I got this great email yesterday about babies judging former (thankfully) President George Bush and new President Obama. They say pictures tell a thousand words.... this is probably the best example of that you'll ever find!
Thursday 22 January 2009
Monday 12 January 2009
Bye Bye Bushisms
The 43rd President of the United States has given his final press conference to the White House Press Corps acknowledging that 'not finding weapons of mass destruction was a significant disappointment'. Expired President George W Bush has just eight days left in his ever so memorable and tumultuous presidency. Like many US Presidents before him, there appears to be many people just waiting to push him out the door. Here's hoping the shining light that is Obama can lift us all from the financial and spirtual mess we're in.
I have to admit never liking the man and I certainly wouldn't have left him in charge of a vegetable plot, never mind a country. BUT he was a reliable source of entertainment over the last eight years providing us with a constant flow of laughable quotes, never mind the pretzel incident. So in recognition of all that here's what I think are some of the 43rd President's best 'Bushisms':
1. "Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB-GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country." —Poplar Bluff, Missouri., Sept. 6, 2004
2. "Rarely is the questioned asked: Is our children learning?" —Florence, South Carolina., Jan. 11, 2000
3. "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." —Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004
4. "There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again." —Nashville, Tennesse, Sept. 17, 2002
5. "First, let me make it very clear, poor people aren't necessarily killers. Just because you happen to be not rich doesn't mean you're willing to kill." Washington DC, 19 May, 2003
6. "This thaw -- took a while to thaw, it's going to take a while to unthaw." --George W. Bush, on liquidity in the markets, Alexandria, Louisiana, Oct. 20, 2008
7. "I didn't grow up in the ocean -- as a matter of fact -- near the ocean -- I grew up in the desert. Therefore, it was a pleasant contrast to see the ocean. And I particularly like it when I'm fishing." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Sept. 26, 2008
8. ''I think it was in the Rose Garden where I issued this brilliant statement: If I had a magic wand -- but the president doesn't have a magic wand. You just can't say, 'low gas.'" --George W. Bush, Washington D.C., July 15, 2008
9. "I remember meeting a mother of a child who was abducted by the North Koreans right here in the Oval Office." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., June 26, 2008
10. "We've got a lot of relations with countries in our neighborhood." --George W. Bush, Kranj, Slovenia, June 10, 2008
11."I understand small business growth. I was one." New York Daily News, 19 February, 2000
12. "We want people owning their home -- we want people owning a businesses." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., April 18, 2008
13. "I thank the diplomatic corps, who is here as well." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., March 12, 2008
14. "Removing Saddam Hussein was the right decision early in my presidency, it is the right decision now, and it will be the right decision ever." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., March 12, 2008
15. "You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.'' Townsend, Tennessee, 21 February, 2001
And what's the quote that best describes his exit from the Presidency??? ..... "I'll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office." Washington DC, 12 May, 2008
I certainly look forward to listening to a President who is a bit more skillful with words....
(photo from independent.co.uk)
Saturday 3 January 2009
2009- The Year for Taking Responsibility On Our Roads
picture from http://www.oss237.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/RSA-3.jpgTwo hundred and seventy six people died on the country's roads in the year just ended. I use the word 'died' rather than 'were killed' because in reality people aren't killed by roads, but instead their actions on the roads results in death. Over the last few years the media appear to have changed the way road deaths are reported, and have reduced the use of phrases such as 'another life claimed on our roads'.
This change in phraseology is important in changing the way we think about road deaths. Saying the victim was killed by hitting the tree, lamppost or other object implies the road somehow killed the victim, but the tree did not suddenly move into the middle of the road. So how can we say the road killed the person? Similarly is it correct to call the deceased a 'victim', because that too implies a person died at the hands of someone or something (themselves often the cause). The change implies a new level of taking responsibility for our own lives, whether that is as driver, passenger, pedestrian or cyclist. Perhaps the message is finally getting through, road deaths are declining, for exactly what reason is yet to be deciphered, but any sort of progress is to be welcomed.
Look at the picture above.... how does it happen? 276 people died by the roadside or in hospitals around the country after being pulled from wrecks similar to that in the image. Deaths on our roads are falling and are down on last year, but, nonetheless 276 families are facing into 2009 without a loved one. Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey attributed the reduction in road deaths to 'road-users right around the country have stepped up to the challenge and... changing their driving behaviours every day'. While I believe there's a lot of merit in that assessment, one glaringly obvious point is being skipped over by politicians who are quick to sympathise (as they should) but slow to act to change the situation...
While it would seem the majority of drivers, young and old, are taking more care on the road by perhaps driving at more appropriate speeds and not drink driving, a small segment of our society is destroying itself on an increasingly regular basis. That segment is young boy racers. Over the Christmas period several incidents have occurred where young males have been involved in devastating and tragic 'accidents'. The most notable was on New Years Eve when five youngsters under eighteen travelling in a car, crashed into a tree in Nenagh, killing three and seriously injuring the remaining two. How can we condone seventeen year olds being given car keys to drive four (younger) passengers anywhere? This incident occurred relatively early also, at 7.30pm. In the preceding days several other families lost their sons, another incident occurring in Leitrim on the 23rd, when a seventeen year old male drove into a parked lorry. A female passenger was not seriously injured.
Rarely are other vehicles or mitigating circumstances involved. And it's not a problem that reaches into young female drivers. But for young female passengers it's a different story. Statistics released in July showed that more than two-thirds of females who died in car crashes from 1997-2006 were passengers in cars driven by men.
Whilst I'm not trying to say that deaths of young males should be in any way regarded as less tragic than other deaths on our roads, we are facing into a quite serious situation whereby young males are routinely killing themselves, in vehicles, at night on rural roads. Those dying are getting younger; while it used to be deaths of young males in their twenties we heard about, it's now 17 and 18 year olds. Worse still, there have been several incidents where the driver killed was not even old enough to be on the road. The Irish Independent yesterday reported that the driver in the Nenagh crash, who survived, was only sixteen years old. Therefore it is illegal for him to on the road at all. They reported that Gardai said the car 'was not stolen...and are investigating the possibility that it may have been bought for a few hundred euro'.
Where do parents and communities stand in all of this? While local communities rally around the families of those deceased, no-one seems prepared to tackle this growing problem whatsoever. Rural communities appear to see it as a fact of life, never acknowledging that these types of accidents rarely happen in urban areas. Driving at high speed, without a license or insurance, without experience, down dark winding roads may seem exotic- but it kills. Whilst speed and alcohol checkpoints occur regularly in urban areas, rarely are they seen in rural areas. Anecdotally, I've heard that in rural areas neighbours tip each other off as to the location of Garda checkpoints so a different route can be taken. How does that kind of attitude help anyone? It just leads to more deaths by people who should be off the road for dangerous driving. 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour' does not include helping the evasion of drink driving checks. People have to accept they are partially responsible if that neighbour ploughs into a tree six months later.
I'm not sure there is a solution to this problem, but parents of young males should seriously think about how giving their seventeen year old sons car keys could literally bring their world crashing down one morning at 3am. Failing that, perhaps the Gardai need to consider an all out curfew for male drivers from evening to morning. Of course there are lots of very capable young male drivers out there, but do we just let this pattern continue on and place it in the 'inevitable' box in the corner?
Comments and thoughts welcomed....
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