george w bush

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Howard’s submissive body language

10 September 2007 in Human Nature, Politics by Stilgherrian | 7 comments

Photograph of John Howard with George W Bush

John Howard’s body language worries me. I want a leader, a statesmen to lead Australia, not a lapdog.

Some years ago, the ABC had vision of Howard greeting some visiting American dignitaries — I think Colin Powell was one of them. Anyway, as people got out of limos and approached each other the US visitors strode forward, calm and confident. Meanwhile Howard hunched down and cautiously extended his hand in a classic primate gesture of submission.

It was like a small-time shopkeeper receiving a visit from The Big City Bank Manager. It was embarrassing.

On the weekend, Howard was still behaving like a puppy-dog to George W Bush, as I think the photo (right) from the Sydney Morning Herald shows. OK, it’s only one frame, but I think it shows a nervous John Howard anxiously looking for approval from The Boss. What do you think?

But hey, have a look at the rest of the photos. At least Hyacinth is in her element. A shame Laura couldn’t make it, eh love?

Who’ll be PM on Wednesday?

10 September 2007 in Politics by Stilgherrian | 4 comments

Cover of John Winston Howard: The Biography

It’s a good thing John Howard’s very bestest of best friends George W Bush left APEC a day early. Howard could avoid talking about yet another fall in the opinion polls.

On the cover of the recent Howard biography (left), the Man of Steel looks stern and concerned. Apt. If those poll figures are repeated on election day, even with the usual minor swing back to stability, it won’t just be a Labor victory. It’ll be a complete rout of the Liberal/National Coalition.

APEC won’t be the poll boost Howard was looking for. John’s Bestest Best Friend stumbled through his speech like a village idiot — you choose good friends, John! Kevin Rudd looked like a 21st century statesman, cracking jokes in Mandarin with the Chinese president.

Pretty much everybody is saying it’s time for Howard to go — as Annabel Crabb’s witty poem makes clear. But the Man of Steel is in his bunker, fighting to the end.

I do intend to contest [the election], I intend to contest it as leader. That question was settled last year.

In the SMH today, Peter Hartcher says the Coalition would be mad to switch leaders now. I disagree.

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Photo of police officer at APEC

’Pong has just posted some images of yesterday’s APEC (in)action, including the 21-bum salute to George W Bush. As always, click through for the full-sized beauty. He’s just left to see what’s what with the “main” protest today.

08 September 2007 by Stilgherrian | No comments

Facebook bans breastfeeding photos

08 September 2007 in Human Nature, Internet by Stilgherrian | 4 comments

Social networking website Facebook is boldly taking the Internet into the 19th Century by banning photos of breastfeeding as “obscene”.

Look, I know Facebook is American, and America is (a) a Puritan nation at heart and (b) pig-ignorant of the fact that the other 96% of the world’s population might think differently. I mean, their own president can’t tell the difference between APEC and OPEC, between Austria and Australia. When he’s standing in it. But quite frankly, a society which thinks photos of mothers feeding their children are “obscene” has deep, deep problems.

And not just that your president is dumb as a stump-post.

The protest group Hey, Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene!(Official petition to Facebook) has almost 8000 members already. And while I generally don’t pay much attention to the needs of the breeders, this one I’ve joined.

Heard on ABC-TV’s The Midday Report just now, during a report on this morning’s joint press conference by John Howard and George W Bush:

Newsreader: You couldn’t hide the warmth between the two men…

Reporter: It was almost “get a room” time.

Now there’s an image!

05 September 2007 by Stilgherrian | 1 comment

George W shatters the myth…

19 August 2007 in Humour, Politics by Stilgherrian | No comments

Photograph of George W Bush

Asked what he thought of the President, Representative Charles Rangel said: “I really think he shatters the myth of white supremacy once and for all.”

Optimal copyright only 14 years

15 July 2007 in Arts, Business, Media by Stilgherrian | No comments

In most countries, copyright in creative works lasts for 50 years after the death of the creator. In the US, the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 extended that protection to 70 years for works created by individuals and 120 years for corporations. But a new paper by Cambridge University PhD candidate Rufus Pollock reckons copyright terms should be reduced, not extended [PDF file, 256k] — to just 14 years.

The US copyright extension was widely criticised as the Mickey Mouse Protection Act. Walt Disney’s Micky Mouse would have otherwise entered the public domain in 2003 — depriving the Disney corporation of income. Critics said the Act was nothing but more corporate welfare from the Bush II government.

Pollock’s paper argues that the optimal duration of copyright falls as the cost of producing and distributing creative works goes down. But since copyright laws are created through political lobbying rather than “a benevolent and rational policy-maker”, copyright terms steadily increased through the 20th century.

Politically it’s hard to remove rights which have already been granted — unless, of course you can pretend there’s some terrible threat such as terrorists or black paedophiles — so Pollock notes:

It is prudent for policy-makers to err on the low side rather than the high side when setting the strength of copyright.

Somehow, given the media industry’s current terror (!) of falling revenues thanks to that very process of falling distribution costs, and their close connection to political power, I just don’t see Pollock’s arguments winning any time soon.

Thanks to Ars Technica for the pointer.

It’s nice to see gender roles reinforced, isn’t it? Even though Condoleezza Rice is arguably the most powerful woman in the world, she’s still picking fluff off George W’s jacket.

27 June 2007 by Stilgherrian | No comments

Latest Apple products, yes

14 March 2007 in Humour, Politics by Stilgherrian | No comments

I thought this amusing video was going to be another send-up like the iPhone parodies I posted recently, but it’s actually something else again.

What exactly is President Bush’s job?

16 October 2006 in Humour, Politics by Stilgherrian | 3 comments

This 10-minute clip from The Daily Show explains all.

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