Did you hear about Whoopie Goldberg? She lost her contract with SlimFast after having made a lewd joke about George W.s last name! Go, figure. The funny thing is they are actually selling t-shirts here with "Good Bush" "Bad Bush" written on them. The image above Good Bush portrays George W., the one above Bad Bush shows - well, I'm sure you can imagine. Now, here's the question: Should I buy that t-shirt before going to the U.S.?

Ok, I realize that it might not be smart to wear it while going through immigration. Especially not if you have stamps from rogue-countries like Myanmar in your passport. But I wonder what would happen if I wore it while travelling around the States. Would I get harrassed (oooohhhh, yeah!)? Arrested for wearing indecent clothing? Maybe even deported for defaming the president (friends of mine recently got deported from the U.K., but that's another story)? It might be an interesting experience :-).

That movie

I suppose you might be wondering why I'm suddenly introducing politics to this otherwise pretty unpolitical travel blog. Well, yesterday I've seen that movie - Fahrenheit 9/11. And I really liked it. I don't agree with all of it, in fact there are parts I find quite objectionable, but overall I think it's definitely worth seeing. For one thing (but that is probably only interesting for journalists) Michael Moore really knows his stuff. His cuts and his use and selection of music are just brilliant. Is it fair? Of course it's not! Michael Moore wants to get that president out of office and this movie is his weapon. Is that legitimate? Just as legitimate as Fox News I'd say. Still, the are some things I found quite bad. E.g.: Why mention Palau and Afghanistan as part of the "Coalition of the Willing" but not the U.K., Australia and Poland? That's really shooting yourself in the leg. I also found his obsession with the financial connection between the Biush family and the Saudis a bit overblown. I mean, the Saudis have shitloads of money so of course they are trying to buy influence and have done so for years. Does that smell? Yes! Is it unusal? No. Am I a cynic? I'm afraid so. What I did find very interesting though were the statements from Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell in spring 2001, where they said that Iraq did not have WMD-capability, that Saddam had not rebuilt his troops and that he was no threat to the region. Now - that was very, very interesting, I thought. I also found the part aboutthe "Patriot Act" (personally I hate the fucking thing) and about the scam called "Homeland Security" very interesting. These parts actually contained new information for me and were more than simple anti-Bush propaganda. So, yeah - if you get the chance, go see that movie.

On the web:
"Good Bush - Bad Bush" (not the same t-shirt sold in OZ, but the same idea)
Fahrenheit 9/11