Segacs's World I Know

Posts Tagged ‘dubya’

Bush may be hoping that his mea culpa on the botched response to Katrina will lead to a jump in the polls, similar to what Martin experienced after apologizing for the sponsorship scandal on prime-time.

However, Bush might want to consider this: there’s a world of difference between the embezzlement of a few billion dollars and the loss of a few thousand lives.

I don’t think it’s right to directly blame Bush for the disaster that has emerged in Katrina’s wake. That’s reserved for people who want to politicize everything.

However, a true leader recognizes that the buck stops with him. In that sense, Bush’s move is the right one. That said, I suspect his words will ring hollow to the people who have lost their homes, families, communities, livelihood, and loved ones.

In the Gazette, columnist L. Ian MacDonald claims Canada’s biggest problem in the softwood lumber dispute is getting the U.S.’s attention:

“I will be speaking to the president when the timing is appropriate,” Martin said in Regina. “It’s very important as far as I’m concerned that that phone call take place when it is right for Canada to have it take place, and that will be quite soon.”

Translation: the White House hasn’t returned the call from the Prime Minister’s Office.

In any event, it’s not the kind of problem that can be resolved with a phone call. It takes a relationship, and Martin has gone out of his way not to establish one with Bush.

The problem is, Martin wants it both ways. He wants to be seen as anti-American when it’s convenient, but when he wants the U.S. to respect Canada, he is unwilling to reap the consequences.

Like the CBC’s labour dispute, the biggest risk in Canada playing trade harball with the U.S. is that they’ll realize how easy it is to ignore us. Carolyn Parrish can go on stomping on Bush dolls if she wants; it’s pretty obvious that the real Bush doesn’t really care much.

This quiz seeks to go “beyond red or blue” and classify American voters according to 9 different political categories:

Contrary to the widespread impression of a nation only divided into two unified “red” and “blue” camps, our latest survey finds important cleavages on values and basic attitudes within each party. As a result, both parties face internal challenges as well as opportunities to expand their constituencies.

Anyway, the quiz stubbornly insists that I’m an “enterpriser”, which it classifies as Republican, Conservative, rich and male. Er… not exactly accurate. I tried to tell it that I was against government meddling in religion or morality, in favour of gay rights, and that I probably would’ve voted for Kerry if I were American, but it didn’t listen. I guess I have to win the lottery and get a sex change operation now.

Then again, reading the 9 categories I have to conclude that I don’t fit any of the descriptions. “Canadian”, unfortunately, was not one of the choices.

(Via Mike Silverman, who the quiz didn’t listen to either).

Let’s play which photo of the week is weirder.

This one?

U.S. President George W. Bush walks arm in arm with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah at Bush's ranch in Texas. Source: Reuters.

Or this one?

Russian President Vladimir Putin visits the Western Wall in Jerusalem on the first trip ever by a Kremlin leader to Israel. Source: AP.

Shall we put it to a vote?

Courtesy of Meryl Yourish:

On the serious side, it appears that W. isn’t going to get the fact that Ma’ale Adunim is a neighborhood of Jerusalem, not a “settlement” in the West Bank (think Queens in NYC for a comparison, or the south side of Richmond, which is actually fifteen minutes away from downtown yet is still part of the city, and I have the tax bills to prove it), and then tell the PA to eff off. Because Ariel Sharon isn’t giving it up, nor will the rest of Israel.

Jerusalem was out of Jewish control for nearly two millennia. We will never willingly give it up again, since we had the proof during Jordanian control, when they were legally obligated by treaty to let Jews worship at the Western Wall and did not, that the Arabs cannot be trusted to let Jews worship at our holy sites — even though Jews have let Muslims worship at theirs since 1967, and indeed, enacted a law protecting all holy sites.

In fact, the Jordanians destroyed much of Jewish Jerusalem while they were in control.

Here’s the thing: The Arabs lost the war. Now they lose some territory. It happens. Deal with it.

Ah yes, cause they’ve been “dealing with it” oh-so-well for all these years.

Most of the donations that have been pouring in so far for Tsunami disaster relief have been motivated by genuine shock, empathy and desire to help.

But in case those reasons don’t seem quite cynical enough for you, if you’re American, Dubya has a selfish reason to give:

President Bush (news – web sites) said U.S. aid efforts following Asia’s killer tsunami would improve America’s image in the Muslim world.

[ . . . ]

“In … responding to the tsunami, many in the Muslim world have seen a great compassion in the American people,” Bush said in an interview with ABC News to be aired on Friday.

The president, initially criticized for a slow and limited U.S. response to the tsunami, said he was “very impressed … by how quickly we have responded” to deploy military equipment and personnel for the international relief effort.

“I’ve got to tell you, our military is making a significant difference,” he said.

Bush has been accused of many things, but genius has never been one of them. Nevertheless, you’d think at least someone on his senior staff might realize that it doesn’t look so good to use a natural disaster that has killed over a hundred and fifty thousand people as a PR opportunity.

Sheesh.

IDFDave has photos of the protesters idiotarians against Bush (via Damian Penny).

As I scrolled the online album of swastika posters, antisemitic and racist statements, and just plain idiocies, it occurred to me that anyone both reasonable and against Bush’s policies had two choices yesterday: To join forces with the wingnuts, or to stay home.

No wonder most of them stayed home.

The wingnuts do these protests a vast disservice. It’s one thing to be against Bush. Hell, I’m not exactly his #1 fan either. But it’s quite another to associate with people who wrap the American flag in swastikas and who hold signs depicting Sharon and Bush as monkeys. There are plenty of good arguments for protesting against the US’s foreign policies, but I really hope that most Canadians are still turned off by yesterday’s kind of displays.

What if you held a protest and nobody came?

The first demonstration — of Palestinians and sympathisers of the Palestinian cause opposed to Washington’s support of Israel — attracted less than 40 demonstrators.

According to a quick head count by journalists, the protest attracted 39 demonstrators, 42 journalists and television crew members and three police officers.

A second, ostensibly larger, demonstration scheduled for the midst of the evening rush hour — was called by a group calling itself Students Against Bush.

Nobody turned up.

I’m sure Jaggi Singh will find a way of blaming the Zionists and the corporations for the massive failure of his protests.

Bush is finally coming to Canada. Took him long enough.

Because of things like this:

Republican senator who has questioned whether an abortion opponent could win approval to the U.S. Supreme Court must agree to back President Bush’s nominees if he is to head the committee acting on those nominations, the Senate’s Republican leader said.

Bush has four years to fill Supreme Court seats with basically no opposition. He doesn’t have to think about future re-election anymore. He has a majority in both houses and a huge debt to the far-right conservative Christian groups. Stacking the court to overturn Roe v. Wade may be only the beginning.