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fractured fairytales .....

fractured fairytales .....

After basking in a showy celebration of America’s close ties with Israel, President Bush criticized other Middle East leaders on Sunday, prodding them to expand their economies, offer equal opportunity to women and embrace democracy if they want peace to become reality.

“Too often in the Middle East, politics has consisted of one leader in power and the opposition in jail,” Mr. Bush said in an address to the World Economic Forum here, adding, “The time has come for nations across the Middle East to abandon these practices and treat their people with the dignity and respect they deserve.”

The speech, given to an audience of diplomats, world leaders, policymakers and business executives attending the forum in this Red Sea resort town, came at the end of a five-day Middle East tour that also took Mr. Bush to Israel and Saudi Arabia. 

The tone of the address, meant as a bookend to a speech the president gave last week to Israeli lawmakers, reflected what the administration sees as the obstacles its diplomacy faces in pushing a peace agreement in the last months of Mr Bush’s presidency.

The White House had portrayed the Middle East trip as a mix of symbolism and substance, and it had said Mr. Bush would use his time in the region to shore up the faltering Arab-Israeli peace talks.  

But the president’s three-day stay in Jerusalem, which included tours of the ancient fortress Masada, a private viewing of the Dead Sea scrolls and a host of laudatory exchanges between Mr. Bush and Israeli leaders, drew sharp criticism in the Arab world, where he was accused of being insensitive to Palestinian concerns. 

Bush’s Speech Prods Middle East Leaders

Hollywood's viral culture

Real Archaeologists Don't Wear Fedoras

By Neil Asher Silberman
Sunday, May 25, 2008; B01

After 17 years, Hollywood's most famous archaeologist is back in action. Now grayer and a bit creakier, Indiana Jones is again hacking his way through thick jungles, careering wildly in car chases and scrambling through dark tunnels to snatch a precious artifact from the clutches of an evil empire (Soviet, this time).

And I'm thinking, oh no. Here we go again. Get ready for another long, twisting jump off the cliff of respectability for the image of archaeology.

Don't get me wrong. I'm a fan of pop culture. But I have a problem with the entertainment tail wagging the archaeological dog. As someone who's been involved in archaeology for the past 35 years, I can tell you that Indiana Jones is not the world's most famous fictional archaeologist; he's the world's most famous archaeologist, period. How many people can name another? Whether I'm sitting on a plane, waiting in an office or milling around at a cocktail party, the casual mention that I'm an archaeologist inevitably brings up Indiana Jones. People conjure up images of gold, adventure and narrow escapes from hostile natives. And while "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" will almost certainly break worldwide box office records, it will also spread another wave of viral disinformation about what archaeologists actually do.

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Bushit artist...

Ex-Press Aide Writes That Bush Misled U.S. on Iraq

By Michael D. Shear
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 28, 2008; A01

Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan writes in a new memoir that the Iraq war was sold to the American people with a sophisticated "political propaganda campaign" led by President Bush and aimed at "manipulating sources of public opinion" and "downplaying the major reason for going to war."

McClellan includes the charges in a 341-page book, "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception," that delivers a harsh look at the White House and the man he served for close to a decade. He describes Bush as demonstrating a "lack of inquisitiveness," says the White House operated in "permanent campaign" mode, and admits to having been deceived by some in the president's inner circle about the leak of a CIA operative's name.

The book, coming from a man who was a tight-lipped defender of administration aides and policy, is certain to give fuel to critics of the administration, and McClellan has harsh words for many of his past colleagues. He accuses former White House adviser Karl Rove of misleading him about his role in the CIA case. He describes Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as being deft at deflecting blame, and he calls Vice President Cheney "the magic man" who steered policy behind the scenes while leaving no fingerprints.

The test...

From the ABC unleached

David Horton

... How about we scrap the old United Nations and create a new one from scratch? But this time, countries have to sit a test to decide whether they are civilised enough to join with others in looking after the good of the planet in a civilised kind of way.

So, imagine if you can, the General Assembly Hall at the United Nations. You are there representing Australia, and all around you are the anxious representatives of other countries, nervously lining up pencils, putting little clocks in place, playing with the exam paper turned face down on the desk, trying to surreptitiously lift a corner to get a look at the questions. And then the second hand reaches the top, and the time is 9 am, and the Secretary-General says "You may start".

Your eyes flick over the page quickly, looking for an easy question to get you going, but there aren't any easy questions, and, after chewing your pencil, you start with question one.

The Civilisation Exam
Answer all questions
Four marks for each question to which you can answer "True"; partial marks may be awarded.
Pass mark is 50.

1. The military-industrial complex plays no role in the government of your country.

2. Religion plays a very small role in society in your country; neither forbidden nor compulsory.

3. Scientists, teachers, nurses and artists are all valued more than sports people and celebrities in your country.

4. Speech is free and the media varied with many different owners in your country.

5. There are few if any guns owned by people in your country.

6. The environment of your country is cared for as the highest priority.

7. The government of your country does not execute its people.

8. Women have full social and economic equality with men in your country.

9. Minorities, whether ethnic, linguistic, cultural or religious, are not persecuted in your country.

10. Your country does not consider sexuality a criterion for human rights.

11. Education of children is universal, free and secular in your country.

12. Other species of animals are respected, valued and protected by the people of your country.

13. Everyone secretly votes in your country and every vote is openly counted independent of government.

14. Regulation protects people from giant corporations operating in your country.

15. Your armies do not invade other countries and war isn't glorified in your country.

16. Your country does not consider wealth a criterion for political success, or social worth.

17. Art and heritage are valued in your country and literature, film and television increase in quality over time.

18. In your country natural disasters bring massive state support for the hurt, homeless and helpless.

19. The old, the sick and the disabled are cared for by your country, not profited from.

20. The government of your country tells the truth, the whole truth and nothing but.

21. Public enterprise is as valued as private enterprise in your country.

22. The courts and police are independent of your country's politicians.

23. Trade unions flourish in your country.

24. Your country aims to make the balance between life at work and life at home a healthy one.

25. Aspirations are achievable by all your country's people.

You finish and look around. The hall is full of people puzzling over some of the answers. Guns? Girls? Gays? God?

We lose points for those?

Who knew?

Sport and war are good, aren't they?

What are trade unions?

Some representatives left early after reading the paper and attempting no answers.

You decide to add up the points for Australia. Achieving 50 should be easy, we're a civilised country.

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Gus: Hello. The pass mark should be 99. failure to reach it should lead to going back to earthling school...