He's No Richard Gere

A Teaching moment from the Master:
"So he said, 'I'll Huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down.'
But the third little piggy said, 'Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin."
__________

I am a little confused. The Washington Post reports GWB met privately with the Dalai Lama today, "despite China's warning that U.S. plans to honor the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader could damage relations between Beijing and Washington" (Bush Hosts Dalai Lama Amid Chinese Rage.) Wednesday,

"Bush will attend the ceremony [to award the Congressional Gold Medal] on Capitol Hill, the first time a U.S. president will appear in public with the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists. . . whom China regards as a separatist and a traitor."

Mixing her metaphors, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said, "We in no way want to stir the pot and make China feel that we are poking a stick in their eye -- to a country that we have ... a good relationship with on a variety of issues." Uh, yeah -- to call a spade a spade, a country floating our economy at the moment.

So why is GWB playing Richard Gere? Why is Laura Bush championing the Free Burma campaign? Why, almost a century after the fact, is Congress pushing for a resolution to recognize the Armenian massacre, guaranteed to cause strife with one of our few (usually) reliable friends, Turkey -- a country which is necessary to help supply the Iraq war effort?

Some or all of these moves seem designed to be either a distraction from, or an irritant fomenting further world strife in a run-up to our next war (with Iran).

At the outset of our hostilities with Iraq, GWB appeared to be a bumbler, and alternately, a venal capitalist looking out for his oil buddies. Now, I am not so sure. I have seen the zeal with which some Christians approach their proselytizing. They are afraid to enter some of their new missionary stomping grounds, like Afghanistan, but still, they go.

Do not scoff: For the true believer, the Rapture is prophesied. Armageddon and Elysian Fields await. Jewish people must control Jerusalem in order for this to come down as they envision it. Sometimes I wonder how deeply the fundamentalist mindset has permeated this administration.

--Lisa