DAYS

WHAT, NO MAN-HANDING? WHERE'S THE LOVE?

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, oft-dubbed ‘Bush’s poodle’ by detractors, made a show-the-love appearance at the White House yesterday. Unfortunately for the prime minister, his unsuccessful efforts to secure an agreement from Bush on increasing aid dollars to Africa and his failure to wrangle any meaningful acknowledgment of global warming from the president, will only serve to fuel the ‘poodle fire’ back home. But at least he and Bush agree on one thing: They both think Bono rocks.

Bush and Blair did move closer to an agreement on African debt relief, which is a good thing, but Bush’s paltry pledge of $674 million in aid won’t help Blair much in reaching his stated goal of $50 billion. Hell, if $200 million can’t even buy a winning baseball team in the Bronx, what is $674 million gonna do for the entire continent of Africa? Here’s Bush’s comment on African aid:

“Nobody wants to give money to a country that's corrupt, where leaders take money and put it in their pocket."

Funny, that’s the same thing I was grumbling around tax time this year.

And here’s Bush on Global Warming:

"I've always said it's a serious, long-term issue that needs to be dealt with," he said. "And my administration isn't waiting around to deal with the issue. We're acting."

Yep, they’re acting alright. Wanna know how?

US Official Edited Warming, Emission Link
A White House official, who previously worked for the American Petroleum Institute, has repeatedly edited government climate reports in a way that downplays links between greenhouse gas emissions and global warming

Oh, and that big, pink elephant known as the Downing Street Memo began to creep, if ever-so-slowly, toward the middle of the room. Keep an eye on this, and sign the frickin’ letter.


Good job Tony. Now, about that shoe shine...