"Let me start off by saying that in 2000 I said, 'Vote for me. I'm an agent of change.' In 2004, I said, 'I'm not interested in change --I want to continue as president.' Every candidate has got to say 'change.' That's what the American people expect." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., March 5, 2008
All day Saturday the situation with the Somalian pirates has been reported as a waiting game. The lifeboat is now about 20 miles off the coast of Somalia, and the US says that it won't let it get much closer. There are 3 Navy vessels surrounding the 28 foot long fiberglass lifeboat, and General Petraeus is making the calls.
Opinion is pretty mixed on what exactly we should do, from the WSJ saying be patient, to others saying we should pull a Rambo and storm the ship as if we were French commandos. The most frustrating part is that we don't have television cameras everywhere as if it was a reality show, except if someone got voted off it probably meant they were shot...
The pirates have been pretty brazen, attacking just about every ship they can coming out of the Gulf of Aden. Historically, merchant ships have not carried weapons on board, but that rule may change in the near future. Somalia hasn't had a government in over 18 years, so there is rampant tribalism and extreme poverty, which is why pulling in millions of dollars in ransom has made the pirates more active and a lot bolder. Hopefully, we will be taking a stance to stop the piracy, such as blockading their ports and even home invasion. Want to have the next annexed territory be Somalia? Or will it be our next Iraq and Afghanistan?
UPDATE: As of Easter Sunday, Navy Seals stormed the lifeboat while one pirate was trying to negotiate. Our captain managed to escape again and jumped into the water to be saved by the Seals. The three remaining pirates on the lifeboat were shot and killed, incident over! It's truly amazing how people can step up and perform acts of bravery like the captain did to save himself and his crew. I know that there are countless other stories in both Iraq and Afghanistan that have gone unreported, and we need more of them to feel more pride in ourselves and our fellow Americans. I get such a sense of pride, more than I do reading about the exploits of Congress.
Next up, to truly work together on an international front, all navies of the world to patrol these waters. I'm sorry guys, but you will just have to find another way to make a living than by taking hostages... And maybe an international consortium will help Somalia form a government, and maybe Europe will stop dumping nuclear waste in these waters so that the fishing industry can make a comeback...
Politico reports: "While John McCain has gone back to being the senior senator from Arizona, Meghan — Columbia grad, former "Saturday Night Live" and Newsweek intern — has crashed the Republican Party like a slightly tipsy debutante.
Cable news shows want her. More than18,000 people follow her on Twitter. And now, as The New York Observer reported Thursday, McCain has lined up a six-figure book deal with Hyperion.
While swearing she has no interest in public office, McCain says she hopes to usher in a new era of modernity and moderation for the GOP.
“All I am trying to be is a young, cool Republican woman for other Republican women.”
There has been a lot of flack passed back and forth between the Bush loyalists and the Obama administration. Every time the administration points out a problem that began during the Bush administration, they have been attacked, sometimes fairly, but more often stupidly by Dick Cheney and Karl Rove. Two peas in the pod who were responsible for much of the mess to begin with. George W Bush has wisely been keeping a low profile, and purposely not saying anything about the current President, which may be the wisest thing he's done. Put it all in the memoirs...
The Washington Post has a good article on what George W Bush is doing these days: "Bush works with a dozen aides from his administration, socializes with friends he has known for decades and lives in a conservative neighborhood that voted for him -- both times -- by a ratio greater than 2 to 1. And while the rest of the world mulls and debates his legacy, Bush has told friends that he prefers not to use the "L word." He dismisses analysis of his presidency as premature, regrets little and refrains from engaging in the snippety back-and-forth between the Obama administration and Bush loyalists such as Karl Rove and Dick Cheney. Bush feels content with his presidency, friends said. Now he will try to explain his two terms by writing a book and building a presidential center at Dallas's Southern Methodist University so that history will have the means to judge him fairly.
"Over the course of being president for eight years, you become, in some respects, immune to all the noise out there," said Dan Bartlett, who was a senior aide to Bush for more than a decade. "He's secure in the place he's in. He's confident in the decisions he made. There's none of that 'Shoulda, woulda, coulda.' "
Elsewhere the NY Times reports that he is having a small get together for some aides next week, but people like Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld will not be among them. Bush and Cheney haven't been getting along since the last few months in office, when Bush became very disillusioned with Cheney's style of governing. Cheny also tried to browbeat Bush to pardon Scooter Libby, but he wouldn't do it, then Cheney criticized him in public for not doing so.
Happy Easter. I've been having computer problems and will try to get them fixed by Monday.
Late night Bush jokes:
"Nice to have you all here. As you all know, George Bush is no longer president, so they'll be no monologue." --Jay Leno
"Barack Obama promised his kids he would get them a dog when they moved to the White House. But President Bush is nervous. When he heard dog in the White House, he thought, 'Uh oh! What if he digs up all those Al Gore ballots in the back?'" --David Letterman
"You know, President Bush keeps giving interviews about his eight years as president. Earlier this week, he said his greatest accomplishment ... was his effort to privatize Social Security, even though he never actually did it. That's President Bush. Isn't it? Your greatest accomplishment? Well, there aren't any. But if there were, by golly, here's what it would be." --Jay Leno
"And you know, I think he's trying to struggle to come up with some accomplishments. They're trying to make him look good, you know. Like today, he took credit for ending the drought in New Orleans." --Jay Leno
"It was an historic day in Washington, as all four living presidents and our president-elect had lunch together at the White House. Presidents Clinton, Carter, both Bushes, and Barack Obama sat down to share a meal. President Bush was especially excited. It's his place, and when the guys all walked in, he said, 'Hey, you're the guys from the paintings in my office!" --Jimmy Kimmel
"On this date in 2001 ... George W. Bush was certified as the winner of the 2000 presidential election. How about that? That turned out pretty well, didn't it?" --David Letterman
"By the way, First Lady Laura Bush, Laura Bush is writing a memoir. The name of the memoir, I believe, is 'I'm with Stupid.'" --David Letterman
Politico reports: "While John McCain has gone back to being the senior senator from Arizona, Meghan — Columbia grad, former "Saturday Night Live" and Newsweek intern — has crashed the Republican Party like a slightly tipsy debutante.
Cable news shows want her. More than18,000 people follow her on Twitter. And now, as The New York Observer reported Thursday, McCain has lined up a six-figure book deal with Hyperion.
While swearing she has no interest in public office, McCain says she hopes to usher in a new era of modernity and moderation for the GOP.
“All I am trying to be is a young, cool Republican woman for other Republican women.”
There has been a lot of flack passed back and forth between the Bush loyalists and the Obama administration. Every time the administration points out a problem that began during the Bush administration, they have been attacked, sometimes fairly, but more often stupidly by Dick Cheney and Karl Rove. Two peas in the pod who were responsible for much of the mess to begin with. George W Bush has wisely been keeping a low profile, and purposely not saying anything about the current President, which may be the wisest thing he's done. Put it all in the memoirs...
The Washington Post has a good article on what George W Bush is doing these days: "Bush works with a dozen aides from his administration, socializes with friends he has known for decades and lives in a conservative neighborhood that voted for him -- both times -- by a ratio greater than 2 to 1. And while the rest of the world mulls and debates his legacy, Bush has told friends that he prefers not to use the "L word." He dismisses analysis of his presidency as premature, regrets little and refrains from engaging in the snippety back-and-forth between the Obama administration and Bush loyalists such as Karl Rove and Dick Cheney. Bush feels content with his presidency, friends said. Now he will try to explain his two terms by writing a book and building a presidential center at Dallas's Southern Methodist University so that history will have the means to judge him fairly.
"Over the course of being president for eight years, you become, in some respects, immune to all the noise out there," said Dan Bartlett, who was a senior aide to Bush for more than a decade. "He's secure in the place he's in. He's confident in the decisions he made. There's none of that 'Shoulda, woulda, coulda.' "
Elsewhere the NY Times reports that he is having a small get together for some aides next week, but people like Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld will not be among them. Bush and Cheney haven't been getting along since the last few months in office, when Bush became very disillusioned with Cheney's style of governing. Cheny also tried to browbeat Bush to pardon Scooter Libby, but he wouldn't do it, then Cheney criticized him in public for not doing so.
Happy Easter. I've been having computer problems and will try to get them fixed by Monday.
Late night Bush jokes:
"Nice to have you all here. As you all know, George Bush is no longer president, so they'll be no monologue." --Jay Leno
"Barack Obama promised his kids he would get them a dog when they moved to the White House. But President Bush is nervous. When he heard dog in the White House, he thought, 'Uh oh! What if he digs up all those Al Gore ballots in the back?'" --David Letterman
"You know, President Bush keeps giving interviews about his eight years as president. Earlier this week, he said his greatest accomplishment ... was his effort to privatize Social Security, even though he never actually did it. That's President Bush. Isn't it? Your greatest accomplishment? Well, there aren't any. But if there were, by golly, here's what it would be." --Jay Leno
"And you know, I think he's trying to struggle to come up with some accomplishments. They're trying to make him look good, you know. Like today, he took credit for ending the drought in New Orleans." --Jay Leno
"It was an historic day in Washington, as all four living presidents and our president-elect had lunch together at the White House. Presidents Clinton, Carter, both Bushes, and Barack Obama sat down to share a meal. President Bush was especially excited. It's his place, and when the guys all walked in, he said, 'Hey, you're the guys from the paintings in my office!" --Jimmy Kimmel
"On this date in 2001 ... George W. Bush was certified as the winner of the 2000 presidential election. How about that? That turned out pretty well, didn't it?" --David Letterman
"By the way, First Lady Laura Bush, Laura Bush is writing a memoir. The name of the memoir, I believe, is 'I'm with Stupid.'" --David Letterman
No comments:
Post a Comment
Hi! Thanks for commenting. I always try to respond...