Bush has indicated he'd like to see a role for Nato in Iraq, and not surprisingly France's Jacques Chirac is not positive to the plan. The Beeb is really trying to make a big story out of this, and at the same time reveal some serious ignorance:
France and Germany are key members of Nato, and as recently as April, turned down a request for a greater Nato role in Iraq on the grounds that the alliance was already overstretched in the Balkans and Afghanistan.
France a "key member" of Nato? Only in the Beeb's imagination. France is not even a full member of Nato! In 1966 France withdrew from the alliance's military command.
John Reid, plainspoken Health Secretary of the United Kingdom, has landed himself in hot water over his recent statements on smoking. There is a growing pressure for Britain to follow the example of Ireland and Norway and ban smoking in pubs and restaurants, but Reid considers the smoking ban debate an "obsession of the middle classes."
The Health Secretary, who himself had a 60-a-day habit until 18 months ago, said: "I just do not think the worst problem on our sink estates by any means is smoking- - but that it is an obsession of the learned middle class.
"What enjoyment does a 21-year old single mother of three living in a council sink estate get? The only enjoyment they have is to have a cigarette." Mr Reid made the comments-amid mounting pressure on ministers to introduce a tough new ban on smoking in public places.
Anti-smoking groups in Britain are outraged, but then outrage is the normal mood of anti-smoking activists to begin with.
The democrats are worried about losing the churchgoers by a 2-1 margin, and are now planning to emphasise the religious roots of its policies. Since the rise of the Christian right in the 1970s, faith has been closely associated with the republican party, and this can prove costly for the democrats in a highly religious country.
To advocates, the new focus on church-pew politics represents an opportunity for peel off crucial voters without losing the party's more secular base. But big gains won't be easy, analysts say.
Protestant registered voters favor President Bush by a nine-point margin over presumptive Democratic challenger John Kerry - a gap that jumps to 18 points for those who say they attend church regularly, according to a Gallup poll released Tuesday. While Senator Kerry has jumped to an eight-point advantage among registered Roman Catholic voters in the same poll, it's a far cry from the 56-point lead enjoyed by John Kennedy among Catholics in 1960.
The democrats may think they have the secular vote tied down anyway, no matter how much they try to flirt with religion. But they shouldn't be so confident. Judging by the number of moderates and "liberal hawks" in the blogsophere, there is a section of very opiniated people who don't support Bush because of his religious support, but in spite of it. These people can easily turn back to the democrats if 1) Kerry is convincing on national defense (and he has been making the right sounds lately) and 2) the GOP turns them off sufficiently by holy riding and gay bashing.
However, if the dems try to be holier than the GOP, what is the point of going back there? Not to mention that a lot of people smell some hypocrisy here. Most secularists agree that fake religion is even worse than the real thing.
Ex-Smiths musician Morrissey is known for his controversial statements, and he lived up to his image when he announced Ronald Reagan's death during a concert.
Thousands of fans at Dublin Castle, in Ireland, cheered when the ex-Smiths frontman made the announcement that the former American president, who had battled with Alzheimer's Disease, had passed away.
And an even bigger cheer followed when Morrissey - who is no stranger to controversy - then said he wished it had been the current President, George W Bush, who had died.
There is a reason why we occasionally elect actors to office, but hardly ever musicians.
Some great musicians have very apt and intelligent observations about life and love, but let's face it, their views of macropolitics are somewhere between pitifully naive and genocidal. While politics is equally everybody's business, and not something belongs to an elite (who were never very good at it anyway), it does require paying some attention to the world to make informed opinions. It seems that those who dedicate their lives to making music and shows (not to mention sex and drugs) have a strong tendency to stupidity and ignorance on other topics.
Hey, I still listen to the Clash from time to time, even their cheering on the mass-murdering Nicaraguan Sandinistas in the epic triple LP Sandinista I never use their politics or private habits against musicians I like to listen to, like I don't use it against my mates what they say when drunk.
The Belmont Club has even more facts and discussion about terrorism in Saudi Arabia, the Khobar attack. He also explains why the security forces appear to be schizophrenic. Well, the Saudi government actually is schizophrenic. There is a civil war going on that divides the royal house down the middle, and unfortunately both sides can't lose.
