Remember Nero fiddling while the world burns? Nero’s got nothing onGeorge W Bush. Hell, at least Nero was displaying a demonstrative skill.No, while Russia shells the Georgia capital, while the US is engaged intwo military occupations, while unemployment numbers spike at home, Bushhas remained in Beijing past the opening ceremonies to flirt with beachvolleyball players, stare longingly at US softball star Jennie Finchand give pep talks to the US teams so they "go for the gold". (He wasgreeted by US athletes with applause described to me as "tepid.")

 

 

Bush then delivered a ham handed Sunday sermon where he said, "No state,man, or woman should fear the influence of a loving religion." (Doloving religions call for crusades? Just checking.)

 

 

Almost everywhere Bush has gone during the Olympics he’s been shadowed by that paragon of love Henry Kissinger. These have been in so many ways, the Kissinger Games–a demonstration of how brutally efficient a market dictatorship can be.It’s Pinochet’s Chile with red flags and Kissinger has entered his personal paradise. NBC has done all it could to spread this gospel of the Kissinger games. As Ken Silverstein has reported, NBC’s China expert, Joshua Cooper-Ramos, heads Kissinger’s Beijing office (not that NBC has alerted us to this fact.) But NBC did take the time to pan the cameras to George and Laura when the Iraqi Olympic Team showed up. "You can feel the energy in this stadium, said the banally ubiquitous Matt Lauer. That’s journalism for you under market Stalinism. IOC president Jacques Rogge called the Beijing games, "The gateway to the future."Yikes. I could use some of that loving religion right about now.Tomorrow maybe. I’ll actually talk about some of the sports!