Purging of "Bad Spirits," Brimstone Offerings, Masked Protests and Other Drama by Central and South American Left on Bush's Visit

Reported in a New York Daily News gossip column, supposedly the Karl Rove biography "The Architect" says that he brought in three Catholic priests to cast Sen. Hillary Clinton's evil spirit from her old West Wing office in the White House. In Russia, delegates to the State Duma are lobbying to have both the Supreme Shaman of Siberia and a number of Russian Orthodox priests 'cleanse' the chamber of the negativity of the past ten years reports Pravda. Along those lines, Mayan leaders in Guatemala are planning to "cleanse Bush's bad spirits" from an archaeological site he will visit next week, according to the Associated Press.

Bush's tour of Central and South America is, according to the AP, intended to combat both the perception that the US has neglected the area, and the rising influence of flamboyant Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who seeks solidarity in the region by portraying Bush as "history's greatest killer" and "the devil."

A Mayan non-governmental organization leader, referred to in a South African presentation of the AP article as "director of a national association of indigenous people and peasant farmers" spoke for the Mayan priests, saying that issues such as "persecution of our migrant brothers in the United States" and "the wars he has provoked" led them to conclude that his visit would be "an offense for the Mayan people and their culture," according to the AP. According to the NGO leader, "spirit guides of the Mayan community" had led them to take their action.