Bush: I'm Shocked, Shocked, to Find Gambling Going on Here

Sorry for being a little slow on the uptake today. A friend who I do some internet work for was trying to renew some domain names, and asked me to participate in a few conference calls. But enough of that...

I managed to come across this offering from the Times. Bush gave ten minutes to Al Hurra, a sort of Vichy-style Arabic Network based in Virginia, followed by an additional ten minutes with Al Arabiya, which has a bit more pull among residents of the Middle East. Dubya certainly has the bewildered look down, but whether it can translate into any sort of credibility in the Middle East is doubtful, given his record. To me, this lame, after-the-fact approach is akin to someone poking around the ruins of a house after the tornado, seeing if there's anything remotely salvagable.

Of course, this won't keep the Dauphin from engaging in his favorite activity: staged media events. And this piece, also from the Times, demonstrates the kind of style Bush seems to prefer: basically, that of a mafia don or warlord.

[The motorcade consisted of] three buses moving along on back roads, preceded and followed by Chevy Suburbans carrying men with large guns, and helicopters overhead.

Welcome to Dubya's America. Now get out of the f'ing way. I'll admit that I'm a little preturbed that there are enough folks who still believe the tripe Bush serves tastes like foie gras, but that's the way it goes. Between the abysmal mainstream press, the lousy public education system, and the simple lack of time for most folks (balancing work, family, and so on), I'm just glad no one has seriously proposed nuking the Middle East. Here's hoping no one does.

Because eventually truth manages to rise to the surface, and it will demand some serious accounting. The abuses at Abu Ghraib are a symptom of a more pervasive illness. One that combines good old fashioned racism with a healthy dose of, for lack of a better term, white man's burden. The time isn't far off for the shit to smack seriously into the fan, and when that happens, it will REQUIRE some genuine soul searching. Of the kind that folks like the famously non-introspective Dubya can't imagine. Maybe someone will organize a confrontation.

Or maybe not. If I remember, Calvin Coolidge spent his final years not really understanding how his economic policies helped bring about the Great Depression. History remembers him as a doddering old man. Dubya may well suffer the same fate.