argh.

[timepiececlock]

I fell asleep during Bush's press conference.

It was a comfy couch! And he's a lousy speaker.

Before I fell asleep (I was only out for about 10 minutes), the second question from the reporter had been asked, inquiring into why Bush thinks that there is so much opinion against the war around the world. It was very similar to part of the question before him, about why so many of the UN countries disagree with Bush on Iraq, considering that they share all the intelligence information.

Bush, in response, blather on about how "nobody wants war", and how this is the way Iraq chose to make it by not disarming, etc.

Me: He's not answering this guy's question. It's the same as the last guy's, about the other countries opposing, and he still didn't answer it.

'rent: He doesn't know why they don't.

Me: Then why doesn't he say that?

'rent: He can't say that.

Me: Yes he can. He should-- nevermind.

Comments

[duelingrose.livejournal.com]

You have to remember, our president never passed the third grade. He said that "...we don't need anyone's approval to got to war." If that wasn't bad enough... He kept calling them Iranies instead of Iraqi... Oh... My... GAWD! I wanna bonk him in the head!

Re:

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

yes, yes... he once said "Hispanically" in a speech. Numbskull.

[hecatehatesthat.livejournal.com]

He never answers anybody's goddamn questions.

You know what I don't get? A vast majority of the people I talk to hate him -- so how the hell did he ever get elected? ::Grumbles:: I suppose it could be that I only talk to smart people... ;)

Dubbya embarrasses me. There should be a law against politicians using the word "evil." This is the real world, not Batman (or Buffy) and the idea that US foreign policy is ever in any sense altruistic - bah.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

He never answers anybody's goddamn questions.

WORD. It's fucking annoying too.

You know what I don't get? A vast majority of the people I talk to hate him -- so how the hell did he ever get elected? ::Grumbles::

He didn't get elected. He lost the national population vote. The complexities of the out-of-date electoral college system employed by our voting government happened to fall so that he got the office. Usually the electoral college vote coincides with the popular vote. He's only the second president to ever come to office this way. And because our supreme court is now too fucking embroiled in party lines, they supported this, against mass opublic consternation.

You see, a lot of the reasons people resent Bush is that he wasn't popularly elected. I mean, I wouldn't like him much anyway, but I know that even two years later, when he's established in his role, a part of me still resents that he wasn't elected. My possible support of him-- at least, the chance that I could come to embrace him as my country's leader-- will always be slightly tarnished by that.

Not that I would anyway. His politics suck and he's driving the economy into the ground. And he has beady eyes.

[sabrinanymph.livejournal.com]

inquiring into why Bush thinks that there is so much opinion against the war around the world

My personal opinion on why there's so much opinion against the war... well... the whole world would like to be Chamberlain. Everyone pretty much let Hitler do what he wanted to... until he started bombing their country...

Re:

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

My personal opinion is more along the lines of a big hanging question-- why NOW? Why not 2 years ago, or 5? We've let a butcher sit there as a threat for years, and all of a sudden we're taking him out. What changed?

Bush sort of answered that indirectly tonight-- he said that his strategies have dramatically changed since 9/11. But I can't feel that he's doing this merely out of a desire to protect America from bombs-- there's a lot more about this that has to do with oil than we're being told. And that upsets me. Whether the fact that the oil businesses in our country are heavily tied up in that area or that Bush comes from an oil family is truly relevant or not to the threat Saddam presents to America, I can't say. But I'd like to feel that the current government is being honest with us, the American people, about it's long-term intentions for Iraq, before I decide that they're right or wrong. I don't feel that way right now.

[mrthursday.livejournal.com]

To be fair Bush wouldn't be the first politician to avoid answering questions!

Its not just stupid presidents who are doing this, over here Mr Blair (who I think might be slightly smarter than Bush, although its diffcult to see how most days!) is also dodging questions like "Why are you going to war aginst the will of the British People?". He also keeps changing his mind on if a second ammendment is needed (thats the hot potato over here, Lots more People in the UK WOULD back the war IF a second ammendment could be passed.). First its a war about Weapons of Mass destruction, then its a moral war about "freeing" the people of Iraq" now its just simply to stop a dangerous man. I don't think Blair does know what this war is about (I reckon he is waiting for Bush, or one of Bush's people to tell him!).

[caille.livejournal.com]

It's just that it's so much more complicated than Bush would have us believe. I have no problem at all with the concept of sending Saddam Hussein on a one-way trip to some hell dimension. But I don't think we should bully everyone into backing us. That's not the way. Also, I don't think Bush is up to the task of a post-war nation-building committment. We're talking 40 - 50 years. We've already burned Iraqui dissenters after the last war, when we just kind of left them hanging.

Meanwhile, he's so fixated on clearing his daddy's name in the middle east that he all but ignores North Korea (whose leader is insane)as it's busily gearing up to start making nuclear weapons, some for its own use, and some to cheerfully sell to the highest bin Laden, umm, bidder.

I understand the references to appeasement and Chamberlain. It's one of the reasons I have a hard time with the idea of joining a mass demonstration. It seems like the collective voice of those demonstrators doesn't have much of me in it. I'm more pragmatic than pacifistic. Why is it too much to ask for simple pragmatism in our elected leaders?

The states are suffering terribly. He wants to eliminate taxes on dividends, which will save me like $1.50 per year (and all of his friends - millions). We've abandoned human services agencies all around the world. I am all but priced out of both the health insurance market and the prescription drug market. I don't think Bush hates me, I just think he doesn't feel it necessary to think about people like me, not to mention people far less well off than I am. That's willful cluelessness.

About him not answering questions in his speech...this is from a Slate article
http://slate.msn.com/id/2079763/

"....But sometimes, things aren't black and white. Sometimes they're gray. When the governments of France, China, or Mexico don't see things your way, you have to start the process of persuasion by understanding where they're coming from. That's where Clinton was at his best and Bush is at his worst. Four times at his press conference, Bush was asked why other countries weren't seeing things our way. Four times, he had no idea....." (details follow).

I have to go lie down.

Re:

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

"Four times at his press conference, Bush was asked why other countries weren't seeing things our way. Four times, he had no idea....."

I knew I wasn't misinterpreting his response!

Thanks for the link, and I agree with a lot of your comments. I also would say I'm far more pragmatic than pacifistic, and my disagreement with current events is less of saying "war is bad" than a deep need to know why and what the hell we're doing before we commit ourselves to it.

[xanphibian.livejournal.com]

It's very possible to shrink GIF images--Paint Shop Pro, which I use, has an Animation Shop to make GIFs and it has a "Resize Animation" feature.

Oh, thank you so much for pointing that out! I have PSP7 and Animation Shop 3, but I had never used AS3 for resizing gifs... oh, this is going to make my life so much simpler!