Who Gives A Sh*t

NBC News - Today, President Bush visits Vietnam for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, “looking to burnish his foreign-policy credentials.” He’s off to a miserable start.

Yesterday, the White House website featured a graphic with the flags of the three countries he’s visiting on his trip — Singapore, Vietnam, and Indonesia. One problem: instead of displaying the Vietnamese flag, the White House graphic featured the old flag of South Vietnam. That flag hasn’t been the official flag of Vietnam since South Vietnam surrendered to North Vietnam in 1975.

This flag, stupid!

Not this one

You think it's because Bush is an idiot and his Administration is populated by incompetent and ignorant yahoos? Noooo! I mean, yes, the present President of the United States of America has no interest in the world outside of his small circle and his staff are hired for their loyalty to the Party and not for their competence, but still, the main reason is because it's about brown people, so nobody really gives a sh*t.

When the Prime Minister of Vietnam came to Canada last summer, Jean Charest greeted him in Quebec City. In his speech, Charest announced that Quebec City will sign an agreement to become the twin city of Huê, Vietnam's ancient imperial capital. Charest kept calling it the City of Hew (the correct pronunciation is: Huey). He didn't bother to check the correct pronunciation of Quebec City's twin sister, nor did his staff bother to tell him. After all, the only people who would care are ...well, brown people, and we all know how their opinions matter, right?

And by the way, the Vietnamese Prime Minister did not mispronounce the name Quebec. That would be a major, major faux pas in protocol affairs and in simple courtesy, even for brown people.

Temple in Huê