I have to get serious. My previous articles were mellow, however this past week my mellow was harshed. I don’t know how many of you tune in to the news, so I’m not sure if you will be aware of what is going on, but allow me to enlighten you.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian President, will be in New York City next week for the United Nations’ General Assembly. While in town he wants to visit Ground Zero to “lay a wreath and pay his respects.” That might not seem like a big deal; a foreign diplomat wants a photo op as he looks, somber and teary eyed, at the construction zone where the Twin Towers used to stand. With cameras still rolling, he wants to lay a wreath in memorial to the victims of the deadliest terror attack in our nation’s history. What could be wrong with that? A lot when you are Ahmadinejad, the anti-Semitic, Holocaust-denying, America-bashing, United Nations-defying, loud mouthed president of a rogue nation that has been accused of sponsoring terrorism and is currently supplying the Iraqi insurgents with weapons they use to kill American troops.

As long as he is on this “look at me, I care” trip he might as well stop by Auschwitz - oh wait, I forgot, Ahmadinejad said nothing happened there that was worth remembering. Instead, maybe he should stop by the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, assuming he hasn’t wiped it off the map yet. Oh, and he should bring Bin Laden; they could hold one another and weep with sadness for America’s loss.

Allow me to introduce to you the Iranian President. He wrote you a letter in which he bashes US and UN support for Israel and goes on to list the many “crimes” of the U.S. Administration, including the efforts in Iraq, of which he says, “In Iraq, about 150,000 American soldiers, separated from their families and loved ones, are operating under the command of the current U.S. administration. A substantial number of them have been killed or wounded…” I’m touched, he supports our troops just as much as MoveOn.org does.

Should I break it to Ahmadinejad what weapons the insurgents are using to kill Americans and where they got them; from Iran? The distinguished, caring president then notes, “As you know very well, many victims of Katrina continue to suffer, and countless Americans continue to live in poverty and homelessness.”

Turns out CNN broadcasts make it to Iran. Should I talk about the crimes against humanity that go on inside Iran’s Islamist controlled borders? Should I talk about what it is like to be a woman in Iran or what it is like to be oppressed and bullied into compliance with an extremist interpretation of Islam by strict Imams controlling the government? Of course not, those things aren’t nearly as atrocious as American crimes against humanity.

I’m not saying the U.S. is perfect or that I agree 100 percent with how President Bush and Congress are running things. What I am saying is, I think it is complete bull honky to let someone with Ahmadenejad’s record make a spectacle with what I feel is an empty gesture of phony compassion that hides a dagger of malice and contempt for America. We watched the Trade Towers fall and heard our country wordlessly weep in despair. We felt the shock and then the numbness and “why?”. I have been to New York to read the cards and memorials left by grieving friends and family of the lost. I have seen the gaping hole in the skyline and felt the gaping hole in my own sense of security. Now, some joker wants to stand in the ashes of that tragedy and pretend like he gives a rat’s behind? I say, “no way.”

If Ahmadinejad really wants to show his respect then I have some suggestions that I might be more receptive to. First, stop acting like a self-righteous hypocrite by writing letters in flowery terms about your ideas of “peace” to foreign nations while pointing out all of the problems with their government when your own regime needs to get human rights issues straightened out. Second, stop about the evil “Zionist regime” and read a legitimate historical account of World War II and the Holocaust. Third, stop pretending like I believe in the same thing as you when clearly I do not. I believe in a government that represents the people; Iran believes in a government that represents an extremist Imams’ interpretation of Islam even if that is not what Iran’s people want. I believe in free elections; you believe in terror tactics and bullying to get re-elected. I believe in toppling oppressive foreign regimes, when they are non-compliant with the United Nations and guilty of crimes against their own citizens as well as foreign nationals. You might want to keep that in mind. You do those things and I will meet you personally in New York City and pay for the cab ride down to Ground Zero.