"Barbara O’Brien’s wide-ranging account of Zen history is conveyed with a master storyteller’s ability to keep the forest from getting lost in a myriad of trees. Wearing her scholarship lightly, she blends just the right amount of skepticism about her hagiographic sources with a deep appreciation for the Dharma." — Barry Magid, author of
Nothing Is Hidden and
Ending the Pursuit of Happiness Order here!
…in the absence of the convening of some sort of war-crimes tribunal, it doesn’t really matter anymore. He can see the exit and he’s pretty sure he’s gonna make it, even if he has to run through a hail of shoes to get there. The time for the MSM to attempt to help him get his facts straight was six years ago, not in the last month of his term…
Impressive – I think he’s even outdone “now watch this drive” for callous arrogance.
Why speechless, Maha? Bush is expressing the only thing that he really does understand. He knows he will never answer to accountability. In the street venacular his sentiment would translate into…”Fuck You! you ain’t gonna do shit about it, so get lost”. And he’s right.. we ain’t gonna do nothin about it…sadly.
Here’s my blog for Jamaicans.com today:
On the heels of that shoe-throwing incident in Iraq (photo below), we’ll probably hear a flurry of wisecracks about shoes that fit and lame ducks ducking, but the Bush presidency is nothing to laugh about. America stands shamed before the world by the most contemptible leader in this nation’s history. The fact that an Iraqi reporter would even think of throwing his shoes at the President of the United States is just one sign of the scorn with which George W. Bush is regarded at home and abroad..
My own disgust makes it impossible for me to be fair to this man. So let me rely on supposedly objective historians to assess his presidency. Here’s one assessment as reported in U.S. News & World Report:
An informal survey of 109 professional historians conducted by the History News Network found that 98 per cent of them believe that Bush’s presidency has been a failure, while only about 2 per cent see it as a success. Not only that, more than 61 percent of the historians say the current presidency is the worst in American history.
The worst. Worse than dithering James Buchanan. Worse than corrupt Warren G. Harding. Worse than treacherous Andrew Johnson. Worse than stubborn Herbert Hoover. Worse than waffling Millard Fillmore… The worst president ever!
In my view, even that assessment is too kind. I think George W. Bush has been worse for America – and the world – than the other worst U.S. presidents combined. Here’s my (admittedly prejudiced) judgment..
Bush is at least as incompetent as Buchanan. And I strongly suspect he and his cronies have plundered the treasury as much or more than Harding. His subversion of America’s national interests in favor of globalism is a more damaging betrayal than (Andrew) Johnson’s subversion of the Union’s interests during Reconstruction. He has pursued a wrongheaded free-market ideology as stubbornly as Hoover. And he has been at least as indecisive as Fillmore in times of national crisis…
No one before Bush has contributed so much to so many calamities…
– The tragic loss of thousands of American lives and the random slaughter of Iraqi civilians in a war of personal revenge and aggrandizement
– Devastation of the American environment and aggravation of global warming
– Decimation of endangered American wildlife
– Creation of a super-rich international elite at the expense of America’s working men and women
– Collapse of the international financial system resulting in the abject misery of a global economic recession that threatens to become a depression
– Callous disregard for victims of national and economic disasters…
How could one man wreak such havoc unintentionally? The unanswered question of the Bush Presidency is why? What possible reason would this man have for causing such widespread misery and despair? I leave that to the historians to figure out.
Amen to the recap of all the calamities Bush has helped to cause or aggravate. Bush thinks that history will give a better judgment to him and they will regard him as another Harry Truman. Timothy Gay wrote a good op-ed in yesterday’s Boston Globe as to why history won’t be nearly as kind to Bush as Bush is to himself. Gay sets forth why Bush won’t be regarded as another Truman.
People seem to forget that 9/11 happened on Bush’s watch. I truly believe that if Al Gore had been President, 9/11 would not have happened.
“So what?” Is this what we want the world to think that we feel? Because let me tell you, this jack ass is on the world stage and he is speaking for US.I have seen interviews with mass murderers who have shown more remorse for their crimes.I tell you, this man is one SICK S.O.B ..How can any human being LOOK at the path of death and destruction bush himself is responsible for (but done in our name) and say “so what?” Holy bleeping shit!…
I was not shocked I was PISSED..How dare he? I said it before but I will say it again…There is NO need for this nation to suffer for the actions of this mad man.But if we do not hold HIM and his pack of merry men to account we will pay.
People seem to not understand that Iraq was not a giant den of terrorists and bad guys..the people there were JUST like us living our everyday lives..shopping for food,taking the kids to sporting events and family gatherings..tucking their kids into bed the same way we do here …we couldn’t begin to imagine what war and occupation of our country would be like…the reality filled with bombs and guns and people we can’t understand yelling orders at us in our own land…like mini 911 everyday I suppose.. filled with fear and death..and no escape or hope of an end…I don’t care for bush at all…but you can’t imagine how upset I would be if some other country dared to come here and bring harm to that jack ass and his family the way we did in Iraq…then show the photos of the dead leader and his sons to the world like some trophy we brought back from a hunting trip??? I think America should walk a mile in those thrown shoes…most Americans couldn’t last a block.And he has the nerve to say so what?Heartbreaking.
Sadly…we will do nothing..but we don’t have to ..we can still choose another path.We could stop this, by creating safe guards, from happening again in the future..we COULD do the right thing.
It seems to me we owe it to all of the dead people..and those who mourn them.If we as a nation do nothing don’t we say “so what” too?
I have a question for bush. Who would Jesus say”so what?” to?
If an international war crimes tribunal would ever want the bush folks I say sure..hand em right over!The tax payers dollars would be well spent on the one way flight….but if we ever want to rebuild the reputation of this country we must not wait for an international tribunal to seek the justice we need to seek here. This “president” has committed acts which are crimes here in this country…he and his people need to be held to account for them.(can you imagine the “housekeeping” that has been going on at the white house before they leave to destroy all evidence they can?)
Last thought: Is it possible that little GW has been listening to the song by “Pink” called “So what?”? Might I suggest he try another Pink song written JUST for him called “Dear Mr.President” if you have not heard it before please try to find it someplace on the net and listen..let me know how you like it.It is in my windows music collection but I don’t know how to share or link to it(duh).
I have no way to express the feeling in my stomach every time I look at that man. Is it disgust? Yes, but that does not give it justice. A deep, dark, agonizing, feeling of nausea? Much closer. If we can say one positive thing: it is coming to an end. Not too much longer. Lets not be afraid to hope for better days to come.