5: Ahmedinejad
“…today I feel all the weight of the modern civilized world yearning to express the revulsion at what you stand for. I only wish I could do better,” stated Columbia University’s President, Dr. Lee Bolinger, in his tersely worded and direct opening statement standing before Iran’s President, Muhammad Ahmedinejad.
Ahmedinejad comments on Israel, nuclear weapons, women and sexual orientation.
Ahmedinejad:
“My dear friends, the Iranian nation is a victim of terrorism.”
“We love all nations. We are friends with the Jewish people.”
“In Iran, we don’t have homosexuals like in your country. We don’t have that in our country. In Iran, we do not have this phenomenon. I don’t know who’s told you that we have it.”
“We have laws. People who violate the public rights of the people by using guns, killing people, creating insecurity, sell drugs, distribute drugs at a high level are sentenced to execution in Iran, and some of these punishments — very few are carried in the public eye, before the public eye. It’s a law based on democratic principles. You use injections and microbes to kill these people, and they are executed or they’re hung, but the end result is killing.”
“Women are respected more than men are. They are exempt from many responsibilities. Many of the legal responsibilities rest on the shoulders of men in our society because of the respect culturally given to women, to the future mothers. In Iranian culture, men and sons and girls constantly kiss the hands of their mothers as a sign of respect, a respect for women, and we are proud of this culture.”
Read the complete transcript of President Ahmedinejad’s remarks at Columbia University, at this week’s 5:
Iran’s president at Columbia University – a transcript | www.azstarnet.com ®
4: America 101
Can you name one of the country’s longest rivers? A Native American tribe? What makes Benjamin Franklin famous? According to the a story in the Orange County Registar, immigrants wanting to become U.S. citizens must answer these and other similary questions on a new naturalization exam that officials “hope will deepen their understanding of civics and history and discourage rote memorization of facts and figures.”
What?! Leave it to government officials to draft up an exam that makes absolutely no sense. Why are we spending our time and resources making sure new immigrants to this country know useless pieces of information…Question: What makes Benjamin Franklin famous?…Answer: His mug is on the $100 bill. Rivers, Indian Tribes…what!! Most American’s don’t even know these…or care to know them.
Apparently, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services have been working on the redesign for a while and have already done a pilot run with 6,000 “volunteer applicants.”
The goal of the redesign is to encourage a deeper understanding of U.S. government and an attachment the country and its principles. “Citizenship is not only a benefit but it’s also an identity,” said Alfonso Aguilar, chief of the agency’s office of citizenship.
Here are some suggestions for a new exam…administered in English: Why are you leaving your country to come to the United States? Do you have at least $15,000 in savings? Do you have a job in the United States? Do you have children? How do you plan on supporting them? Do you plan on owning a home? What are your specific plans to own a home in the United States? Do you plan on obtaining health care coverage for you and your family? Can you explain how you’ll do this? How do you plan on adding value to the United States of America? Can you speak English? If not, what are your plans to learn English? Be specific. Are you willing to do whatever it takes to become fluent in the English language? Explain. What are your top 5 priorities upon entering the United States?
3: No Confidence
A new Gallup poll reveals that, as the organization puts it, Americans now “express less trust in the federal government than at any point in the past decade, and trust in many federal government institutions is now lower than it was during the Watergate era, generally recognized as the low point in American history for trust in government.”
Among the findings: Barely half trust the government to handle international problems, the lowest number ever. And less than half express faith in the government handling domestic issues, the lowest findings since 1976.
Thank goodness we’re able to vote.
2: Space Germs
SPACE junk, comets crashing through our atmosphere, extra-terrestrial micro-organisms that survive in appalling cold or searing heat, bacteria that grow more virulent in the gravity-free vacuum of space. What happens when fate conspires to bring such creatures and creations to earth?
According to the Geelong Advertiser, we’ve all seen the B-grade 1950s sci-fi flicks, the Roswell and X-Files conspiracies, wild Chariots of the Gods alien theories, the mysterious Peruvian meteorite illnesses. There’s no shortage of speculation of what the future might hold, what with holes in the ozone admitting cosmic radiation, and comets, meteorites, space junks and all the microscopic hitchhikers they might be cattying towards us at mind-boggling speeds.
1: Urban Planning in Bangkok
Train Drives Through A Bangkok Market Video
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