[george bush] misunderstood and maligned

This blog thinks you’ve all been terrible to poor Mr. Bush so in an effort to restore the balance, below are presented 10 of his most famous lines and I’d ask you to rate your top three from this batch. But don’t think it ends there – oh no.

There are another 148 of them and over the next few weeks I’ll present 90 more, in 9 relatively painless doses. Then we’ll draw the threads together and find GWB’s top utterance ever. Here are the first 10:

1] "Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB/GYN's aren't able to practice their love with women all across the country." - Sept. 6, 2004, Poplar Bluff, Mo.

2] "Secondly, the tactics of our - as you know, we don't have relationships with Iran. I mean, that's - ever since the late '70s, we have no contacts with them, and we've totally sanctioned them. In other words, there's no sanctions - you can't - we're out of sanctions." - Annandale, Va., Aug. 9, 2004

3] "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." - Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004

4] "I believe if you want to be negative you always can, no matter how hard you try." - June 15, 2004

5] "Karyn is with us. A West Texas girl, just like me." - May 27, 2004

6] "I'm honored to shake the hand of a brave Iraqi citizen who had his hand cut off by Saddam Hussein." - May 25, 2004

7] "More Muslims have died at the hands of killers than - I say more Muslims - a lot of Muslims have died - I don't know the exact count - at Istanbul. Look at these different places around the world where there's been tremendous death and destruction because killers kill." - Washington, D.C., Jan. 29, 2004

8] "I love to bring people into the oval office...and say, this is where I office." - Jan. 29, 2004

9] "There may be some tough times here in America. But this country has gone through tough times before, and we're going to do it again." - Waco, Texas, Aug. 13, 2002

10] "The illiteracy level of our children are appalling." - Washington, D.C., Jan. 23, 2004

[glacier adrift] do you understand what's happening

I’m adrift on this issue – I just don’t know what to think.

The news: The 41 square miles Ayles Ice Shelf, one of six remaining in Canada's Arctic, broke clear 16 months ago from the coast of Ellesmere Island, with ice that is more than 3,000 years old. Within days of breaking free, the Ayles Ice Shelf had drifted about 30 miles offshore before freezing into the sea ice.

Issue 1: The obvious question is about global warming and there are opinions for and against.

Issue 2: So, having read the above document, - if scientists can’t agree, then why do laymen use the expression: “It’s been scientifically proven?” It seems less and less has been proven as we go along. Stephen Hawking might also agree with this.

Issue 3: I’m confused. How does an economic and political fisking of the Stern Report translate into the statement by certain bloggers that there is no global warming when it is as plain as the noses on our faces?

In an effort to understand, I came up with this:

After dropping for about 15 years, the amount of sunlight Earth reflects back into space, called albedo, has increased since 2000, a new study concludes. That means less energy is reaching the surface. Yet global temperatures have not cooled during the period. Increasing cloud cover seems to be the reason, but there must also be some other change in the clouds that's not yet understood.

The explanation continues here ...

[friday afternoon] new year weekend is upon us

Cartoon by Pritchett

From the 10th floor you can get a magnificent view of the four laned road below with the dividing strip. From my flat, a short time ago, I took a look from the balcony and a number of things were interesting.

Firstly, there’s been more or less constant light snow today and the roads, houses, trees and everything else is covered in white. Secondly, there is total gridlock at 6.30 p.m. as far as the eye can see, in both directions, both service roads, the main artery in the distance and all connecting roads.

Total.

To give you an idea, I just saw my own car, which should have been safely in the carpark a kilometre away, down below instead, attempting to go past. Winter jacket donned but still shivering on the balcony, I wished I had binoculars. Everything appeared to be the same, even down to the spoiler on the back.

Then I realized the one down below didn’t have the rear window spoiler and I breathed a sigh of relief and got to the toast in the kitchen just in time to stop it burning [for once]. Some time later I went back to look at the traffic and guess what – that car was still there. That’s gridlock.

Time to do the blog rounds in order to gather for the Blogfocus tomorrow.

[film] the 100 greatest films of all time

Let’s make a start on this thing.

The problem is, essentially, that the Brits and Yankies look at these things from different sides of the pond. While critics try to be unbiased, national interest still creeps in.

I took four lists – two American and two British and even then, we are leaving out the French and other Europeans; plus Asia and local areas such as Australia.

Then we have the problem of ‘what’s a film?’ There were some fabulous Czech anti-war animations on celluloid many years ago. Do they count? What about Bond, James Bond?

Full text here.

[may-december] for and against

Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones faced the question in Entrapment.

Much has been written against and some for the chances of May-December:

1] I speak with authority. I spent 41 years of torture with a man 20 years older than I did, because I did not believe in divorce. Older men have their mind-set established and the wife can either follow or be miserable. I have yet to see a happy May - December marriage.
2] Almost half the couples in the United States divorce, and most of them are close in age. It is love that is the center of everything, not the number of years since your birth. It is love which creates alignment and balance between two people.
3] More reasons against and a fairly dispassionate view here.

Given, for argument’s sake, a 20 year old difference, that neither was a cheat, an egoist nor had personal problems, it seems to me it might work if:

1] It was 55-35, not 40-20 and her children were late teen;
2] They were both drawn together, [as in Connery-Zeta Jones in Entrapment], by some common thread or through some joint work or passion;
3] The love came more strongly from her, he wasn’t a sap for her and was a bit of a catch anyway;
4] She already knew his limitations and he was as honest with himself ;
5] They agreed to let go and review it every, say, five years.

I think it would have no chance if:

1] Her motive was for money, a father figure or a ticket to ride;
2] He lusted after her or loved her far more;
3] Their interests were quite different;
4] Their body language vastly differed e.g. her bouncy, he ponderous;
5] She was too young.

[wal-mart] opens communist party branch

Wal-Mart has set up a new branch of the Communist Party at its China headquarters in the southern city of Shenzhen after allowing unions to operate in its stores earlier this year. Chinese law makes it compulsory for any company or institution with 25 or more staff to set up its own trade union if staff request one.

Its first Chinese store was opened in 1996 and now employs more than 35,000 people in more than 60 stores in 34 cities across China and plans to open dozens more.

Difficult to see them destroying local retailing in China or creating poverty as they seem to have done back home.

[russian hijack] silly season demands sensation

So, it was a beat up. The headline proclaimed: Aeroflot Flight Hijack Attempt Foiled by Passengers. But the text said differently:

A Russian Aeroflot A-320 airliner with more than 100 passengers onboard was en route from Moscow to Geneva but had to land in Prague shortly before 11 a.m., after a hijacker tried to attack the crew. Reportedly the plane's passengers subdued the would-be hijacker. The Itar-Tass news agency said an unidentified man who was drunk picked a fight with two other passengers, threatened the crew and demanded the aircraft alter its course.

In other words, a drunken Russian acted in character. Subdued? Fell over more like.

[presidential debates] discussing real issues or cardboard cutouts

Dalek Duet

Tiberius Gracchus has been reflecting on Presidential Debates in American elections and says they “have assumed an importance over the years that makes them a key part of any campaign.

Famous moments like Lloyd Bentsen's I knew Jack Kennedy, you're no Jack Kennedy quip in the Vice Presidential Debate of 1988 or Ronald Reagan's "There you go again" in the Presidential Debate of 1980 have become part of American history. Not to mention of course the most famous debate of the lot - between Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy in 1960 which supposedly won a tight election for JFK by showing him at his youthful best as opposed to what seemed to be a tired Vice President.”

Interestingly, listeners on the radio thought Nixon had won the debate but the television audience say it the other way. Some other debates:

In 1980 Reagan closed his debate with incumbent Jimmy Carter with a simple question: Are you [the American people] better off now than you were four years ago? Faced with inflation, high interest rates, a continuing energy crisis, and low American prestige abroad, many Americans felt that they were not better off, and Reagan won election.

In 1988 Dukakis had referred to himself as a "card-carrying member of the ACLU", which Bush picked up on and painted his opponent as a liberal who would sell America short. Gene Weingarten, of the Washington Post, spoke of a time when a group of journalists met Dukakis and felt he was "terrific, impressive, commanding, Presidential. We were falling all over each other to find adequate superlatives." Nieman curator Howard Simons heard us all out, then shook his head and said: "Won't win. No sense of humor."

[In an earlier post, Vox’s two principles for winning debates are argued.]

[gift giving] the imbalance of expectation

We were having a little discussion about presents and I came over as a bit curmudgeonly about it all. I felt that the Japanese had the right idea in writing everything in a book – the date, who gave it, to whom, what category it was, how much it cost [roughly], what the occasion was. That way the gift was always appropriate and never created an imbalance of expectation.

Not so, said one lady. A present is a spontaneous gift, an impulse of affection. Yes, said my friend but if one friend is richer and one poorer, then an imbalance is created and the poorer feels awful that he can’t respond in kind. Oh what’s it matter, was the lady’s response. Reply - it matters a lot to the person who is the ‘lesser’, shall we say.

My friend and I had a gift exchange this morning and with one or two exceptions, the gifts were roughly of the same nature. Why to do it at all then, is the obvious question. Answer - because it took effort to get the gifts, to think out what the other wanted and in the exchange, each went home with something more than before and it was to his taste.

Of course you have your own opinion on this, no doubt.

[blogfocus saturday] 21:00 london time

This computer was hit by a Trojan virus about midnight Monday which took it over and reconfigured everything in the name of a Spanish or Portugese host.

Update

Though it is now supposedly back in working order, I had the Blogfocus half ready when the computer suddenly crashed then rebooted itself and the auto-saved text and urls had been wiped.

Update on the update

It will have to be Blogfocus Saturday now, I'm afraid. Tuesday seems to have been a washout. So - 21:00, London time, Saturday, December 30th, New Year Edition.