“It’s Game Time”

That’s what Big Time is telling the Iraqis on the umpteenth “surprise” visit by an administration official.

The senior administration official summarized Cheney’s message: “We’ve got to pull together. We’ve got to get this work done. It’s game time.”

An important topic on Cheney’s agenda is to persuade the Iraqi Parliament to forgo its planned two-month recess. The Bush administration is pushing for members to keep working on legislation, such as a measure on oil revenues.

Setting aside that using an idiomatic American expression may not be the best way to communicate with foreigners, the push to keep the Iraqi Parliament in session during July and August makes sense. Otherwise, the alleged September deadline that we’re hearing about will be hard to meet (not that many in the liberal blogosphere think it will be met anyway).

Maybe, though, setting a timetable for withdrawal of US troops is a better way to convince the Iraqi government that “it’s game time” and that they need to get things in order. It’s not like these people have never had meetings with Dick Cheney before.

Hey, it’s Enrico Palazzo!

A wise man once said “No matter how silly the idea of having a queen may seem to us, as Americans we must be gracious and considerate hosts.”
I wonder what the conversation was like between these two?

Which Insult Is Unlike the Others?

The WaPo editorializes:

NEW YORK radio host Don Imus is an equal-opportunity insulter. He called noted African American journalist Gwen Ifill a “cleaning lady.” He called a columnist at the New York Times a “quota hire.” He’s labeled Vice President Cheney a “war criminal.” But none of those comments has landed Mr. Imus in as much hot water as the offensive, racist and sexist remarks he made last week about the women’s basketball team from Rutgers University.

How does calling Cheney a war criminal enter into this discussion about racism?

The Not-so-Violent Cheney Protests Down Under

Dick Cheney is visiting Australia, and some antiwar activists aren’t so pleased with him over there either, hence the public display of disagreement with the American veep.

Via Raw Story comes this first-hand account of the allegedly violent protests in Sydney. It turns out that the minimal “violence” consisted of a little pushing and shoving that members of the media instigated themselves so as to have the picture they wanted. Basically, this is a non-story, says our reporter on the scene.

If you stripped the 350 (or 500) strong crowd of “Anti-Cheney” protesters down to those who actually turned up to protest, and weren’t involved in the organisation of the protest itself, you’d be hard-pressed to come up with a number bigger than 80.

And it still made news all the way around the world.

Amazing stuff.

“Violent Protest”?

I’ve seen more violence in the Seafood Buffet line at the Sydney Casino.

Aren’t blogs wonderful?