Still alarming: Iran

Reuters reports on a recent speech by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad:

“Israel must be wiped off the map,” Ahmadinejad told a conference called “The World without Zionism”, attended by some 3,000 conservative students who chanted “Death to Israel” and “Death to America”.

This is nothing new, but somehow it gets us every time. “Death to America” is to Iran something like “Super-size it” is to America—an all-purpose phrase, equally effective as a salutation, expression of comradery, answering machine message, or political ideology, which miraculously retains its meaning and freshness despite constant repetition.