A Little Memory Refresher

Parody and Satire Predicts Reality

Bush: 'Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over'
The Onion
January 17, 2001 | Issue 37•01

WASHINGTON, DC–Mere days from assuming the presidency and closing the door on eight years of Bill Clinton, president-elect George W. Bush assured the nation in a televised address Tuesday that "our long national nightmare of peace and prosperity is finally over."

"My fellow Americans," Bush said, "at long last, we have reached the end of the dark period in American history that will come to be known as the Clinton Era, eight long years characterized by unprecedented economic expansion, a sharp decrease in crime, and sustained peace overseas. The time has come to put all of that behind us."

The rest of it is a real jaw dropper ...

U.S. a theocratic state, says former Canadian ambassador

Juliet O’Neill, CanWest News Service
Published: Friday, June 01, 2007

OTTAWA — Frank McKenna, Canada’s former ambassador to Washington, referred to the United States on Friday as "a theocratic state" in which Christian evangelicalism plays a big role in the Republican administration.

“Right now the United States is in many ways a theocratic state, not dissimilar to some of the other religious states in the world where religion has a huge part to play in government."

More here ...

Another one of those things to file under "Just because it doesn't fit your self image doesn't mean it isn't true."

Just listing a few nations that are run as a theocracy:

• Iran
• Saudi Arabia
• Afghanistan (under the Taliban)
• Pakistan (well, not really ... it's a military junta but try being something other then Muslim in Pakistan.)
• Israel
• The Vatican

The company one keeps speaks volumes about who one is.

I suppose being subjected to a theocracy is not so bad ... as long as it's YOUR religion that runs the show. But what about people who believe differently? I suppose that doesn't matter ... if its your religion that runs the show.

America ranks low in 'Peace Index'

File under: Just because it doesn't agree with your self image doesn't mean it isn't true

From Times Wire Reports
May 31, 2007

The United States is among the least peaceful nations in the world, ranking 96th between Yemen and Iran, according to an index of 121 countries.

According to the Global Peace Index, created by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Norway is the most peaceful nation and Iraq is the least, just after Russia, Israel and Sudan.

Get the LA Times summary article here ...

It's always a little disconcerting to find that we have things in common with those we condemn.

Troop Surge Failing Ahead of Schedule

Can the Iraq 'Surge' Be Salvaged?
As Violence Seems to Outpace Progress, Officials Talk of Next Steps
By GREG JAFFE and YOCHI J. DREAZEN (WSJ)

WASHINGTON -- When the Bush administration decided to send tens of thousands of additional troops to Iraq, the strategy rested on an unspoken trade-off: U.S. troops would risk greater casualties to tamp down violence and buy the Baghdad government time to make the political compromises needed to reconcile the country's warring factions.

But a resurgence of sectarian violence and attacks on U.S. troops, coupled with little to no progress on crucial Iraqi political goals, is already spurring discussion about whether the current strategy can succeed.

Read the rest here ...

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Rising Tide ... ?

For those of us who subscribe to the mistaken belief in economics that "a rising tide lifts all boats equally":

Going to Extremes: CEOs vs. Slaves

Recent findings shed new light on the increasingly unequal terrain of American society. Starting at the top executive level: You may have thought, as I did, that the guys in the C-suites operated as a team -- or, depending on your point of view, a pack or gang -- each getting his fair share of the take. But no, the rising tide in executive pay does not lift all yachts equally. The latest pay gap to worry about is the one between the CEO and his -- or very rarely her -- third in command.

According to a just-reported study by Carola Frydman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Raven E. Saks at the Federal Reserve, 30-40 years ago, the CEOs of major companies earned 80 percent more, on average, than the third-highest-paid executives. By the early part of the 21st century, however, the gap CEO and the third in command had ballooned up to 260 percent.

MORE ...

If it doesn't work in the rarified atmosphere of the c-suits, imagine how well it doesn't work for the rest of the people.

Bush's Last Hope

"If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error."

John Kenneth Galbraith
from Quotes of the Day

Amazing

"My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you I just signed legislation which outlaws Russia forever. The bombing begins in five minutes." - Ronald Raegan

What is WITH these people?!?!

And now we have Walnuts McCain singing "Bomb, bomb bomb ... bomb, bomb Iran."

In a most interesting turn of events, the Bush administration is now talking to ... IRAN ... about how we can collectively chill out the situation in Iraq. This, after saying we would NEVER talk to our enemies. (On a parenthetical note, it sounds awfully like a friggin' flip-flop to me. And here I thought changing one's mind when circumstances change was supposed to be condemned! Flip-flopping just couldn't be a virtue. One is supposed to "stay the course", no matter what the evidence is ... )

We talked with Lybia ... and Lybia changed course.

We talked to North Korea ... and North Korea changed course.

Now we're talking to Iran.

Dose this mean they're learning from their past mistakes? No! It can't be. They don't make mistakes.

It came like yesterday

May 24th 2007 | ACAPULCO
From The Economist print edition

The first human inhabitants of North America may not have exterminated the mammoths. The culprit might have been a comet

ARCHAEOLOGISTS know little of what life was like for the first people in America. One thing they thought they knew, however, was that these people hunted mammoths and other large mammals until none was left. Once that had happened, they disappeared themselves.

But the Clovis people of 13,000 years ago, named after the place their characteristic arrowheads and spear-points were first found, may not be a bell-tolling example of the danger of technological progress after all. They may have gone, along with mammoths, short-headed bears, ground sloths and camels, because a comet exploded over their heads.

MORE ...

What a neat trick ... considering the earth is only some 6,000 years old!

A drive for global domination has put us in greater danger

Moral authority, which is our greatest source of strength, has been recklessly put at risk by this wilful president

Al Gore
Thursday May 24, 2007
The Guardian

The pursuit of "dominance" in foreign policy led the Bush administration to ignore the UN, to do serious damage to our most important alliances, to violate international law, and to cultivate the hatred and contempt of many in the rest of the world. The seductive appeal of exercising unconstrained unilateral power led this president to interpret his powers under the constitution in a way that brought to life the worst nightmare of the founders. Any policy based on domination of the rest of the world not only creates enemies for the US and recruits for al-Qaida, but also undermines the international cooperation that is essential to defeating terrorists who wish to harm and intimidate America. Instead of "dominance", we should be seeking pre-eminence in a world where nations respect us and seek to follow our leadership and adopt our values.

MORE ...