Curiouser and Curiouser! on the-shrub

It's nice to be safe isn't it?

Mon, 17 Nov 2003 12:50:19 +0000

Bush security swings into action. An "unprecedented" security operation is under way ahead of US President George Bush's state visit to Britain. [BBC News | World | UK Edition]

Compare and contrast. A lesson from todays BBC lunch time news:

Item #1 : Bush's visit.

Apparently all police leave has been cancelled across London, 14,000 officers have been made ready for the largest security operation in UK history. Context: Thousands of people are going to converge upon London to tell Bush we don't want him in our country. Result: He will shrug off our protests at a cost to us taxpayers of millions of pounds.

I especially enjoyed Bush's comments:

"I understand you don't like war, and neither do I.

How would he know?

Item #2 : Rising crime in rural areas.

Although crime is apparently falling in urban areas it is steadily rising in rural areas. The reason? Lack of police officers. The days of the 'village bobby' are long past and most villages appear to have to fend for themselves.

Solution offered by the home office are to re-instate the dedicated village officer at a cost to each village of £10,000. Money presumably to be extorted from the poor buggers who live there. However in the trial mentioned in the piece the programme had been scrapped because the so called dedicated officer was continually being called away to emergencies. Did they get a refund?

Alternative solution is for village to hire their own private security firms. I won't elaborate other than to say what a truly awful idea this is.

Compare and contrast.

The poor bastards who will impeach Clinton but cling to Bush

Sat, 22 Nov 2003 11:11:04 +0000

"The president ought to be ashamed". Former Sen. Max Cleland blasts Bush's "Nixonian" stonewalling of the 9/11 commission, his "lies" about Iraq, and his flight-suit photo op on the USS Lincoln after "hiding out" during Vietnam. [Salon.com]

There are two US national scandals in this piece:

The president and his administrations handling of 9/11 and the war in Iraq.
The big media companies spinning things for their pals in the administration.

For Iraqi's wondering about an American style democracy handed to them, at gun-point, by America I can't help but think they are sceptical. And who could blame them for voting for an Islamic state?

I also think it is shameful that Clinton can be impeached for lying about having sex with an aide whilst Bush and his cronies lie & disemble daily, imprison without trial, dismantle America & sell it (where do you think all this money is coming from to fund your war?) and reap the profits.

"For shame!" It makes me angry to think about it.

So Bush has Kool-Aid too

Fri, 28 Nov 2003 09:58:59 +0000

You know, I can't imagine a more courageous thing for a US President to do than going to visit Iraq on this Thanksgiving.

[The Scobleizer Weblog]

It is exactly this kind of statement that makes me very afraid of what harm America is going to inflict upon us all over the next 5 years.

Warmonger president

Mon, 12 Jan 2004 10:44:30 +0000

Bush 'plotted Iraq war from start'. A top US official says President Bush was planning to oust Saddam Hussein within days of taking office. [BBC News | World | UK Edition]

As if that was ever in doubt!

I also found Mr. O'Neill's description of Bush's leadership style quite plausible:

Mr O'Neill gives an unflattering account of Mr Bush's leadership style, saying that at cabinet meetings the president was like a blind man in a room full of deaf people.

Is this the visionary leadership you want guiding America into the next decade?

Spend it like Bush

Wed, 14 Jan 2004 10:00:27 +0000

National Debt. More on the U.S. national debt, from Al Martin Raw, the article "Scoreboard 2003". Seems to be in the member area, but somebody sent me an e-mail copy.
The total national debt of the United States on a fully realized basis, inclusive of federal, state, county and local debt stood at a record $20.613 trillion (83.73% of said debt having been created from 1981-92 and from 2001 to present.) The total public and private indebtedness of the United States ended the year 2003 at $39.384 trillion. The total public and private assets of the United States ended the year 2003 at $26.134 trillion. Thus, the United States by the end of 2003 has a negative net worth of approximately $13 trillion. The total debt service of the United States ended the year 2003 at 309.4% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product). These are numbers never before seen. This is a higher debt to gross domestic product ratio than any other country on earth, which still services its debt.
Doesn't sound good. I'd like to see some other sources on that, of course. The periods he's mentioning, 81-92 and 2001 to the present, where 83.73% of the debt were generated is when Reagan and the two Bushes have been presidents. [Ming the Mechanic]

Caveat Lector: Uninformed commentary follows...

If these figures are anywhere near true then we should all be worried. Worse still American spending is going to be painfully hard to decrease with President Bush continuing to borrowing to fund his pet projects like The Global War on Terror.

Impeach your president (and ours too)

Fri, 01 Jul 2005 16:41:06 +0100

Lew Rockwell is looking past the death throes of the lame duck, but do you really have to wait three years?

So there we have it: three more years of a lame duck president who is stuck in two losing, bloody, terrorist-recruiting wars, and has presided over one of the great domestic flops in American history. All he needs is a good recession to complement soaring gas prices, and his fall will be complete.

Surely there has never been a better time to try out that impeachment process? Perhaps on the back of a public trial America can clean house a little? Redress the balance a little? Maybe force your government to obey it's own laws (after you've put them back of course). As an added measure maybe every senator and congressperson who supported the war should resign in acknowledgement that they didn't do their homework? That would be a nice gesture I think.

Oh, and whilst we're about it, how on earth do we impeach Blair? Is there even a way to do that? Anyone know the UK legal position? If it's possible, what would it take?

The poodle dialogues

Mon, 24 Jul 2006 10:35:56 +0100

I just read a funny piece by Jeremy Irwin about Bush & Blairs on-camera performance recently which reminded me I hadn't mentioned it here. If anything Irwin is too kind in comparing Bush and Blair to a couple of drunks who sneaked past security at the G8.

What great missives does our dear leader have to impart to the most powerful man in the world?

"Well ... it's only if I mean ... you know. If she's got a ... or if she needs the ground prepared as it were ... Because obviously if she goes out, she's got to succeed, if it were, whereas I can go out and just talk."

What was he looking for? A pat on the head and a biscuit?

If this is the quality of dialogue between my Prime Minister and the President of the United States of America then I think I would be happier if they had been a couple of bums who wandered in by accident.

This illuminating epsiode brings into the open the depths to which Blair has sunk. His feet under the table strategy compromised him from the beginning and the sunk costs have mounted to the point where he has no face-saving exit strategy and, fearing lest his place in history be further compromised, he lacks the spine to make a principled exit.

We are now left to imagine the great dialogues that will take place when ~~Fifi~~Blair ~~goes for walkies~~visits with ~~her Master~~Bush in Washington.