God and Man at Yale Part II – the Blair Years

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair will teach religion at the American university.

You political Calvinists will surely ponder whether Blair supports supra-lapdog-arianism or infra-lapdog-arianism as to exactly how he was predestined to be damned by following the God-man George W. Bush.

He will actually teach a course on faith and globalization. Great. A neoliberal of sorts teaching religion as a product to be marketed like soap, lies in foreign affairs, etc. He will probably become more neoconnish in this, too, believing that religion, in a generic sense, can be marketed internationally, like democracy.

The flip side to this is on the flip side of the pond. Most of Britain will probably be glad to have him out of its collective hair. EU member states, assuming this means Blair is giving up his quixotic and ill-chanced drive to become the EU president, will certainly say good riddance to him.

Great. We’re the sacrificial lambs.

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Prince Bandar lawyers up — with Louie Freeh

The long-term Saudi Arabian ambassador to Washington has taken the former FBI director as his lawyer as the Justice Dept. investigation of British defense giant BAE ramps up . You know it’s serious if Bandar is reaching for that level of legal firepower.

BAE, which had a similar investigation in the UK fizzle out earlier this year under covert political pressure, gets about half its revenue from U.S. subsidiaries. It is accused of paying out Billions with a B of dollars of “lubrication money” to Bandar and other Saudi royals to lock up defense contracts.

The BAE tentacles reach all the way to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Saudi King Abdullah, who didn’t make the first state trip to the UK by a Saudi king in 20 years just to see London fog, or London Fog.

Bandar got $2bil himself, reportedly. That must have paid for an awful lot of sideline space with Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys.

The DOJ is investigating under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits bribes of foreign nationals even if they don’t occur on U.S. soil. Any company with an American connection, such as a listing on an American stock exchange or the use of an American bank account to transfer suspect payments, opens the door for prosecution under the F.C.P.A.

In addition to fines or prison sentences, an FCPA conviction can also bar a company from doing business in the U.S.

Meanwhile, the British High Court has ordered an official investigation into why his government let pursuit of BAE drop. From all that’s spilling out about BAE and its numerous tentacles, it certainly sounds like Bush’s lapdog committed obstruction of justice.

And, in what is indeed poetic justice, albeit delayed, Halliburton is under an FCPA investigation into activities in Nigeria; the timespan of the investigation includes the period when Dick Cheney was CEO.

“Snarl real pretty for the court cameras, Dick. You, too, Tony.”

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George and Tony's Last Joint Press Conference

As you might have heard Tony Blair paid a farewell visit to George Bush earlier this week. They gave a joint press conference addressing one of the most important issues of the 21st Century. Let's listen in.

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This Week Tony Blair Announced We Will Go.

The decision was tough for Tony.



Made more difficult by his close relationship with his friend George. They had so much fun together.

They went places together.



They shared good times.



Their mutual relationship was deep, very deep.



Goodbye Tony, Godspeed.

Let us close with the the extended Japanese video version of Lionel Richie and Diana Ross singing Endless Love.

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