… from last night’s speech, and worse than they fact that they turned on the power only for Bush’s appearance, throwing the city back into the dark as soon as he was done, were some of the details of the speech itself.

It
shouldn’t take a math whiz to see that cranking out a few hundred
billion — another financial Iraq, basically — without any
compensating spending cuts, is only going to help reinforce the GOP’s
ongoing campaign to completely wreck the U.S. dollar, which has already
lost about a third of its value against other currencies since the
first hanging chads were examined.  I’m not saying that we shouldn’t
help the folks in need and rebuild — um, duh, obviously — just
pointing out that if we keep maxing out the national credit cards, one
of these days the phone’s gonna ring.

Also, this:

Well, obviously.  This must be the real reason Bush ate cake and played guitar while people were drowning.   He didn’t have enough power, he says.  He didn’t have enough power to order the military to intervene in domestic affairs.  So for the second time, he wants to use the tragic deaths of thousands to demand more power for himself.

Imagine for a moment that it was some guy running some other country who said this, more than once, in response to a devastating disaster.  What would you then see with your own eyes?

In a word: Eek.

… from last night’s speech, and worse than they fact that they turned on the power only for Bush’s appearance, throwing the city back into the dark as soon as he was done, were some of the details of the speech itself.

It
shouldn’t take a math whiz to see that cranking out a few hundred
billion — another financial Iraq, basically — without any
compensating spending cuts, is only going to help reinforce the GOP’s
ongoing campaign to completely wreck the U.S. dollar, which has already
lost about a third of its value against other currencies since the
first hanging chads were examined.  I’m not saying that we shouldn’t
help the folks in need and rebuild — um, duh, obviously — just
pointing out that if we keep maxing out the national credit cards, one
of these days the phone’s gonna ring.

Also, this:

Well, obviously.  This must be the real reason Bush ate cake and played guitar while people were drowning.   He didn’t have enough power, he says.  He didn’t have enough power to order the military to intervene in domestic affairs.  So for the second time, he wants to use the tragic deaths of thousands to demand more power for himself.

Imagine for a moment that it was some guy running some other country who said this, more than once, in response to a devastating disaster.  What would you then see with your own eyes?

In a word: Eek.

Over at A Tiny Revolution, Jon has not one but two good catches, the result of his being able (unlike most people who discuss politics) to read:

Turns out the CIA’s spokesman published a novel centered on the use of airplanes as terrorist missiles aimed at large public buildings, years in advance of the WTC attacks.

Also, it would be nice if any Bushies disparaging the "reality-based" were aware they were actually mirroring one of the fundamental worries of the intelligence community — about Stalinist Russia.

Enjoy.

You can only hope to contain him.  At least for two more shows here in L.A.

I’d also like to direct any locals looking for a theatrical adventure to Big News, a live-theater news review revue that’s as new each week as the soul-peeling national horrors they make fun of.  Like all such highwire exercises, it can be hit or miss, but when it hits, it’s funny as hell.

Last night’s recurring bit was "Barbara Bush’s Silver Linings," in which the First Mother (who in this version had a beard) mused on the bright side of famine, disease, and genocide.  Which was as dead-on and darkly amusing as it sounds.

Actual Reuters photo and caption, via First Draft via Atrios:

U.S. President George W. Bush writes a note to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a Security Council meeting at the 2005 World Summit and 60th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York September 14, 2005. World leaders are exploring ways to revitalize the United Nations at a summit on Wednesday but their blueprint falls short of Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s vision of freedom from want, persecution and war.

If you look closely, here’s Bush’s note to his Secretary of State while the entire world is trying to figure out how to make the United Nations work:

I did a little contrast work in Photoshop, but you can compare to the original with your own eyes.

The most powerful man in the world, and he’s not even sure if he’s allowed to pee.