Ahmeanie’s visit: The latest (UPDATE 14: MORE PHOTOS)

The protests are on today in NYC as Ahmeanie prepares to make his speeches to the UN and Columbia U (Correction: The UN speech is tomorrow – h/t: Allahpundit). Here’s the latest:

—- The NYSun reports that state and city lawmakers are considering withholding public funds from Columbia U as a form of protest for their invitation to him to speak on campus.

—- CBS’ interview with Ahmadinejad aired last night on 60 Minutes. Here’s part 1 of the interview.

—- This is interesting: A Columbia alumnus was released from an Iranian prison last Thursday. Was Columbia’s invite to Ahmeanie done so in exchange for Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh’s release? Hmmmm.

—- Are Columbia and Ahmadinejad the new Woodward and Bernstein? Lisa De Pasquale says “yes.”

—- At least one dean at Columbia U is not happy about Iran’s Islamofascist ‘leader’ being invited to speak there, and says so here (h/t: Scott Johnson).

— Judith over at Kesher Talk has a couple of pictures posted of some signs that are posted around Columbia U in support of Ahmeanie’s visit.

—- Michael Rubin calls Columbia out on their free speech hypocrisy, and calls on them to stop inviting people who have taken away the freedom of speech of others and instead invite people whose freedom of speech has been stolen from them from peole like Ahmadinejad. Read more on that via Jason Steck.

— And here are several more links to blog posts and articles about Ahmeanie’s visit.

Time permitting, I’ll post more updates as they become available.

Update 1: One of the blogosphere’s best satirists posts some “questions” from “Columbia U students” to Ahmeanie ;)

And Kevin Sullivan is liveblogging today’s events.

Update 2: Jules Crittenden blogs on Ahmeanie’s apologists in the opinion media.

Gateway Pundit has some photos of Ahmeanie from a party last night in NYC.

Update 3: Make sure to check out FreedomWatch’s ad they ran in the NYT today protesting Ahmadinejad’s visit to Columbia (h/t: J’s Cafe Nette).

Memeorandum has tons of links to commentary all around the blogosphere.

Update 4: Malkin’s at Columbia, and Allah reports that Ground Zero was cleared of anti-Ahmadinejad protesters earlier. Check both those links for lots more updates in the coming hours. I’ll continue to update as I can.

Update 5: MSNBC has a video feed up of Ahmeanie’s National Press Club speech here.

Update 6: More liberals today are writing about how they are ok with Ahmadinejad speaking at Columbia, and Democrat candidate for president Mike Gravel says Ahmeanie should be allowed to go to Ground Zero.

Update 7: Via Fox News:

Earlier Monday, President Bush said that while he’s “not sure” he would have offered the head of a state sponsor of terror a platform from which to outline his agenda, he thinks it’s OK that Columbia University did invite Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak.

“This is a place of high learning and if the president (of Columbia) thinks it’s a good idea to have the leader from Iran come and talk to the students as an educational experience, I guess it’s OK with me,” Bush told FOX News in an interview. “The problem is Ahmadinejad uses these platforms to advance his agenda, which I suspect in this case … He doesn’t want America to know his true intentions.”

“Not sure”?? Look, I know there are times when the prez. has to be diplomatic, but this isn’t one of those times. How lame does “I’m not sure” sound?

Allah will have video posted soon of Ahmadinejad’s speech at Columbia. Here’s a live feed from MSNBC’s website.

And related to anti-war/anti-military colleges, Brian at Liberty Pundit has a post up today on the news about Yale Law School’s change of heart on military recruiters.

Update 8: Kathryn Jean Lopez has the details of Ahmeanie’s criticism of Columbia president Lee Bollinger, the man who extended the invite to Ahmeanie in the first place. Bollinger has also criticized Ahmeanie today but it’s unclear to me who criticized who first.

Update 9: Ok, it looks like Bollinger criticized him first – not that it really matters in the scheme of things.

Update 10: Why am I not surprised that the NYT blog comments section contains praise for Ahmadinejad? (h/t: Tom Gross)

Gateway Pundit links up to video from the protests.

Update 11: Atlas Shrugs has photos of both anti-Ahmeanie and pro-Ahmeanie demonstrators. Tons more here. And keep checking here for continuous updates. The latest:

Update: 4:35pm Eastern. We’ve headed over to Ground Zero, where some of the Columbia University protesters have gathered in case the Iranian nutjob decides to sneak his cursed wreath onto the memorial site.

After the Columbia University speech let out, dozens of protesters stood at the front gates of Columbia chanting “Shame on Columbia!” The anti-Mahmoud coalition took on a few clueless ANSWER protesters clad in orange and Bush Derangement Syndrome bumper stickers. I interviewed Iranian-American dissident Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi of the Secular Muslim Summit, who was livid after confronting the moral equivalence and historical ignorance of the moonbats holding anti-Bush signs. The Jewish groups and Iranian criticis of the mullahcracy were joined by many NYC-area bloggers and Gathering of Eagles members as well.

Here’s video of Bollinger criticizing Ahmeanie. And here’s Ahmeanie saying there are “no gays” in Iran.

Update 12: Talk about idiotic:

NEW YORK (AP) — Democrat Barack Obama says he probably wouldn’t have invited Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak at Columbia University but would be willing as president to meet with the Iranian leader as a way to protect U.S. interests.

“The hateful lies that he may utter about Israel, the Holocaust — the answer is for us to promote the truth and show the world the values and ideals that we hold dear,” Obama said Monday. “One of the values we believe in is the value of academic freedom. He has a right to speak.”

This, of course isn’t about someone’s “right” to speak, it’s about whether or not it’s a good idea to give credibility to the views of a maniac who has stolen the right to speak from the citizens of the country he “leads.” Sheesh, this isn’t exactly rocket science, so someone with Obama’s extensive education should be able to figure that out.

Oh well.

Update 13: Must-read from Douglas Farah: A Time to Remember the Iran-al Qaeda Connection.

Update 14: Jonn Lilyea has photos from today’s protest events, as does Judith at Kesher Talk. Greg Pollowitz has some photos as well.

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