Mr President, Reyjavik is on the phone for you (and other tidbits)

1. I think this has got to be the best political story I've read all year:

"Icelandic teen prank calls White House
Teen says he pretended to be Iceland's president, scheduled call with Bush"

I bet his parents will be pissed when the get the phone bill, eh? Apparently the 16 year old mastermind behind this seemingly simple plan was transferred around the White House switchboards (wow the staff at the White House are just as wasteful and idiotic as the main man in the Oval Office) until he reached the desk of the President's secretary and successfully scheduled a phone conversation that was to take place today. Unfortunately, the Icelandic police were tipped off and the boy was apprehended. Poor sod.

I just wish I had thought of this myself. Of course, I could only complete the process if I had enough time on my hands and was still I minor (to get sympathy points for being underage, of course). Maybe I could still do this? I can call and say I'm Angela Merkel, maybe? I need to work on my German accent first though. And I need a German phone number... That can be arranged. But now that it's been tried, I'd rather not do it. How embarrassing would it be if someone else tried? I actually wouldn't be surprised if someone else does try. This time around though, they'd get stop because now they know. Proof we're a reactive, not proactive society...


2. According to MSNBC, our favorite buddy Ahmadinejad has a blog! One that is rarely updated, but he has one nonetheless. (I wonder if he mentions in there why he fears history so much) Anyway, here's the exciting part--he's updated! OH WOW! He's just about as slow as President Bush... (oh diss)

I didn't read the blog, but if you're interested: ahmadinejad.ir. Simple enough! (maybe I should link him to be a buddy on my blog? what do you think?) What a great way to keep up with the world's second biggest liar-liar-with-pants-on-fire.

"His posts are less confrontational than his usual speeches and the comments are both scathing and supportive," says NBC correspondent Ali Arouzi.

And I'm sure they are. Why do I say that? I have a sneaking suspicion it's not Iran's nationalist leader but a fake. Maybe someone in his government is behind it, a party member, or some random Joe who wants to spread the word that Ahmadinejad isn't as bad as the Western media portrays him to be.

Here's why I think it's a fake. MSNBC user Greg had this to say:
"I liked reading Ahmadinejad's Message to America. After seeing this man smeared in American media when he came to visit our country, it was refreshing to see his perspective on global politics. I think he raises some quality points on the illegitimacy of on-going US foreign policy in Israel and now in Iraq. When you look at what the US has accomplished in the Middle East since 9/11, it's pretty pitiful and even embarrassing what has been done.
Even if President Bush had a blog, I wouldn't read it because it's real authors would undoubtedly be his speech-writers. There's no way to tell whether Amadinejad's entries in his blog aren't drawn up by someone else too, though they appear to be in his own words."

He's suspicious too you see... but I think whatever Greg and others read was a piece put together to make Ahmadinejad look better and to make the US look worse then it already does. As a liberal Democrat who takes offense to everything Bush has done since he was sworn into office in January 2001 and 2005, I don't need to be reminded by a person who could be certifiably insane that things are shit in the US. I don't need to be reminded that our foreign policy is shit, etc. Thanks Ahmaddy (or fake Ahmaddies), but no thanks. You keep your comments on your side of the world and I'll keep mine on my side of the world. Deal?

3. Col. Moammar Gadhafi de Libya alle à Paris

An emotional supporter of terrorism who was given the cold shoulder by the Western world in the 1980s, Libyan leader Gadhafi showed up in France this week for a six day visit with the government and President Sarkozy.

Why did Gadhafi feel the need to leave his haven and visit France? Last I heard, Libya n'aime pas la France et France n'aime pas le Libya. And last I heard Libya was just a country with oil and turmoil... soo... Why do we care?

Maybe we should care about his visit to France. He gave a speech to the French National Assembly (where he was met by a brief protest by the Socialist and a few other non-Socialists) and said he wanted wars to stop. Stop with the "cold and hot wars." I guess that makes sense?

Gadhafi probably left his country so he could strike up financial deals with the Conservative president (which they did) and that's it. I don't think he wants to be the face of diplomacy or even cares about it. He's never said anything spectacular before. He's no Jimmy Carter, that's for sure. But he did have some interesting things to say today and as I read about the speech he gave in the National Assembly, I found I was nodding my head in agreement. Which is weird because I normally don't agree with what a military-esque leader has to say.

The most significant thing he spoke of was that Israel and Palestine should form one state. I'm not sure what provoked him to say this. He was in France after all--which I don't think was a big player in the week-long Israel/Palestine peace talk-type puppet show called Annapolis. I don't think France has much alliance with those two countries because oh, I dunno, most of their Jews were wiped out during WWII and the immigrants living in France come from the Maghreb and not Palestine... It doesn't make sense. It's not like the Northern African immigrants living in France care about Palestine. If they did care, we'd know about it. Instead their kids are causing riots. (but that's another story entirely)

I like that this guy is open about a unified Palestinian-Israeli country; but who is going to go for it? The Israelis? The Palestinians? I'm going to have to say neither party. Peace talks are back on between Palestine and Israel as of today, even after Israeli tanks rolled into Gaza yesterday, and that's good enough for me. If they can live peacefully in sovereign lands, side-by-side, than I think all of our problems would be solved. Having a unified country would cause just about as much chaos that is occurring at the moment (or worse).

It's interesting Gadhafi chose France as the platform for this message. Did he not think he could get away with announcing it in Libya? It's sad to say, but yes, I think so. He has to turn to the West to get some type of message out to the world. Which, that may come back to bite him in the end. I'm a little pessimistic so what can I say. For now, I'm pretty proud a leader from a North African country is supportive of peace and change as far as the Palestine-Israel thing goes. I'm not sure if he had any words to share about anything else occurring in the Middle East right now; and that's okay. He might stir up trouble if he does.

I don't understand why French politicians and citizens protested Gadhafi today, but maybe tomorrow he'll say something else that is terribly off-centre and that'll give me a reason to detest him. Right now--I can't say I don't like him. At least he's trying.

(that's all folks!)