News dump

Way over there

Obviously, what i look for when i'm scouring the press, are the feelgood stories ... not for me the underdudless Britney photos or the Lindy Loham detox plan .. nonononnono

Todays feelgood stories are about the dicta commander in chief hi'self : he's the worst ever president according to the Wapo.

-big snip-

"Historians are loath to predict the future. It is impossible to say with certainty how Bush will be ranked in, say, 2050. But somehow, in his first six years in office he has managed to combine the lapses of leadership, misguided policies and abuse of power of his failed predecessors. I think there is no alternative but to rank him as the worst president in U.S. history"

Not once but twice !! Just to make sure we get the message.

-snip-

"Clearly it's dangerous for historians to wield the "worst president" label like a scalp-hungry tomahawk simply because they object to Bush's record. But we live in speedy times and, the truth is, after six years in power and barring a couple of miracles, it's safe to bet that Bush will be forever handcuffed to the bottom rungs of the presidential ladder. The reason: Iraq."


How can one possibly argue with this when we also learn that the chimpster is to carry on with the great familly jewel give away by allowing oil and gas drilling in Bristol Bay, Alaska , before the Democrats take office in january.


This morning we also discover why Rummy was fired - It's all about semantics.

Yes sireee; he suggested 'changing course' in Iraqinam which obviously sounds a bit different from 'stay-ing the course'.... one can imagine the shock, awe and stupeur on chimpys face when he read the memo...

-snip-

"To limit the political fallout from shifting course", he suggested "the administration consider a campaign to lower public expectations".

"Announce that whatever new approach the U.S. decides on, the U.S. is doing so on a trial basis", he wrote. "This will give us the ability to readjust and move to another course, if necessary, and therefore not ‘lose.’" “Recast the U.S. military mission and the U.S. goals (how we talk about them) — go minimalist,”



Just over there

More stuff is trickling out about the Litvinenko james bond type assasination/accident/suicide story.

The Observer has three comprehensive articles this morning, all of which dealing with the possibility that he had gathered compromising information about Yukos/russian oligarchs/ shady people you wouldn't want to walk down dark alleyways with.

In his own words : "I can blackmail them, we can make money" I just love the theory towards the end that maybe "... the poisonings were an accident that happened while Litvinenko tried to assemble a dirty bomb for Chechen rebels. Those who know him believe he was crazy enough to attempt such a thing and, in the past week, some have implicated him in the smuggling of nuclear materials from Russia."

Thanks to an interview with Julia Svetlichnaja - who was writing book about the chechen struggle and had been given Litvinenko as a contact - we learn thet he was a bit of a strange fish, all things being told.


Over to the Indy, where our favorite world leader/superhero, Poodleboy, grabs two headlines :

The ongoing saga of the Saudi + bribes + BAE 50 000 jobs thing, where unsurpirisingly we're told that the investigation " ... followed heavy pressure on Tony Blair from George Bush's administration .... documents released under US freedom of information laws reveal how the probe followed arm-twisting by the Bush administration...."

Cash for honours is back in the news : " ... a retired headteacher who was arrested after appearing to offer honours in return for school funding, spoke out against his treatment by the Government ... Mr Smith resigned as a consultant to the Government's City Academy programme after appearing to suggest that those who funded the new schools could expect honours ... "one or two" schools would secure an "OBE, a CBE or a knighthood", while those backing five or more "could expect to go to the House of Lords".

Excellent !!!!!!!!!!!!


In the U.K, there are some news papers (news rags) that are too filthy even to line Winstons cat litter tray... i'm talking about The Sun and the Daily Mail.

What galls me most about the Mail is their bait and switch tendancies.

Two articles to illustrate what i mean : First up, Borat created a hullabaloo at the foreign office where officials were warned against any notion of defending the movie for fear of creating tension between the U.K and Khazakhstan.

So far so good - mocking the Government is fine by me. Implying that Khasakhstan doesn't see the funny side is an established fact ... so why bother harping on ?

Because it can be slyly used as a springboard for a warrentless zenophobic piece like this : 5 000 polish babies born in the U.K every year " ... fuelling fears about the pressure placed on schools, hospitals and the benefits system by the huge wave of immigration from Eastern Europe....with many parents giving their children English names to help them fit in ... Official records say the number of Poles registered to live and work in Britain is 230,000, but the actual number here has been estimated at up to a million. "


Back to the Indy for a fun report about how the Queens english has changed over the years : " ....According to the researchers, the "happay" Christmas favoured by the Queen in 1952 has become "happee", "dutay" is now "dutee", and one's "hame" is now our "home". Her pronunciation of "had" no longer rhymes with "head ..."