letsmovetocanada

Reagan, G-8 Summit and Saudis- OH MY!

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The last week has given us the opportunity to see all of the wonderful things that this former president has done. Wonderful, I mean awful sorry. This story sums up his political adventures in the White House.

The truth is straightforward: Virtually every significant problem facing the American people today can be traced back to the policies and people that came from the Reagan administration. It is a laundry list of ills, woes and disasters that has all of us, once again, staring apocalypse in the eye.

But not all is lost. Reagan did some great things. He was personable and likeable, and no matter that he ordered billions of dollars worth of arms to be sold to the Iranians for cash to give to right-wing contras in Latin America - he was an actor, it wasn't his fault. The conservatives sowed their royal oats with his adminstration and now Bush is letting the flowers bloom in full.

However, instead of dwelling on a guy who has been out of the public spotlight for 10 years, and none of us 20 somethings remember as anything but a cartoon starring with Max Hedroom and Gorbachev in the diner in Back to the Future II - we should look at our current Prez-e-dint and the ways that we can prevent him from becoming a two term conservative president who gets thought of fondly when he dies.

QUESTION OF THE DAY:

What do Swiss cheese and the new Iraqi army have in common?

They are both filled with holes and are repulsive to many.

Don't get me wrong, I love Swiss cheese just as much as the next over indulgent American, but I really don't like the new Iraq army. It not only repulses me, but it straight up reeks.

"It hasn't gone well. We've had almost one year of no progress," said Army Maj. Gen. Paul D. Eaton, who departs Iraq next week after spending a year assembling and training the country's 200,000 army, police and civil defense troops. "We've had the wrong training focus - on individual cops rather than their leaders," Eaton said in an interview with The Associated Press.

One year of no progress? Don't say that Major General, please don't. It can't be that bad, can it?:

In April, Iraqi security forces failed their first big test, when about half the police and military forces deserted during rebel uprisings in Fallujah, Najaf, Karbala and elsewhere.

There are now close to 90,000 Iraqi police officers and tens of thousands more Ministry of Interior forces, many have little or no modern police training.

Iraq is moving along swellingly, as far as I can tell. I'm so glad Bush and Chirac are finally agreeing on something.

Tensions evaporated as Mr. Chirac paid his fellow leader what any Frenchman would consider the ultimate compliment: the food served at the three-day gathering (G-8 Summit) was "certainly on a par" with French cuisine.

Mr. Bush, who began chuckling even before the comment was translated, interjected, "He particularly liked the cheeseburger he had yesterday!"

Mr. Chirac immediately responded by giving the thumbs-up sign, and exclaiming, in English, "It was excellent!"

Cheeseburger comments vs. the beginings of World War fucking III - take your pick.

Which reminds me, cheeseburgers are really bad for you.

Then again, so is associating your governement with an autocratic theocracy that has command of the world's largest oil reserves.

Michael Moore is doing a film about it.

And Craig Unger has written a fabulous book on the subject:

House of Bush, House of Saud begins with a single question: How is it that two days after September 11, 2001, even as American air traffic was tightly restricted, a Saudi billionaire socialized in the White House with President George W. Bush as 140 Saudi citizens, many immediate kin to Osama Bin Laden, were permitted to return to their country?

By the time George W. Bush was elected, the House of Saud had transferred an astonishing sum of money to the House of Bush in deals involving dozens of companies. The total? At least $1.4 billion in investments and contracts went to companies in which the Bushes and their allies held prominent positions. But the importance of the relationship goes far beyond money. More than any other country in the world, Saudi Arabia is responsible for the rise of Islamic fundamentalist terrorism that threatens America. Horrifying as it may seem, the secret liaison between these two great families helped trigger the Age of Terror and give rise to the tragedy of 9/11.

Look out Mr. Unger, here comes a member of the Saudi Royal family spittin' MAD game:

If Saudi Arabia is guilty of blame for what [bin Laden] has become, the United States must surely share the blame. Both of us backed the mujahedeen to liberate Afghanistan from Soviet occupation, and allowed such people as bin Laden to the fray.

Wait, but your country's elite GIVES MONEY TO HIM.

because the extremism of Saudi Arabia's archconservatives is being used as evidence for not only the sympathy, but also the collaboration of Saudi Arabia and its society with al Qaeda's aims and objectives. Nothing is further from the truth, as evidenced by the war being waged relentlessly against al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia and the support that the society is giving the governments efforts to rid the country of these evildoers.

ahh, the phrase "evil doers" has such a nice ring to it...I wonder who coined that phrase into our memory?