Today's Daily Quiz: November 1, 2007

Who will be the presidential and vice presidential candidates for both parties in the election of 2008 (assuming there will be an election)?

Previous DQ: Has the Bush/Cheney regime, with the help of corporate media, turned America into a banana republic?
Answer (thanks to kb): Taking a page out of America Jones' book, I look to Widipedia for a clue, and edit to my heart's content:

Banana republic is a pejorative term for:

1. a small, often Latin American, Caribbean or African country that is politically unstable. [The USA isn't in Latin America.]

2. dependent on limited agriculture, and ruled by a small, self-elected, wealthy and corrupt clique. [We're have plenty of agriculture, but the self-elected wealthy corrupt clique part sounds okay.]

3. In most cases they have kept the government structures that were modeled after the colonial Spanish ruling clique, [not guilty here!]

4. a small, largely leisure class on the top and a large, poorly educated and poorly paid working class of peons [but plenty of similarities here!]

5. Frequently the subject of mockery and humour, and usually presided over by a dictatorial military junta that exaggerates its own power and importance. [flight suit, anyone?]

6. A banana republic also typically has large wealth and income inequities, poor infrastructure, poor schools, a backward economy, low capital spending, a reliance on foreign capital and money printing, budget deficits, and a weakening currency. [We're working on it, we're working on it!]

7. Banana Republics are typically also highly prone to revolutions and coups. [We'll have to wait and see on this one.]