via emailer myrln:
Of course: 4 days before the 9/11 anniversary and who knows how many days before the great Petraeus report (written by the White House), a bin Laden video “surfaces” and is being “studied” by u.s. intelligence (oxymoron) agencies for validity. Tape obtained from “jihadist” website, BUT it is now no longer available at that site. How convenient. When are folks gonna catch on that this kinda shit goes on every time there’s an important decision to be made and they want to insure there’ll be no opposition to their direction? Not in Congress, certainly.
In South Korea, the Chairman of Hyundai was convicted of embezzling over 100 million from the company and sentenced to 3 years in jail. An appeals court, however, suspended the sentence because he “is too important to South Korea’s economy to go to jail…” Teach your children well, as the old song goes, only today means they need to learn to make millions so they never have to worry about jail.
via the one true b!X:
Down in Australia, the GOPresident manages to mistake the APEC summit for an OPEC summit, refer to “Austrian” troops instead of Australian ones, and (deja vu!) try to leave through the wrong door.
You can’t help wondering if something really IS wrong with Bush’s brain. We know something is very wrong with his capacity for critical thinking, but I’m referring to his physical brain. Lapses like those he displayed in Australia are very similar to those my mother had early on in her dementia. These days, of course, her misnomers are really off the wall and are not consistent, either. I often have to rely on her pantomiming to give me an idea of what she actually wants. Yesterday, she wanted her toothbrush, but she kept saying “place.” There’s no way I would have made the connection to her toothbrush if she hadn’t mimed how it’s used.
I don’t know why I watch the local (NYC/NJ) news. Yes I do know why. I can’t stand not knowing what’s going on. Today’s broadcast featured a couple of individuals who operate (make that past tense because they’ve been arrested) a couple of hair braiding salons in New Jersey. They were going back and forth from their home village in Africa and kidnapping pre-teen girls to work in their salons. The girls were forced to put in 14 hour days, seven days a week, and never saw a penny for their efforts. They were kept as slaves and forced to live in squalor.
It seems to me that most crimes are about money. Money for drugs. Money for cars. Accumulating more money. I like money as much as the next guy, but I always figure that I have to work to earn it. And I never seem to be able to accumulate very much. It’s a good thing I’m not high maintenance, since I’m the only one available to do the maintaining.
The above cartoon is for those of you who know the relationship I have with my brother. Heh.