"And to the rest of the Columbia University students: What was with the uncomfortable silence after my joke about nuclear weapon-seeking leaders being retards? Was there a translation issue? That joke kills in Iran! Then again, in Iran, there does not exist the phenomenon of retards. In America, I hear that you have one as your leader! Hahahahaha!!! (In Iran, there would be immense laughter.) I want to go home." [Note to MSNBC: This is not a real quote, don't recycle it in a story.] [NewsGroper]

"PROTESTING PLANS by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to lay a wreath at the World Trade Center attack site, the New York Daily News told the Iranian president in a headline to "Go to Hell." A Politics & Economics article yesterday incorrectly said the headline was in the New York Post." Nice to see the folks at the Wall Street Journal trying to give credit to their new fellow employees at the Post. Given the way the News has been destroying its competition in the front-page outrage department, the Post needs all the help it can get. [WSJ]

You've read about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's famous "we don't have any homosexuals" routine, but you really need to see it performed live at his Columbia University gig to get the full effect: It's all in the delivery. As a bonus, he also breaks into his bit on women, which has the absolutely hilarious part about how Iranian women are so respected—How respected are they?—Iranian women are so respected that they're exempt from legal responsibilities. This guy kills us.

In the phlegmatic "race" for Time's "Person of the Year," there are multiple conflicting agendas and predictions. In particular, it's instructive to observe odds versus betting behavior on Sportsbook.com, which puts Google CEO Eric Schmidt as a 7-1 favorite. However, Schmidt has so far drawn less than 1% of votes in our own reader poll, which currently has Stephen Colbert as the favorite (insert indulgent eye-roll here). Bettors aren't interested in the sure thing though, as where's the fun (or big payoff) in that? Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has drawn the most bets, taking in almost a third of total wagers so far (he's at 4% in our poll). Kim Jong-Il, at 10-1 against, has drawn 17.8% of wagers (he's at 1.5% hereabouts). For its part, Chrysler is wagering millions to be the POTY's sole corporate sponsor, a bet with long odds and little obvious payoff.