George W. Bush thought J.K. Rowling was a witch

MacGuffin said:
And if journalism cannot fix that anymore, if the press and TV are under pressure to abolish critical journalism for some time, that's a very worrying development in a democracy, ...

I'm glad that time is over.
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I wouldn't say we are out of the woods yet. Real investigative journalism is still on the decline in the US (it "costs too much" and people seem more interested in who celebrities are screwing than anything). Plus the huge conservative think-tank network is still in place. They have the unique ability to make absolute bullshit look credible. If you're not paying attention, like most Americans, you'll take that crap as real news. We have (in large part) the think-tanks/republican politicians/Faux News network to thank for the fervor over healthcare and insurance reform, for instance.

MacGuffin said:
In the end, maybe he just was a very weak president, who offered some extremists in his administration a nice playground for their insanities.

But somehow that doesn't make me feel better.
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Black comedy indeed. I think that Bush was only weak because he delegated so much authority away. He had a very hands-off approach (you know, so he could go spend a month or two on his ranch ... every year) and expected that trust to be repayed with loyalty to the end. That's how Alberto Gonzales got away with committing perjury. Hell that's how a lot of them 'kept out of trouble'. Deny, deny, deny and know in the end, no matter how much everyone hates you, that the Republican party will repay you for playing dumb.
 
MacGuffin said:
Well, at least ours was not under some kind of self-censorship during the days of the 2nd war in Iraq.

May I remind you that nobody here (except the British government) believed in those mysterious weapons of mass destruction -- here people openly accused the Bush administration of lying and exaggerating. Our minister of exterior at the time said it publically into the face of his American colleague: "I'm not convinced", meaning "I don't buy your shit" in plain English.

Normally that would have been the job of your press.
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http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=15918
 
meh i'm not even sure the british government believed in them, it was an excuse to go into Iraq, check out who else is going into Iraq at the moment and you'll have your answer. I think the government like to think that we're idiots...

anyway, I'm gunna get bitch-slapped for this, but J.K. Rowling annoys me... it's probably partially down to people like "OMFG I SOOOOO LOVE HARRY POTTER I SO WANNA BE A WIZARD AND LEIK RIDE ON A BROOMSTICK OMFG THOSE BOOKS ARE SSOOOOO GOOD"
I read a couple of them and wasn't overly impressed, I don't see the big deal to be honest, but then again maybe because I'm an adult and read proper books.
 
Sure, it's the government. Of course they'd never lie to you, wouldn't they? ;)
 
Well Iraq has had a spotless record over the years of not stockpiling weapons. And they've never ever been caught hiding chemical or biological weapons. . . ever.
 
They did have chemical weapons in the 80s and early 90s. The US and Britain knew this for two reasons, first of all because he gassed the kurds, second of all because they had the receips. :)
 
LeVeL said:
I call major bs.
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You didn't live in the South with the first Harry Potter movie came out did you?

I did and I saw protesters first hand at the movie theaters for the first few weekends.


I was out with my GF, now wife, and we were coming back from dinner or something when I saw a bunch of protesters out by the mall entrance. Protesters are a little unusual in South West VA once you get off the couple of college campuses in the area so I was very confused. I slowed down to get a look at their signs which said things like "Don't Support Witchcraft," "Protect our children," Potter Movie is Witchcraft," "Down with Satanism," etc. you get the point.

There were similar people at a couple of other theaters in the area.

I asked one of them if they were serious or if this was a joke? They were dead serious and scared to death about Satanism and Witchcraft infecting their kids.

Do I think Bush personally believed any of that or was even aware of it? No, probably not well at least I hope he wasn't anyway. Do I think some members of his staff believed in all this witchcraft nonsense? Yes, I do and they are the ones who would narrow down and possibly make the final decisions on most awards like this.

Just check out these google news results from 2001.

Obviously not just an American problem as there are reports there from Croatia and other countries on that list.

http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2001/11/48396

Many of those links are by subscription or pay per view only as they are so old but this one on wired.com is not.

http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2001/11/48396
 
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