So yesterday on the Huffington Post, Deepak Chopra published yet another anti-American screed – this time lamenting the fact that we’re the last remaining superpower. He says the world would be a better place if the US just packed it in as a leader, and to quote Lennon, “give peace a chance!” In it he writes, “America leads the world in arms dealing, starting wars, and developing new methods of mechanized death,” conveniently leaving out all the incidental stuff that comes with being a heavily armed, supercool, superpower. Meaning, saving millions of lives by ending world wars, getting rid of dictators, stopping famine and assorted civil conflicts, and preventing mass disease. Chopra also hilariously vomits that, “Peace is achieved by being peaceful, no matter what the military-industrial complex claims to the contrary.”

Tell that to the Iranian voters, jackass.

Deepak’s destructive dippiness is nothing new. It’s a moral blindness that prevents him from seeing America’s role in fighting evil – a soaring greatness that offers inspiration to folks like the Iranians who seek relief from totalitarian madness. Chopra, oddly, prefers to ignore that, and instead condemns a place whose gullible wealthy and their endless desire for fast food self-fulfillment have made him rich beyond measure.

So why is this chucklehead still taken so seriously? Well, first, he’s multicultural and new age – which gives him a free pass to crap all over stupid “old age” white American establishment. If he had been a white doctor, the media would take his mumbo jumbo about as seriously as they took Jimmy Swaggart. He also caters to the guilt-ridden celebrity looking for validation through dime-deep dogma, and as a shameless self-promoter uses their neediness to generate even more business. If there’s a spotlight – you can bet Chopra is on his way to fill it – even if that spotlight is meant for the dead. Seriously: Michael Jackson’s pulse had barely stopped, and Chopra was already yakking about how often MJ came to him for advice on songwriting.

No wonder the last album sucked.

TONIGHT: the lovely Diana Falzone, the delightful Remi Spencer, the awesome Jim Norton, Oderus Urangus of GWAR, and Carrie Preston from True Blood!

The execution scene at the heart of “The Stoning of Soraya M.“ is all force and little subtlety. Some audiences might flinch at the visuals, while others may draw parallels to the violence at the core of “The Passion of the Christ.”

But director/co-screenwriter Cyrus Nowrasteh says a version of the film featuring a shortened stoning sequence didn’t test as well as the full-length movie.

“This movie is a ticking clock to an execution. That execution is a primitive rite we’re witnessing, and we need to go through each stage of it,” he says. ”It’s almost a catharsis.”

Not all audiences are ready to take the journey.

He says about five or so people typically leave the theater during test screenings once the execution starts – but roughly half return to watch the film’s finale.

Nowrasteh, who is of Iranian heritage, has been watching the news reports coming out of Iran in recent days as intensely as any viewer.

“The people inside who are twittering and communicating are doing an incredible job,” he says.

He understands the complex position President Barack Obama faces regarding the ongoing protests. If he had the president’s ear he’d advocate no direct action – for now.

“He can exert some moral influence and I think he can be a little more forceful. He’s a little too standoff-ish,” he says.

But if more violence breaks out, and more protesters die, then President Obama will look bad if he continues to deal with the current regime, he says.

“You can’t legitimize this kind of repression,” he says.

Nowrasteh may face opposition from advocates of Islam when “Stoning” hits theaters June 26, but the filmmaker is no stranger to controversy. He wrote the ABC miniseries “The Path to 9/11,” a project critical of President Bill Clinton’s policies toward terrorism.

The filmmaker says there’s nothing new to report on a possible DVD release of the 2006 miniseries. And he blames Bob Iger, president and CEO of The Walt Disney Company, for the miniseries remaining in creative limbo. Iger has supported the Clintons in the past, and critics contend that connection is the reason for the ABC film remaining on the shelf.

“As long as Bob Iger is running the company, they won’t release the DVD,” he says.

Christian Toto is a contributing reporter for The Washington Times, MovieMaker Magazine and boxoffice.com. He blogs about film at whatwouldtotowatch.com and at The Denver Examiner.