Bush Abroad
<p><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #333333" color="#ffffff">As George W. Bush is traveling in Europe, I am reminded of an international trip that his Daddy made to the Republic of Panama, after </font><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Just_Cause"><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #333333" color="#0099ff">"Operation Just Cause</font></a><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #333333" color="#ffffff"><font color="#0033ff"><font color="#0099ff">"</font>.</font> I'd like to draw a few parallels and contrasts. Listening to </font><a href="http://www.ndrinfo.de/ndrinfo_pages_nimex/0,3228,SPM5170_URLaHR0cDovL3d3dy50YWdlc3NjaGF1LmRlL2V4cG9ydC9OSU1FWC8wLDE2NDYsT0lENDA4ODE4Ml9NT0QxLDAwLnhtbA==,00.html"><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #333333" color="#0099ff">NDR4 </font></a><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #333333" color="#ffffff">(North German Public Information Radio) I heard the report of the demonstrations against George W. during his visit in Brussels (and Germany as well). Unfortunately, few mainstream American media sources reported on this issue. During the summer of 1990 I was teaching in the Republic of Panama. During this time, Daddy Bush made a PR stop to show the world the gratitude of the Panamanian people for <em>Operation Just Cause</em>.  To ensure a positive performance by the attendees of Daddy's speech, it was invitation only. (Does this remind you of someone's Presidential campaigning technique?) Despite being invitation only (only wealthy people were invited), the speech did not take place, because the Mayor of Panama City could not finish her introduction due to the tear gas that was thrown. Too bad! I watched the speech live on a military channel, which simply went off the air, after it was apparent that things were not going well. What type of democratic society cannot sustain critical discussion of it policies? What kind of censored country are we living in?!</font></p>