"As an academic myself"

I heard him say the words "as an acedemic myself" in his speech at Columbia. These guys revere "academics" ... and that phrase is very common ... cripes, I even heard a guy say it on "To catch a predator" when they caught some knucklehead who was wearing a turban ... cracked me up.

Anyway -- here's the "academic" in his own words.

"In Iran, we don't have homosexuals, like in your country. ... We don't have that phenomenon ... I don't know who has told you we have it."

Another one a few weeks ago:

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has sought to justify his confidence the United States will not attack Iran, saying the proof comes from his mathematical skills as an engineer and faith in God, the press reported on Monday.

Ahmadinejad told academics in a speech that elements inside Iran were pressing for compromise in the nuclear standoff with the West over fears the United States could launch a military strike.

"In some discussions I told them 'I am an engineer and I am examining the issue. They do not dare wage war against us and I base this on a double proof'," he said in the speech on Sunday, reported by the reformist Etemad Melli and Kargozaran newspapers.

"I tell them: 'I am an engineer and I am a master in calculation and tabulation.

"I draw up tables. For hours, I write out different hypotheses. I reject, I reason. I reason with planning and I make a conclusion. They cannot make problems for Iran.'"

Anyway -- the deal is, these idiots toss the word "academic" around like a hackey-sack when they're trying to get some respect. Listen for it, now that you know.