o Australia. The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit is a gathering of world leaders best known for the protesters the summit attracts and the crazy local costumes the dignitaries wear like this "Durumagi" at the APEC summit in South Korea, 2005. They do alot of wheeling and dealing, building military alliances and selling uranium...fun stuff like that. Since APEC is in Sydney this year you can well imagine it has been all over the news. Just a quick tangent, one thing I really love about Australia is they get newscasts from all over the world on regular TV. Granted I don't know the languages of some of them but the ones broadcast in english honestly put CNN's three day coverage of Anna Nicole's funeral and Paris goes off to Jail smut news to shame. But, I digress....back to APEC. Australia has been all a bustle with the arrival of so many world leaders. You can only imagine the suggestions for the national costume here...Khakis with a lizard on every world leaders shoulder?? Most of the heads of state have arrived in Sydney by now with entourages mainly between 70-150 (George W brought over 1000).Obviously when you get this many
people together some things are going to go wrong. The Chinese president, Hu Jintao was none too pleased over the people protesting over illegal organ harvesting especially among Falun Gong practitioners in China. These protesters aren't only out for APEC the are out in Melbourne all the time and rightfully so. Another thing that baffles me about the media, there is so much coverage over toy recalls but so little on a real human tragedy in China.
people together some things are going to go wrong. The Chinese president, Hu Jintao was none too pleased over the people protesting over illegal organ harvesting especially among Falun Gong practitioners in China. These protesters aren't only out for APEC the are out in Melbourne all the time and rightfully so. Another thing that baffles me about the media, there is so much coverage over toy recalls but so little on a real human tragedy in China. Ok so political events always brings protesters but it a
lso brings some embarrassing tidbits. Oh Happy Day! The first of these came from the White House. Upon George W's arrival into Sydney the White House put out an official press release Australia wide and online at http://www.whitehouse.gov/. Included in this press release were not one, not two but three spelling mistakes. The first of these was made in reference to Kirribilli House which is for use as a residence for overseas guests of the Commonwealth and the Prime Min
ister and his family when they aren't at "The Lodge" in Canberra. In the press release it was spelled Kirridilli. Ok, so this word isn't used frequently in the States and it was only one letter...I'll give them this one. Number two is a bit worse. If you read this blog you know I love Upera just like they preform at the Sydney Upera House. Come On People!! SPELL CHECK!!! But the winner of the "I promise Americans really aren't stupid" award goes to the brilliant staff writer who spelled Sydney, "Sidney". The media over here had a field day with this one. This is not helping my case in defending the intelligence of my country when the White House puts out a press release and doesn't even correctly spell the name of the city the summit is held in!!!!! I am a horrible speller myself but I also I don't have 1000 people in my entourage who are supposed to be checking up on things.
lso brings some embarrassing tidbits. Oh Happy Day! The first of these came from the White House. Upon George W's arrival into Sydney the White House put out an official press release Australia wide and online at http://www.whitehouse.gov/. Included in this press release were not one, not two but three spelling mistakes. The first of these was made in reference to Kirribilli House which is for use as a residence for overseas guests of the Commonwealth and the Prime Min
ister and his family when they aren't at "The Lodge" in Canberra. In the press release it was spelled Kirridilli. Ok, so this word isn't used frequently in the States and it was only one letter...I'll give them this one. Number two is a bit worse. If you read this blog you know I love Upera just like they preform at the Sydney Upera House. Come On People!! SPELL CHECK!!! But the winner of the "I promise Americans really aren't stupid" award goes to the brilliant staff writer who spelled Sydney, "Sidney". The media over here had a field day with this one. This is not helping my case in defending the intelligence of my country when the White House puts out a press release and doesn't even correctly spell the name of the city the summit is held in!!!!! I am a horrible speller myself but I also I don't have 1000 people in my entourage who are supposed to be checking up on things. So there was that but here is the real doozy!! If you look at my list of "Stuff I Like" you will see the Chasers, the funniest group of comedians I have ever seen. If you have never seen them there are tons of clips on youtube. They fearlessly bag on everyone. Unfortunately, they do like to target Americans. What is even more unfortunate is the idiots that talk to them. For example, one of the Chasers was in the middle of Times Square asking New Yorkers what y
ear and month 9/11 happened. The answers, well, they aren't good. If you are American and you watch this clip prepare to be embarrassed and shamed by the stupidity of some of your fellow countrymen. http://youtube.com/watch?v=RnP0snh_1cU
ear and month 9/11 happened. The answers, well, they aren't good. If you are American and you watch this clip prepare to be embarrassed and shamed by the stupidity of some of your fellow countrymen. http://youtube.com/watch?v=RnP0snh_1cUSo the Chasers like to pull pranks and why not target APEC, they go after everyone else anyway. Mind you the Australian government spent over 250million dollars for security at this event so according to the press, the Chasers never really expected to get inside. Eleven members of the Chasers crew got into some official looking cars with a few stickers and a couple of Canadian flags and off they went. Oh yeah, one of them was dressed up like Osama bin Laden. They weren't stopped but WAVED thru two security check points! Their "motorcade" was just 10 meters from the hotel where George W is staying when they were finally stopped and arrested. The police confiscated Chas' "Osama" beard. So now the spelling mistakes seem inconsequential as the package of shame is put right into the laps of the New South Wales police force. The embarrassment factor for Australian government is pretty huge. Obviously its not that scary when it's a group of comedians breaching security but the fact is if eleven comedians can get that close to the secure buildings of APEC so can highly trained terrorists. Worrisome as this is I still don't mind the fact that the Chasers took all the attention away from the little spelling faux pas.
Just to 
keep all the pomp and circumstance going there is a group of Australians called Bums for Bush who will attempt to break the world record for "mooning" in response to APEC but more specifically George W. Over 2000 people are planning on heading out to the Fountain in Hyde Park, Sydney to protest what they see as the shady dealings of the 21 countries represented at APEC with a "moon". Evidently Bush inspired the last "mooning" world record as well. We'll see if the moon rises later this afternoon.
keep all the pomp and circumstance going there is a group of Australians called Bums for Bush who will attempt to break the world record for "mooning" in response to APEC but more specifically George W. Over 2000 people are planning on heading out to the Fountain in Hyde Park, Sydney to protest what they see as the shady dealings of the 21 countries represented at APEC with a "moon". Evidently Bush inspired the last "mooning" world record as well. We'll see if the moon rises later this afternoon.Uh-oh...wait a second. Cheryl just emailed me one more from MSN news..."Mr Bush, in Australia to attend the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit of world leaders, took to the stage at the Sydney Opera House on Friday morning and thanked Prime Minister John Howard for his introduction and for being such a 'kind host' for the OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) summit....And in another miscue, he(Bush) botched the host country's name, referring to Mr Howard's visit to Iraq in 2006 as a thank you to 'the Austrian troops there.'" As much as I stumble over my words I sure am glad I am not a world leader.
