PBS NEWS HOUR CASTIGATES MYANMAR'S GENERALS FOR NOT ACCEPTING AID, BUT NO REFERENCE TO BUSH REJECTING AID OF VENEZUELA FOR KATRINA

Tonight on The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, Margaret Warner does a story about the leaders of Myanmar refusing help from the United States.

But how come Margaret Warner makes no reference to George Bush refusing help from Hugo Chavez and Venezuela after the hurricane devastated New Orleans?

And if she had made that reference to Bush, perhaps Margaret Warner would have lumped Bush together with the military dictators of Myanmar.

LAURA BUSH ORDERS MYANMAR TO ACCEPT AMERICAN AID

The Bushes, George and Laura, seem to love telling other people and countries what to do. "You must do this, you must do that!"

Today, Laura Bush holds a news conference in front of the White House seal, and she tells the rulers of Myanmar what to do. "You must allow American relief efforts!" "You must take in American aid!" Is there no end to the the Bush proscriptions?

I grant you, the rulers of Myanmar are militaristic dictators, willing to send out their thugs to kill and beat up protesting Myanmar citizens. And it seems they are incapable of providing adequate relief efforts for those of its citizens who have lost all their homes and possessions to the recent cyclone.

But why must Laura Bush be the policewoman of the world? Instead of ordering other countries to do her bidding, notwithstanding the humanitarian benefits, why can't she and George engage in quiet diplomacy instead of public shaming?

No wonder George Bush, as U.S. president, has lost the good will of the rest of the world. People don't like to be ordered about as if children. A lesson, it seems, that has been lost on George and Laura Bush.