will sit down with officials from CBS Radio to work out the financial details surrounding his abrupt dismissal. Imus recently negotiated a new five-year CBS contract that reportedly paid him $10 million a year. (Imus had no contract with cable network MSNBC -- a unit of NBC Universal, owned by General Electric Co. -- which simulcast his show in a licensing deal with CBS.)"

I see many people in suits with briefcases haggling over Imus' contracts," said Tom Taylor, editor of the trade publication Inside Radio. "I see a lot of that. There's a lot of money on the table in this thing and a lot of issues."Once they're settled, Imus presumably could try to restart his career on radio -- either satellite or terrestrial -- or perhaps on television. – Herald Tribune

Don Imus may be down and out for now but he isn’t done for. At least as a long time fan I hope he is not. Was he stupid with his comments about the Rutgers Girls Basketball Team? Absolutely! Was he forgiven by the team as a person with a huge heart and someone that knows the difference between right and wrong? Yes he was!

Papamoka

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Imus in the Morning Shut Down

People say stupid stuff all the time that they regret later. Most people never apologize to the people they offended and shrug it off. Some people are dangerous enough to realize that a stupid racist remark was even racist and simply walk away from it fat and stupid. Then you have some people that know what a racist remark is and for the rest of their lives will continue to apologize for it. Not one single American is innocent of racism or having uttered the words that should not be heard in a learned society where acceptance of your fellow man is the basis of this great nation.

After this past Sunday which was Easter it surprises me that those that preach the word of Jesus Christ have forgotten his biggest message. Hate the sin and forgive the sinner. What Don Imus and his producer said on the air was disgusting, outrageous and shocking when discussing the athletic abilities of some very talented young American woman playing the national championship in college basketball. I offer no excuse or reason for his comments. The New York times has this to say about it...

By BILL CARTER
Published: April 9, 2007

Imus Suspended for 2 Weeks Over Rutgers Remark

NBC News suspended the radio host Don Imus tonight for two weeks after the outcry over his racially disparaging remarks about the Rutgers University women’s basketball team, calling his comments “racist and abhorrent.”

Only a short time after NBC announced the suspension, CBS Radio, which is Mr. Imus’s chief employer, followed suit, saying it too would take Mr. Imus off the air for two weeks.

The suspensions will take effect starting on Monday.

But NBC, which simulcasts Mr. Imus’s program on its cable news network MSNBC, also served notice that it will not tolerate another insensitive remark from the host. It said that Mr. Imus had promised to change the tenor of the program, and that he agreed the suspension was an appropriate action.

“Our future relationship with Imus is contingent on his ability to live up to his word,” NBC said in an official statement.

The actions come at the end of a day of intensifying pressure on Mr. Imus from black leaders across the country, who expressed outrage at Mr. Imus’s description last Wednesday of the Rutgers team as “nappy-headed ho’s.”

Mr. Imus tried to stave off calls for his resignation by appearing today on a radio program of which the Rev. Al Sharpton is the host and making a more complete apology for what he acknowledged were “repugnant, repulsive, and horrible” comments. - The New York Times

Let me say this about forgiveness in our churches across America. If you ask for it and are humble and sincere knowing the sin you committed then any priest, preacher or person that follows the life of Jesus Christ should offer it without condemnation. It is a basic human need to know that if you wronged someone, know that it was a mistake, asked for forgiveness, and then it should be given. The comment by Don Imus was ultimately a poor choice of words and they were racist. He is asking for forgiveness and the people he offended refuse to accept it or grant it. That is just as wrong.

The Reverend Al Sharpton accepted a request by Don Imus to appear on the Reverends radio show to offer his explanations for the racist comments and begging to be forgiven, humbling himself before someone that is a supposed leader of his community. Don Imus received a good tongue lashing by the Reverend but forgiveness was not on the table. Why? What the good Reverend did was set him up to be beat up and attacked. Is that the Christian thing to do to a man asking for forgiveness?

Transcript of Imus and Sharpton Radio broad cast - The New York Times

Al Sharpton wanted blood and he wanted it then and now because he wants nothing more than attention. That is what Al Sharpton does. His motive is always the same and his message never changes. There has never been a racist story where Al Sharpton has never pushed, shoved or forcibly inserted someone under the wheels of the bus to draw more attention to him, never. Vanity and self promotion is his name and in my honest opinion he should not have the title of Reverend if forgiveness is not his first priority.

I lost some respect for Don Imus but I live in a large world that has many problems and many people that make mistakes. Don Imus isn’t running from his mistake he is facing it as a man and taking the punches and kicks he himself knows that he deserves. That has to show the sincerity of his actions. He could have pulled a Hollywood nut job move and gone into rehab but hell, he admits to being a recovering drug addict and alcoholic already. The man has a genuine character that is sincere.

If he is sorry and apologetic for his actions then maybe all of us without sin should put down the damn stones. All except you Mother Mary, fire away and make it count for the heathen Bastid’.

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