Iran and U.S. Plan to Start Family Fun Band, Tour to Begin Soon

Everything I learned about Iran and U.S. relations I learned from this documentary-type video.

Today and yesterday, CNN yielded two stories concerning Iran, each basically contributing two different sides of the same story. The story is that President Obama is open to the idea of having progressive discourse of a civil nature with the nation that his predecessor dubbed an Axis of Evil, along with math and one of them Koreas, and that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is down for the cause as well.

Needless to say, there's been a bit of a rift between these two over the past few decades.

Right now, at this preliminary stage, it's hard to say you're against this. But it comes with a tremendously large caveat that a number of steps should be taken before we hustle some of our boys over there to start shaking hands and having drinks with the guys.

"There's been a lot of mistrust built up over the years, so it's not going to happen overnight," Obama said.

That's good. Because overnight, the crowd of thirty thousand or so that Ahmadinejad was speaking to at the 30th anniversary of the Islamic revolution were saying some ungood words toward the American ilk.Not to be labeled an alarmist or anything, but words like "DEATH TO AMERICA" blared over loudspeakers and in unison can be a liiiiiiittle unsettling.

And I'm not sure what to think of this Ahmadinejad fellow, but I fear he might be an Islamic Mike Huckabee; all charming religious rhetoric, but very little common sense (e.g. that whole denying the Holocaust bit might ruffle some feathers). But while the Huckster's only national claim to fame was dropping a few pounds and looking like Jim Nabors, Ahmadinejad's claim is being defiantly outspoken and developing nuclear technologies.

It's a good thing that hey say they're only going to develop their nukes "to harness it for energy" and such! I was beginning to worry that they might want to do the expected thing and go ahead and put a few confidential nukes away just in case someone decides to get ansty-in-their-pantsy. As long as their not doing that, anyway.

Obama reached out to the Muslim community in a way unparalleled by his honky predecessors in his first address as president to a Muslim television station, and even inaugural speech. I doubt you remember it, what with Beyonce's singing (DESTINY'S CHILD! OMIGAH!) at the ball later that night, so here's a highlight:

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West: Know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

As long as all of this holds firm — nuclear arms and all — we should be okay. But then again, let's wait and see how many of these items — destroying nuclear technogadgets on Iran's side and lynching Bush in a public forum on America's side — are actually done to progress these talks.

Likely, I'm sure.