Runner's Heights: Ode to a Fire-Breathing Puppet

Cumulative mileage so far...8 miles.
Hey, I know that it doesn't seem like much but one day, these might all add up to a 100 miles, or even a 1000, perhaps...ah, let's just do this one day at a time. Despite being hobbled by the crimp in my soleus muscle, I limped through the last two miles with a great deal of circumspection nonetheless. Running is a constant balance between pushing yourself to the limit and pain management. Pain is supposed to tell you when to stop but you can push the boundaries of pain because pain is stimulus and your reaction to the stimulus determines the influence of pain. For those of us who refuse to act our age or accept physical limitations this balance is a malleable entity to be toyed with in nearly every encounter that demands physical endurance.

It was certainly bold of the Columbia University President Lee Bollinger to invite an inveterate bigot, a totalitarian despot, and a human-rights abuser, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to speak on campus. Ahmadinejad is not only ignorant about world history, as his denial of the Holocaust attests, he is clueless about the fundamental human right of people of any sexual orientation to live their lives free from any government fiat or duress. Like George Bush, he professes to be God's official mouthpiece and even confuses himself with his bizarre providential proclamations. "Allah" and "Quran" are at Ahmadinejad's beck and call, to be pulled out whenever logic and reasoning whither and flounder in his rambling rantings which happens a lot in his speeches. Perhaps the only difference here is that George Bush tolerates a despot who enters his country and allows him to make a speech at a high-profile university. It is unlikely that Bush would be allowed to speak at Tehran University and therein lies the fundamental difference between democracy and theocracy. As long as he is remote-controlled by those crusty-old Ayatollahs, it would be hard for this former engineering professor to know the difference between hard facts and bigoted, theological opinions.