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Today's
Stories
November
1, 2004
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
How Bush Was Offered Bin Laden and
Blew It
Dave
Lindorff
Bulgegate Confirmed; Press Yawns
Greg
Bates
Nader Voter Survey Results
Roger
Morris
Novel Politics: Only Fiction Can Do
This Election Justice
Diane
Christian
Death Tolls
Lenni
Brenner
Secularists Be Warned: Christlike Kerry Roams Spiritual Universe
Christopher
C. Conway
Can the Left Sink Any Lower?
Francis
Boyle
Legal Elites and the Iraq War: the Nazis Had Their Law Professors,
Too
Jason
Leopold
Rummy's Failed War Plan
Website
of the Day
Dylan Resurrects "Masters of War"
October
30 / 31, 2004
JoAnn
Wypijewski
The Long March and the Million Worker
March
Winslow
T. Wheeler
Spartacus Tells All
Bruce
Anderson
Notes from the Big Empty: When the Hippies Invaded NoCal
Vicente
Navarro
They Worked for Franco: How Sec. of State Cordell Hull and Nobel
Laureate Camilo Jose Cela Collaborated with the Fascist Regime
Robin
Blackburn
How Monica Lewinsky Saved Social Security
Greg
Bates
A Question of Character: What Makes Nader Tick?
Nancy
Welch
The American Health Care Crisis: an Interview with Dr. David
Himmelstein
William
Lind
Election Day: Which Menendez Brother Will You Vote For?
Brian
Cloughley
Uzbekistan and Bush Hypocrisies
Suzan
Mazur
Oops They Did It Again: the NYTs the Paper of Record and Rip-Offs
Greg
Moses
Standing at the Graves of Iraq
John
Chuckman
Osama's Endorsement
Richard
Oxman
Why Not Accept Osama's Offer?
Ken
Avidor
Landscape of Fear: When Ugly is Suspicious
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
Bush, Ba'ath and Beyond
Hope
Bastian
Strangling Cuba's Economy
P.
Sainath
Tower of Gabble: Toward a Sustainable Rhetoric
Dave
Zirin
Bush League: Why MLB Owners Support the Prez
Jon
Swift
The Dry Drunk Thang: Put a Cork in It
Ron
Jacobs
The Joke's on Me: a Review of Bob Dylan's Chronicles Vol. 1
Alexander
Billet
Taking Theatre Back: Are the States Ready for "Stuff Happens"?
Poets'
Basement
Jones, Laymon, Norris, Ford and Albert
Website
of the Weekend
The Origins of Halloween
October
29, 2004
Harry
Browne
No Justice for Peace Activist in County
Clare
October
28, 2004
Forrest Hylton
"The Gas is Ours:" Bolivia's
Ghosts of October
Col. Dan Smith
Rebellion
in the Ranks
Alan Maass
Jon Stewart v. the Pundits
Ron Jacobs
Ecstasy
in Red Sox Nation
Alexander
Cockburn
Kerrycrats and the War
October
27, 2004
Jules
Rabin
Crammed with Distressful Politics
Dave
Lindorff
Bulgegate: the Lies Continue
Katherine
Van Tassel
On the Home Front: Both Parties
Ignore Working Parents
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The Bi-Partisan Politics of Oil
October 26,
2004
Brian Cloughley
Three
Weddings and Lots of Funerals: Atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan
William Blum
Fear
Factors
Lenni Brenner
The
1964 Berkeley Free Speech Movement: Lessons for 2004
Ben Tripp
The
Chicken Salad Election
Fidel Castro
After the Fall
Greg Bates
The Nation's Flawed Calculus
Walter Brasch
Gag the Public: the War on Dissent
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
An Open Letter to Pat Buchanan
Mickey Z.
Rumble in the Jungle at 30: Ali, Foreman and the Congo
Amir Taheri
The Boom in Conspiracy Theories
Alexander Billet
Say It Ain't So, Bruce!: the Boss Endorses Kerry
Doug Giebel
The Religion of G.W. Bush
Kathleen Christison
Why
I Liked Thomas Friedman's Latest Column Before I Didn't
October 25,
2004
Ralph Nader
Letter
from a Minnesota Highway
Werther
West
Texas Wahabbism
Dave Zirin
Boston's Killer Cops: Death of a Fan
Fred Gardner
Pot Shots: Oregon Revokes Dr. Leveque's License
Omar Barghouti
Executing Another Child in Rafah
William J. Nottingham
Lori Berenson's Story
John Chuckman
A Foolish Consistency
Uri Avnery
On
the Road to Civil War
October 22
/ 24, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
You
Can't Blame Nader for This
Rev. William Alberts
On Bended Knee: Faith-Based Deceptions
Willliam A.
Cook
Killing for Christ
Saul Landau
George W. Bush: a Man of His Words?
Bill Quigley
I Held the Bullet in My Palm: Masked Haitian Police Shoot Children
While Arresting Priest
Christopher Brauchli
Seal It With a Frown: What Compassionate Conservativism Really
Means
William S.
Lind
Fallujah and the Moral Level of War
Sharon Smith
Guilt Trippers for Kerry
Greg Bates
Kerrynomics: "Hurt the Ones Who Vote for Us"
Justin E.H. Smith
Is Lesser Evilism a Compromise with Evil?
Rebecca Evans
Tarnished Legacy: Pinochet and the Chilean Military
Mike Whitney
Al Hurra TV: the Second Invasion
M. Junaid Alam
Purchasing Individuality in America
David Krieger
Nuclear Non-Proliferation: Examining the Policies of Bush and
Kerry
David J. Ledermann
The Emperor's New Crumbs
Lawrence Reichard
Same Old FBI Story
Website of
the Weekend
Lie Girls: the Real Coalition of the Willling
October 21,
2004
Ben Tripp
The
Undecided Voter Examined
Joshua Frank
Kerry
and the Environment:
It's Not Easy Pretending to be Green
Stan Cox
What
the Left Doesn't Get About Small Businesses
Bill Martinez
State
Depart and Cuban Visas: Only Anti-Castro Agitators Need Apply
Mark Engler
The War and Globalization
Lina Britto
and Lucia Suarez
Bolivia:
a Year After the October Insurrection
Website of the Day
Two Pampered Children of Wealth
October 20,
2004
Yitzhak Laor
"Did
You Two Squabble?": a Bullet Fired for Every Palestinian
Child
Jason Leopold
Sinclair
Broadcasting's Air War: a Long History of Journalistic Deception
Jesse Sharkey
A
Teacher's Account of How Military Recruiters Prey on High School
Students
Col. Dan Smith
Choking
Free Speech About the Draft
Dr. Teresa Whitehurst
Using My Religion
David Vest
If
Bush Wins, Blame Me
Jack Random
The Jackson 17: Reflections on a Mutiny
Ron Jacobs
Time
to Kick It Up a Notch
James Brittain
Plan Patriota and the FARC: a Change in the Countryside?
Christopher
Dols
Bombing Madison: Michael Moore's Fright Fest
Dave Lindorff
First They Came for the Nurses...
Website of
the Day
Banana Republican Catalogue
October 19,
2004
Jeffrey St.
Clair
Party
Favors: the Political Business of Terry McAuliffe
Jeff Taylor
Confessions
of a Swing State Voter
Matt Vidal
American
Myopia: "More Money in Your Pocket"
Victor Kattan
"It's Not Who You're Against; It's Who You're For":
Palestine Takes Center Stage At Euro Social Forum
William Loren
Katz
What Goes Around Comes Around
Sean Carter
O'Reilly Should Shut Up About Extortion Claiims
CounterPunch Wire
Who's Really in Bed with Republican Funders: Kerry or Nader?
October 18,
2004
Saul Landau
Facts
and Lies; Slogans and Truth
Dave Lindorff
Bulletin
on the Bush Bulge
Diane Christian
Sheep
and Goats: On the Language of Goodness
Greg Bates / Dave Lindorff
Betting on War: a Wager on the Fallout of a Kerry Presidency
Uri Avnery
Ariel
Sharon's Philosophy
Peter LaVenia
Leaving the Greens So Soon? a Response to Josh Frank
Mike Whitney
O'Reilly at the Whipping Post
Elaine Cassel
The Other War: Civil Liberties Three Years After 9/11
October 16
/ 17, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
The
Free Speech Movement and Howard Stern
Leslie Brill
Unmerciful Judge, Merry Executioners: the Death Penalty as the
True Measure of Bush's Character
Jules Rabin
Reckoning Deaths in an Agitated World
Dave Lindorff
About the Bush Bulge: Was There a Pucker in That Jacket or Was
the President Just Glad to be There?
Peter Linebaugh
Judging Judges: a Few Pages from The Mirror of Justices
Gary Leupp
Iran and Syria: How to Effect Regime Change and Expand the Empire
M. Shahid Alam
America, Imagine This!
Ron Jacobs
Trying to Cross Lake Champlain
Fred Gardner
The Flu Vaccine Question: How Bush Blew It
Jenna Orkin
The Toxic Legacy of 9/11
Dave Zirin
Name the DC Baseball Team: Contest Results
David Hamilton
Alone and Exposed: Bush as a Strong Leader?
Ralph Nader
Criticizing Israel is Not Anti-Semitism
Doug Giebel
Thinking the Unthinkable
Mark Engler
Crimes in Freedom's Name: Dick Cheney's El Salvador
Derek Tyner
Blacks Didn't Get the Vote by Voting: an Interview With Clarence
Thomas on the Million Worker March
Evan Jones
Gimme That Ole Time Religion: Cash and "The Mind of the
South"
Poets' Basement
LaMorticella, Klipschutz and Albert
Website of
the Weekend
No More Bush Girls
October 15,
2004
Paul Craig
Roberts
Where
Did These "Conservatives" Come From?: The Brownshirting
of America
Laura Carlsen
Wal-Mart
vs. the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon
Greg Bates
Empire of Insanity: Kerry's Iraq Troop Numbers
Michael Donnelly
News from a Swing State: Does Anyone Here Have a Spine?
Katherine Lahey
The Venezuelan "Threat": Why Do Kerry and Bush Fear
Hugo Chavez?
Robert Jensen
/ Pat Youngblood
Election Day Fears
Leah Caldwell
From
Supermax to Abu Ghraib: the Masterminds of Torture and Abuse
Website of
the Day
An Anti-Billionaire Policy? Why That Would Be Economic Racism
October 14,
2004
Darcy Richardson
The
Other Progressive Candidate: the Lonely Crusade of Walt Brown
Willliam A.
Cook
Turning
Myths into Truth
Laura Santina
Water, Women and War
Evelyn Pringle
Free Speech Banned by Big Pharma: What You Can't Say About Drug
Importation
Alan Farago
Lessons
from Nature
Rep. Maxine Waters
A Letter to Colin Powell on Haiti
Nicole Colson
Maimed
for Oil and Empire
October 13,
2004
Bishop Thomas
Gumbleton and Bill Quigley
Aftermath
of a Coup: The Other Disaster in Haiti
Sharon Smith
Barak
O-Bomb-a?: Democrats Target Iran
Christopher Brauchli
God and the Bush Administration
Mike Whitney
The Real Meaning of the Hamdi Case
Paul de Rooij
Amnesty
International: a False Beacon?
Website of
the Day
Operation
Truth
October 12,
2004
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
"Indian
Country"
Greg Bates
The Year of Voting Dangerously: a Survey Request of Nader Voters
in Swing States
Steven Conn
Progressives as Pawns: Kerry's War on Nader
Jason Leopold
Under Cheney, Halliburton Helped Saddam Siphon Billions from
UN Oil-for-Food Program
Security Scholars
for a Sensible Foreign Policy
Time for a Change of Course
Timothy J. Freeman
Dying for a Mistake
Pierre Tristam
Deconstructing Bush
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
The 2nd Debate: the Blurring of Act and Audience
Bill and Kathleen
Christison
Israel as Sideshow
Website of the Day
John Kerry's Personal Off-Shore Tax Shelters
October 11,
2004
Robert Fisk
Iraq:
Unforgivable Betrayals and Broken Promises
Kevin Pina
The
Untold Story of Aristide's Departure from Haiti
Patrick Gavin
Rethinking
Columbus Day
Chris Floyd
Tribes with Flags in the New Afghanistan
Daniel Wolff
Radioactive Money: Entergy, Political Cash and America's Most
Dangerous Nuclear Plant
Walter Brasch
The Only Ones Who Believe Saddam Had WMDs are Bush, Cheney...and
40% of All Americans
Mike Whitney
The Phony Afghan Elections: Ballot of the Disappearing Ink
Ari Shavit
"He Talks to Condi Rice Every Day": an Interview with
Sharon's Lawyer
Paul Craig
Roberts
The
Debates and the Big Lie
Website of the Day
Dylan's Greatest Recording?
October 9 /
10, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
"There
Are No Innocents"
Paul de Rooij
Northern Ireland is Still the Issue: a Conversation with Gerry
Adams
M. Shahid Alam
Making Sense of Our Times
Laura Carlsen
Protest and Populism in Latin America
Fred Gardner
Pot Shots: ASA Goes to Court
Col. Dan Smith
Bush's Credibility Gap
Paul Craig
Roberts
Faith-Based Economics
Greg Bates
What If Nader Critics Get What They Demand?
Joshua Frank
Cobb, the Greens and the Collapse of the Left
Felice Pace
Wilderness, Politics and the Oligarchy: How the Pew Charitable
Trust is Smothering the Grassroots Environmental Movement
Walter A. Davis
Of Pynchon, Thanatos and Depleted Uranium
William A.
Cook
The Agony of Colin Powell
Phyllis Pollack
Twas No Crank Call Love Affair: London Calling, 25 Years Later
Poets' Basement
Klipschutz, Albert, Ford
Website of the Weekend
Abu Ghraib: the Taguba Annexes
October 8,
2004
Jennifer Loewenstein
The
Israeli Invasion of Gaza
Moshe Adler
Edwards' Gambit: He Hoped No One Would Notice the Similarities
David Swanson
Media Blackout: Press Continues to Ignore Labor's Opposition
to Iraq War
Dave Zirin
CounterPunch Contest: Let's Name the New DC Baseball Team!
Rep. Ron Paul
The Draft is a Form of Slavery
William S. Lind
Keeping Our SA Up
Samar Assad
Kerry v. Bush: No Difference When It Comes to Israel / Palestine
Jim Ingalls
and Sonali Kolhatkar
The Elections in Afghanistan
October 7,
2004
Dave Lindorff
All
Out of Volunteers: A Draft is in the Air
Masha Hamilton
Fear in Kandahar
Christopher
Brauchli
Master of Corruption: the Ripening Scandals of Tom Delay
Jason Leopold
Is There Still Time to Impeach Bush?
Bruce K. Gagnon
Bombing the Panhandle: Fighting the Pentagon in Rural Florida
Meredith Kolodner
Where
is the Urgency?: The Anti-War Movement's Election Year Challenge
October 6,
2004
Jeffrey St.
Clair
"Please,
Dude, Can I Take Them Out?": Targeting Civilians in Fallujah
Ron Jacobs
Going
Nuclear: the Ghost of Edward Teller Lives
Michael Colby
The National Flip-Flop: Suddenly Bush is Unfit to Lead?
Tarif Abboushi
More of the Same: Israel Wins the Debates
Matthew Behrens
Canadian Firms Profit from Iraqi Blood
Mike Whitney
Rethinking WMDs
John Pilger
Stealing Diego Garcia
Ben Tripp
Kerry's "Triumph"
Kevin McKiernan
Cheney's Poison Lab: Wrong Time, Wrong Target
Patrick Cockburn
Elections
Will Not End the Fighting in Iraq
Website of the Day
Is There an Islamic Problem?
October 5,
2004
Anthony Loewenstein
Rupert
Murdoch and the Marginals: "Personally Creating Outcomes"
Mark Clinton
and Tony Udell
The
Suicide of an Iraq War Veteran
Greg Bates
Trading
Idiots: an Open Letter to Eric Alterman
Dave Lindorff
What's
the Frequency, Karl?
Norm Dixon
Why Washington Won't Save Darfur Villagers
Larry Kearney
God Talk and Burning Children
Bill Linville
Dirty Politics in the Land of "Clean" Government
Gary Leupp
What
Edwards Should Ask Cheney
Website of
the Day
A Guide to Halliburton for Tonight's Debate
October 4,
2004
Diane Christian
The
Gates of Hell
Joshua Frank
An Interview with David Cobb
Doug Giebel
Incurious George: What If Bush Didn't Lie?
John Chuckman
Strange Victory: Sen. Obvious and the Pathetic Lump
Ramzy Baroud
Reverse the Picture: Anatomy of a Palestinian Outrage
Julia Stein
Remembering Mario Savio and the FSM
Sean Donahue
Outsourcing
Terror: Kerry and Special Forces
Website of
the Day
Mapping
Mt. St. Helens as She Rocks
October 2 /
3. 2004
Paul Wright
John
Kerry on Criminal Justice
Kathleen and Bill Christison
An Exchange with Israeli Historian Bennie Morris
Kathie Helmkamp
My Son Trent: a Marine Who Doesn't Want to Kill
Phillip Cryan
Indigenous Mobilization in Colombia
Lenni Brenner
The First Ex-Catholic Saint: Memories of Mario Savio
Fred Gardner
Pot Shots: In Case You Missed "Montel"
Ron Jacobs
It Did Happen Here: When Neo-Nazis Terrorized Olympia
Ben Tripp
Sticker Shock
William S.
Lind
The Grand Illusion: Iraqi Security Forces
Dave Zirin
The Swindle of the Century: Baseball Comes to DC
Dave Lindorff
Lies from the Great Debate
Luscon Pierre-Charles
Haiti's Elections: a High-Tech Sham is Underway
Zoe Moskovitz
& Sasha Kramer
Separating Lies from Truth About Haiti
Nelson P. Valdes
Habana Night vs. Latin American Scholars in Vegas: 61 Banned
Cuban Academics
Alan Farago
The "Ownership Society" and the End of the Everglades
Nancy Haley
What is the Historical Jesus Trying to Tell Us?
Alex Billet
Long Live The Clash: London Still Calling After 25 Years
Steve Fesenmaier
Save and Burn: The War on Libraries
Poets' Basement
Smith, Holt, Albert
October 1,
2004
Steve Breyman
Kerry's
Missed Opportunities
Rose Gentle
My
Son Died for a Lie
Lee Sustar
Iran
in the Crosshairs
Ralph Nader
What
We Didn't Hear at the Debate: Where's the Exit Strategy?
Walter Andrews
We Are Less Secure Now Than Ever
Mike Whitney
Pandora's
Government
Mickey Z.
Debate
This
Saul Landau
The
Iraq Invasion: Lessons from the Pinochet Cases
Hot Stories
Alexander Cockburn
Behold,
the Head of a Neo-Con!
Subcomandante
Marcos
The
Death Train of the WTO
Norman Finkelstein
Hitchens
as Model Apostate
Steve Niva
Israel's
Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings?
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click
Here for More Stories.
|
November 2, 2004
A Mental Map
of the Bush Presidency
The
Case of Bush II
By
Dr. IRA KAY
"The first time
I met [George W.] Bush, I knew he was differentOne who did not
know. The other was that he had the confident to ask questions
that he didn't know very much."
A comment on Bush II
by his friend Richard Perle
Our selected president, Bush II, is
not the only American leader that is unable to concentrate his
thoughts on maps. But, he is one of the worst in our history.
As recognized by his advisors and himself, his worst subject
is English. He admitted this in his acceptance speech during
the Republican Convention on August 31, 2004. Jay Leno's joke
that Mr. Bush "has attacked his biggest enemy, the English
language" was most appropriate We do not know what Mr. Bush's
favorite subject in school was, but we are aware of the fact
that he needs improvements in every area of education, particularly
geography.
More recently, in 1988, we
had Vice President Dan Quayle on our hands. Who can forget his
misspelling of the word "potatoes" and making a fool
out of himself? This was not the only mistake he made. He believed
that people in Latin America speak the Latin language and that
it was a part of the United States. His statement about Hawaii
became a ridiculous piece of geographic literature. Mr. Quayle
also thought that Chicago was a "state", the USA was
a part of Europe, and Phoenix was located in California.
However, before Dan Quayle,
a very bad situation caught the public by surprise. During his
debate with Mr. Carter on October 6, 1976, President Ford earned
his place in historical gaffe and verbal stumbling for suggesting
that Eastern Europe, especially Poland, was not dominated by
the Soviet Union, while many of the viewers were laughing at
him. Although this was not the only reason Mr. Ford lost the
election, he quit politics altogether and probably went skiing.
Political jokes, particularly
in Less Developed Countries, are seen as ideological expressions
by the population that is unsatisfied by the current undemocratic
political activities. It was after the (s)election of Mr. Bush
to the presidency of the United States the number of political
jokes increased and some journalists started collecting his blunders
and bloopers, termed as Bushisms. One of these collections on
the Internet, by Mr. Jacob Weisberg, at http://slate.com
that is regularly updated is the most complete one. Another site,
http://www.dslextreme.com/,
used Mr. Weisberg's collection and analyzed Bushisms as to what
Bush meant to say and categorized his error types. "Evidence
of Bush's Stupidity - - From His Own Mouth!" is given in
http://www.utah.indymedia.org/p.
Mr. Bush's only geographical bloopers entitled "Dubya the
Geographer: Someone Buy This Man an Atlas" appears in dubyaspeaks@yahoo.com.
None of the above collections
has looked at Mr. Bush's geographical mistakes carefully and
discussed them in a systematic academic methodology. This gap
should be somehow filled by the present paper analyzing Mr. Weisberg's
site. Collected chronologically since 1994, this file
has nearly thirty pages with a record of 325 direct quotation
entries. Mr. Weisberg's file has only a single quote attributed
to Mr. Bush in 1994 which is not related to geography.
We are aware of the fact that most of these direct quotes are
taken out of context and may lose their original meanings. It
seems that most of these quotes are informal talks and not coached
or supervised by his advisors or read directly from cue-cards.
If they were formal statements and coached, Mr. Bush would have
had fewer mistakes. Of the above total quotations, only 32 were
found to have some expressive geographical statements. These
statements are listed, classified, and discussed chronologically
from the earliest time to the present.
Generally speaking, some the
quotations are just bad or very bad English. Some of them do
not make sense at all and some of them are beyond human comprehension
and logic. Many of them simply point towards lack of sound education
and become ridiculously funny and very sad, simultaneously. Still,
few of these quotations are ahistorical, lost in time. Yet, some
are aspatial, lost in space. This article is concerned about
the last aspect of Bushisms that is to study direct quotes containing
geographical keywords from 1999-2004.
Thus, this paper will look
at Bushisms from 1999 to 2004. Each entry has a date and has
a reference to the place where it was expressed or published.
This file was utilized to document the status of the mental map
of our President. Mental map is a reference to Mr. Bush's geographical
education. Our research question was to see "whether he
was able to conceptualize correct locations for the countries
that he was talking about." In this paper, it will be argued
that Mr. Bush's geographical knowledge is as bad as or even worse
than his English. It is believed that a geographically illiterate
American president would be very dangerous for the world. In
the following section, first the actual excerpts are given then
they will be briefly discussed.
Plural Nouns:
"Kosovians can
move back in."
-CNN Inside Politics,
April 9, 1999.
"Keep good relations with
the Grecians."
-Quoted in the Economist,
June 12, 1999.
"If the East Timorians
decide to revolt, I'm sure I'll have a statement."
-Quoted by Maureen Dowd in
the New York Times, June 16, 1999.
The above three quotes are
references to ethnic groups mentioned in 1999 before Mr. Bush
became the president of the United States. Of course, he is wrong
in all three cases. In technical English syntax, this is called
"misconstructed plural noun." People from Kosovo are
properly called Kosovars. Even elementary school students know
that people from Greece are called Greeks. A correct name for
the people from East Timor is East Timorese. The above three
misnomers may look like harmless and honest mistakes. But, they
are not. They represent a whole host of much bigger problems.
The problem was not that Mr. Bush assumed to add (ian) to the
end of the names of different ethnic groups. Supporters of Mr.
Bush may say that not very many Americans, even national political
leaders, knew much about Kosovo or East Timor. Then, the question
is why he was unable to come up with a correct ethnic name for
the people from Greece? A much bigger problem for Mr. Bush was
his statement on East Timor. He had absolutely no idea about
this place! He told Ms. Dowd of the New York Times, that
if an international crisis arose, he will have "a statement"
by then. He was and still is highly dependent on his advisors,
mostly a group of right wing Republican neocon war mongers. By
the way the great majority of his tutors, including his National
Security Advisor, are geographically illiterate too. Now, we
must imagine the type of foreign policy practiced in the USA
by the Bush administration. It is not just "mislabeling",
it is damaging to our international relations.
Slovenia:
"The only thing I know
about Slovakia is what I learned first-hand from your
foreign minister, who came to Texas."
-To a Slovak journalist as
quoted by Knight Ridder News Service, June 22, 1999. Bush's meeting
was with Janez Drnovsek, the prime minister of Slovenia.
In this statement, Mr. Bush
confuses the two countries of Slovenia and Slovakia. Or, Slovenia
became Slovakia. Some people may remember that Slovakia was a
part of the former Czechoslovakia that went though a velvet divorce
and two countries were created from one. But, how many Americans
know anything about Slovenia? We have to remember that this was
Mr. Bush, a candidate for the most powerful office in the world
talking to the prime minister of another country and calling
his country by a wrong name. With a population of 2.0 million,
Slovenia, on the other hand, was the first of five republics
to secede and receive independence from the former Yugoslavia
in 1991.
California and Florida:
"I was raised in the West.
The west of Texas. It's pretty close to California.
In more ways than Washington, D.C., is close to California."
-In Los Angeles as quoted by
the Los Angeles Times, April 8, 2000.
GOV. BUSH: Because the picture
on the newspaper. It just seems so un-American to me, the picture
of the guy storming the house with a scared little boy there.
I talked to my little brother, Jeb-I haven't told this to too
many people. But he's the governor of-I shouldn't call him my
little brother--my brother, Jeb, the great governor of Texas.
JIM LEHRER: Florida.
GOV. BUSH: Florida.
The state of the Florida.-
The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer, April 27, 2000.
The above two excerpts can
be seen as geographical references to the states in the United
States. These two indicate President Bush's difficulties with
communication. In the first case, he is actually correct. Western
Texas is closer to California than Washington, D. C. However,
he is unable to put his statement in a form of proper English.
His mental map is badly functioning if he is not briefed on unpredicted
media questions. In the second case, he is confusing his little
brother with himself and Florida with Texas. These two quotes
imply that Mr. Bush is as bad with US geography as with world
geography.
Imports:
"It is clear our nation
is reliant upon big foreign oil. More and more of our imports
come from overseas."
-Beaverton, Ore., Sep. 25,
2000.
This quote is also indicative
of our president's lack of communication abilities. First, we
do not know what he means by the word "big." Second,
it is not clear whether he knows the meaning of words such as
"imports and overseas."
Us and Ourselves:
"But the true threats
to stability and peace are these nations that are not very transparent,
that hide behind the-that don't let people in to take a look
and see what they're up to. They're very kind of authoritarian
regimes. The true threat is whether or not one of these people
decide, peak of anger, try to hold us hostage, ourselves;
the Israelis, for example, to whom we'll defend, offer
our defenses; the South Koreans."
-Media roundtable, Washington,
D.C., March 13, 2001.
Here, Mr. Bush attempts and
badly fails to simply say what he wanted to say. By the word
"ourselves", he means "us" or the Americans.
He is saying that authoritarian regimes that are not transparent
may take Americans, the Israelis, and the South Koreans as hostages.
Although, probably briefed on transparent societies, he still
is unable to send a simple message through, indicating how shallow
and deplorable his education is.
New Words:
"A lot of times in the
rhetoric, people forget the facts. And the facts are that thousands
of small businesses-Hispanically owned or otherwise-pay
taxes at the highest marginal rate."
-to the Hispanic Chamber of
Commerce; Washington, D.C., March 19, 2001.
"I've coined new words,
like, misunderstanding and Hispanically."
-Radio-Television Correspondents
Association dinner, Washington, D.C., March 29, 2001.
In reference to another ethnic
group, Mr. Bush has invented the word "Hisponically."
A bigger problem here is that not only he made a mistake but
he is bragging about it. Saying so what! However, he has forgotten
that he also coined the word "misunderestimate." This
funny looking word must enter the Guinness book of records. These
so-called "new words" are not invented by the creative
mind of a president. They are emitted from ignorance and lack
of a sound educational attainment. He is just messing up reasonably
correct terms.
Mexican Language:
"Neither in French
nor in English nor in Mexican."
-Declining to answer reporters'
questions at the Summit of the Americas, Quebec City, Canada,
April 21, 2001.
Using words such as Brazilian
and Mexican in reference to languages is not uncommon by geographically
illiterate people. Apparently, Mr. Bush, the former governor
of Texas, next door neighbor of Mexico, and a person who speaks
Spanish poorly, had no idea that a "Mexican" language
does not exist. Although he knows little Spanish, he was unable
to pronounce the name of the prime minister of Spain. In this
case, Mr. Bush might have been joking with reporters. Instead
of Mexican, he could have said "nor in any language."
Theirself:
"Whatever it took to help
Taiwan defend theirself."
-On how far we'd be willing
to go to defend Taiwan, Good Morning America, April
25, 2001.
The above excerpt is self-explanatory.
Mr. Bush is still struggling with himself and themselves.
Spatial Units:
"We spent a lot of time
talking about Africa, as we should. Africa is a
nation that suffers from incredible disease."
-Gothenburg, Sweden,
June 14, 2001.
Imagine the President of the
most powerful nation in the world in Sweden talking about Africa.
The country of Sweden has one of the best educated and geographically
literate populations in the world. Mr. Bush made a fool out of
himself by the above statement. Educational planners make sure
that middle school students learn and define different spatial
units of measurement such as a county, country, and continent.
Unfortunately, this is not the case. In one of his debates with
Vice President Gore held in 2000, Mr. Bush referred to the country
of Nigeria as a continent. We do not know that the President
could have been briefed before the incident. However, we know
that some of his tutors may be bewildered too when talking geographically.
Slavery:
"Do you have blacks,
too?"
-To Brazilian President
Fernando Cardoso, Washington, D.C., Nov. 8, 2001.
"It's very interesting
when you think about it, the slaves who left here to go
to America, because of their steadfast and their religion and
their belief in freedom, helped change America."
-Dakar, Senegal, July
8, 2003.
Here, although George W. Bush
is dealing with three different continents, he is talking about
slavery. First he has no idea that the largest number of Africans
outside Africa is found in the country of Brazil in South America.
Then, he thinks that slavery was something similar to the Puritan's
move to the USA in search of religious freedom. This is merely
an insult on nearly 25.0 million native Africans who were taken
forcefully out of Africa alive and about 75.0 million who lost
their lives in the most inhumane process of slavery.
Middle East:
"I assured the prime minister,
my administration will work hard to lay the foundation of peace
in the Middle-to work with our nations in the Middle
East, give peace a chance. Secondly, I told him that our
nation will not try to force peace, that we'll facilitate peace
and that we will work with those responsible for a peace."
-Photo opportunity with Ariel
Sharon, Washington, D.C., March 20, 2001.
"My administration has
been calling upon all the leaders in the-in the Middle East
to do everything they can to stop the violence, to tell the different
parties involved that peace will never happen."
-Crawford, Texas, Aug, 13,
2001.
"There's a lot of people
in the Middle East who are desirous to get into the Mitchell
process. And-but first things first. The-these terrorist acts
and, you know, the responses have got to end in order for us
to get the framework-the groundwork-not framework, the groundwork
to discuss a framework for peace, to lay the-all right."
-Referring to former Sen. George
Mitchell's report on Middle East peace, Crawford, Texas, Aug.
13, 2001.
"My administration has
been calling upon all the leaders in the-in the Middle East
to do everything they can to stop the violence, to tell the different
parties involved that peace will never happen."
-Crawford, Texas, Aug, 13,
2001.
"I understand that the
unrest in the Middle East creates unrest throughout the
region."
--Washington, D.C., March 13,
2002.
A total of 17 times, in his
statements, Mr. Bush referred to the Middle East or places and
personalities in this region. Five of these statements contain
the name of this region. Although, it is believed to be the most
important region in regards to proven fossil fuel reserves, many
people including our President do not have a clear concept about
this region. Since Middle East is an ethno-centric name, an interesting
question can be asked is: middle of what and east of where?
Another funny name for this region is Near East. Regardless of
what ever this region, in Southwest Asia and North Africa, is
called in the "name game" of neocolonialism; it is
still the most important place for cheap energy in the whole
world. This region alone has nearly 75% of the proven oil reserves.
It is believed that the fate of democracy and economy in the
world, particularly in Europe, Japan, and the US depends on availability
of cheap oil from the Middle East. Yet, the Bush administration
attempts uselessly to prove that American occupation of Iraq
had nothing to do with oil. This little dirty little word slowly
has disappeared from our political arena. On the other hand,
nearly 83%, 34 out of 41, of Mr. Bush's associates have direct
ties with oil companies. And, Dr. Rice is the one and only person
from academia whose name has appeared on an oil tanker. Unfortunately,
the Bush Administration's arrogant foreign policy in regards
to this region is preemptive, unilateral, and illegal mixed with
bad theology.
Repeats:
"More Muslims have
died at the hands of killers than-I say more Muslims-a
lot of Muslims have died-I don't know the exact count-at
Istanbul. Look at these different places around the world
where there's been tremendous death and destruction because killers
kill."
-Washington, D.C., Jan. 29,
2004.
The above quote is a reference
to terrorist acts in the city of Istanbul in the country of Turkey.
The fact that can be noted is he repeats one word many times.
In this statement the word "Muslims" is repeated three
times. In another short statement on January 29, 2003, "Saddam
Hussein's" name is mentioned four times. In a press conference
in Oklahoma City, August 29, 2002, in a short sentence, he repeated
the word "love" four times. In the same city and on
the same day the two words of "we" and "they"
together were repeated seven times by Mr. Bush. Apparently, he
is trying to emphasize a point or taking time to remember what
he was going to say. Thus, indicating his inability to communicate
properly.
Iraq:
"Nothing he [Saddam
Hussein] has done has convinced me-I'm confident the Secretary
of Defense-that he is the kind of fellow that is willing to forgo
weapons of mass destruction, is willing to be a peaceful neighbor,
that is-will honor the people-the Iraqi people of all
stripes, will-values human life. He hasn't convinced me, nor
has he convinced my administration."
-Crawford, Texas, Aug. 21,
2002.
"The war on terror involves
Saddam Hussein because of the nature of Saddam Hussein,
the history of Saddam Hussein, and his willingness to
terrorize himself."
-Grand Rapids, Mich., Jan.
29, 2003.
"Perhaps one way will
be, if we use military force, in the post-Saddam Iraq
the U.N. will definitely need to have a role. And that way it
can begin to get its legs, legs of responsibility back."
-the Azores, Portugal, March
16, 2003.
"The ambassador and the
general were briefing me on the-the vast majority of Iraqis
want to live in a peaceful, free world. And we will find these
people and we will bring them to justice."
-Washington, D.C., Oct. 27,
2003.
"Justice was being delivered
to a man who defied that gift from the Almighty to the people
of Iraq."
-Washington, D.C., Dec. 15,
2003.
"This has been tough weeks
in that country."
-Washington, D.C., April 13,
2004.
"[A] free Iraq is
essential to our respective securities."
-Washington, D.C., June 1,
2004.
Controlling the second largest
amount of proven oil reserves in the world, Iraq weighed heavily
on Mr. Bush's mind. His plot of a preemptive and illegal invasion
of Iraq had a lot to do with personal revenge, security of Israel,
and oil. So far, more than 1,000 young American soldiers and
many thousands of mostly innocent Iraqis have been killed because
he is concerned about democracy in this nation. After all, Saddam
was brutal. He even "gassed his own people." Actually,
Saddam's own people lived in and around the city of Baghdad and
the city of al-Takrit, his birth place. Saddam's own people lived
relatively comfortably in central Iraq. Yes, Saddam murdered
his enemies not his own people, the Kurds in the North and Shiahs
(Shiites) in Southern parts of the country. On March 16, 1988,
known as Bloody Friday, Saddam ordered to gas and kill about
8,000 children and elderly people in the Kurdish city of Halabja.
That was during a Republican administration. The Kurds were not
Saddam's people. But, what did the American government did under
Mr. Bush's hero, Ronald Reagan.
Now, Mr. Bush has tried and
failed miserably to relate September 11 to Iraq and zero Weapons
of Mass Destruction has been found here. These are seen as two
of the biggest lies in the history of mankind. His lies caused
human sufferings in many different countries including the United
States of America. The largest numbers of mostly innocent people
in the world in the 21st century have been brutally killed during
Bush's presidency. Let's not also forget what his agents did
in that infamous prison, Abu Ghraib, near Baghdad. What happened
here is an important representative of his democracy. Abu Ghraib
now should stand as a symbol of Bush's inhumanity, cruelty and
global violence.
Iran:
"Iran would be
dangerous if they have a nuclear weapon."
-Washington, D.C., June 18,
2003.
"Secondly, the tactics
of our-as you know, we don't have relationships with Iran.
I mean, that's-ever since the late '70s, we have no contacts
with them, and we've totally sanctioned them. In other words,
there's no sanctions-you can't-we're out of sanctions."
-Annandale, Va., Aug. 9, 2004.
The Axis of Evil is a label
used by Mr. Bush in his State of the Union speech on January
29, 2002. This phrase actually was coined by David Frum and only
read to the nation by the President. This name tag was utilized
for countries that sponsor terror that included Iran, Iraq, and
North Korea. The word "Axis" was used by Hitler to
indicate alliance, cooperation, and partnership. Thus, it is
so wrong to classify these three unconnected nations under an
axis of alliance. In reality, the USA, Great Britain, and Israel
fit under this label so perfectly. Together, they have illegally
occupied lands belonging to Middle Eastern Nations and have many
common goals. In the same State of the Union Address, Mr. Bush's
Statement read "Iran aggressively pursues these weapons
and exports terror, while an unelected few repress the Iranian
people's hope for freedom. It is true to talk about "Unelected
Few" not only in Iran but also in the US. Thus far Mr. Bush's
statements have not been very helpful to the elected authorities
in Iran. We have gotten rid of Iran's two big enemies, the Taliban
and Saddam's regimes. We are also helping the Shiahs (Shiites)
in Iraq to build an Islamic Republic similar to that of Iran.
The "Unelected Few" in the US and Iran are the most
secretive regimes in the world advocating similar theologies.
Mutilated Geography:
"I've got very good relations
with President Mubarak and Crown Prince Abdallah and
the King of Jordan, Gulf Coast countries."
-Washington, D.C., May 29,
2003.
"King Abdullah of Jordan,
the King of Morocco, I mean, there's a series of places-Qatar,
Oman-I mean, places that are developing-Bahrain-they're
all developing the habits of free societies."
-Washington, D.C., Jan. 29,
2004.
The above two flubs are the
worst of its type in the history of mankind. Nobody so far has
been able to make so many clumsy mistakes in only a few short
sentences. Nobody has been able like Mr. Bush to mutilate the
English language, principles of communication, and geography
at the same time. He has a total misunderstanding of the region
called the Middle East. The first quote is probably the source
a comedy sketch on Saturday Night Live, May 11, 2002. Vice President
Cheney and Dr. Rice were trying to teach Mr. Bush about three
Abdullahs: King Abdullah of Jordan, Crown Prince Abdullah of
Saudi Arabia, and somebody else by the name of Abdullah from
Egypt or Yemen. And, Mr. Bush simply could not comprehend this
so-called "complex world." What Mr. Bush has achieved
to do is that he mixed everybody's name and place of origin at
the same time. Of course, he used the "Gulf Coast"
as a reference to the Persian Gulf, with over ten thousand miles
of distance between the two.
In the second excerpt, he has
done it again. But, nobody can find any other misunderstanding
of the situation like this one. Mr. Bush is the only individual
who lists five countries in a sentence and confuses himself and
everybody else. He repeats the word "places" and "developing"
twice. At the end, the final result is so uninformative, it becomes
meaningless. Only in Mr. Bush's view, the King of Jordan is also
the King of Morocco. Did Mr. Bush really know that these two
countries were not the same? Did he know that these two countries
are located at extreme ends of the Mediterranean Sea, five time
zones separating them? It does not matter whether he has the
right answers to these questions or not. What matters is that
he is making a mockery of geography. He clearly fails to recognize
what he was talking about!
Conclusion:
From the above brief discussions,
it can be said that George W. Bush tops both President
Ford and Vice President Dan Quayle. But, it seems he had some
special bond with Mr. Quayle. Probably, as a good student of
Mr. Quayle, Mr. Bush has almost perfected the art of geographical
illiteracy. Although, this art has destroyed the future roles
of Mr. Ford and Mr. Quayle in politics, Mr. Bush is busy creating
more nonsense for our ancient discipline and other subjects.
He came up with the saddest and worst verbal stumbling about
the Middle East. As mentioned before, nobody has been able to
mutilate and destroy many principles of geography in a short
sentence like George W. Bush. He has mastered the art of geographical
illiteracy.
Remembering the fact that 78% of Americans are unable to locate
the country of Iraq on a map of the world, according to the National
Geographic Society, isn't Mr. Bush talking in the same tongue
of the general population? Doesn't he have advisors on world
affairs? Aren't some or most of these statements simple innocent
trivial bloopers? One could actually argue that our president's
immediate problem is not geography. After being voted out of
office, if he has any desire to reeducate himself, he has to
learn basics of the English language, principals of communication,
history, mathematics, and redo his MBA. He needs a total overhaul
of his education and not to rely on advisors with specific agenda.
At least, he should learn to read from cue-cards. But, not knowing
basic mathematics, English, and history, does not create major
international problems. However, a person like George W. Bush
with no mental map becomes dangerous to the whole community.
He has no problem selling his risky global perspective to a geographically
illiterate population.
His on the job training has
resulted in a more caricatured map of the world, called cartogram
in geography. His tutors, with their specific agenda and shortcomings,
are mostly petro-neocon-Zionists such as Cheney, Rove, Rumsfeld,
Wolfowitz, Perle, and particularly Dr. Rice. Since day one of
his presidency, George W. Bush has been looking for justifications
to invade Iraq. He hijacked a national disaster and dropped it
in the form of bombs on the head of innocent Iraqi people. His
promise of freedom, repeated nearly thirty times in his first
debate with Kerry, is funneled down through American WMD and
the Abu Ghraib. This is the risk of having one of the most ignorant
men and the most geographically illiterate president in the White
House.
Dr. Ira Kay has a doctoral degree in geography
he can be reached at: drdrkay@yahoo.com.
Weekend
Edition Features for October 30 / 31, 2004
Winslow
T. Wheeler
Spartacus Tells All
Bruce
Anderson
Notes from the Big Empty: When the Hippies Invaded NoCal
Vicente
Navarro
They Worked for Franco: How Sec. of State Cordell Hull and Nobel
Laureate Camilo Jose Cela Collaborated with the Fascist Regime
Robin
Blackburn
How Monica Lewinsky Saved Social Security
Greg
Bates
A Question of Character: What Makes Nader Tick?
Nancy
Welch
The American Health Care Crisis: an Interview with Dr. David
Himmelstein
William
Lind
Election Day: Which Menendez Brother Will You Vote For?
Brian
Cloughley
Uzbekistan and Bush Hypocrisies
Suzan
Mazur
Oops They Did It Again: the NYTs the Paper of Record and Rip-Offs
Greg
Moses
Standing at the Graves of Iraq
John
Chuckman
Osama's Endorsement
Richard
Oxman
Why Not Accept Osama's Offer?
Ken
Avidor
Landscape of Fear: When Ugly is Suspicious
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
Bush, Ba'ath and Beyond
Hope
Bastian
Strangling Cuba's Economy
P.
Sainath
Tower of Gabble: Toward a Sustainable Rhetoric
Dave
Zirin
Bush League: Why MLB Owners Support the Prez
Jon
Swift
The Dry Drunk Thang: Put a Cork in It
Ron
Jacobs
The Joke's on Me: a Review of Bob Dylan's Chronicles Vol. 1
Alexander
Billet
Taking Theatre Back: Are the States Ready for "Stuff Happens"?
Poets'
Basement
Jones, Laymon, Norris, Ford and Albert
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