Sweeping out the corners

I was going through my files (AKA: my great big pile o’ junk) and found these two items and I figured I had better get them out before they were completely out of date rather than being only partially out of date. As an illustration I have included political cartoons from a newspaper.

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Doctor Condoleezza Rice, US Secretary of State, came to Canada to observe the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 9/11, and to thank Canadians for their help on that day. During that trip she spent much time with Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay at his riding in Halifax and the two spent so much time together that the New York Times (a US paper based out of New York, apparently) published a front page article with the headline “Dance Of Diplomacy”, thus blowing the lid off the whole situation.

The good doctor was apparently unable to keep her eyes off the rugby-toned body of the young Foreign Minister, the man she called ‘Peter’. One very private dinner later followed by a smiling observation (or ‘hint’) that she kept her private room’s window open at night and little to nothing was left to the imagination.

Foreign “Affairs” Minister MacKay was no less smitten, professing admiration for Doctor Rice’s “great mind” and calling himself a “fan”. A couple of double doubles and a twenty pack of Tim-bits later and that’s what I call a successful meeting. Stay tuned.

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On September 20, 2006, President of Venezuela Hugo R Chávez delivered a speech to the United Nations General Assembly. As any good speechmaker would he went straight for the laughs and by all accounts he just ‘slayed ‘em’. In reference to US President George W Bush’s speech from the day before he quipped, “the devil came here yesterday”. President Chávez was forced to pause when riotous laughter and applause greeted this remark but he really had them rolling in the aisles when he continued with , “in this very spot it smells like sulphur still”.

President Chávez’s speech is considered to have been one of the best of the 2006 season. Even many US allies were forced to admit that President Bush’s speech of September 29, 2006 “sucked”. His jokes were bad and his delivery was, at best, wooden. As Henry Rollins has observed some people can make a pause and an “uh” work, but President Bush is not one of these people. Unfortunately the pauses and the “uh”s outnumbered the jokes.

In what can only be described as an ugly display of sour grapes the US Ambassador to the US, John Bolton, was heard to mutter, “I’m just not going to comment on this” (In fact Ambassador Bolton was not even there for President Chávez’s speech. The US seat was filled by a “junior note taker” which as the Ambassador pointed out is customary “when governments like that speak.” Well! As I said, sour grapes.)

Anyway… Humouroceros