Panglossian Notes

Tibet: Western "leaders" search to find a cow flap to fall face down in

So the German "leader", pictured to the left with the world famous opportunist from Tibet, India, or is it Hawaii, has decided maybe not to go to the opening summer Olympic ceremony.

Why go at all if you miss the opening and closing? Stay home Germany and France and any other wing-nut countries from the EU.

Oh and since you're decided to take a stance on some principle, who knows what, how about showing some sort of stance against the real brutes in Israel and their attitudes to Palestinians.

Oops, can't do that can you?

We're all still doing penance for being such shits to jews over the last few centuries which ended with that great celebration of denying them protection, surrendering them to their enemies, or just killing them in the '30s and '40s.

But back to now, I know I should avoid the past, too scary. Better to believe in myths and fantasies, so much more soothing, isn't it?

Excellent! Thank you Europe.

I was starting to think it was only the land of the free and brave - the middle part of North America - that exercised stupidity in foreign policy. Europe, you've restored my faith that wing-nuttery flourishes in the old countries. I guess wisdom doesn't come with age.

I can't wait 'til, Fatty Arbuckle's bastard great-grandson, our own Steve Harper, parades on some stage here in Ottawa, CA, surrounded in maple leaf flags, no doubt, to make sure he can add his 2¢ to insulting China and 20% of the world's population. Come-on Stevie, what's holding you back?

As I say in the title: "world leaders (sic) madly scrambling to find cow flaps to throw themselves in face first".

[Now that would be an event I'd pay top-dollar to see. World leaders covered in cow dung, liking it and encouraging their citizens to do the same because it's good to insult the Chinese, it will make you think you are empowered or something, eh.]

Technorati Tags: China, Give face, please, Illusions, Israel, Justice? I doubt it., Leadership?, Moron Politicians, Muddling, Nitwits, numskulls, Outside view, Politicians, Stupidity, Suckers, Tibet, Useful idiot, Utopia, Wingnuts extrodinaire

Sorry I can't resist.

So, below, via olr — 纪韶融, posters and slogans that have struck my quite admittedly very juvenile, just now, fancy.

The first 3 public health oriented posters which, I think, have a lovely directness when translated into English.

Now a crazy John McCain poster showing up in China, but credited to Mao.

Hey, what about the US copyright laws, eh.

A reason "to take and not give face"?

Finally a poster which would no doubt have at least interested the former governor of New York state though he'd likely have to have removed his knee highs - black:

Technorati Tags: Asia, China, Chinglist, Interesting, olr — 纪韶融

O.K. which one do you want?

I want the "The Book of Songs" because it appeals to me as being sort of light-hearted, yet really does resemble a standard auto. It looks a bit like a pug Volvo PV 544 and/or a '41 Ford Super Deluxe to me.

The vehicles are from the Bei Jing Li Shi Guang Ming Automobile Design Co. Ltd. and I've only now just discovered them via olr — 纪韶融's chinglis site and his January note on the Detroit Motor Show which, itself, was originally aroused by an e-mail from an earlier reader of his blog.

The names of the vehicles, from top to bottom, are:

A Piece of Cloud
Detroit Fish
The Book of Songs

Oh, here's photos of the PV 544 and the "41 Ford - see there is a bit of a small ..... It's only the hood isn't it? :

Technorati Tags: Asia, Auto Design, China, Musings, My Interest, Nascar, Outside view, puppy, wow

Polls, polls, polls!

Anything to think about the latest offering from Gallup down in the states - Josh Marshall, at TPM, headlined the poll in the very late forenoon.

According to Gallup's poll, conducted over the March 7th to 22nd period, if Obama gets the nod in August 28% of Clintonites would vote for crazy John McCain in November and if Clinton gets the August nod 19% of Obamaites will go for Johnny o-boy-o.

As I walked to the LCBO to get a small bottle of JD, to celebrate, this evening, that the bloody walls of snow here about 1.6 km from Parliament Hill are finally melting, I thought:

so 28% of Hillary's crowd are racists while only 19% of Barack's crew are misogynists, hmm.

Could that be right?

Further, 28% of the Hillary's gang see no difference between H. Clinton and McCain while only 19% of Barack's horde think the same thing in regard to him.

What a funny place the US is and what a funny circumstance if the poll is actually right. Doesn't the poll just say that 28% + 19% = 47% of registered Democrats are really just confused Republicans.

Of course I don't believe polls, least any that ask someone to tell the pollster how they think they will act 7 months from the time the polled character is polled.

So, I think I'll just have a glass of JD and forget Gallup, unless he or any of his mob phone, just as I'm about to cut into my modest porterhouse steak, to poll me, in which case I'll be sure to answer any questions put to me exactly 180° from what I really think or feel.

Technorati Tags: Clinton, Delusions, Democrats, Obama, Politicians, Polls, yeah?, US Primaries

Why would any sane person want to be the POTUS following the Bush/Cheney regime?

It a serious question I ask myself sometimes.

Here, in the Northern part of North America, where, until recently Prime Ministers or Premiers, could pick when to pull the plug and run to the voters for a new mandate, no first minister would commit political suicide and pull the chain with the prospects of the messes of the Bush/Cheney regime staring them in the face.

So why would anyone want to be the POTUS now? A prime minister, again, and I know this is now in the past for Canadians federally but when it wasn't, knowing that the country's financial situation was a complete dog's breakfast and that a recession was just around the corner sane PMs would avoid dropping the writ until the very last minute of his or her time had been counted down and an election couldn't be avoided.

Parliamentary systems are different from the US republic system but why, maybe almost surly, tarnish a political reputation by making a conscious decision to run for the POTUS when the odds of sorting out the Bush/Cheney fiascos are so long. The contest comes up every 4 years wait for a better time.

Everyone takes for granted that a stable of semi-qualified individuals will throw their names into the ring and make a stab at getting the nod to run from one of the two entrenched main stream parties. But, sorry I'm back to my original question: why would a sane individual run given the Bush/Cheney regime's presents to the republic. Just to name a few of those presents: 2 unwinnable wars, financial confusion and chaos, a pillaged treasury, reintroduction of torture as part of the justice system, a reputation amongst what's left of allies that at best draw quiet smirks, etc. etc. etc. .... .

However there are some reasons that come to my juvenile mind, some may want to run:

so you can fly around in Air Force 1 and get nifty fake bomber jackets to hand out to friends and cronies;

so you can, after leaving office, rake up millions in speakers fees from various wing-nut or semi-serious organizations as after dinner entertainment;

so you get a number and a place in US history even if it's only a footnote [footnote material is highly unlikely for number 44. The USA is such a shit-house now that 44 will be remembered as either worse then Bush/Cheney - hard to imagine - or a savior. 44 will be somewhere along that lengthy continuum and will be given a chapter or section in history books but definitely not a footnote.];

so you can spent weekends at Camp David and fool around in Golf Cart 1 scaring the animals in the Maryland country side.

Not a very impressive set of justifications to take on regime change in the USA at this time, is it?

Noticed I left out blatantly enhancing the wealth and prestige of your cronies and any mention of enriching good friends and family. I'm assuming anyone dumb enough to want to run this time around wants actually to change one of the main operating rationales of the Bush/Cheney regime.

But, hey that's a real reason to run for the office. To clean up 8 years of corruption.

Though I don't think you could have that as an actual plank in any candidate's platform. That would mean that Bush/Cheney would be spending all their time from now to January 2009, if there was even a slim chance of a reformer winning, burning and shredding - actually they are likely doing in anyways just to be on the safe side

But I just can't avoid it, whenever I ask my self the question, my conclusion is that all 3 of the current hopefuls must be insane: i.e. in a state of mind that prevents normal perceptions from operating.

Technorati Tags: Clinton, Crazy, Delusional, Elections, McCain, Obama, Outside view, Politicians, POTUS , Real challenges, US Primaries, USA

More stupid, no, maudlin Canadian military fake bravado.

I can't figure out whether I come from the stupidness and most embarrassing country in modern history or whether Canadian military personnel aren't just dumber than I remember them.

Not to be outdone by crazy Dick and insane John Canada has dispatched its own group of high mucky-muck clowns to that new great Western experiment in muddled organization and fuddled achievement.

Yes, Afghanistan a country that borders on the Middle-East is having the pleasure of Canada's idiot general Hillier, the land of snow's answer to colonel Blimp, and the boy fool MacKay, minister of ..., oh, who knows, parading around some dusty airfield in Afghanistan dressed up in pretend uniforms with a group of multimillionaire geriatric hockey has-beens and the f-ing "Stanley Cup". [I thought we'd gotten rid of Lord Stanley's curse and since the last endless hockey season ended, sometime in August 2007, the bloody thing had been shipped to Disneyland in California.]

I think I must be from a really dumb country or at least a country that is showing real signs of dumbness. Jesus H Christ flying over a weak politician and loud mouth general and a group of old hockey players is suppose to raise the morale of the "blessed" troops. Funny as I recall non-officer types were never as dumb as they were expected to be by their military betters. It would really be refreshing to have some real reporting by our MSM and not the usual dictation copied from the spin officers.

"Troops let out loud moans as yet another load of very special important no bodies arrive to cheer them up and to have their pictures taken dressed up in pretend uniforms.

Some troops tried to slink off to their tents to hide from the endless chickenshit but were caught by the usual meat-head thugs enforcing the 'you must show happiness and enthusiasm for assholes that show up to celebrate your being in this god-for-saken shit-hole place' policy of loud mouth Hillier and his HQ drones."

Technorati Tags: Cheap date, Duh we like hockey, Globe and Mail, Leadership?, Military, Moron Politicians, Really stupid, Slogans, Spin, Stupid Canadian tricks, The Mission, what a sorry lot

The approaching fifth anniversary of the Great American gift to the Middle East

Crazy Dick and insane John have made their latest pilgrimages to the "green zone" and that one other place that's safe in Iraq to celebrate the 5th anniversary of American's exceptionally clever gift to Iraq.

Well done oh great and powerful country.

For a small dose of what North American MSM doesn't seem to like to show have a gander at this Guardian short video.

The series of short videos, by Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, is available at this site.

After watching the videos, I find it is hard to fathom why Tony Blair is still allowed to roam freely in the world. He was only a prime minister. There is no ceremonial nonsense associated with that function, unlike the king like POTUS function, so a country doesn't lose any face if he is turned away from crossing it borders nor would the UK lose anything if they surrender him to the war crimes tribunal.

Technorati Tags: Anniversary, Chaos, Cheney, FUBAR Projects, Iraq, McCain, Morons, Nitwits, Politicians, Sarcasm, Shmucks, The Guardian, USA, VP, War criminals, Wingnuts extrodinaire