Abdullah at the Ranch: A Handy Checklist
Abdullah at the Ranch: A Handy Checklist
Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah visited President Bush’s Texas Ranch yesterday. Here’s what President Bush did — and did not — do during the visit:
Strolled through wildflowers
Stood up for pro-democracy Saudi activists
Despite his lofty rhetoric, President Bush uttered not one word about the three Saudi dissidents whom Prince Abdullah has imprisoned for circulating a petition calling for democratic reform in Saudi Arabia. Human Rights Watch urged Bush to call for their release last week.
Called for democratic reform in countries that aren’t Saudi Arabia
The joint statement by President Bush and Prince Abdullah expressed “support for the efforts of the Palestinian Authority to bring democracy, peace, and prosperity to all Palestinians” and called for “free and fair elections unburdened by foreign interference or intimidation” in Lebanon.
Called for democratic reform in Saudi Arabia
The same statement didn’t mention “democracy” or “rights” at all in relation to Saudi Arabia. Indeed, it noted that the U.S. “does not seek to impose its own style of government on the government and people of Saudi Arabia,” even though Saudi Arabia’s “style of government” has lately included violating fundamental human rights which it has agreed to uphold though various international agreements.
Talked about old agreements to lower gas prices in ten years
The Saudis presented a plan to increase oil production over the next decade in what the Wall Street Journal described as a “recap of plans the Saudis already had announced.”
Worked out new agreement to deal with today’s sky-high gas prices
Today’s Washington Post: “President Bush and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah emerged from their meeting here Monday with no agreement that would lower gasoline prices in the near term.”
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You forgot:
6) Hold hands while giggling about their GIGANTIC BANK ACCOUNTS and
7) Play “World Energy Go Fish:”
Dubya (fanning $100 bills like cards in his hands) Do you got any… oil?
April 26th, 2005 at 2:59 pmAbdullah (bursting into laughter): Go fish (said in Chinese)
I don’t understand why they don’t just ask that oil prices be lowered. The oil companies profits are up too high and I am sure the oil rich countries are not in need of that much more money. If they want our support we should get reasonable prices on oil.
April 26th, 2005 at 3:22 pmToo bad the major media downplays the demure President and only shows his “tough” side. No wonder people in the rest of the world are confused at us the people who support democracy.
April 26th, 2005 at 3:23 pmI’m not sure, but I think they might also have discussed how America will keep pumping Saudi oil into American soil. They keep pumping and we keep filling the SPR.
April 26th, 2005 at 3:28 pmhttp://www.moralpolitics.org/community/Headlines/182.aspx
Holding hands, walking through the wildflowers, sweet…and useless.
April 26th, 2005 at 5:48 pmbut did they have sex?
April 26th, 2005 at 5:52 pmA drug addict and his pusher … “King George asking the Saudis for more oil”.
April 26th, 2005 at 5:55 pmGeorge and Abbie, sittin’ in a tree,
April 26th, 2005 at 6:07 pmK-I-S-S-I-N-G…
bend over I’ll drive
April 26th, 2005 at 6:15 pmGeorge: So, Prince, these high gas prices are making the stock market jittery and making folks worry about privatizing social security…
Abdullah: Why don’t you just TAKE the money, and if anybody argues, cut out their tongues!?!
George: well, um, Karl doesn’t think that would play well with my base. Can’t you just tell folks that you will pump more oil?
Abdullah: But you realize that we really CAN’T pump more. We are already near capacity. Besides, even if we shipped more oil, you have no excess refining capacity, George.
George: I KNOW that! But I can’t tell them (gestures toward media outside door) that. You gotta buy me a little time. Just say you’ll pump more in a few years. People will forget, and by then, I’ll have given them a lot more to worry about.
Abdullah: I love it. Kiss me, you fool. (fade to black)
April 26th, 2005 at 6:25 pmDid they clear some brush?
What about a “chuckwagon dinner?” I’m always proud when GW serves up the chuckwagon dinner to visiting foreign dignitaries.
April 26th, 2005 at 6:40 pmi think its so interesting that they figured this photo-op would play so well with the saudis (the intended audience) that it outweighed the ridicule that its getting from american audiences.
April 26th, 2005 at 6:49 pmThe Cheney-Enron energy policy gets clearer to each voter every time they fill up their thirsty hunk of Detroit iron. With China and India joining the oil demand pool, the Saudis need not worry about losing customers. Of course, the US economy will tank, taking the world down with it and hurting Saudi investments – but they’re long term thinkers and probably look forward to a cozy relationship with China and India without having to put up with “human rights” press releases from the US.
April 26th, 2005 at 7:24 pmThat is the gayest picture in human history, and I do not mean gay as in happy.
April 26th, 2005 at 7:40 pmWhat isn’t talked about in the press, but what George Bush knows, is that the world is fast approaching peak oil production. For a good overview article see:
The End of Oil is Closer than You Think
http://www.guardian.co.uk/oil/story/0,11319,1464119,00.html
~Mark
April 26th, 2005 at 7:44 pmPrince Abdullah…
just another anagram for “A phallic burden”
April 26th, 2005 at 7:50 pm…just going off to do some polling.
April 26th, 2005 at 7:54 pm(i wonder how far in the toilet George’s numbers are after this cute photo op)
When a Texas Oil Millionaire, whose entire inner circle is other Oil Millionaires, meets with a Saudi Oil Billionaire to talk about oil, why on earth would anyone expect them to come up with any plan designed to LOWER the price of Saudi oil — and, by extension, West Texas Intermediate Crude — anyway? Hell, it’s not even like Dubya has to run for re-election any more.
April 26th, 2005 at 7:57 pmYou really think they were talking about oil?
April 26th, 2005 at 9:44 pmThey were talking about the Israeli Air Force overflying Saudi Arabia to hit Iran sometime in the near future.
David Sirota
http://www.davidsirota.com/2005/04/oil-industry-worried-it-has-too-much.html
Oil Industry Worried It Has Too Much Cash
President Bush has spent a lot of time lately pretending that energy prices are skyrocketing for every reason except the real one. He falsely claims his energy bill will solve the problem. He claims it’s about supply. But take a look at this little snippet from Fortune Magazine and you will see how this is nothing more than energy industry price gouging. As the magazine notes:
Exxon’s “soon-to-retire CEO suddenly has a new anxiety: how to spend the windfall wrought by $55-a-barrel oil. By the end of April, Exxon will have a cash hoard of more than $ 25 billion. And if crude prices stay where they are, this geometrically growing bonanza could soon give Exxon more cash on hand than any other U.S. company…the cash is building at a remarkable rate. Each dollar jump in the price of a barrel of oil adds another half billion in earnings. Based on current prices, Exxon is accumulating more than $1 billion a month – even after allocating for dividends, share repurchases, and capital spending. If oil simply stays where it is now, Exxon’s cash could approach $40 billion in 12 months. By then [Exxon's CEO] is expected to have handed off the top job–and the headache of what to do with all that cash.”
Let me repeat that: Exxon and the oil industry have gouged Americans so much, that they now say they have a problem because they have too much cash. Yet, President Bush has yet to mention a single word about industry price gouging. That’s what oil industry money buys more than anything: White House complicity when companies shamelessly rip off average citizens.
Sources:
April 26th, 2005 at 9:52 pmBush falsely claims energy bill will solve the problem: http://www.davidsirota.com/2005/04/lip-service-vs-reality-on-energy.html
Fortune Magazine on energy industry cash: http://www.fortune.com/fortune/ceo/articles/0,15114,1044779,00.html
Oil industry money to politicians: http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.asp?ind=E01
Bush may come to regret that photo, but not as much as Arnold and Rudy will regret these images…
April 26th, 2005 at 10:35 pmSpongebush Squarepants?
April 26th, 2005 at 10:51 pmOh, tiptoe from the garden
By the garden of the willow tree
And tiptoe through the tulips with me
Knee deep in flowers we’ll stray
April 27th, 2005 at 12:29 amWe’ll keep the showers away
And if I kiss you in the garden, in the moonlight
Will you pardon me?
And tiptoe through the tulips with me
Well, if this is actually playing well with the Saudis, that will probably suffer a serious blow if the homophobic Saudis figure out what Americans are saying about the infamous soodle.
Ironically, Abdullah is one of the more liberal members of the Saudi royal family. Relatively. Okay, it isn’t that high a bar. But when you’re that far over, even a small degree of difference can be quite a relief.
April 27th, 2005 at 2:59 amApropo to these comments, please explain what Delays hand is doing in the photo of he and Bush plastered all over the media this Wednesday AM.
April 27th, 2005 at 7:34 amThis is not about oil its about Power and control of billions of people.
April 27th, 2005 at 8:27 amFor a more complete picture of where the world and especially the United States is Headed – Read “The Party’s Over – Oil, War, and the Fate of Industrial Societies” by Richard Heinburg.
April 27th, 2005 at 1:24 pmIf you want to hear a recient telecast of him, go here:http://www.globalpublicmedia.com/articles/357
Enjoy. try not to get too freaked out.
Like I’ve said in a few other posts: I wonder if King George II believes that Sheiks are actually married to all their wives. Somebody needs to force him to answer that question, so we can all watch his brain implode.
April 27th, 2005 at 2:21 pmHow can people be so incredibly relaxed about the obvious closeness of this relationship the Bush family has always had with the Saudis, many of whom have been known to support Al Qaeda? Is it not painfully obvious that this administration was complicit in the murder of over 3,000 Americans on 9/11/2001? Who else stood to gain? Why was Bush’s administration ferrying Saudis and Bin Ladens out of the country by the plane load, following the attacks? We live in a country in which the present administration can KILL ITS OWN CITIZENS WITH IMPUNITY FOR POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC GAIN, AND WE, THE SHEEP CONTINUE AS IF IT IS BUSINESS AS USUAL. The truly scary thing is not that they did what they did; it’s the fact that they are so arrogant as to believe they can parade around, holding hands literally and figuratively with these people, and get away with it. Are we as Americans truly that cowardly? I can understand hubris, especially with Diebold distributing voting machines, but the level of cowardice is truly nauseating. But that’s o.k…. Let’s see some more sophomoric gay jokes. “Ha, Ha Ha, they’re holding hands!!!” PLEASE, WAKE THE HELL UP ALREADY!
April 28th, 2005 at 1:58 amThis is just too sad–there would have been enough for everyone to get along well-if it were not for greed.
April 28th, 2005 at 9:52 amIt seems to me that the purpose of the visit was to have the Saudis tell Americans “it’s the refineries, stupid” so that the Bush Administration could then put out the plan to give over the closing military bases to the oil companies, for what, refineries.
April 28th, 2005 at 11:30 amYes, and of course the fact that the price of oil, and gasoline are through the roof is because of our lack of refinery capacity. So, it’s not the Saudis’, the oil companies’ or Bush’s fault (even though he has destabilized the whole middle – east). Right. By the way, just in case no one noticed, oil company profits are increasing exponentially.
April 29th, 2005 at 1:13 amProfits are increasing so much so that Exxon has a “problem”: what to do with $25 billion cash on hand, $40 bil next year!! We are being reamed at the pumps but who should have expected otherwise with two Texas oilymen in the Wh. Hse.????
April 29th, 2005 at 11:22 amI remember Nixon and Watergate, which was essentially a rogue operation intended to utilize intelligence organizations for partisan political purposes, in direct contravention of constitutional protocols, and I remember Iran – Contra, run by many of these same “Neo – Conservatives”, but I have never seen the level of outright, blatant, CORRUPTION as has been displayed by this Bush administration. What has so emboldened them, to the extent that Bush can literally HOLD HANDS publicly with the very people ostensibly responsible for the price gauging of the American people? And no one in the American media bats an eyelash. Asked and answered, I guess.
April 30th, 2005 at 1:50 pm@Duane
May 3rd, 2005 at 11:50 amAnd yet, on late pope’s funeral, Laura Bush pulled back when French president tried to kiss her on chick, and Bush didn’t want to shake hands with him. This was recorded on camera and played over and over and over again in France, just to show how rude, incompetent and stupid Americans are.
Do we really need this image about us in the world? What did France do, comparing to Saudis, that Bush holds it so much against them? Is this how we make friends in the world?
For those that think we can live isolated from the entire world, do some research and see how global economy has became….there is no Soviet Union any more and borders are only in the heads of some people.
Sad, sad day for this proud country.
GW LOOKED SO SWEET HOLDING HANDS I ALMOST VOMITED TO THINK WHAT WE HAVE IN THE W. HOUSE RUNING OUR COUNTRY
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Abidjan, Ivory Coast West Africa.
APPEAL FOR URGENT BUSINESS ASSISTANCE.
PLEASE REPLY ME WITH THIS MY EMAIL ADDRESS
(stanley11dike@yahoo.ca)
My Dear, one
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