via Tapped: Because you just can't make this stuff up:

Colorado Gov. Bill Owens apologized for saying "the natives are getting restless" during a conference on tribal gambling.
Owens made the remark at the Western Governors' Association Summit after a participant's microphone wouldn't work and he urged it be fixed quickly.

Between Bush's delayed reponse to the Red Lake shootings, Jack Abramoff in the news, and, now, Gov. Owens' remark, it's starting to look like an awkward moment for GOP relations with American Indians.

Bush still can't Speak!

Bad joke, Click the picture for video.

bumbled words,

priceless!

A little fun with Bush!

Unrest ushers in summit in Chile

At least 25,000 march on eve of Asia-Pacific forum

SANTIAGO, Chile -- The largest protest march since Chile's military dictatorship ended 14 years ago turned violent Friday when demonstrators waged intense street battles with riot police hours before President George W. Bush arrived for a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders.

43 Ideas-Per-Minute: Hacking Hypocrisy

Geekosystem: Facebook's Privacy Policy is longer than the US Constitution.

Sparkle Pony: Laura Bush jumps on annoying bandwagon.

A Kagan roundup from Citizen Crain, Field Negro, Echidne, and TBogg.

And finally, Bildungblog: Hey, at least no one can call Obama a quitter.

[Mike's away for a few days. Round up by Blue Gal; send tips to bluegalsblog AT gmail.]

I am so pleased this is finally happening. Haiti has been burdened by its national debt for a long time and this will help speed their recovery from the massive earthquake:

The world's leading industrialised nations have pledged to write off the debts that Haiti owes them, following a devastating earthquake last month.

Canada's finance minister announced at a summit in Iqaluit, northern Canada, that Group of Seven countries planned to cancel Haiti's bilateral debts.

Jim Flaherty said he would encourage international lenders to do the same.

Some $1.2bn (£800m) of Haiti's debts to countries and international lending bodies has already been cancelled.

"We are committed in the G7 to the forgiveness of debt, in fact all bilateral debt has been forgiven by G7 countries vis-a-vis Haiti," Mr Flaherty said at the end of the two day gathering of finance ministers.

Conservatives are so against President Obama that they actually hoped America would lose the 2016 bid for the Olympics. That would have been a huge stimulus package, but Republicans show their true colors about job creation for their own country.

Americans For Prosperity show their hatred for America.

During the Americans For Prosperity's "Defending the American Dream Summit," blogger Emily Marie Zanotti of American Princess interrupted a discussion about engaging the right online to announce that Chicago was out of the running -- and the room erupted in applause.

"If anyone cares, Chicago is out," Zanotti said. When the crowd asked what happened, she said, "The very first vote, they did not have any chance at even negotiating. They were out on the first vote." That news was met with more cheers and high-fives.

The Weekly Standard also embarrassed their publication with this one.

Soon after news broke that the International Olympic Committee had rejected Chicago’s bid to host the 2016 Olympics, which President Obama had personally lobbied for, Weekly Standard blogger John McCormack published a celebratory post on the magazine’s blog, titled “Chicago Loses! Chicago Loses!.” McCormack wrote that “Cheers erupt at WEEKLY STANDARD world headquarters.

--

But the post has now been changed. The reference to cheers have been removed and the title has been shortened to a non-exclamatory “Chicago Loses.” The current post neither acknowledges nor explains the changes that were made.

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Rep. Alan Grayson had to remind the Republicans that they need to remember what country they live in.

"Someone should remind them what team they're really on"

And the money keeps coming in for Rep. Grayson.

Pam's House Blend: The 'values' at the Values Voters Summit - Obama as a Muslim Aunt Jemima

Firedoglake: McCain/Palin Lies Of The Day Watch...Update

We are respectable negroes: These bloggers have written an ingenious series of posts based on an alternate reality in which 'O'Bama' is a white, Reagan Republican, while Democrat McCain is a womanizing, foul mouthed traitor of low moral character. Sarah Palin is a black welfare queen. Scroll down and read 'em all.

unbossed: "Stop blogging! Stop blogging right now!"

The Opinion Mill's Weekend Bookchat: Robert Stone sees greatness in a book about the war on terror, William Gibson sees an embarrassment of riches and the Great Orange Satan sees ways for activists to use the Internets. And dare you take the Junot Diaz geek test?

WTF is going on?: If elected, Obama's first act as president should be to end the Pentagon's ban on pictures of the coffins of fallen soldiers.

h/t Geoff. A five-minute speech worth remembering. In 1992, Twelve-year-old Severn Suzuki and her friends raised money to go to Rio de Janiero for the UN Summit on the Environment. She was given the stage and...wow.

Open thread below...

At his presser today President Bush was asked by CNN's Ed Henry whether he had mentioned the Saudi rape case at all during conversations with King Abdullah in the past few weeks.

Download | play Download | play

Bush begins his answer with a supposedly heartfelt 'what if it was my daughter' explanation but then when pressed further says that he doesn't remember whether he ever brought the subject up or not but insists the Saudi King “knows our position loud and clear.”

Henry: On another issue of credibility in the Mid East -- At the Annapolis Summit you used your influence to get Saudi Arabia to the table but I wonder whether now you will use you influence to do something about the Saudi rape case that has gotten so much international attention? What goes through your mind when you hear about a 19 year old Saudi woman getting gang raped by seven men and basically a Saudi court blames the victim and sentences her to 200 lashes? You spoke to King Abdullah by telephone in the last couple of weeks. Did you press him on this case? If so what did you say and if not, are you giving him a pass?"

Bush: My first thoughts were these. What happens if this happened to my daughter? How would I react? And I would have been -- I would have been very emotional, of course. I’d have been angry at those who committed the crime, and I would be angry at the state that didn’t support the victim, and our opinions were expressed by Dana Perino from the podium.

Henry: Did you press King Abdullah about it personally?

Bush: I talked to King Abdullah about the Middle eastern peace. I don't remember if that subject came up.

Henry: If it was that important to you why wouldn't you at that level bring it directly up to King Abdullah?

Bush: There's plenty of time. He knows our position loud and clear.

Even after considering 'what if' the victim was his own daughter, apparently Bush decided it really wasn't important enough to even bring up after all.

I'm Manila Ryce from The Largest Minority, and anyone who says otherwise is trying to trick you.

It's Thanksgiving here in the states, so let's take a look at A Native American View with a post from 2000. It was written pre-9/11 which means it's probably very inaccurate. Read with caution. After showing our thanks by consuming copious amounts of food, we then consume more the following day. One Kucinich intern has a different idea for Americans on the largest shopping day of the year.

It's well known that Conservapedia was created to counter the left-wing bias of reality, but did you know that it's also the airport bathroom of the internet? A Capitol Idea (or two) informs us that 9 out of 10 of the most viewed pages on Conservapedia are about homosexuality! Now that's a whole lot of gay. Something must be done to cure these sinners of their conservatism.

With the unbiased reporting the Western media is known for, you no doubt know that Hugo Chavez is not just a leader with virtues and faults, but an insane dictator. His most recent acts of insanity? Protecting gay rights under the Venezuelan Constitution and breaking strict religious laws at the OPEC summit in Saudi Arabia. He's as threatening as all the other leftist leaders. What leftist leaders you ask? Nevermind.

Since we're on the topic of media coverage regarding the images of politicians, while completely disregarding their policies, let's journey over to The Daily Banter, where Ben Cohen looks at one of the miscellaneous "experts" in the corporate media and her hack opinion of the Democrat whose Neocon policy is most worthy of serious criticism.

Quaker Dave is back and it's worth mentioning. He hasn't been able to blog lately because he's been sick with leprosy and his fingers keep falling off. Even typing with his tongue, he's already informed me that Bjork and I share the same birthday, so we're pretty much meant to be. I hope she doesn't wear that swan dress to the wedding. That's what I'm wearing.

Don't give up folks. Submit links to: John (dot) William (dot) Harrison (at) Gmail (dot) com