US TV newscaster rips up lead story about Paris Hilton

This is worth watching. The newscaster on MSNBC, Mika Brzezinski (daughter of Zbigniew - for political anoraks), refuses to read the lead story about Paris Hilton. She tries to burn the script on air, before ripping it up and then shredding a second copy given to her.

It looks a bit staged to me. If it is real, you can understand the lady's feelings. The "second" story, which had been demoted in favour of Paris Hilton, was the news that leading Republican Senator Richard Lugar said he might not support Bush's Iraq policy when it comes up for its next funding vote in September.

Graphic comparison of US Presidents' popularity

2nd hat tip in ten minutes to Tom Watson (if I do another one it will be a hat-tip-trick).

I have occasionally tried to find comparisons of the popularity ratings of current and past US presidents. Unfortunately, the information is often in several different places, making comparison difficult. Hats off, therefore, to the Wall Street Journal, who display an excellent graphic on the subject. It is remarkably clear and has a bar on the left to click for detail on each President.

The two Presidents which stand out the most are Eisenhower, who seems to have been the most consistently popular of the post-war Presidents, and Clinton, who is the only one who was more popular when he left office than when he entered it.

US military considered "Gay Bomb"

Radio One's Scott Mills and his team have been having a lot of fun with the news that the Pentagon considered a "gay bomb". This is a theoretical chemical weapon which makes the opposing forces suddenly irresistable to each other, putting them off their...ahem...stroke.

In fact, I was suspicious of another "Big Kidney" spoof story here and could only, at first, find mention of it in rather dubious places. However, the Guardian reported on it today. But it appears that it was only a rather loose idea:

Far from being the product of conspiracy theorists, documents released to a biological weapons watchdog in Austin, Texas confirm that the US military did investigate the idea. It was included in a CD-Rom produced by the US military in 2000 and submitted to the National Academy of Sciences in 2002. The documents show that $7.5m was requested to develop the weapon.

The remarkable life of Bobby Kennedy

It is rumoured that the BBC may be looking around for a channel or two to axe, in order to save some money, following their recent licence fee deal. I do hope that BBC 4 isn't chopped. It has some exceptionally good programmes.

The Storyville documentary series is superb. Last night's programme on Bobby Kennedy - RFK - was breathtaking. At nearly two hours long, it really allowed you to immerse yourself in the subject. What a remarkable life the man had! He seemed to be a rarity - a politician who genuinely learned and changed his outlook based on valid intellectual processes: the prosecution of Jimmy Hoffa, the Cuban missile crisis, the Civil Rights crisis (he was by no means a Civil Rights groupie as the start), the Vietnam war (on which he changed his opinion and was honest enough to accept some responsibility for), his brother's death (which had a profound impact on him and seemed to make him "human" and able to empathise with others' suffering), his rocky relationship with Lyndon Johnson, his 'wilderness years' as a Senator....all these things had a real impact in building Bobby Kennedy's character. There was a real sense of him living and learning, developing into a remarkable politician.

To see the faces of the hordes greeting him in California during the 1968 primary was astonishing. The man held the masses in the palm of his hand. And then he was shot.

It is stunning to reflect that Bobby Kennedy had not a single protection officer with him during that visit to California. That is, after the shooting of his brother and Martin Luther King. It took his death for the authorities to learn their lesson. Ted Kennedy's ill-fated bid for the White House was accompanied by close protection from the Secret Service and the man seems to have rarely gone out without wearing Kevlar body armour.

I was very taken by footage of Kennedy in California, shortly before he was shot. It showed him hearing some fire crackers go off. Except he didn't know they were fire crackers and they sounded like shots. As soon as he heard the shots, while he was stooping down shaking hands from a car, he stood to attention. What a remarkable insight into the man! It was as if he knew that he might be shot and had decided, if that moment came, that he would take it with dignity, rather than cower away. Remarkable!

I think I empathise with Bobby Kennedy more than John F Kennedy, mainly because I was just old enough to remember being told that Bobby Kennedy had been shot. I was too young to remember the JFK shooting.

Watching the interviews with and speeches by Bobby Kennedy, he reminded me of someone. I worked it out eventually. He was a real "Josh Bartlett"! Many people's ideal of a thoughtful, sincere, passionate, committed US President.

The RFK film featured the deaths of JFK, RFK and Martin Luther King. What an appalling waste of young, talented life in such a short space of time! I was reminded of that beautiful song "Abraham, Martin and John", written by Dick Holler and made famous in the UK by Marvin Gaye:

Has any body here
Seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me
Where he's gone.
You see he freed a lot of people,
But the good they die young yeah
I just looked around
And he was gone.

While we're in the mood for quotations, Bobby Kennedy spoke the following quotation from Aeschylus, off the cuff, to an audience of black Americans the night Martin Luther King was murdered. It is also engraved on his gravestone. It seems to sum up his life:

Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart,
until, in our own despair,
against our will,
comes wisdom
through the awful grace of God.

Obama and Clinton inspire

The Democratic Presidential candidates have had an interesting first televisual outing. Obama and Clinton did well as the expense of Edwards, the reports say.

Christopher Dodd has an interesting graphic on his web site, which shows who talked for how long during the debate. He calls it the Talk Clock. Obama was ahead in the talk stakes at 16 minutes, closely followed by Clinton on 14 minutes and 26 seconds.

Barack Obama has written an inspirational piece in the Foreign Affairs magazine, printed today in the Guardian, entitled: "The best chance for Iraq is to bring American troops home".

Oh dear! George Bush's cunning plan falls apart!

Oh dear! It appears that George Bush's cunning plan to try the Guantanemo detainees in military courts has hit a bit of a snag. Oh dear.

Omar Khadr was fifteen years old when he was locked up at Gauntanemo. He is now twenty years old. His case has just come to "trial". All charges were dismissed.

You either have to laugh or cry, don't you? I prefer to laugh knowing that at least the Great American publican realise they have an idiot as President and that he will be sent packing to Crawford on January 20th 2009. But, my goodness, it's an awful long wait.

Hallejujah! George Bush sees the light on diplomacy with Iran

The world seems a safer place today than it was six months ago. Why? Dick Cheney no longer rules the roost in Washington, getting the US Army to roam around the globe shooting off like he did with his hunting rifle.

George Bush has now sided with Condeleeza Rice (herself no dove) and started talks with the Iranians. Hallejujah!

Peter Beaumont reports in the Observer:

…Bush – having initially rejected the Iran Study Group’s findings on Iraq – suggest last week that he was now minded to be guided by it. The most visible sign of that change in policy is tomorrow’s meeting in Baghdad (with Iran) – a key recommendation of the Iraq Study Group…’Time is on the side of diplomacy. We see no sign of military action being contemplated against Iran” said an (American) official.

…until John McCain gets elected that is.

It is not only us that have to worry about the weight, length, width and thickness of parcels we send. Now the US is introducing the same system. CNN reports:

The postal rate increase that kicks in Monday is shaping up to be a big headache for many businesses.
Many companies say they are confused and frustrated as they try to adjust to the new rules, and some say mailings could be severely curtailed due to higher postage costs.
The new regulations mean larger envelopes and packages will automatically cost more than smaller mail. Currently, postage is determined by weight, unless it's an especially large or odd-shaped package that warrants special handling.
If your solution come Monday is to stuff the same amount of material into a smaller envelope, the Postal Service could get you there, too: There are new thickness restrictions.

Rice meets Syrian foreign minister

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has held a ground-breaking meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem at a summit in Egypt. Hallejujah!

It is a shame that what many people saw as a "no-brainer" to ease the Middle East crisis has been taken several years after it was an obvious move. How many have died unnecessarily in the meantime? And would it had happened at all if Nancy Pelosi had not been in a position to offiicially visit Damascus last month?

US Army's spin "horrific" and "not true"

When the US Democrats took control of congress, I looked forward to a few interesting congressional hearings about the war on Iraq. I didn't want flippant entertainment, I passionately believe that Bush and Blair should be tried for war crimes in The Hague. Congressional hearings are a good start in this direction.

My expectations have been exceeded from the start. The Democrats have brilliantly decided to begin with US Army "spin stories". Two of the main ones were:

1. Pat Tillman, American football star, died heroically fighting the enemy.

2. Jessica Lynch "had been wounded by Iraqi gunfire but kept fighting until her ammunition ran out."

It turned out, of course, that Tillman was killed by friendly fire and Lynch's gun had jammed without her firing a shot.

The chickens have come home to roost. Pat Tillman's brother has testified that the US Army's spinning was "horrific". Jessica Lynch has called the army's story about her "not true".

The solution to school shootings - arm the students

A recent Virginia Tech graduate called Wayne Chiang has reaped the jackpot with his blog. Interestingly, he has hit on the solution for school and college shootings:

...the situation could have turned out better if other students were allowed to be armed.

I would call this the "OK Corrall" solution. The fellow is only 23 years old, so it is a bit unfair to quote him and throw him into this controversy (mind you, he has been getting 80,000 visitors a day to his blog so my little blog won't make much difference). However, I mention the quote because it sums up what seems to be be the attitude of the USA, collectively, to guns. I am not sure whether it is an over-simplification to say this, but it all seems to have its origins in cowboy films.

Libby found guilty

Lewis Libby, former chief of staff to US Vice-President Dick Cheney, has been found guilty of obstruction of justice and perjury. This has got to be a major body-blow to the Bush administration, especially as Bush entered office promising to clean up what he saw as the sloppy practices of the Clinton days.

It is interesting that this trial did not address the original alleged crime, namely that of revealing the identity of a CIA agent. As such, it has eerie echoes of the Watergate scandal (where the cover-up became more important that the original incident) and perhaps (time will tell) our own little escapade close to home ("Cash for peerages")

Happy 80th Birthday, Sidney Poitier

Call me a nostalgic old fool, if you like, but I just feel like wishing actor Mr Sidney Poitier a very happy 80th birthday. As the NewJersey Star Ledger says of him:

He was the right man in the right place at the right time. And he had a perfect right to be there. African-Americans in Hollywood had been rarely feted, but Poitier's talent and integrity could not be denied or deferred.

Bush madness on Iran

I am very grateful to the Norfolk Blogger for highlighting the US plan to bomb Iran.

I really do hope and pray that:

(a) George Bush runs out of time in office before he gets anywhere near to bombing Iran.
(b) The new Democrat majority in Congress stops this nonsense.
(c) President Ahmadinejad continues to be pressured by moderates to draw back from confrontation.

The chilling line in the BBC report is this:

BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says the trigger for such an attack reportedly includes any confirmation that Iran was developing a nuclear weapon - which it denies.

Crikey. Déjà vu, or what? We seemed to have "confirmation" that Iraq was developing nuclear weapons. But, to use the US vernacular, that "confirmation" turned out to be worth little more than a "bowl of warm spit".

Gerorge Bush - in danger of giving lame ducks a bad name

The arcane procedures of the US Senate have recently come to the fore. They needed 60 Senators to vote in favour of debating a motion about Bush's troops surge plan. Only 56 voted for the debate, so it will not happen.

For the above 56 Senators to vote for the debate, it took seven Republicans to vote for it, which seems reasonably significant.

In the House, 17 Republicans voted against the President's plan, making the total vote 246 to 182 against the Bush plan.

Despite this technical failure in the Senate, all the above numbers amount to a very significant show of strength against Bush's plan. Added to this, there was the routing of the Republicans in the Congressional elections last November. And there is the small matter of Bush's approval ratings, which are in the low 30s. A Tiny Revolution reports: " Since polling began, Nixon is the only two-term president with lower approval ratings at a comparable point in his presidency".

Pelosi's air travel - much ado about nothing?

Hat-tip to the Croydonian for this story about Nancy Pelosi. As second-in-line to the presidency, she is entitled to military transportation after the 9-11 scare. Her office requested clarification of the rules about aircraft to transport her from LA to Congress.

This has led to accusations that she wants to travel by what has been described as a "luxury" C-40 jet to avoid the risk of refueling. In fact, reading the LA Times report, she doesn't seem to have done much to prompt these accusations:

The House sergeant at arms originally advised Pelosi that Hastert (her predecessor) had used a military plane and recommended that she use one that didn't need to refuel. That prompted her office to request clarification of the rules, Daly said, noting that she never actually requested a specific plane.

It appears to be a lot of fuss about nothing:

So far, Pelosi hasn't used one of the big jets that has caused all the fuss. In her single trip home as speaker since being sworn in Jan. 4, she flew commercial to San Francisco and took a military 12-seater back to Washington. With the benefit of tailwinds, it made it without refueling.

The Croydonian makes a lot of fuss about the fact that "she tried to get a military plane to fly her from DC to Williamsburg, Virginia - about the same distance as London to Cardiff...."

But the LA Times says:

Pelosi asked to use a military plane to go to a recent retreat of House Democrats in Williamsburg, Va., less than a three-hour drive from the capital. The request was denied and Pelosi took the train.

Fine. Problem?

She has also asked for clarification about the rules for members of her family flying with her (Hastert used to have his wife flying with him). And?

Strategist Anita Dunn seems to have it about right:

"This is the smash-mouth politics of Washington — how can we make something that is fairly routine sound as bad as possible," strategist Dunn said.

Molly Ivins - my kind of gal

It is strange to read an obituary of someone of whom you have never consciously heard, but immediately feel a great affinity with. That is how I felt when I read the obituary of the American journalist Molly Ivins:

America's funniest political columnist - and one of the staunchest and most sensible voices of what passes for the American left - she gave her audience everyday reasons to fight for issues of equality and peace, while ruthlessly deflating political pomposity and skewering hypocrisy. And all in a folksy Texas style that she could turn on and off at will. After Pat Buchanan's rabid speech at the 1992 Republican convention, it was Ivins who quipped, "It probably sounded better in its original German."

The sharp wit seemed to be on constant tap:

In 1982 she became a columnist on the Dallas Times-Herald. When she opined of one Texas legislator that, "If his IQ were any lower, they'd have to water him twice a day," a reader complained, "Molly Ivins can't say that, can she?" - which became the paper's catchphrase for marketing her, and the title of a collection of her journalism.

...And being a Texan, she concentrated quite a lot of her fire of "Dubya":

Ivins took a relatively benign approach to the first President Bush, finding his attempts at playing the Texan amusing - "real Texans do not use summer as a verb". After noting in 1999 that "If you think his daddy had trouble with 'the vision thing', wait'll you meet this one,"

There are also some very warm words about her from Simon Hoggart this morning, which confirms that we have lost a great woman.

Has Hillary Clinton lost it?

Roger Simon at Politico reports that Hillary Clinton ducked a question about Iraq at an Iowa face-to-face meeting with voters. She didn't mention Iraq once, but mentioned ethanol twice:

In her first face-to-face meeting with voters since announcing for president, Hillary Clinton was asked about Iraq and ducked the question. A man, who identified himself as a Gulf War vet, asked the New York senator at a town meeting in a high school gym here Saturday if the surge of new troops to Iraq “was going to be enough?”Instead of answering, Hillary (as she is officially called by her campaign) said, “Thanks so much for your service” and then talked about how she visits military hospitals and believes America needs to provide good medical care for its veterans.In the one-hour town meeting, Hillary did not mention Iraq a single time. She mentioned ethanol twice.

Has she lost the plot? Like McCain recently, has she miscalculated the US public's anger over Iraq?

However, Hillary, despite her recent jettisoning of her surname, is, after all, a Clinton. So, this must all be part of some very clever strategy which is incapable of being understood by an average idiot like myself.

Key Kerry supporters move over to Obama

The New York Times reports that key supporters of John Kerry are moving their loyalties to Barack Obama, now that Kerry has announced that he will not run for Presiddent in 2008. The latter announcement is to be welcomed, as the field is already a little crowded at the moment.

Bush's "Change the subject address"

If you want to know what is in George Bush's "State of the Union" speech tonight, this 26 page factsheet issued by the White House might give you some ideas.

You only have to scan it to understand why Congressional Quarterly's Craig Crawford has called it "Change the Subject Address". He adds that the Democrats have lined up an interesting choice to respond to Dubya:

Tonight’s State of the Union address might better be called Change the Subject. Advance word is that George W. Bush’s speech to Congress will downplay his Iraq strategy, which has Republicans tripping over each other as they race for daylight between themselves and their party’s president. Instead he will talk up energy policy, immigration and other domestic issues where he might find common ground with Democrats who now control Capitol Hill. Which means that the big news tonight could be made by newly-elected Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia. The fiercely anti-war Democratic maverick will deliver his party’s response to Bush’s address and the betting is that he might just go farther with the harsh rhetoric than some in his own party would like. If that happens, the White House would not get away with changing the subject from Iraq.