The Huffington Post has resurrected discussion on an interview given by President Bush to Carol Coleman of the Irish TV network RTE in 2004. The interview is notable for Bush's inability to construct relevant or useful answers to many questions.
While Huffington Post is reporting on this train-wreck of a performance by Bush in 2008 (four years after the actual event), I recall that I was privy to an equally disjointed and incoherent performance from President Bush earlier in his first term, when he visited Japan and met with the Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. I watched a satellite feed of their joint press conference from Japan. After both men read prepared statements in their own languages, the press got to ask both men questions. Bush stumbled and blustered his way through the questions in a totally discombobulated and ham-handed way. At one point, he became stuck mid-way through a sentence, and Koizumi (a man whose first language is presumably not English) stepped in and completed the sentence for him.
At the time I remember remarking to my wife "I bet none of this footage ever gets shown on the US TV networks", and, surprise surprise, none of it was aired beyond a couple of sentences from Bush's statement and the usual extended "for the cameras" handshakes and smiles.
Based on watching that satellite transmission, none of the supposed "scandal" over the RTE interview surprises me in the slightest. Bush is hopeless at answering spontaneously as President, and is astonishingly thin-skinned and arrogant when confronted by penetrating questioners. What is more dismaying is that these issues have hardly ever been surfaced or discussed in the US media. It is like there is an unspoken agreement that the media is not supposed to reveal anything To Make The President Look Bad. The bad news is that whether people appreciate this or not, the President is the leading US representative "at large". If he appears abroad as inarticulate, thin-skinned, arrogant and dismissive, this sends a message about America as much as a message about him as President.

...it might be worthwhile reminding ourselves of the many different ways in which fallacious reasoning can be used in political rhetoric. Here is an overview of many more common logical fallacies. And here is a much more exhaustive list. It will be interesting to see how many of these can be spotted in the rhetoric spouted by candidates and supporters of all political persuasions in the next few months...

Fox News now behaves like an Eastern European regime when it comes to publishing images. From a Huffington Post article on their response to criticism from the New York Times:

On the July 2 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, co-hosts Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade labeled New York Times reporter Jacques Steinberg and editor Steven Reddicliffe "attack dogs," claiming that Steinberg's June 28 article on the "ominous trend" in Fox News' ratings was a "hit piece." During the segment, however, Fox News featured photos of Steinberg and Reddicliffe that appeared to have been digitally altered -- the journalists' teeth had been yellowed, their facial features exaggerated, and portions of Reddicliffe's hair moved further back on his head. Fox News gave no indication that the photos had been altered.

This is fucking sinister...a news organization that claims to be "Fair and Balanced" is Photoshopping other journalists' photos as part of a smear job article? Does this network still have the audacity to hide behind the "Fair and Balanced" meme?
Fox News is lower than a joke, lower than the gutter and operating in the worst traditions of Stalinist Eastern Europe. What a bunch of jerks.

Link: http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/736177.html

...is that a number of smaller electricity providers have gone out of business in recent weeks in Texas. This article notes the latest casualty in North Texas.
We can expect more smaller providers who work on a reseller model to go out of business all over the USA in the next few months, as they discover that they cannot buy wholesale electricity at a lower rate than the rates they are charging their customers.

It seems like some famous people do suffer from an exaggerated sense of self-importance:

1. The President of France, Nicolas Sarkosy, apparently believed that he was shown insufficient deference by an employee of the France 3 TV network...he also seemed to react rather childishly when an elector refused to shake his hand. Whatever next? A new law to force people to bow down to him?

2. The golfer Greg Norman appeared to be able to buy control of an Island in the Bahamas last weekend, including the local police force. This was apparently to prevent unwanted media coverage of his very expensive wedding to former tennis player Chris Evert. Whilst it is all well and good to want a private wedding, some of the reported incidents sound like an abuse of power by the police.

Link: http://blog.au.org/2008/06/13/the-sky-is-falling-scientists-educators-and-civil-liberties-activists-rightly-sound-alarm-about-la-legislation/

The Louisiana House of Representatives has approved a bill that would facilitate the teaching of creationism in public schools:

On Wednesday, with just two weeks left in the legislative session, the Louisiana House of Representatives approved SB 733, a bill intended to facilitate the teaching of creationism in public schools.

It is good to know that the legislature feels it has enough spare bandwidth to devote to this incredibly important issue. A probable alternative explanation is that the legislature is dominated by fools and knaves who appear to believe that one can legislate against the scientific method in favour of a variation of "God Did It".
It is actions like this that demonstrate that, at a time when the US is wallowing in debt like pigs wallow in shit, too many people here are fixated on legislating to adjust reality. Truly, denial runs deep.
I would, however, be remiss if I failed to note that the Louisiana legislators were elected by the poeple of Louisiana, whose past voting record also includes voting for a convicted felon (Edwin Edwards) and more recently voting in a Governor (Bobby Jindal) who appears to believe that he can advance the cause of humankind by conducting exorcisms.
My tentative conclusion is that the electors in Louisiana would do well to get their brains in better working order and actually start voting for sensible people of a higher level of probity, instead of allowing their legislative processes to be dominated by crooks and moonbats.

And it is also the 100th birthday of my grandmother, born on this day in 1908. I will be in the UK for the birthday party this weekend.
In the meantime, here is a provocative post from Hale "Bonddad" Stewart concerning the chronic debt situation of the USA, and how the US might transition from a debt economy to an equity economy. As he notes. this will not be a painless process...

Link: http://dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/6/16/14642/8360/207/536787

Satire and ridicule are often powerful weapons against entrenched foolishness and stupidity. This diary at DailyKos seeks to shine a satirical light on the bigoted antipathy that many people seem to hold towards same-sex couples and same-sex marriage.
(WARNING - High levels of snark may be encountered in the Comments section).

The general level of scientific knowledge and understanding of the scientific method in the modern USA continues to amaze and perplex me.
This weekend I found two interesting reports on the relationship between science, religion and commerce. This report from the Pew Group looks at the tension between religion and science, which manifests itself most clearly in several key areas: Evolution and natural selection being one.
This article takes a look at the influence of conservative and business-funded "think tanks" and pressure groups on environmental regulation.

Link: http://www.pamshouseblend.com/tag.do?tag=Sally%20Kern

Earlier this year, Rep. Sally Kern gave an unhinged talk during which she claimed that "the homosexual agenda" was a bigger threat to the USA than terrorism or Al-Quaeda.
I previously blogged about this, and also wrote to the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce, telling them that if they did not disavow Rep. Kern's batshit bigotted nonsense, I would not be visiting Oklahoma or spending any money in the state in the future. As far as I can tell, they have not disavowed her ridiculous prattlings, so my refusal to visit or spend money in Oklahoma stands.
Pam's House Blend has the latest on the fallout from Rep. Kern's rantings (see link at the top). Included is news that at least one corporation is having serious second thoughts about relocating to Oklahoma (surprise surprise - corporations, by and large, are smart enough to want the best employees, and many of the best and most creative employees are at the opposite end of the ideological spectrum from the likes of Sally Kern). It also seems that Oklahoma has sunk down the list of desirable relocation destinations for corporate relocation consultants. Who'd have thunk it?
Additionally, Kern now has an opponent in the November election, who was jolted into running against her by her verbal bloviations earlier in the year.
I shall watch how this all plays out over the next few months. In the meantime, I will continue to logistically and fiscally avoid all interactions with Oklahoma.