No! What I said was, we have no Maize... so I'd love to bring back some of that sweet corn!

Many of you will remember Iranian President Ahmadinejad's curious statement that there are no homosexuals in Iran. You can listen to it above, and remember it spawned a funny SNL video.

But now, a media adviser is "clarifying" his statement.

“What Ahmadinejad said was not a political answer. He said that, compared to American society, we don’t have many homosexuals,” Mohammad Kalhor said.

As silly as the statement and its cover-up are, this is no laughing matter. Consider Nazila Fathi's article in the New York Times.

(as quoted in a piece by blogger Mike Nizza)

Gays are punished by lashing or death if it is proved that they have had homosexual relations. Two gay teenagers were executed in 2005 in Mashad, a northeastern city.

Fear of persecution is so strong that some gay men and lesbians have sought and received asylum in Western countries.

The Iranian Student News Agency reported in 2005 that a lesbian had been killed in prison by other inmates whom, it was alleged, she had forced to have sex with her. Tehran’s chief prosecutor, Saeed Mortazavi, said in May in an interview on state-run television that the police were looking for men who dressed and looked like homosexuals.

Quote of the Day 8/10

"What I believe is that this is an issue that you’re born with. It’s not a choice, it’s not a lifestyle, and I didn’t understand the question. What I thought that the question was — and this was my mind at the time — that there was an implication that politics intervenes with science. And, I always love the word choice. I’m for freedom of choice, I have in my health care plan a choice where everybody can keep their health care plan."

- Bill Richardson, explaining his answer to a question during Thursday's debate on gay issues, in which he said sexual orientation is a choice.