The 44th President of the United States of America??

In Memoriam: Don Knotts, 1925-2006

See the obituary from the New York Times.



http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/27/arts/television/27knot.html

Breaking News: War Looming in the Taiwan Strait?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4753974.stm

http://fairbankreport.blogspot.com/2006/01/is-he-asking-for-whuppin.html

Why is Bush Being Crucified by the Right?

This port issue is reminiscent of the Harriet Miers nomination back in November. Back then, our senior contributor wrote that Miers was being scuddled by the Right because Bush had failed to "correctly" address two growing areas of concern among conservatives: the influx of illegal immigrants and uncontrolled Federal spending.

It is deja vu. Surely, the UAE-based multinational corporation is unlikely to do any worse, in terms of port security, than the UK-based firm. The anger from the Right, again, stems from the President's "internationalistic" approach in dealing with issues of business and the economy. Bush has no qualm about using Mexican and other foreign labor to address labor shortage in certain sectors of the U.S. economy. And he similarly has no qualm about using a foreign firm to operate the Eastern ports.

Conservatives, on the other hand, have become increasingly isolationist ever since the NAFTA debate of the early 1990s and, understandably, even more so since 9/11. And they are not amused by Bush's embrace of internationalism...

Get Over It, Chuck: The Sun Has Set on the British Empire Long Ago

We learned recently from The Mail on Sunday, which had obtained copies of the Prince of Wales's diary, that he had opposed the handover of Hong Kong to Mainland China in 1997. He mocked then Chinese President Jiang Zemin and other top Chinese officials as "appalling old waxworks."

This is hypocritically delicious from a chap who has not worked a day in his life and whose handling of his flawed private life leaves a lot to be desired. These "old waxworks" were/are responsible for China's rise, which has eclipsed the importance of Britain and will eclipse the European (dis)Union's standing in the world. They have done more for more people in a shorter time period than it took Charles to drink his dainty tea and ride his girly pony.

It is this kind of arrogance on the parts of the royals that will hasten Britain's path to becoming a republic...