Impertinences

NOTE: The Plausible News Service now has its own site.

Americans to World: Sorry

Feel free to report/forward as desired....

------------

Hey USers!  Wanna make a major impact in the world in about 5
minutes a day?  It's really simple!

Just head over to Yahoo! and look up the Web page of a major newspaper in
the foreign country of your choice.  Many of them do have English-language
newspapers, even if English isn't the primary language.  Here's the link:

http://dir.yahoo.com/News_and_Media/Newspapers/By_Region/Countries/

(And here's another site that actually lists all the English-language 
media sources:

http://www.kidon.com/media-link/english.shtml

This one might be even more handy than the one at Yahoo.)

Then once you've identified the newspaper you want, find their
"Letters to the Editor" link -- it might be an e-mail address, or it 
might be a Web form -- and write them a quick note... apologizing for
George W. Bush's conduct and policies.  I'm not going to give you a sample
text; this should be in your own words, expressing those particular things
about the court-appointed Bush regime that cause you particular
embarassment when you consider how we look to the rest of the world.  It
might be his attitude about the environment -- about international
cooperation (I call his foreign policy "FY-ism") -- about national defense
-- any number of things.  Or you could just issue a blanket apology.  Be
sure to mention that he doesn't represent the majority of Americans.  Ask
for prayers.  Thank the world for its patience, and assure them that we
are doing all we can to combat the Bush agenda.

Repeat as desired.  New embarassments, of course, might necessitate
new rounds of letters.

And of course, spread this suggestion around to your friends and
correspondents.

You might find that you get some interesting new pen pals as a result; at
minimum, you will be performing a valuable public service, namely
reminding the rest of the world to not judge our entire country by the
conduct of its apparent executive.

I'd say it's your patriotic duty.  Go for it.

/ / skip
Skip Mendler, Honesdale PA

Bush's Vacation: A Hint to All Americans?

Labor Day, 2001

Y'know, even I am willing to admit that sometimes I might be overly
critical of the apparent resident of the White House.  I had been joining
wholeheartedly in the general sniggering about George W's recently
concluded month-long sojourn in Texas -- and I had, in fact, been 
particularly snide when it came to the "breaks" that Bush took from his
vacation to make some public policy statement.  Tough life, thought I --
taking a month's vacation after six months or so on the job -- but then I
realized what Shrub was saying.

After all, I'll bet that our European cousins didn't even bat an eye when
they heard of the Bush vacation (in fact, I'm sure they sighed a
collective sigh of relief).  Shutting down operations for the entire month
is pretty much de rigeur over there.  Could it be that that George W was
actually sending a subtle message to the American people, suggesting that
we ought to become more European in our work habits?  If so, it'd be a
nice gesture on his part; recent studies have shown that Americans put in
way more hours per week than our compadres across the sea, and way more
workdays per year.  Perhaps if Americans cranked down a bit on the
ol' timeclock, we'd have more time to consume stuff, there by keeping the
economy humming; we'd lower our stress levels, thereby giving the health
care system a bit of a break; and not so many of us would go off the deep
end, thereby improving the stats on workplace violence and domestic abuse.

So I say let's take him up on it.  Next August, let's *all* have a
vacation.

And while we're at it, I wonder what George thinks of the 30-hour workweek
-- not to mention *siestas.*

Happy Labor Day.