Bolton agitates audience ("hisses" and "boos" at Yale)

[jefferson_dem]

:nuke:

Bolton agitates audience

BY JESSICA MARSDEN
Staff Reporter

It was a bittersweet homecoming for United Nations Ambassador John Bolton '70 LAW '74, a former chair of the Conservative Party who returned to the Yale Political Union Monday evening amid a chorus of hisses and politically charged questions.

In his address, which defended the Bush administration's foreign policy, Bolton argued that voluntary contributions from states would allow major donors such as the United States to choose to fund the U.N. programs that they believe to be the most efficient. But while fielding questions from impassioned students packed into Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall, Bolton candidly discussed issues such as nuclear weapons in Iran and North Korea, the war in Iraq and his own confirmation battles.

Noting that voluntary contributions are not yet part of President George W. Bush '68's policy on U.N. reform, Bolton said it was unfair for the U.S. to pay 22 percent of the organization's budget in exchange for one vote in the 191-member General Assembly. Agencies like the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, which is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions, are more efficient and more responsive to donor countries, Bolton said.

"Why shouldn't we pay for what we want, instead of paying a bill for what we get?" Bolton said.

The audience interrupted Bolton throughout his speech with loud banging on desks and hissing, the typical YPU expressions for approval and disagreement. When asked about the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib in Iraq, Bolton said the U.S. -- not other countries or international organizations ­-- should hold its own citizens accountable for possible abuse.

<SNIP>


:puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke:

http://www.yaledailynews.com/articlefunctions/Printerfriendly.asp?AID=30127

[jean]

1. Oh, how I would love to hear the hissing - bravo to the audience!

:yourock:

[democracyindanger]

2. And there it is.

Bolton said it was unfair for the U.S. to pay 22 percent of the organization's budget in exchange for one vote in the 191-member General Assembly.

Wealth should dictate influence.

[sui generis]

4. I like this one:

"Bolton said the U.S. -- not other countries or international organizations ­-- should hold its own citizens accountable for possible abuse"

So . . . if someone in, say, France, starts kidnapping and torturing U.S. Citizens and France says they're not going to prosecute, we'll be okay with that? What would WE do if another country didn't hold its own citizens accountable?

Oh, wait, we invaded Iraq, didn't we?

Look out France, all your freedom crepes are belong to us!

Bolton is such a hypocritical piece of human shit.

[Bucky]

6. Actually wealth *does* dictate influence. UN is surprisingly pliable to US

If we used it right, the UN could actually be used as a substantially powerful American foriegn policy leverage tool. It takes an investment in time and PR along with some cajoling and arm-twisting, of course, and these Republicans are too damn lay-zee to do the work. But we can and should be using our larger than average UN contribution quota to advance US interests like human rights, labor empowerment, health care investment, and gender equality around the world. All these things would make the United States stronger (and safer) in the world. The relatively small investment in the UN that it would take to bring this about would pay off a thousand fold in security and trade dividends.

[rodeodance]

9. but sadly we do not use our influence for the 'common good"!!

[democracyindanger]

12. True in reality but wrong in principle

when it comes to a supposedly democratic institution. And what Bolton is suggesting (demanding?) is that the influence of wealth should be codified into law.

[Bucky]

30. Of course Bolton is wrong. But the UN is certainly not a "democratic" body

The UN is not a "supposedly democratic institution" in any form. The awarding of votes is not based on people or population. It's a diplomatic association. Votes are awarded on any basis that you can get the membership to agree to. Giving countries one vote each is a convention and a convenience, but not a "higher principle." Awarding votes and influence based on dollars granted is an equally valid organization (altho I doubt it would be politically doable). In its orginal arrangement, the UN gave the Soviet Union three votes. That was at least as arbitrary as giving out votes based on dollar donations.

Of course what I was talking about was lobbying and persuading, not voting. And the Bushies have been terrible at it.

[Canuckistanian]

29. Remember Boutros Boutros-Ghali?

Almost every UN country was happy with him. Except one country. The USA.
So, he was ditched after the USA (alone) vetoed his election to a second term.

[Bucky]

31. But that said, Kofi Annan is doing a much better job.

I know the Secretary Generalship at one point was supposed to rotate thru the continents (Europe -> Americas -> Africa -> Asia) . I think the next turn is Asia's, but I'm not sure. Africa having had three terms in the office may have thrown the deal off count.

[jazzjunkysue]

26. Altogether, now: "We are the world, we are the children"

It's all for sale, and we've got all the $200's and $500's in this monopoly game, so, get out of our way.

[TankLV]

28. Yep - there are many serious rich people who believe that because they own

property in a community, that they should be allowed to vote in each community that they hold property in, fuck what the one-man-one-vote law has said for hundreds of years!

They are deadly serious and have even succeeded in some communities.

[louis-t]

3. "should hold its own citizens accountable"

Last time I looked, *, Cheney, Rummy, Bremer, Condi, et al, were U.S. citizens. Sounds like he's saying "only the soldiers are responsible."
or "only everyone else besides me and my neocons are responsible."

[Missy M]

5. Unfortunately, under the bush administration paying for what they want...

would mean they expect the rest of the world to want the same thing. The UN is an organization working to make a better world and this should not be decided by who pays the most to get what THEY want. It seems Bolton and others of his ilk think the world starts and stops in the US and everyone else is irrelevant.

[wurzel]

7. This is what Bush understands as Democracy.

Democracy means the unfettered right to spend money to buy anything. This is really how these Neocons see the world.

[DBoon]

10. to them democracy means money buys votes

nt

[kestrel91316]

25. If the Neocons want to buy MY vote, they are going to have to cough up

about $5 million a pop. That ought to about do it.

[rodeodance]

8. let me joyfully add to the chorus--boo, hiss, hiss boo.......

[Burried News]

11. Hissing?That something even a snake can understand.

Too bad someone didn't bring a pet mongoose.

[Bluerthanblue]

22. better yet, our cat 'snickers' has got the hiss down cold-

and there's no doubting what she means when she does it-
A tiny little thing, rescued from being abandoned, she knows how to express herself with complete clarity-

A better curse could not be heard.

[jonkronz2003]

13. I think this policy is commendable and should be implemented..

first in the US. The congress should be changed so that the wealthy states are more proportionately represented. Too bad that that would be most of the blue states (NY, CA, WA). Then we can get only what we want and screw those red state idiots in KY.

[The Roux Comes First]

14. Get Red States off the Dole!

Even if we just had the red states pay their own way in terms of the federal budget instead of taking welfare from the blue states it would be progress.

[gratuitous]

15. Might and money make right, eh Mr. Bolton?

Thanks a heap, Yale, for foisting so many of your brain-dead graduates on our government. I'd love to see a RICO prosecution.

[xchrom]

16. since when does the u.s. hold any person of rank or wealth

for the crimes we commit abroad?

what about the racial disparity in our prisons -- the unprosecuted shite collar crimes, time done for powder cocaine as opposed to rock, etc?

bolton took u.s. policy out of the closet by stating that wealthy countries should pay for the things they want and nothing else.

merely pointing out -- the u.s. really is the pig i've imagined it to be.

[Just Me]

17. Bolton is an intellectual black-hole, if that.

Destroying anything tainted with humanitarianism or true democratic principles is his speciality.

He's as close to a fascist as you can get and deserved every hiss.

[TomClash]

18. Bolton and Yale

. . . a match made in heaven. :puke:

[Moochy]

19. CRITICALLY IMPORTANT!!

Here's my critically important point for this thread:

It looks to me like he trimmed up his moustache.

thank you, that is all.

[bluestateguy]

20. Bolton is not legitimate

American has no UN Ambassador right now.

[TaleWgnDg]

21. *boolah-boolah* . . . go, Yale, go !! n/t

[CTyankee]

23. I am embarrassed that he went to school in the city I live in

his class at Yale repudiated him as a pick for UN ambassador. The rest of us in New Haven just shudder as he makes his awful way.

Whatta creep!

[TaleWgnDg]

24. Ummm, I don't think Yale alums are thrilled that Dumbya went there either!

Ummm, I don't think Yale alums are too thrilled that Dumbya went there either! . . . more than a creep! Indeed. Whadda pair, Bolton and Dumbya, huh?


.

[jazzjunkysue]

27. What? No rotten vegetables in Yale?

That's what's wrong with kids today. No initiative.