John Howard gets in on the fun too!

Annabel Crabb in The Age:

Then Mr Howard arrived [in Davos].

After switching on the lights, turning down the music and briskly fanning away the lingering suggestion of smoke from funny cigarettes, the Australian Prime Minister stoutly argued that it would just be silly to blindly increase aid or forgive debt when there were concerns about exactly where the money ends up.

Governments of developing nations, he said, had to pull their weight by sorting out their own problems with internal corruption before wealthy nations could successfully convince their own constituents to loosen the sporran strings.

See the Niall Ferguson reference below. I really want to dig deep to enlarge the Swiss bank account of some Third World Thugocrat.

Warming to his theme, the PM had a shot at the Europeans themselves, pointing out that they had no right to harp on about the US approach when the EU itself maintained trade barriers that actively harm the interests of developing nations.

This sort of talk is not fashionable; not in the least.

I guess we'll have to give the haute couture a pass.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 10:30 PM -

 
More Kleptocrat Fun with Mark Steyn

Would you trust these men with $64bn of your cash? Of course not:

That's how bad things are at the UN: even the Brits sound like Claude Rains. Of course, the Secretary-General isn't "shocked" at all. And nor are the media, which is why the major news organisations can barely contain their boredom with the biggest financial scam of all time – bigger than Enron, Worldcom and all the rest rolled into one. If ever there were a dog-bites-man story, "UN Stinkingly Corrupt Shock!" is it.

And, in a way, they have a point: what happened was utterly predictable. If I had $64 billion of my own money, I'd look after it carefully. But give someone $64 billion of other people's money to "process" and it would be surprising if some of it didn't get peeled off en route. Especially if that $64 billion gives you access to a unique supply of specially low-priced oil you can re-sell at market prices. Hire Third World bureaucrats to supervise the "processing" and you can kiss even more of it goodbye. Grant Saddam Hussein the right of approval over the bank that will run the scheme, and it's clear to all that nit-picky book-keeping will not be an overburdensome problem.

In other words, the system didn't fail. This is the transnational system, working as it usually works, just a little more so. One of the reasons I'm in favour of small government is because big government tends to be remote government, and remote government is unaccountable, and, as a wannabe world government, the UN is the remotest and most unaccountable of all. If the sentimental utopian blather ever came true and we wound up with one "world government", from an accounting department point of view, the model will be Nigeria rather than New Hampshire.

That's why Washington has no interest in joining Gordon Brown's newly announced Cash-for-Guilt programme, under which the Chancellor (or, to be more precise, you) has agreed to improve the Afro-kleptocracy's cash flow by transferring 10 per cent of its debt burden to the United Kingdom – a perfect example of the malign combination of empty European gesture-politics and Third World larceny that's been the default mode of progressive transnationalism for far too long. By contrast, consider the splendid John Howard. In announcing Australian's $1 billion tsunami aid package, he was careful to emphasise that he wouldn't be wiring it via the estate of Benon Sevan's late auntie.

If Paul Volcker's preliminary report on Oil-for-Food dealt with the organisation's unofficial interests, the UN's other report of the week accurately captured their blithe insouciance to their official one. As you may have noticed, the good people of Darfur have been fortunate enough not to attract the attention of the arrogant cowboy unilateralist Bush and have instead fallen under the care of the Polly Toynbee-Clare Short-approved multilateral compassion set. So, after months of expressing deep concern, grave concern, deep concern over the graves and deep grave concern over whether the graves were deep enough, Kofi Annan managed to persuade the UN to set up a committee to look into what's going on in Darfur. They've just reported back that it's not genocide.

Of course the most amazing thing about the UN farce is how many people still take the United Nations seriously.

The Bush Administration is now said to be considering using Kofi's "shock" to effect a regime change of its own at the UN. But to whom and to what? I'd be in favour of destroying the UN – or, failing that, at least moving its headquarters to Rwanda, but either of those options would require a level of political will hard to muster in modern sentimental democracies.

Aw c'mon! Let's go for it.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 10:16 PM -

 
Today's Hoot!

Bush Bitch-slaps Rather:

Bush turned to Rather, smiled, and held out his hand. "So, Dan, are you retiring back to Austin?"

Rather was a bit put off. "Well, sir, I'll be spending about half the year there from now on."

"That's great. I'll see you there in four years."

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 6:54 PM -

 
When kleptocrats fall out!

Former UN Head Boutros-Ghali Defends Iraq Oil Deal:

Former U.N. head Boutros Boutros-Ghali refused to take all the blame for Iraq's scandal-tainted oil-for-food program on Saturday, pointing the finger at his successor Kofi Annan.

OK, boys. First one to come clean gets a reduced sentence.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 2:25 PM -

 
Just send cash!

And lots of it - G7 Appears to Reach Compromise on African Aid:

The Group of Seven appeared to have achieved a compromise on aid to the Third World on Saturday, proposing "up to" 100 percent multilateral debt relief to poor nations, G7 sources told Reuters.

Third world "debt" is an annoying racket at best. The Thugocracies repeatedly blow the dough and the wealthy nations repeatedly cover their debts.

British finance minister Gordon Brown had sought a complete debt write off for the world's poorest nations, but faced resistance from the United States.

Washington had objected to his proposal to use IMF gold reserves to fund the debt write off and also to create a new financing mechanism that would double aid

Sounds right to me.

The plan has the backing of South Africa's Nelson Mandela who made an emotional appeal to the G7, equating the fight against poverty to the struggle against apartheid.

"Do not delay while poor people continue to suffer," the 86-year-old former political prisoner said, putting all his moral weight behind his plea. He demanded a full write-off of African debt and $50 billion extra a year in aid for the next decade.

Ah, Africa - the spiritual home of Thugocracy and its apologists like Nellie. Hey, where's Desmond Tutu?

U.S. Treasury Under Secretary John Taylor said he disagreed with the Brown plan to double existing aid by using rich countries' guarantees to raise money in the capital markets, and using gold reserves to fund a debt write-off.

"What we think is the main, major problem now is the funds are not being used effectively. We've got to demand results," Taylor said on BBC radio.

The Thugocracies aren't about results, they're about big Mercedes sedans. Niall Ferguson has nice article on British leftoid guilt and the African Thugocracies in the Telegraph - Africa doesn't need handouts: it needs honest governments:

As it is, the only people falling over themselves seem to be Mr Blair and Mr Brown, as they vie with one another like a pair of holier-than-thou student politicians to see who can do more to assuage Britain's post-colonial guilt about Africa.
...
The trouble is that what both Blair and Brown are proposing are mere variations on an old, familiar theme known as "aid". (As Mr Brown's advisers well know, there is no real difference between "debt forgiveness" and handing poor countries a large, gift-wrapped cheque.) But we have been here before. Between 1950 and 1995, Western countries gave away around $1 trillion (in 1985 prices) in aid to poorer countries. But these efforts yielded pitiful results, as New York University economist Bill Easterly has shown, because the recipient countries lacked the political, legal and financial institutions necessary for the money to be used productively.

Indeed, much of the money that has poured into poor countries since the 1950s has simply leaked back out - often to bank accounts in Switzerland. One recent study of 30 sub-Saharan countries calculated that total capital export for 1970-96 was some $187 billion, which, when accrued interest is added, implies that Africa's ruling elites had private overseas assets equivalent to 145 per cent of the public debts their countries owed. The authors of that study conclude that "roughly 80 cents on every dollar borrowed by African countries flowed back [to the West] as capital flight in the same year".

Such a deal!

Which brings us back to Kenya and to the fundamental problem of African politics: corruption. In the past week or so, two stories have illustrated just what is wrong with the way Kenya has come to be governed since independence. The first was the response of the authorities in Nairobi to the blunt remarks made by our High Commissioner, Sir Edward Clay, on the subject of the country's "massive looting and/or grand corruption".

Sir Edward was telling it like it is. According to the think-tank Transparency International, Kenya is one of the dozen most corrupt countries in the world. But the Kenyan government blew a gasket. "Sir Edward Clay has just behaved as an enemy of this government," declared the country's justice minister.

The other story that caught my eye concerned the violence that flared up last month in the Kenyan Rift Valley. Just another case of ancient ethnic hatred, in this case between Maasai and Kikuyu? Not quite. As the BBC reported: "The trouble is thought to have started when Maasai herdsmen accused a local Kikuyu politician of diverting a river to irrigate his farm, prompting a water shortage further downstream."

Like Mr Brown, I, too, recently visited Tanzania, where I got to know the son of an opposition politician. For most of his life, his father had been in jail. "You see," he explained to me, "what African politicians find hard to understand about democracy is why, once they have got power, they should have to hand it over to someone else just because of an election."

For power means, above all, money. It means being the guy to whom Brown hands the bulging envelope. So Africa's problem is not a problem that aid can solve. On the contrary: aid may simply make the problem worse. Africa's real problem is a problem of governance...

But they aren't slouches at playing the old sad tunes to get the usual leftoids reaching for the taxpayers' wallets.

Speaking of which, the "governors" have got another scam cooking - AU: Pay up for slavery:

Addis Ababa - The African Union plans to relaunch attempts to gain reparations for the countless Africans who were abducted from the continent and sold into slavery over the centuries, the pan-continental body said.

I thought they got paid originally when they sold their fellow citizens?

In a statement released late on Friday from its headquarters in Addis Ababa, the African Union said its executive Commission would push the issue, and would also call on African parliaments to do so.

Lots of luck with that. I'm still trying to get the Frenchies to pay reparations for the 100 Years War.

Talks on the issue took place on the sidelines of celebrations in Ethiopia to mark what would have been the 60th birthday of the late Jamaican singer Bob Marley.

Marley's supporters, the Rastafarians, have in the past pushed a demand for the main western nations involved in the slave trade and slavery - notably Britain, France, the United States, Spain and Portugal - to pay reparations.

They need more ganja money, I guess. Meanwhile in Asia, the local economies are just humming along.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 10:16 AM -

 
Whatever happened to the Gweilo?

Flying Chair alerts us to the latest scoop at Functional Ambivalent:

I got an email from my best friend in the whole world Conrad over at (the former) Gweilodiaries.
...
He made no mention of mysterious, vindictive women, so those of you who had that in the "What Happened to Gweilo" betting pool can tear up your tickets in frustration. Ditto those who figured the Chinese government somehow suppressed him. He is, instead, just someone who discovered that blogging was not a forever thing.
...
UPDATE: By the way, the results on the Gweilo Poll, as of this minute, are:

He's Dead -- 12%
He's Not Dead -- 16%
He's Laughing at Us -- 72%

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 9:40 AM -

 
Is it Halloween already?

Betsy's Page:

Jim Geraghty says "cue the Gone With the Wind" theme for this picture. I just say eeuuuw. But then I'm incredibly immature at times.

Darn, that's scary!

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 9:23 AM -

 
Opie gets a gig!

John Edwards to Head UNC Poverty Center:

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Former Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards (news - web sites) will head a University of North Carolina center that will study ways to lift people out of poverty.

Tell 'em to sue somebody, no doubt.

Edwards, a 1977 graduate of UNC's law school, will be director of the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity, the university said Friday. He will hold a part-time, two-year faculty position, funded by private gifts to the university.

It's great the way modern institutions of higher learning have such a plethora of these odd jobs for out of work Donks.

The press release has more:

The Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity will be a nonpartisan initiative, bringing together UNC-Chapel Hill faculty and other national public policy experts to examine innovative and practical ideas for moving more Americans out of poverty and into the middle class.

Gosh, nonpartisan! Looks like the Socialists and the Communists will lie down together. But don't tear up too quick, there's more sentimental blather:

"The time I spent at Chapel Hill gave me many of the tools I have used all my life to help those who are struggling, and I am so proud that I will be able to continue this work and also give something back to UNC-Chapel Hill," Edwards said. "As director of the center, I will work to explore creative approaches to the difficulties that families in poverty face every day."

Maybe he'll tell his famous story about the little girl without a coat!

"John Edwards will be a marvelous resource for faculty and students across campus," said Law School Dean Gene Nichol. "His life experiences as well as his time as senator and vice presidential candidate make him ideally suited to lead this new center."

And he'll repeat it everywhere on campus, I guess.

At UNC-Chapel Hill, Edwards will hold a part-time, two-year, fixed-term faculty position. He will be designated a University Professor and hold an Alumni Distinguished Professorship, which is funded by private gifts to the University. It takes effect Feb. 14.

Ruh oh! A Valentine from wealthy donors for the cute little tyke! I'm a tad curious as to what the Center will consist of besides Opie, his big office, and his secretary. But not that curious.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 5:36 PM -

 
Anything to get the rubes into the sideshow

All the usual suspects love "global warming" - it's such a nice way of filling their coffers and fulfilling their control fantasies at the same time. So I guess we shouldn't be surprised that Rowan Williams has decided that it's just the ticket to boost the flagging vitality of the Church of England. Check out this virtuous Viagra:

The preachers in England have fallen on hard times since they pretty much turned Jesus out of the church, but the archbishop of Canterbury has come up with a novel idea to make himself relevant: If you can't get 'em to church, get 'em to the greenhouse.

The churches of England — the churches of the Church of England — are going eco-friendly.

Dr. Rowan Williams wants his vicars to serve only organic bread and wine for holy communion, ...

Reminds me of the ancient joke about the parishioner that wanted his communion wafer toasted, but I digress.

to urge parishioners to ride to service in car pools, recycle "waste products," and to sell only "fair trade products" at church fairs and Bingo suppers. Anglicans should consider the ethics of the High Streets and shopping malls.

I'm not sure what the latter means, but undoubtedly it's the fault of evil capitalists.

He will outline his vision of a green world at a session of the General Synod of his church later this month. The gospel of global warning, not the Gospel of the Good News, is the challenge with which he wants his church to confront Britain and, naturally, the United States. Organic brussels sprouts, not organic accompaniment to the mighty hymns to the faith, should be the first order of Sunday worship in the stately empty pews of England.

There will soon be standing room only, I'm sure.

A "discussion document" has been distributed among the churches, and it deals with climate, not Christ, warning that the planet's climate is close to a tipping point.

Can you say Millerites, children? But here's the bottom line:

The greening of what remains of the British state church is part of a fresh effort to shame America into stunting the nation's growth on behalf of the lazy buggers of the world, mostly Europeans. If the lazy buggers have a prayer of making themselves equals of the Americans, the Americans have to be brought down to size. Going green, to match the color of the envy of American prosperity and power, is the lazy-bugger recipe for an equality of shrunken expectations.

The archbishop's organic bread and communion wine accompanies the British offensive in behalf of the Kyoto Protocol, which a succession of presidents and a unanimous vote of the U.S. Senate consigned to irrelevance. But Kyoto, as disastrous as it would be if a president or the Congress should be so suicidal as to attempt to impose it on the American economy, does not go far enough.

"It has taken far too long to be ratified as each country fights for its own interests (the United States is notable among countries which have declined to sign)," the ecclesiastical discussion document goes on, and "its targets fall very far short of what is necessary."

I'd say it's nearly "virgins in the volcano" time! Sorry girls, but it's tough appeasing angry weather gods! However, despite my natural desire to see the festivities, I would suggest that Rowan not call us, but instead wait for us to ring him.

And related - Global warming hotheads would burn sceptics at the stake. It's just like the good old days!

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 1:17 PM -

 
More United Nations Fun!

(Via Oraculations) NBC Reporter Was on U.N. Lobby Payroll:

Linda Fasulo, the U.N. correspondent for NBC News and MSNBC, has written a pro-U.N. book, An Insider's Guide to the U.N., which reads like the U.N. paid for it. Actually, the pro-U.N. lobby paid for it. In a monstrous conflict of interest for a supposed straight news reporter, Fasulo acknowledges Ted Turner's U.N. Foundation and Better World Campaign for "their generous financial support" of her book project. She also thanks the Rockefeller Brothers Fund "for helping to fund the project."

Gosh, I wonder what Linda had to say about the kleptocrats?

The book is about "one of the finest and most important governing bodies," she says. Of the U.N. chief, she writes like a school girl with a crush. "It is hard to find anyone who can mount a serious criticism of [Kofi] Annan's performance as Secretary General," she claims. His performance is so "impressive" that she wonders if a "cult of personality" has risen up around him. One U.S. official is reported to be "astonished by just how good a Secretary General Kofi Annan has been."

This could be sick humor, but if not, they ought to include a barf bag inside the front cover.

The book is also full of praise for the pro-U.N. lobby, including the groups that made the book possible. Alluding to Ted Turner's financial gift to the U.N., she writes that "For those of us who haven't made our first billion, an excellent way to participate (at least indirectly) is to join" the United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA). Fasulo also praises the Business Council for the U.N. (BCUN), a division of UNA-USA, as a group that "reaches out to the private sector" with a pro-U.N. message.

I wonder what brand of kneepads Linda favors?

More hilarity by following the link including the crack job Kofi did in Rwanda. Just call him Genocide Boy.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 11:18 AM -

 
He's shocked! Shocked, I tell ya!



Annan "shocked" at report on UN's Iraq oil programme:

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was "shocked" by an independent enquiry that found unethical behaviour by the official who ran the oil-for-food programme in Iraq, his chief of staff said.

The enquiry said the official, Benon Sevan, solicited allocations of Iraqi oil from the Baghdad regime of Saddam Hussein and had got questionable cash payments but stopped short of saying he had taken bribes.

Maybe we're supposed to think of them as gratuities?

Mark Malloch Brown, Annan's chief of staff, said disciplinary proceedings had been started against Sevan, although it was unclear what measures could be taken because Sevan has already resigned from the United Nations.

How about stopping his pension, since he has his own retirement "nest egg"? On the other hand, handing him over to the Iraqis would be even better

"The secretary general is shocked by what the report has to say about Mr Sevan, terribly dismayed that a colleague of so many years' standing is accused of breaching the UN code of conduct and staff rules in the way he did," Malloch Brown told reporters.

"He very much doubts there can be any extenuating circumstances to explain the behaviour which appears proven in the report," Malloch Brown said.

He reiterated that Annan would waive diplomatic immunity if any criminal charges are launched against UN officials connected to the scandal-tainted oil-for-food programme.

Yadda, yadda. I'll believe it when I see them doing the perp walk.

In a statement, Sevan's lawyers issued a stinging rebuke of the Volcker panel's report.

"They have not found -- because they cannot -- that Mr Sevan ever accepted anything from anyone," they said. "There is no smoking gun. Mr Sevan never took a penny."

The Washington law firm, Baach Robinson and Lewis, said the Volcker enquiry -- which was commissioned by Annan -- had "succumbed to massive political pressure and now seeks to scapegoat" Sevan.

And made fun of Benny's walking around money too:

The investigation report said Mr. Sevan solicited oil allocations from Saddam Hussein's regime on behalf of a trading company from 1998 to 2001, and it raised concerns that he might have received kickbacks for the help.

The report does not say how the former administrator profited, but it does say that he failed to account satisfactorily for $160,000 deposited into his bank account.

His "known" bank account. Maybe he found it on the street?

But wait, there is some good news:

The report praised U.N. management of the account that paid for the oil-for-food program. The Volcker team also noted that few organizations would have submitted to such an intense scrutiny.

U.N. officials yesterday seized on these as proof of the international organization's continued trustworthiness.

That sure convinces me!

Actually, this is just an interim report with the final report due during this summer:

Mark Malloch Brown, the secretary-general's new chief of staff, said Monday Volcker will probably "land some very heavy blows."

Asked about his comment, Annan quipped with a laugh, "Do I look worried?"

Sheesh, Kofi does Alfred E. Neuman.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 8:33 AM -

 
It's great that CNN hires the handicapped!

But doesn't their medical plan cover medication?



Captain Ed is all over the delusions of CNN honcho Eason Jordan - just keep scrolling. Ordinarily, I would just think he was nuts, but then you notice that he only has his public fits in foreign venues. I wonder how he can stand looking at himself in the mirror?

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 3:02 PM -

 
And they're a class act too!

An F in Deportment for the Donks. My favorite:

John Roberts (CBS News) - "At a couple points in this address, it looked more like the British Parliament than The United States Congress. I've never heard the minority party shout at the President during The State Of The Union Address."

As loosely wrapped as some of them are, I hope they have metal detectors at the entrance.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 2:42 PM -

 
Charles Johnson gets some ink

A New York Sun Profile

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 12:13 PM -

 
What a tag team!



They'll put you in a Sleeper Hold! It's Mutt Moonbat and Jeff! Or maybe Skeletor and Destro! And they've already released the greatest hits from their response to the President's as yet undelivered State of the Union address. Best line:

Is Pelosi going to try and say this with a straight face??

What other kind does the Botoxed one have?

Wait, there's more!

Appearing on “The Big Story with John Gibson” moments ago, Congressman Adam Smith (D-WA) savagely criticized the substance of that big presidential speech to which I earlier alluded, leading me to believe I must have missed the damn thing.

Sorry about that. But in my defense, AS A CITIZEN JOURNALIST, I’M ALLOWED TO TAKE A REFRESHING NAP FROM TIME TO TIME!

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 5:26 PM -

 
Hey, hey, it's Hollyweird!

Richard Gere 'splains it all:

Asked on CBS's Early Show to explain "Healing the Divide," actor Richard Gere bafflingly replied that "the world is a symbolic representation." Gere incomprehensibly elaborated about the group he supports: "You and I are not separate. The Iraqis and us are not separate. Even Saddam Hussein and us, we are not separate. We're all in this together. All deeply connected. And when we can start bridging that divide -- the primitive, ignorant divide of that -- then wars go away. All wars go away."

Easy for him to say, I'm sure.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 1:14 PM -

 
Insufficient nuance alert!

Janet Albrechtsen in the Australian:

"Some people think I'm simplistic," Reagan said, "but there's a difference between being simplistic and being simple. My theory of the Cold War is that we win and they lose. What do you think about that?"

I kinda like the sound of it!

If Reagan ushered in "Morning in America" (his 1984 campaign theme) with an optimism that was to defeat the Soviet empire, then perhaps, just perhaps, George W. Bush and his coalition partners have ushered in morning in Iraq, offering Iraqis an optimism that will allow them too to succeed.
...
Perhaps, just perhaps, Bush - and John Howard - understand the big picture here in a way that is beyond the foreign policy experts, the journalists and the reflexive anti-US commentators. Presidents and prime ministers are paid to look for the big picture, for the history-making change. Others, especially journalists, deal in today's minutiae, not the macro movements. They analyse and agonise over tomorrow's fish wrappings. Political leaders must deal with history.

Unless you are a "political leader" in the Democrat party where agonizing over minutia is a way of life and your last Presidential candidate raised it to a true art form.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 12:41 PM -

 
Today's Hoot!

I'm late to the party, but I'd surely be remiss if I failed to mention the "captured doll" hoax that the ankle biters palmed off on the droolers in the MSM - "If proven a fake...." IF? Oh, I'd say the "If" has long since left the building.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 8:17 PM -

 
More "point man" fun!

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 7:57 PM -

 
That'll sure help!

Annan Selects Clinton for Tsunami Effort

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has selected former President Clinton to be the U.N. point man for tsunami reconstruction and ensure that the world doesn't forget the immense needs of the countries devastated by the Dec. 26 disaster, a well-informed U.N. diplomat said Tuesday.

No work, free 5 star travel without the wife, and plenty of foreign hotties! What's not to like?

The U.N. diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the appointment of Clinton as Annan's top envoy for the rehabilitation of tsunami-devastated countries would expand on the former president's current efforts to raise money in the United States.

And Bubba knows how to raise money. First stop at Hollywood and then on to China!

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 12:44 PM -

 
Video humor alert!

Damian Penny has the banned Bud ad, but for down home laughs, nothing beats Patches the Horse.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 8:00 AM -

 
Let's have a jamboree!

But it's so hard to choose! Do you go to Davos with the rich wimps or Porto Alegre with the moonbats? At Davos you could listen to the Euros whine (or tell them to get stuffed) but all the action was with the Hollyweirdos and Bill Gates' doodles. Zzzzzz.



On the other hand, at Porto Alegre you could hang out with the party crowd! Hugo Chavez gets hero's welcome at World Social Forum:

Sporting a red shirt embossed with a picture of the revolutionary Che Guevera, Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez received a hero's welcome Sunday at the World Social Forum, where activists greeted him with hugs and cries of "Here comes the boss!"

Tens of thousands of people attending the six-day gathering held to protest the simultaneous World Economic Forum in Switzerland consider Chavez their strongest voice against the U.S.-sponsored spread of liberalized trade in Latin America, a move they say benefits multinational companies while enslaving workers.

"Now the imperialist forces are starting to strike against the people of Latin America and the world," Chavez said. "And it's up to our soldiers to stay alert and be prepared to defend the people and not to submit themselves to the interests of the empire."

Some of the drug smugglers he supports must be slipping Hugo a few tootskies!

While Chavez was cheered at the social forum, some jeered Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva when he spoke Thursday, accusing him of failing to come through on promises of social reforms to eradicate Brazilian misery.

Now there's a wingnut test - booing Lula because he isn't far enough to the left.

Earlier Sunday, Chavez traveled 81 miles in a heavily guarded convoy to the town of Teves, visiting a cooperative at the end of a bumpy dirt road, where poor farmers with no land invaded a spread of unused property seven years ago.

The 33 families squatted on the land for years, went to the courts to win possession and now grow rice, corn and fruit. Chavez donned a keffiyah, the checkered Arab headdress, given to him by an admirer and asked farmers what they used to fertilize their crops.

Here's a hint, Hugo. They're rolling on a pile of it in the snap above. More Hugo adulation by following the link, but basically Hugo's a hero to the wingnuts because he has oil money to subsidize his fantasies. Kinda reminds me of someone else.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 7:19 PM -

 
Wotta guy!



I'm going to have to start calling the Lurchster, the Lamester. Ryne McLaren watched the spiv on Meet The Press yesterday and wishes he had the hour back. Not only was Lurch's big worry "overhype" in Iraq, but he trotted out Christmas in Cambodia again. Did we dodge a bullet or what? Oh yeah, Russert finally got him to promise to sign the Form 180 so all his military records will be released. We're holding you to it, Lamester.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 4:54 PM -

 
All the usual suspects are disappointed

But who gives a flying cowflop about them?



ScrappleFace:

News reports of terrorist bombings in Iraq were marred Sunday by shocking graphic images of Iraqi "insurgents" voting by the millions in their first free democratic election.
...
Journalists struggled to put a positive spin on the day's events, but the video images of tyranny's traitors choosing a future of freedom overwhelmed the official story of bloodshed and mayhem.

Not to worry - they'll think of something. A defective over at DemocraticUnderbelly suggests:

6. Until Iraqi insurgents deliver a pillow case full of...

fingers dipped in ink to the nearest American commander

because that's what I would do if I were an insurgent leader

No wonder Chris Heinz loves DU! Oh well, Chrissy's stepdad has a whole hour of Meet the Press today to spin a more nuanced fantasy.

posted by Cracker Barrel Philosopher at 9:40 AM -