I feel really sorry for the next Sec. of State because of the foriegn policy mess they will inherit thanks to this adminstration.
The first month after the Jan '09 inauguration will have be a Worldwide 'Mea Culpa' tour.
Jason
Posted by Jason at March 9, 2007 12:40 PMI keeping reading today about Bush getting a rough welcome during his visit. Is there anyplace other than the Oval Office bathroom he could go and NOT get a rough welcome these days?
Posted by steve duncan at March 9, 2007 01:10 PMOoops, forgot. Peggy Noonan would slobber all over any designated body part he pointed to I suppose.
Posted by steve duncan at March 9, 2007 01:12 PMWhat we're seeing in Latin America, as elsewhere, is enlightened, informed people reacting to political garbage that they know, because they have a free press and media, is pure bullcrap. Americans should be so fortunate. Well some of us are, because we have the web, but most Americans are victims of the corporate media.
For those of you readers located in Latin America: We support you! Viva Chavez! Fuera/Fora Bush! (Check my Spanish/Portugese please.)
Posted by Don Bacon at March 9, 2007 01:15 PMThe little fucker is incapable of telling the truth, ON ANYTHING! It's so true, if his lips are moving, he's lying.
Posted by Judith at March 9, 2007 01:16 PMGeorge Bush, Accidental Revolutionary! Who could've predicted?
"...at the end of the Cold War, most Latin American governments rushed to embrace the "Washington consensus" -- market-oriented liberalization policies that cut social spending and privatized national industries in order to pay down national debts. But the formula, pushed on the region by successive American presidents, largely failed to deliver the goods and left entire governments bankrupt and beholden to foreign lenders."
"Sensing an opportunity, new social and political movements in the region began marshalling their forces. Then George W. Bush came along, combining Yankee hubris with a Che-worthy radicalizing touch.
Bush has since presided over one of the most significant political re-alignments in the history of the Western Hemisphere."
Che Rides Again (On A Mountain Bike)
by Nick Miroff, TomDispatch, March 25, 2006
With a good intro by Tom Englehardt and links to related articles by Dorfman, Chomsky and Engler.
I don't think Bush's masters will be pleased with this one.
Posted by Pvt. Keepout at March 9, 2007 01:18 PMBush Lies, FBI Misuses Patriot, WH manipulates the Justice Dept...this Administration is just plain crooked. It really is more like the Mafia than a branch of a Democratic Government. We should be glad they are also incompetent. If they had the slightest competency in their crimes, our problems would be much worse. You might say "geez, how could it be worse"..well it could be and that's the really scary part.
Posted by T2 at March 9, 2007 01:18 PMYeah, I am sure the MSM will tell us tonight what a great success the Latin American trip has been for Howdy Doody.
Posted by Judith at March 9, 2007 01:19 PMJudith, just look at the photo of Bush up on MSNBC now....how totally stupid of Rove to send Bush down to SA when it was guaranteed he'd be boo'd, rioted and picketed at every stop. They don't feature the same kind of Media Control down there as we do. The photos coming back show an entire continent blowing off the US President in no uncertain terms. Take Bush out of the hand-picked Military base crowds he normally works and put a bunch of Yankee Go Home rioters in front of him and its "deer in the headlights" time for George.
Posted by T2 at March 9, 2007 01:28 PM"If they had the slightest competency in their crimes, our problems would be much worse."
T2, you are so absolutely correct on that one. Arrogance always is the weakness of people like this crew. It is always their downfall. Little strutting Hitler actually believes that he is so smart and clever, when in fact, he is stupid and transparent.
Posted by Judith at March 9, 2007 01:38 PMWho in the hell decided it was a good idea for Bush to go to Latin America? Did he need to leave the Country because of all the new scandals? Inquiring minds want to know.
Posted by Judith at March 9, 2007 04:13 PMBut you see, the big difference between us and those regimes in Latin America is that the Latin American dictators kept the streets clear of protesters by force and threat of arrest...uh...oh...wait. Uhhh, Bush does the same thing. Never mind. At least we don't torture prisoners like those Latin Americans!
Posted by phidipides at March 9, 2007 04:58 PMSpeaking with reporters on Air Force One, Bush's national security adviser, Stephen J. Hadley, argued that debt relief and the new Millennium Challenge program, which provides additional money to select countries that meet certain standards, mean that even more money is flowing to the region. And he said trade and remittances by immigrants in the United States should be taken into account.
WTF????? Trade and "remittances" by immigrants in the US? Does this mean what I think it means? Money sent home to family by immigrants here should be considered as part of our aid to Latin America??? Is that a veiled threat to our immigrants?
Posted by Julie at March 9, 2007 05:24 PMIs that a veiled threat to our immigrants?
Maybe. What do you consider a threat? We used NAFTA to take the small family farms in Mexico and turn them into corporate farms. We then tariffed the shit out of Mexican food imports. The Mexican farm boys, with nothing to do if they didn't want to be male prostitutes at the corporate compounds in Mexico, came to the U.S. for jobs. They send their money home so their families can afford the corn America now sells as a staple to the Mexicans.
Really, it's like Iraq. 70% of Iraqis live on insufficent food subsidies, and we bombed their water treatment facilities so there is literally shit in the water for most Iraqis. Since they can't come here to work and afford better, we must have all their oil before they can have water or proper nutrition. Simple, huh?
This empire stuff isn't as hard as the Brits make it out to be.
Posted by phidipides at March 9, 2007 05:41 PMLook at that picture. What a fucking idiot moron bullshit lying worthless prick. Let's keep the pressure up, people.
Posted by Sharkbabe at March 9, 2007 06:29 PMThe news media has been not saying that the trip is failure - they've been saying that Bush hasn't been paying the crowds enough.
Seriously - the meme from Wed. has been that Chavez has been giving away oil money and paying attention to the LA countries, and Bush hasn't. That's why he's unpopular. And do you know who's been running that garbage? NPR.
Posted by idiosynchronic at March 9, 2007 06:36 PMidio - you know what, truly fuck NPR. I haven't been able to subject my (genuinely) beautiful ears to their sellout bullshit shuck 'n jive for years now. What's worse than Cheney? NPR Cheney suckup. Truly.
Posted by Sharkbabe at March 9, 2007 06:41 PMMany Mexicans are extremely poor. When people say why don't they just come to this Country legally, I want to scream. They live in poverty and therefore have no way to hire an attorney to draw up paper for legal immigration. Don't people understand, that if they could afford to come here legally, they would?
Posted by Judith at March 9, 2007 06:43 PMBy-the-way, as predicted, NPR and the MSM are not mentioning a word about the defence contractors, multinationals or the ruling elite when discussing where the foreign aid is going. Isn't George just great giving all that money to those poor Latin Americans. Whata guy.
Posted by Judith at March 9, 2007 06:50 PMWhen people say why don't they just come to this Country legally, I want to scream.
"We will cross Mountains, Deserts and even Borders to feed our families. Wouldn't you?"
Posted by Seven of Six at March 9, 2007 07:33 PMNPR is just another variant of radio marti. only it is aimed at the inhabitants of amerikan north america.
the corporation for public broadcasting insists upon this fascist orientation.
and this agitprop posture antedated the bushit regime, it was vivified during the regime of the "black" president, bill clinton.
the bell cow was pacifica. reagan/bush era - pacifica did some real reportage. especially concerning the central amerikan wars[honey/avirgan]. with the election of clinton, pacifica abandoned journalism. and it was women who were putting the knife in: pat scott, lynn chadwick. but the supreme lady macbeth was mary frances berry. black. even a professor emeritus. in history, no less, i think.
i think that it was in the clinton era when pacifica decided to take cpb money. a fascist by the name of robert coonrod was running that show, then. or was it his predecessor?
anyway, he stipulated for cpb money, pacifica had to become monitored by arbitron[a commercial rating service].
i could relate so many stories.
but suffice it to say, pacifica is still taking cpb monies. and continues to abandon journalism. wanting to be another commercial network, i suppose.
"We will cross Mountains, Deserts and even Borders to feed our families. Wouldn't you?"
Seven of Six, yes. When you live in a shack with a dirt floor and your kids are hungry, the will to live will send you across any border, anywhere.
The words 'illegal alien' are carefully crafted to make one think in terms of 'non-human.'
Posted by Judith at March 9, 2007 09:23 PMWe exported tons of corn to Mexico and ruined their corn farmers, then we introduced WalMart with volume buying which ruined their small vegetable farmers, then we raised the height of the border fences, and then we threw all of the human residue of those policies into newly-built (by Halliburton) corporate-run detention centers.
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
--Emma Lazarus
Thanks Don for reminding us of those words. To bad they no longer apply to us.
Posted by Judith at March 10, 2007 04:33 AMamen, don and judith. Amen.
Posted by sara swati at March 13, 2007 11:06 PM