Sun Tzu

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To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit.- Stephen Hawking

canuckguy

good arm on that guy!

Walt

Apparently not as he went 0-2. Great reaction time for President Bush, not so much for the Secret Service.

In all seriousness, an Iraqi journalist attempted to assault the President of the United States. I can't begin to tell you how angry that makes me. I take solace in knowing that the journalists actions have embarassed President al-Maliki and his personal security detachment on an international stage. Im betting they will feel obligated to handle this matter quietly and internally.

Good post, Sun Tzu, but this probably would have been better suited for the "General Discussion" forum.

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Calmer than you are...

JamesB

Too bad he didn't make contact

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Craven Morehead

hunnychile

Too bad he didn't use a pile of horse shit.

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"I need compassion, understanding and chocolate." - NJB

Charlatan

Where were the secret service? After the guy ran out of shoes, Bush was still just standing there. I didn't see any human shields leap into place.

That seemed rather odd to me.

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"My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars."
- Old Man Luedecke

Baraka_Guru

We've known for years that Bush is good at dodging things.

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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

Willravel

+10 points.

We also would have accepted "Who throws his shoe? Honestly! You fight like a woman!" or "Gellin' like a felon."

bhgraiders1

uncle phil

wish i could make bhg's post my avatar...

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"We were wrong, terribly wrong. (We) should not have tried to fight a guerrilla war with conventional military tactics against a foe willing to absorb enormous casualties...in a country lacking the fundamental political stability necessary to conduct effective military and pacification operations. It could not be done and it was not done."
- Robert S. McNamara
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"We will take our napalm and flame throwers out of the land that scarcely knows the use of matches...
We will leave you your small joys and smaller troubles."
- Eugene McCarthy in "Vietnam Message"
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never wrestle with a pig.
you both get dirty;
the pig likes it.

Walt

Not impressed.

-----Added 14/12/2008 at 07 : 17 : 13-----
The irony of posting an Odd Jobs pic in response to a guy with a young Sean avatar just hit me. Unfortunately, it was unintentional.

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Calmer than you are...

uncle phil

younger sean with a cig in his mouth...

couth...

__________________
"We were wrong, terribly wrong. (We) should not have tried to fight a guerrilla war with conventional military tactics against a foe willing to absorb enormous casualties...in a country lacking the fundamental political stability necessary to conduct effective military and pacification operations. It could not be done and it was not done."
- Robert S. McNamara
-----------------------------------------
"We will take our napalm and flame throwers out of the land that scarcely knows the use of matches...
We will leave you your small joys and smaller troubles."
- Eugene McCarthy in "Vietnam Message"
-----------------------------------------
never wrestle with a pig.
you both get dirty;
the pig likes it.

Willravel

Dude, the Chinaman is not the issue here!

(I couldn't miss that opportunity)

Walt

Dude, Chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature. Asian-American, please.

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Calmer than you are...

Tully Mars

Honestly can't believe the guy had the balls to do it. But this is what we've become... sadly the vast majority of people think it's alright to throw shoes at the POTUS.

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I used to drink to drown my sorrows, but the damned things have learned how to swim- Frida Kahlo

Vice President Starkizzer Fan Club

Walt

Im inclined to agree, though I wouldnt say "vast majority". Its confined to a select few, like this douchebag. And like this douchebag, their actions are largely self correcting. Saddams old torture chambers still exist...they are just under new management. Have fun, Fuck Face!

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Calmer than you are...

Tully Mars

I'm going on world wide opinion polls. I don't think it's confined to a select few at all. I can't remember the last time I ran into someone from a country other then the US that didn't have something completely negative to say about Bush Jr. Hell, I'd say well over half of the US citizens I run across think very negatively of him. Personally though as long as he's POTUS I'm not in favor of this type of thing. Simply out of respect for the office and the country. Come Feb. 2009 people can throw sewage at him for all I care. If they do I certainly hope they don't miss.

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I used to drink to drown my sorrows, but the damned things have learned how to swim- Frida Kahlo

Vice President Starkizzer Fan Club

dlish

dudes..

seriously..its the biggest insult to throw a shoe at someone in arabic culture. actually anything shoe related.

if you told someone that they arelower than your shoe, all hell's going to break loose.

doesnt make it right.. 2nd shot he had interference. it would have been 1-1 i think.

maybe some baseball team is looking for a pitcher?

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An injustice anywhere, is an injustice everywhere

I always sign my facebook comments with ()()===========(}. Does that make me gay?
- Filthy

roachboy

gee, it's astonishing that someone from iraq would be a bit miffed at george w bush in late 2008.

i want to talk about why it is probably not ok to throw a shoe or two at the president of the united states. were it ok to throw a shoe or two at the president of the united states, then this particular action would have no meaning because anyone could throw a shoe or two at the president of the united states and so either most people wouldn't (because if you can, what's the point?) or most people would (because, well, you can)--either way, were it ok to throw a shoe or two at the president of the united states, this particular shoe or two would not be remarkable. so it has to be true that throwing a shoe or two at the president of the united states is not ok because otherwise this footage would not be remarkable, and regardless of what you think of it politically, that is pretty remarkable footage.

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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear

it make you sick.

-kamau brathwaite

Baraka_Guru

qed

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

dlish

im going to read this a few more times i think

__________________
An injustice anywhere, is an injustice everywhere

I always sign my facebook comments with ()()===========(}. Does that make me gay?
- Filthy

ryfo

why waste a good pair of shoes?

kurty[B]

Has anyone looked at the good side?

At least this is proof that Iraq has freedom of the press. That's one step in the right direction to establishing a democracy.

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In the Absence of Information People Make Things Up.

ASU2003

So, which Western TV network will have his interview first? Do you think he will be seen like the Tiananmen Square Tank guy in Iraq?


At least it wasn't a gun. That would have been stupid and a really bad thing. And while this wasn't exactly a great thing, at least he expressed his (and many Iraqis) feelings without using an extreme form of terrorism.

For the next press conference in the US, he should have the secret service remove all of the press and media's shoes before they enter the room.

Halx

I am interested in finding out where he will be in 2 months.. 3 years? What does throwing a shoe at the president do to one's life?

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RetroGunslinger

George Bush will never look at Shoe Carnival the same way again.

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M.B. Keene

abaya

No pun intended?

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And think not you can direct the course of Love;
for Love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
--Khalil Gibran

Tully Mars

I think it could go one of two ways. Either a substantial prison sentence filled with unkind, unpleasant treatment. Or they pin a medal on him. Never know he could end up in Abu Ghraib or one of Saddam's old palaces. I don't think even al-Maliki thinks that much of Bush Jr. these days. But my guess is whatever they do will be under the radar and quite.

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I used to drink to drown my sorrows, but the damned things have learned how to swim- Frida Kahlo

Vice President Starkizzer Fan Club

Anxst

I hope he doesn't get in too serious of trouble over the incident. I think it was a well thought action that showed his disagreement with how President Bush has treated his country, that had no real possibility of causing lasting harm.

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Don't mind me. I'm just releasing the insanity pressure from my headvalves.

Aladdin Sane

When the shoes start flying at BHO, I'll be back here to see if opinions have changed.

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Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

roachboy

i don't see this as a routine occurance.
i don't see george w bush as being like alot of other presidents of the united states.
i'm kinda surprised that anyone does, even those few supporters which remain out there in the world.

__________________
a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear

it make you sick.

-kamau brathwaite

little_tippler

I agree with this. Though I don't condone the attack, I can see why the guy did it. It may not have been diplomatic but I'd be inclined to give this journalist a break. Look on the bright side, at least it wasn't a loaded gun.

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Whether we write or speak or do but look
We are ever unapparent. What we are
Cannot be transfused into word or book.
Our soul from us is infinitely far.
However much we give our thoughts the will
To be our soul and gesture it abroad,
Our hearts are incommunicable still.
In what we show ourselves we are ignored.
The abyss from soul to soul cannot be bridged
By any skill of thought or trick of seeming.
Unto our very selves we are abridged
When we would utter to our thought our being.
We are our dreams of ourselves, souls by gleams,
And each to each other dreams of others' dreams.

Fernando Pessoa, 1918

YaWhateva

Apparently the journalist had a lot of close relatives die in the invasion. I think only throwing two shoes at him showed a hell of a lot of self restraint.

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“If the Americans go in and overthrow Saddam Hussein and it's clean, he has nothing, I will apologize to the nation, and I will not trust the Bush administration again.” - Bill O'Reilly

"This is my United States of Whateva!"

filtherton

I am offended that someone who wasn't an American would show such disrespect for a leader of a foreign nation.

Tully Mars

The BBC this morning is reporting 1000's demonstrated to have this journalist released from custody

BBC Reports

Don't think his feelings are in the minority by any means.

I think he lost family in the war and wasn't happy about-

I was on the phone last night with a friend and he much pretty parroted "The Dude" above. In that he hopes this guy gets throw in some Iraqi prison and tortured repeatedly for years. I find it ironic that the same people that seem to use the prisons, in part, as justification for the war are now advocating the use of these very prisons and torture rooms. So insult or cross Saddam, he throws you in prison, tortures you and it's wrong. Very, very wrong, so very wrong. Throw a couple shoes at Bush Jr.? Open them prisons doors up boys! We got fresh meat for ya! Hell ya! Hope they string him up by his balls*.

*direct quote from my phone conversation last night.

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Vice President Starkizzer Fan Club

filtherton

I think we should invade his country on false pretenses.

Cynosure

He only threw two shoes because he only had two feet.

abaya

Given the tight security of the press conference (no doubt), I don't think a gun would have been an option. His shoes were probably all he had to throw at the president, other than maybe his tape recorder, notebook, or some other article of clothing. I think it was a pretty smart tactic of protest, given those constraints... essentially non-violent, but extremely symbolic given the local meaning of throwing one's shoes at someone you despise.

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And think not you can direct the course of Love;
for Love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
--Khalil Gibran

Tully Mars

Yes, gawd yes! Let's do a little "shock and awe" on their asses... Hey! Wait just a minute. We already did that. Pfft- you're several years, tens of thousands of dead people and several hundred billion dollars behind the times with that idea.

Gez, seriously read a newspaper once and a while will ya?

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I used to drink to drown my sorrows, but the damned things have learned how to swim- Frida Kahlo

Vice President Starkizzer Fan Club