Pedestrian

You do remember Pinky and the Brain from the Animaniacs, riiiiiiiiiiiight?!

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With the announcements of Rahimi’s fake degree yesterday, the total number of academic controversies in Ahmadineajd’s cabinet comes to four. Here’s a look back at this highly qualified, academically achieved cabinet:

1. The Law Professor: Ali Kordan (Ministry of the Interior)

From Wikipedia (they have a pretty accurate description):

Kordan claimed to have an honorary doctorate in law from Oxford University. However his academic qualifications and doctorate have been widely questioned by Iranian parliament members and the media. Immediately following his appointment as the Interior Minister, the Ministry threatened the media in an official announcement, urging them to avoid writing about Kordan’s academic degree.

Kordan later released a copy of his degree showing an Honorary Doctorate of Law Degree that was conferred on him in June 2000 and was under-signed by three Oxford University professors. The certificate was clumsily worded and punctuated, saying that Kordan was granted the degree “to be benefitted from it’s scientific privileges”, and “entitled” was spelt “intitled”. The spelling of “entitle” as “intitle” in the degree was used by some commentators as being indicative of the degree being bogus (i.e. issued by a diploma mill),but the word “intitle” is an obsolete spelling of “entitle”.

Responding to an inquiry by Alef news agency, on August 11 2008 Oxford University denied it had awarded Kordan an honorary doctorate of law or any other degree. The University of Oxford published an official statement on its website that they have no record of Mr Ali Kordan receiving an honorary doctorate or any other degree. It noted that none of the professors whose alleged signatures were on the certificate were working in the field of law, and none of them would sign degree certificates. As a result, chairman of Iranian parliament Ali Larijani initiated an investigation into the validity of Kordan’s degree.

2.  The Math Wiz: Mohammad Mehdi Zahedi (Minister of Science and Technology)

Zahedi obtained his PhD in Mathemtics from the University of Kerman (Iran). However, he has continuously claimed to be a member of New York Academy of Sciences (which he is not).

He also claims to have been called one of the most prominent Mathematicians of the century by American Mathematical Society for which there is no evidence found on American Mathematical Society website.

From Tabnak:

Before becoming minister, Zahedi had no previous administrative or managerial experience except for serving on the board of education in the small town of Babak in the province of Kerman from 1982-1983 and serving on the city council.

But when he was introduced to parliament, he argued that he was called “The Scientific Man of the Year, 1997-1998″ by “Cambridge International” and “one of the most prominent mathematicians in the world” by the American Mathematical Society from 1998-2002. In parliament when Zahedi boasted of his credentials, he was met with a lot of questioning from hardline parliament members including Emad Afrough.

Our investigation has shown that the Cambridge International has nothing to do with the famous Cambridge University. It is a website that sends you a “Man of the Year” certificate for any field for the price of $95 and will even print your name in a silver frame for an extra $360.

3. The Thief: Ali Akbar Mehrabian (Minister of Industry and Mining)

From Mehr News:

Mehrabian was found guilty of stealing a patent for an “earthquak saferoom” from a researcher, Farzan Salimi. He was found guilty of fraud by an appeals court in Tehran last month.

The interesting thing is that Salimi had taken his invention to Tehran’s municipality offices (where Rahimi worked) in 2004 – where it was turned away – and had published a detailed description of the idea in newspapers in 2005.

4. Last but not Least: Mohammad Reza Rahimi (deputy)

From Asr-e Iran and Khabaronline:

Rahimi is Ahmadinejad’s parliamentary deputy. A number of MPs are going to be questioning him this following week about his “fake” PhD.

There are two reports: that he got the degree from Azad University, or from a “university in France”. Jassbi, the president of Azad University has publicy announced that no one by the name of Mohammad Reza Rahimi has obtained a PhD from that school.

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I would die with laughter thinking of Ahmadinejad’s cabinet in the past four years which has resembled a cartoon more than a real-life office of any kind (think Animaniacs).  But these are not ludicrous cartoons but dangerous men.

Remind me again, who are the gullible people out there still convinced Ahmadinejad is the courageous protector of the poor and the oppressed?