Hello Colonel Pot, Meet President Kettle

The US Ambassador to the UN quite rightly described Gadaffi as delusional and accused him of 'laughing… while slaughtering his own people'.

Totally true. But it reminded me of another man who has killed hundreds of his own troops and hundreds of thousands of civilians in illegal and unnecessary wars, all seemingly without losing his levity.

Ah yes, here it is: it's George W. Bush

I'm Hearing Double, or Old Habits Die Hard

Via Doonesbury - and don't take this as an endorsement of plagiarism, students:

"If we have multiple, highly skilled Special Operations forces identifying targets for precision-guided munitions, we will need fewer conventional ground forces. That's an important lesson learned from Afghanistan".

General Tommy Franks, in American Soldier.

"If we have multiple, highly skilled Special Operations forces identifying targets for precision-guided munitions, we will need fewer conventional ground forces. That's an important lesson learned from Afghanistan". 

George W. Bush in Decision Points. 

A good way to spend money

I've had this conversation a few times this week: what would you do with the £45,000,000 lottery win scooped by a couple in Wales and by a syndicate of workers?

One thing I'd do is pick my least favourite people in the world and hire a team of people to follow them everywhere they go. You could have a bunch of people shouting 'sanctimonious war criminal' at Tony Blair or 'read a book' at George Bush 24 hours per day, or perhaps hound the director-general of the BBC with quotations from Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, Bargain Hunt or Cash in the Attic or most Radio 4 'comedy' until he made a personal apology to every licence payer.

Then it struck me: we don't need lottery wins. We just need a lot of people to donate a small amount of money to cover flights, loudhailers and bail money, and get volunteers. We could, and I'm sorry to use such terribly trendy language, 'crowdsource' the cash. Who's with me? I said, WHO'S WITH ME?

Slight return

Cynical Ben has pointed out in the comments to the previous entry that I was overly negative about Obama's speech, which you can read here, and that Obama stressed the importance of science, mentioned atheists and critiqued the oil companies. OK, you're right. I'm grumpy from marking, but then again - these things wouldn't be remarkable in a lot of countries. Why we don't subcontract our governance to Norway, I can't fathom. I will say that Obama is a brilliant speaker. He's an intelligent man, has a powerful voice and seems to be determined to stamp his authority on events. Just what America needs at this point. The KKK must be furious - an African-American and a Catholic in charge. I hope there's a Jew and a Muslim near the top too!

Also, Ben, I was being sarcastic about the poem - it's hard to convey in text. It was painfully bad. I don't think ceremonial poetry ever works. 

Dick Cheney attended the ceremony in a wheelchair after doing his back in moving into his new house (surely cell?). This means of course that Bush was there as a lame duck and Cheney was his lame fuck.

My friend Jim Hiam was there - having wangled a ticket from a Senator who's a friend of his American family. Lucky guy. He must be freezing…

What if?

At 11.30 a.m. (US time), Joe Biden takes the oath of office as vice-president. So at least Cheney's out of the way, but Bush is still President. So if Bush has a heart-attack (out of sheer Texan fury) before Obama is sworn in, does Biden become President? Does Biden have any authority as VP while Bush is still President or is it only activated when Obama's sworn-in at 12.00? What if Obama has a heart-attack (or gets shot) between Biden's oath and his own? Who's in charge?

Brave satirical warriors

Like most people, I'm overjoyed to see the back of GWB (roll on the experience of being disappointed by someone meant to be on our side - like 1997 all over again), but I'm getting bored with spiteful digs at little Bush by institutions who've only just discovered their spines. I can understand the Guardian publishing its special insert on the Bush years because most of its writers were antiwar, but Radio 4's satirical condensed history of the presidency is a) not very funny and b) not especially brave, being broadcast on Radio Middle Class less than 48 hours before he leaves (I wonder how it fits into the BBC's 'balance' doctrine). It's an even more cowardly version of Israel's Bush going-away party, the one with all the fireworks and Palestinians sleeping it off in the streets. 

An argument isn't bold unless there's a possibility of disagreement. That's why American (and British) political speeches are so vacuous. 'I believe Insert Country Here is the greatest nation on earth' Wow. Radical stance.