The Bush Administration in a Word: Barneycam

Of all the blessings given to the world by the Bush Administration --- Afghanistan, Camp X-Ray, Torture, the handling of Katrina, the wishing away of climate change --- this may be the one that best sums up the legacy of Bush and Co. (Indeed, I understand the looped transmission of this video may be succeeding waterboarding as a favoured technique in Christmas Greetings to America's enemies/detainees/"unlawful combatants".)

President George, in one of his more lucid acting moments of recent times, tells Barney: "We're sprinting to the finish."

Not fast enough, son. Not fast enough.

[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=hY7A4gZ1GVY[/youtube]

Obama Acts: Guantanamo to Close

OK, now I'll join the optimists who expect an Obama Administration commitment --- despite the last, desperate interference of Vice President Dick Cheney --- to shut down Camp X-Ray soon after the Inauguration in January 2009:

The Defense Department is drawing up plans to close the Guantanamo Bay military prison in anticipation that one of President-elect Barack Obama's first acts will be ordering the closure of the detention center associated with the abuse of terror suspects.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates still technically works for George W. Bush, so the confirmation from the Pentagon indicates that the current Administration is standing aside. More importantly  the Department of Defense, which helped launch this illegal and counter-productive regime, is now prepared to shut it down.

The downside of this process is that it will still take months to find and implement an arrangement for the 250 detainees still at the prison. It is unclear how many will be kept under lock-and-key in the American system and if those released can return to their home countries, have to be accommodated in the United States, or will be accepted by a third country such as Portugal.

Alaska Update: Sarah Palin, the Wasilla Bible Church, Gay Rights, and a Fire

This just in from our Alaska Bureau, reporting from Wasilla:

The investigation into the fire that nearly destroyed the Wasilla Bible Church, the religious home of former Vice-Presidential candidate and evangelical-right favorite Sarah Palin, widened this week when the Central Mat-Su Fire Department and the Alaska State Fire Marshals Office requested assistance from the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. The onsite investigation revealed that an accelerant had been used in multiple locations to spread the fire. No injuries were reported, though the structure sustained more than $1 million of damage.



In September the church held a Focus on the Family's ‘Love Won Out’ conference, the aim of which is to "to transform the lives of those impacted by homosexuality". Because of this, some on the right are labelling the fire a "hate crime" and an "arson and attempted murder...perpetrated by advocates of homosexual marriage". These allegations were repeated by Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren in an interview with Palin, who then apologized to the congregation if her candidacy brought "undeserved negative attention’ to the church".

The charges come at an especially delicate moment for President-elect Obama, who faces criticism from gay rights advocates because he picked Rick Warren to give the inauguration invocation. Warren is the superchurch pastor who  put forward California's Proposition 8, which restricted the definition of marriage to a union between a man and a woman.

It remains to be seen whether or not Wasilla will become a hotbed of political activism or the Ground Zero of a yet unidentified gay anarchist collective, but we will keep you posted.

A Farewell Song for George Bush: "You Took Advantage of a World That Loved You Well"

For a long time, this was the unofficial anthem of our big-sibling website, Libertas. It's not as well-known as the artist's "Hallelujah" or his tribute to Judy Garland, but it's just as powerful:

[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dUIsQo4K70Y[/youtube]

See all the Farewell Song contest entrants

Iraqi Shoe-Gate: The Tributes Roll in for George Bush

In Washington, Americans rally around the President:

They assembled a pile of clogs, boots, flip-flops, slippers and pumps, and, in celebration of the journalist who threw his shoes at President Bush in a news conference Sunday in Iraq, they tossed the footwear at a man wearing a papier-mâché Bush mask and a prison uniform....

The Bush figure dodged, weaved and taunted: "I can take it! I can take you all on!" But then somebody hit him in the crotch with a sandal, and he fell to his knees.

In Afghanistan, the citizens defend their US liberator:

<!-- @page { margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } -->

The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush is to be celebrated in an Afghan comedy show.

But in the satirical series, Zang-i-Khatar (Alert Bell), rather than duck the shoes Mr Bush will be hit squarely in the face.

One protester, however, still doesn't understand, preferring to follow the example of Muntazar al-Zaidi:

A transit rider protesting moves to slash service and raise fares was dragged out of a public meeting by police officers who feared he was about to imitate the Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at President Bush.