video of kidnapped american prisoner

loads of people disliked george w. bush and his approval rating hovered around 36 percent or less when he left office. but despite starting 2 wars of epic proportions, there’s one thing the bush administration somehow managed to avoid. and that’s getting a GI kidnapped in afghanistan or iraq. you can bing ‘g.i. kidnapped afghanistany new york post’ if you want to watch it. we won’t link to it here because it’s an AP story.

W was such a hit for oliver stone that's it's already on german television

the oliver stone film ‘W’ (the story of george w. bush), which just came out in the u.s. last november and sometime in december in germany, will make it’s network (yes, network not even cable or pay per view) television debut friday january 23 on germany’s prosieben television channel. straight to TV.

famous bushism

whatever one may think of george w. bush. he sure did give folks a whole lot to chuckle about over the past 8 years. immediately after september 11, we sure needed it. but contrary to what the bbc might think. dubya isn’t the worst u.s. president. that distinction goes to ulysses s. grant, followed closely behind by herbert hoover and an andrew johnson.

another clinton years veteran for attorney general

according to newsweek, known for its flair and fair and balanced reporting, eric holder, former deputy attorney general in the clinton administration has been offered a job as attorney general. well, looks like the 1990s are about to play themselves out again. hopefully without the lewinsky scandal. so far obama has announced 2 white guys and leaked the names of two women and two minorities. now all his supporters will be some what appeased. its a balancing act that the outgoing president, george w. bush, played but in a slightly different way.

obama skips bretton woods 2

the g-20 summit that’s taken place this weekend in washington dc is being billed as bretton woods 2. all the heads of state of the 20 most economically relevant nations have descended on washington and barack obama is tucked away in chicago. or perhaps hiding.

so what was the original bretton woods? set forth in 1944, the meeting of key nations was attended by 730 representatives of 44 nations and was organized by franklin d. roosevelt and winston churchill in the hope to establish economic cooperation. the meeting established a set of rules and regulations surrounding the international monetary system. a general description can be found here.

it is possible that george w. bush set up the meeting for this particular time partially for political reasons. had john mccain prevailed and become president of the united states, the meeeting would’ve reassured global markets. and perhaps bush and his handlers also took into consideration that if barack obama won (as he did), he would be hardpressed to prepare for such a monumental meeting and with george w. bush leading the event, obama’s stature within the community would be diminished.

the g20 summit without obama and with gordon brown in lead role

a financial pow-wow is happening this weekend in washington dc. last week ‘a blog about whatever’ pointed out that barack obama will not be attending. today, the international herald tribune basically supports his idea to duck the meeting.

it is conceivable that george w. bush picked this moment partially for political reasons. had john mccain won the election, it would’ve shorn up the markets’ trust in him. and with a barack obama win, it could show him up as the financial and political neophyte that many suspect that he is.

with the absence of obama at the g-20 summit and george w. bush being basically the lame duck president that he is, gordon brown is asserting himself on the world stage according to the international herald tribune. brown was recently quoted as saying that he was prepared to take obama under his wing and teach him about the financial markets. that may sound condescending. and well, quite frankly it is. but brown was chancellor of the exchequer of the uk for 10 years.

obama not attending g-20 economic summit

according to the bbc, barack obama will not be attending the group of 20 economic summit next weekend. is this by choice? the spanish prime minister will be incognito as well. according to an article in last weekend’s edition of the financial times, jose luis rodriguez zapatero, who the spanish fondly refer to as ‘little feet,’ wasn’t invited by the bush administration. and since then, he has been lobbying anyone who will listen to try to get them to get bush to send him an invitation.

4 million less voters in 2008 than in 2004

with all the hoopla surrounding the election. and images of long lines. in 2008, 117 million people voted, 4 million less than who voted in 2004. barack obama has won the presidential election with 62 million to john mccain’s 55 million votes. in 2004, george w. bush won with 62 million and john kerry racked up 59 million votes. so about 4 million people sat this one out.

the final count is 63m to 56m. so 3 million less voters turned out in 2004 than in 2008.

oliver stone's W is a big 'ole flop

oliver stone’s new film (aka, a $100m campaign donation to barack obama), has died at the boxoffice. it’s weekend take barely cleared the $10m hurdle according to boxofficemojo. the new film, starring josh brohlin as george dubya bush and thandie newton as condi rice, follows a long line of naughties films about the iraq war (such as the dud by ridley scott) and the bush administration that americans just aren’t interested in seeing. maybe dubya will do better overseas with all the europeans who suffer from bush delusionment syndrome.

mccain takes strong stance against russia; foreign policy advisor lobbied for georgia

john mccain took a strong stance against russia in the russia-georgia-south ossetia crisis that erupted during the opening ceremony of the olympics, vladimir putin, prime minister of russia, appeared at. according to politico, a public relations firm working for the russian federation pointed out that randy scheunemann, mccain’s foreign policy advisor used to be a lobbyist for the georgia government. is it possible that mccain has experienced another senior moment and mistakenly believes the conflict (aka, war) is between russia and the u.s. state of georgia?

have you wondered why most of the news reports on the russia-georgia-south ossetia conflict generally fail to mention dmitry medvedev, the current, baby-face russian president?

does this conflict underscore the impotence of most heads of state? well, minus putin. while putin enthusiastically waved to the crowd at the opening ceremony of the beijing olympics, russia was simultaneously bombing georgia. george w. bush, nicholas sarkozy, and presumably other heads of state sat in the crowd supporting their respective nations at the event. so it’s not as if no one has any idea where putin is, if he is, as many heads of state believe, still the russian federation’s puppet master.