THEY CAN THANK BUSH FOR CHAVEZ

Since we can thank Bush for the move to the left in governments all over the world (Mexico's close call counts too!) as well as the move toward terrorism of so many of the Moslem world’s youth (see Somalia), Venezuela can thank Bush for the good fortune they are receiving, courtesy of their awareness of the decidedly uncompassionate conservativism of America’s president.

“Yet even Chavez's most outspoken' critics readily admit that his charisma and revolutionary rhetoric have touched a chord with many of Venezuela's poor, who represent 54 percent of the population and have long been shut out of the country's political and economic life. ‘A lot of poor people feel understood and represented by Chavez,’ says Perez Vivas, ‘even if they don't receive anything.’ ” — US News and World Report, Jan. 30, 2006, p. 27



Photo is of a small segment of Spokane's perennial garden at Manito Park.

MORE TO THANK BUSH FOR IN IRAQ

I tell you—it can't be more than a few months more and things will be going so well in Iraq that we can get up and leave.

[OPEN QUOTE] Abu Mohammed can't go near a hospital now. The Iraqi bone specialist, 37, has lived in fear since August, when his younger brother, also a doctor, was shot dead one night while walking home from his clinic in Baghdad. Abu Mohammed bought a pistol after that, but he still doesn't feel safe. Recently he was offered a managerial job at one of the city's biggest hospitals. He's scared to accept it. His wife owned a pharmacy; she sold it in November. A week or so ago a doctor friend of theirs was kidnapped from his clinic in the city's Mansour district—the latest of their friends to vanish. "My brother was killed when the terrorists started a campaign against doctors," says Abu Mohammed. "He was one of their victims."

Iraq's troubles just keep getting crueler. The same American officials who used to promise imminent victory are now saying openly that the insurgency seems likely to continue indefinitely. The recent elections, rather than creating a sense of common ground, only emphasized the country's deepening rifts. And all the while, the insurgents are attacking the social structure wherever its defenses are weakest, aiming to create chaos so hopeless that America will finally give up and go home. Now they are targeting the health-care system with murders, kidnappings and scare tactics. According to the Iraqi Doctors Association, at least 65 physicians were killed in 2005—more than double the total for either of the previous two years—while others were kidnapped or threatened with death. Hundreds have fled the country. [CLOSE QUOTE] —Newsweek, Jan. 16, 2006, p. 36.

GLAXOSMITHKLINE and FEAR

I saw a print ad recently by the drug company mentioned in the title of this segment. Two huge sentences at the top of the ad say it all:

"EXPERTS SAY 10% OF THE WORLD'S DRUG SUPPLY IS COUNTERFEIT.
CAN WE BE SURE WE IMPORT THE 90% THAT ISN'T?"

I wonder why a major American drug company would put out a strange ad like that one? The reason eludes me, doesn't it you?