One of the world’s greatest butchers is dead – to the grief, and with the tributes, of some of the world’s most notable pollitical leaders.

Club Troppo has an excellent report on the fallout and the extraordinarily generous media and governmental assessments of a man who was in fact a monster, a thief and a thug on a massive scale, rivalling Pol Pot and Saddam Hussein – the 20^th century’s seventh greatest mass murderer, as Troppo says.

The warmth which has been shown by the Australian government and opposition and by other world leaders, the kid gloves with which he has been treated by the media, says a lot about the political club and the ugly realities of the power mindset. Suharto was “one of us”. He was, as they say, “our bastard”, unlike [tag]Saddam[/tag] (latterly), [tag]bin Laden[/tag] (latterly), [tag]Pol Pot[/tag] and the [tag]Burmese generals[/tag]. It also says a lot about some Indonesian people that they treat him like a demi-god, as if they were an abused child who fears when their father stops abusing them that he must not love them any more.

We think Bush’s sentiments are wonderful.

“President Bush expresses his condolences to the people of Indonesia on the loss of their former president.”

It could almost be a plea for the same sort of understanding and forgiveness by his own people of the monstrous disaster of his presidency when he leaves office.

One down….

Mormon President, Gordon B. Hinckley, 97, died in the last few days. Sad for those who knew him, but for those who despair over the whacko purveyors and followers of crackpot beliefs, one less screwball. Perhaps Mitt Romney could become the next Mormon President instead of the first Mormon President.

Two down….

[tags]Suharto, Club Troppo, genocide, Indonesia, George Bush, Hinckley, Mormon, presidency, American President, Mormon president, Romney, Australian values, Values Australia, values, value, worth, cost, price, charge, assessment, importance, meaning, merit, respect, attraction, appeal, principles, standards, morals, ethics, ideals, judgement, evaluation, significance[/tags]