The current situation in Iran is perfectly analogous to what's going on here in the United States. The vast majority of the people want a common-sense approach to domestic and world politics, while the old guard, stuck in the blind animosities of the past, are determined to promote and exploit those animosities for their own end, and at any cost - including the misery and death of their own people. In Iran the old guard is represented by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; in the U.S., Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh. In Iran they are called jihadist, while in the U.S. we refer to them as the Republican Party.

Like the jihadist in the Middle East, Republican wing-nuts claim to be acting on a mission from God. Also like their counterparts in the Middle East, these GOP leaders believe that the end justifies the means, which leaves them free to lie, cheat, steal, torture, and kill innocent people. Their primary method of operation is to take a germ of truth, then infuse it with false conclusions and lies to poison and inflame the minds of the people to act against their own interest. Just like the jihadist, they specialize in using the people's own ignorance against them in order to divide and conquer.

But it seems that the people of both cultures have said enough is enough. Due to unprecedented corruption during the Republican administration, and the belief by many Americans that they'd been robbed of both the 2000 and 2004 elections, in the 2006 election the people voted Republicans out of office by the largest numbers in a generation. Then in a more graphic break with the past, in 2008 Barack Obama was voted into office as the first African American president of the United States. The people of Iran are currently in a struggle with their old guard as well. They too believe that a desperate and corrupt old guard has attempted to steal their vote.

It's still too early to determine the outcome of the struggle between the will of the people and the jihadists in Iran, since as we speak there's rioting in the street, and Iran's Guardian Council (the old guard) has agreed to recount the votes. But here in the United States, the Republican Party has embarked upon a scorched Earth policy, and a strategy of divide and conquer. Their primary goal seems to be to sabotage the nation's recovery by keeping the people divided. Thereafter, if they're successful, they intend to regain power by simply saying, we told you so. Thus, they've dedicated their existence to making America suffer for the next four years.

A Clear example of the Republican Party's method of operation can be seen in the activities of Rabbi Nachum Shifren. Rabbi Shifren has become a perennial Republican candidate for the 26^th District of the California State Senate. I first came into contact with him when he began to contact many of us in the Black press with a message of working to improve the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Republicans always build their lies on a germ of truth - after all, who could possibly disagree that we have a dysfunctional educational system. But like many Republican wing-nuts, the hubris of his racist mindset has caused him to underestimate the intelligence of the Black community. He actually thought he could ingratiate himself with Black writers through flattery. He would never try such a ploy with a White journalist. Essentially, he came to me and said, he felt the need to approach me because of my exceptional insight. He was sure that with my keen intelligence I would be able to relay his message to those in the community who weren't bright enough to see the big picture. In other words, I'm a credit to my race.

I had long since researched the Rabbi, so I was fully aware that he was a rabid ultra-conservative who had been a strong supporter of Pat Buchanan, and had been all but banished from the Jewish community. But one should never try to out scream a fool. You listen to them carefully - very carefully. And this is what I heard:

He said, "There is nothing more corrosive to the fabric of our city than hatred based on race. But let's get real. We don't then overcompensate by hiring LAPD officers that are 4 feet, 10 inches tall! We don't go and hire officers that have rap sheets, or are otherwise unqualified. The racisim here is absolutely overt! The thinking goes like this: let's just get ANYBODY in there, as long as they're a CERTAIN skincolor..."

"Eric, I reached the boiling point when I was stopped by a woman officer that was shorter than her 9mm. I attended a Neighborhood Council meeting in W. LA in which the "captain" , a female officer, addressed the group. I looked at another officer present and remarked how this 5'6'', 150 lb woman could be the captain. He told me that many male candidates had been passed over for the position."

When I asked him to substantiate his claim he responded with opinions and anecdotes. I then pointed out to him that while diminutive female officers are not what those of our generation have come to expect, I can think of very few instances where these young women have been overpowered by thugs. On the other hand, I can think of a number of instances where physically oversized, but intellectually diminutive, thug police officers have assaulted and in some cases killed innocent citizens. So I'd rather see brains over brawn any day.

And with regard to the question that he asked the officer at the neighborhood council meeting regarding how this 5'6'', 150 lb woman could be the captain." I pointed out to him that his question alone betrayed a mindset that I found quite troubling. I then asked, how did he know the female captain wasn't twice as qualified as all of the male candidates that she competed against, to which, I never got a response. I also pointed out that he had based his assessment of the captain on purely his own opinion of what SHOULD AND SHOULD NOT BE. Thus, he'd betrayed a tendency to base his conclusions on less than informed and highly subjective opinions - the very same kind of opinions that caused many to conclude that Blacks should never be placed in positions of responsibility, or that Jews should never be trusted.

But here's where I lost patience with him. He said the following:

"But who in the corrupted Black leadership will call for a moment of silence for those African Americans murdered in racially charged ethnic cleansing by radical Hispanic gangs? Now that we need to discuss "racism" in America by those that want to Marginalize African American citizens, where is Attorney General Eric Holder? Will he step up and do his job? Or is he also in bed with the Reconquista crowd, paralyzed by political correctness."

The above statement pointed out his true colors. It was a thinly veiled use of the murder of Stephen Tyrone Johns at the Holocaust Museum to promote the Rabbi's political agenda. Black people are also being killed by Black gangs, but he wasn't concerned about that. His only intent was to slander the Obama administration, and cause a division within the Black and Hispanic coalition that's making it impossible for Republicans to be elected.

How much does Shifren really care about Black people? Listen to the poison that he's feeding the young people in a speech before the Silicon Valley Young Republican Federation: "Multi-culturalism will be the nail in the coffin for our country . . . There are a substantial number of Black and Latino educators and administrators who will stop at nothing until they have seen 'the last gasp of White America.'"

Spoken like a true jihadist.