Yes we all know that Mel Gibson got a DUI and shot his drunken mouth off, apparently using some fairly clear racial anti semitic epitaths.  In the drama that followed, he made a minor apology, then stunned everyone by actually making a clear apology that made no attempt to diminish his actions.

In Hollywood and in Washington DC, that is anathama.  Here is the basic details of the apology:

Mel Gibson asks the Jewish community for help

Mel Gibson has finally confirmed that the "despicable" comments he made, while he was being arrested for alleged drunk driving, were in fact anti-Semitic. And now he’s asking for help. Here’s his latest statement, issued today, via the Associated Press:

There is no excuse, nor should there be any tolerance, for anyone who thinks or expresses any kind of anti-Semitic remark. I want to apologize specifically to everyone in the Jewish community for the vitriolic and harmful words that I said to a law enforcement officer the night I was arrested on a DUI charge.

I am a public person, and when I say something, either articulated and thought out, or blurted out in a moment of insanity, my words carry weight in the public arena. As a result, I must assume personal responsibility for my words and apologize directly to those who have been hurt and offended by those words.

The tenets of what I profess to believe necessitate that I exercise charity and tolerance as a way of life. Every human being is God’s child, and if I wish to honor my God I have to honor his children. But please know from my heart that I am not an anti-Semite. I am not a bigot. Hatred of any kind goes against my faith.

I’m not just asking for forgiveness. I would like to take it one step further, and meet with leaders in the Jewish community, with whom I can have a one on one discussion to discern the appropriate path for healing.

I have begun an ongoing program of recovery and what I am now realizing is that I cannot do it alone. I am in the process of understanding where those vicious words came from during that drunken display, and I am asking the Jewish community, whom I have personally offended, to help me on my journey through recovery. Again, I am reaching out to the Jewish community for its help. I know there will be many in that community who will want nothing to do with me, and that would be understandable. But I pray that that door is not forever closed.

This is not about a film. Nor is it about artistic license. This is about real life and recognizing the consequences hurtful words can have. Its about existing in harmony in a world that seems to have gone mad

To say I was surpised is an understatement.  I am gratified  that someone in our pop culture isn’t trying to blame shift the heat away.  This story should fade away, assuming he was sincere and not just paying lip service.

But watching Hannity and Colmes last night, at the  Freedom Concert 2006 I believe, I heard something that made me stop and consider this afresh.

Ann Coulter was on and had an interesting observation.  She reminded me the Cindy Sheehan herself has made some fairly brutal anti semetic comments, only she can’t even claim to have been drunk.  I realized that Ann as right ( I blogged it last year as a matter of fact), and that on HuffPo and the Daily Kos, remarks are made many times worse by people who claim to be sober and rational.  Yet very little outrage seems to come out of there.  I won’t say none.  Even on the Daily Kos there are fair minded people who make reading it worth the time sometimes.

Curious, I poked around the Daily Kos and there were plenty of diaries and stories condemning him, and slamming those who defended him.  And a few defending him, but I really didn’t dig too deep.

I also found, with another search, several posts defending Sheehan for the comments she made several years ago, when she essentially blamed Israel for Iraq.

I have to kind of stop and scratch my head and wonder how the liberal left who promote diversity and tolerance, can fly under the radar with such anti Israel anti semitic comments and not feel ashamed of their actions.

This is tolerance?  This is a celebration of diversity?

Sheehan should take a page from Mel’s book and admit she is a bigot and try to get some help for it, but she won’t, and no one will hold her accountable for what she has said previously.  She is the eternally grieving mother, after all. 

But is there a deeper issue there?  Do some liberals secretly agree with her?

Look at the recent comments by Iran, who has their hands deep in the middle of the current conflict in Lebanon.

Iran’s President Ahmadinejad: ‘Elimination of Zionist Regime Is The Cure’

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other Muslim leaders demanded a halt on Thursday to Israeli attacks on Lebanon and Gaza and said they wanted to strengthen U.N. peacekeeping forces in the area.

Wary of restive populations back home, and aghast at the toll in heavily Muslim southern Lebanon, a special session of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference also called for an investigation into Israel’s "violations" of international law and demanded the Jewish state pay compensation.

But it was Ahmadinejad, his hardline views on Israel reinvigorated by public backing from Iran’s supreme clerical leader, who animated the emergency meeting as it strove to get the Muslim world’s voice heard above the diplomatic din.

"Although the main cure (to the situation) is the elimination of the Zionist regime, in this stage an immediate ceasefire should be implemented," Ahmadinejad , who previously has said Israel should be wiped off the map, told the closed door meeting.

"Britain and America, as the main associates of the Zionist regime in its offensive to Lebanon, should compensate Lebanon’s damages. Those governments should answer for their crimes in Lebanon," he said in his speech, a copy of which was made available by Iranian diplomats.

And he urged Islamic and Arab nations to cut all political and economic ties to the Jewish state.

The United States accuses Iran of providing material support for Hizbollah, whose rocket attacks Israel has vowed to quash once and for all. Tehran says it provides only moral backing, not cash or weaponry.

Ahmadinejad has clearly struck a chord in parts of the Muslim world. He was treated like something of a rock star during a recent visit to Indonesia, particularly on college campuses.

But it was unclear just how much success, if any, Muslims may have in winning the backing the United States, Israel’s superpower ally, for a ceasefire.

Israel’s offensive against Hizbollah in Lebanon has killed more than 900 people and wounded 3,000 with a third of the casualties children under 12, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said in a video message to the conference.

He said a quarter of the population, or one million people, had been displaced.

Iran’s leader has a long history of making anti semitic statements, denying the holocaust and other spurious statements, so this is not a surprise, but the press on it is not so much.  I googled the story and got 4 links.  Aljazeera, CNN internation, Christian Broadcasting and Iran Focus.

I did get a story accusing Israel of racism on MSNBC.  Ironic, eh?

To be fair, I will have to look around and see how much liberal outrage there is.  There should be some.  On HuffPo?  Nothing.  Daily Kos?  Zip.

I mean his latest remarks were enough to pull France off the fence…are our liberals less tolerant the the French? 

France slams call to destroy Israel

Days after calling Iran a "stabilizing" force in the Middle East,

HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa!!!! Oh my God that is hilarious……

Sorry, let me start that over…… 

Days after calling Iran a "stabilizing" force in the Middle East, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy issued a statement harshly criticizing Iran’s call on Thursday to destroy Israel.

"I totally condemn these words," Douste-Blazy said on France-Inter radio, in response to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s statement Thursday that the solution to the current Middle East crisis was to destroy Israel.

"Peace and security in Lebanon and its borders has to be preserved by the Lebanese government and people. Deployment of foreign forces is not acceptable in any shape unless it is just, based on UN rules and preserves the unity and territorial integrity of Lebanon," he said.

The words are "absolutely unacceptable on anyone’s part, especially from a head of state," Douste-Blazy said.

Douste-Blazy said that the crisis had presented an opportunity for Iran to "show that it can play a positive and stabilizing role in the region," but added that Ahmadinejad’s statement "confirmed that this is not the case."

In a speech during an emergency meeting of Muslim leaders in Malaysia, Ahmadinejad also called for an immediate cease-fire to end the fighting between Israel and the Iranian-backed group Hizbullah.

"Although the main solution is for the elimination of the Zionist regime, at this stage an immediate cease-fire must be implemented," Ahmadinejad said, according to state-run television in a report posted on its Web site Thursday.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev accused Ahmadinejad of trying to rally the region to support Iranian-backed Hizbullah.

"Our operation in Lebanon is designed to neutralize one of the long arms of Iran, Hezbollah," Regev said. "Hizbullah is their proxy, being used as an instrument of Teheran to advance their extremist agenda and the blow to Hezbollah is a blow to Iranian interests and a blow to all extremist Jihadist forces in the region.

Ahmadinejad called on all Muslim states to "cut their open and secret political and economic ties with the fake and outlawed Zionist regime" in response to its attacks against Lebanon.

He also urged Muslim states to "isolate" the United States and Britain for supporting Israel’s military attacks against Lebanon.

Ahmadinejad also rejected deploying international forces on the Israeli-Lebanese border.

First a Hollywood star steps up and acts responsibly, and now France has done the same.

Maybe I should play the lottery…