Weapons of Mass Distraction

Drive By Briefing of President Bush

A wonderful piece of video -- get it while you can -- illustrating the effects and contents of what George Bush -- the man himself, a ramblin' and explannin', up and grinnin' wide as day on the hot spot before the camera -- very genuinely, believably described as a "Drive-By Briefing," prepping him for questions on the Supreme Court's Center-Left line-in-the-sand stance on the Court's authority over all matters consequential not just to Constitutional Rights but to Human Rights as well, to the extent We, The United States of America, still stand as signatories to various quaint Humanist conventions of International Law, foremost the Geneva Conventions.

Our President's Drive By Briefing

Unfortunately, it is an open question whether the American Public, the demos at large, has sufficient residual common sense and moral judgment -- the most conservative and indeed heroic of "Conservative Virtues" -- to care a fig about their own common humanity with people and peoples everywhere around all the Flat Four Square corners of this He-Himself-Created, Seven-Day Wonder of a Planet. Do they have the residual common human sense to recognize that ocean of others no more in control of things, no more really profiting, gaining, finding peace and meaning in life, than themselves?

Transcript

BUSH: We've agreed to take two questions a side.

Walking in, I reminded the prime minister of one of Elvis' greatest songs: "Don't Be Cruel."

(LAUGHTER)

So keep that in mind when you ask your question.

(LAUGHTER)

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President.

You've said that you wanted to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay but you were waiting for the Supreme Court decision that came out today. Do you intend now to close Guantanamo Bay quickly? And how do you deal with the suspects that you said were too dangerous to be released or sent home?

BUSH: You know, I -- thank you for the question on the court ruling that literally came out in the midst of my meeting with the prime minister. And so I haven't had a chance to fully review the findings of the Supreme Court.

BUSH: I, one, assure you that we take them very seriously.

Two, that to the extent that there is latitude to work with the Congress to determine whether or not the military tribunals will be an avenue in which to give people their day in court, we will do so.

The American people need to know that this ruling, as I understand it, won't cause killers to be put out on the street. In other words, there's not a -- as I had a drive-by briefing on the way here, I was told that this was not going to be the case.

At any rate, we will seriously look at the findings, obviously.

And one thing I'm not going to do, though, is I'm not going to jeopardize the safety of the American people. People got to understand that. I understand we're in a war on terror, that these people were picked up off of a battlefield, and I will protect the people and at the same time conform with the findings of the Supreme Court.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

BUSH: I haven't had a chance to fully review what the court said. I wish I had; I could have given you a better answer.

As I say, we take the findings seriously.

And, again, as I understand it -- now, please don't hold me to this -- that there is a way forward with military tribunals in working with the United States Congress. As I understand, certain senators have already been out expressing their desire to address what the Supreme Court found. And we will work with the Congress.

I want to find a way forward. In other words, I have told the people that I would like for there to be a way to return people from Guantanamo to their home countries. But some people need to be tried in our courts, and the Hamdan decision was the way forward for that part of my statement.

BUSH: And, again, I would like to review the case. And we are. We got people looking at it right now to determine how we can work with Congress, if that's available, to solve the problem.

rri (Jun '06)

To Catch a Thief

Grace Kelly: John.... Grace Kelly: John.... Grace Kelly: Are you going to make it hard for me to apologize? Cary Grant: Not at all. I'm sure you're sorry. Grace Kelly: You know I am. Til mother told me, I had no idea the things you were up against. Cary Grant: Well. Grace Kelly: What are your plans now? Cary Grant: Now what? Grace Kelly: That the cat burgler's dead. Cary Grant: Foussard isn't The Cat. Grace Kelly: But the newspapers.... Cary Grant: The man had a wooden leg. Grace Kelly: Wasn't he caught at a villa trying to rob it? Cary Grant: He wasn't trying to rob it. He was trying to kill...me. Grace Kelly: Why? Cary Grant: Because I was getting too close to The Cat. Grace Kelly: Then who killed him? Cary Grant: If I ever find that out, I'll let you know. Goodbye, Francie. Grace Kelly:...

rri (Mar '05)

Culture Wars: The Soundtrack

I don't watch prime-time American network television any more, nor the HBO and other comparable cable fare that increasingly dominates evening viewing and day-after conversation in its stead. To the amazement and despair of friends, family, and other die-hard friends of "Friends", I have thus far refused to watch even a single episode of "The Sopranos", as I steadfastly refused "Sex and the City" before it. Mine is an almost un-American inactivity in relation to TV. Nevertheless, the stuff does manage, thanks to my wife, to snake its way into my house. The result is that, for the past decade or so, I've had what might best be described as a distant, occasional listening relationship to that vast swath of America's collective imaginative life. Poor anti-social me, I no longer know all the latest "funny" or "cool" commercials. Television is something that literally goes on in the other room...

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Mission To Mars

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Like all genuine science fiction, the film The Matrix is, at bottom, not about some horrifying possible future in which machines rule the world but an allegory of the present in which mere mortals much like ourselves do.

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stupid people

I have yet to understand how anyone can interpret American Beauty as a movie about dysfunctional families, suburbia and "life's changes." This is the essence of why American Beauty to me is a very bad movie.

mrbdawg (Mar '00)