So, I was just watching the video on MSNBC of Bush making some real gut-busting jokes about WMD at the Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner in Washington last night:

“Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere,” Bush mimicked, as a slide of the President looking under furniture in the Oval Office appeared on the screen. “Nope, no weapons over there.” (Laughter and applause.) “Maybe under here.” (Laughter.)

So, I’m thinking .. wow, I bet if my leg was blown off in Iraq a couple months ago, and I was now collecting $981 a month and watching the President’s speech from a rehab center in Toledo, I’d be laughing so hard! Yeah - jokes on you, dude!! No leg!!

Why weren’t we doing this in November of 2001? Or better yet, November of 1999? We should be doing more of it instead of occupying Iraq. I do believe that terrorism is a strategic problem, and not a tactical one - but on the military front we should be working at full force to destroy Al Qaeda. Messing around in various nation-states who haven’t threatened us can take lower priority, in my opinion.

Ok - so al Qaeda attacks us on 9/11. We spend a few minutes routing the Taliban from Afghanistan and leave. We then make lots of implications about Saddam Hussein being involved and being hellbent on nuking us, so we invade and occupy Iraq.

So, things in the tribal regions of the Pan-Afghan border where Osama and crew are hiding are tough.. because all our Arabic-speaking military and intelligence experts are bogged down in Iraq for God-knows-why. Then we convince Pakistan to go in and attack the guys who attacked us, because we’re busy occupying a nation that wasn’t a threat. Do I have this correct?

“On this occasion of Valentine’s Day, let’s stop and ask ourselves what business is it of the state how consenting adults choose to pair off, share expenses and eventually stop having sex with each other. And why does the Bush Administration want a Constitutional amendment about weddings? Hey, why stop at weddings? Birthdays are important; let’s put them in the great document. Let’s make a law that gay people can have birthdays, but straight people get more cake. You know, to send the right message to kids. Republicans are always saying we should privatize things like schools, prisons, Social Security. Hey, how about we privatize privacy?”

NASA’s LINEAR system spots a bogey…

A great ad from Moveon.org.

“You and a few other critics are the only people I’ve heard use the phrase ‘immediate threat’. I didn’t. The President didn’t. And [uh,] it’s become kind of folklore that that’s what’s happened.” — Donald Rumsfeld, March 14, 2004, Face The Nation

“No terror state poses a greater or more immediate threat to the security of our people and the stability of the world than the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.” — Donald Rumsfeld, September 18, 2002

Rumsfeld really is an evil person.

It was unclear whether the man was seeking assistance for his injury or help in nailing down his other hand.

I wonder if the reaction would have been the same had he been flying a flag or displaying a “WE SUPPORT OUR PRESIDENT” banner? Actually, no, I don’t.

I’ve been shooting my mouth off for a while about how Bush’s biggest problem is coming from his own party. Fineman penned a great piece on my favorite Republican Senator and the interesting dynamics at work.

The other night on Hardball, the language from McCain was bleak … things like “I’d like to hear the President’s explanation..”, “I take the President at his word..”

This is certainly not ideal for the President, as it’s coming from his own party’s most popular member of Congress - I think it’s very ominous for Bush.

When Osama bin Laden is not terrorizing western infidels, he’s usually obsessing over the details of his Detriot crack ring with a little help from Uncle Sam.

Interesting article in today’s Village Voice discussing MDMA research, the RAVE act, and civil liberties.

Darrell Hammond does an amazing job impersonating Bill Clinton. A couple choice quotes from last night’s Weekend Update appearance… pitching the idea of himself as VP candidate… “I got so much done as President, just imagine how I’d do with less responsibility! I’ll put the Vice back in Vice President.”

Bill Maher is really great. Check this week’s ‘New Rules’. An excerpt:

“New Rule: Keep the Statue of Liberty closed. Since 9/11, the Statue has been off limits for security reasons, and some people are outraged. Why? It’s a sacred symbol of our principles, not a Stair Master. Everything doesn’t have to be interactive. People go to church, they don’t take turns up on the cross. You’re not allowed to fill the Liberty Bell with nachos or wear it as a hat.”

Friend of mine is going tomorrow. I said,

“if you really want to split a gut open laughing, go to ‘Innoventions’ or the Spaceship Earth Ride at Epcot Center. You’ll especially groove to how they basically have Coleco pong games hooked up to old CGA monitors and act like you’re getting a sneak peek into the year 2050. But hey, at least they don’t charge much.”

So, what are you waiting for? Discover the Magic!

Umm, does this cost extra? Attention-getting Zanotti ad from this month’s W Mag.

If there ever was life on Mars, one really needs to start thinking hard about the Fermi Paradox.

In my continuing attempt to make my blog more like “me,” I am trying to write things here that seem more random and part of my flow than these arrogant assface posts I do a lot of the time.

I sustained two minor physical injuries today. First, I opened up my right index knuckle in some exciting and mysterious way. I was just walking from the office to the bank and realized there was blood all over my right hand. Like dripping out of me. How cool this was. I traced the source to my knuckle and immediately began wondering if I’d ruined my new white soft Beene shirt which I wore today for the first time ever. I vaguely remembered sometime in the last 2-3 minutes having collided with the edge of something but could not remember what. There was no pain until I realized how deeply I’d gouged myself. It was a fairly deep puncture wound but very small, as if someone had driven into the knuckle with a small corkscrew. Anyway, I went bleeding into Cambridge Trust sucking my finger and the branch treasurer came out to greet me and that was nice and then I told the very cute teller the story about the time my old buddy John Miller and I planted dog oreos near Jim Bryant’s desk to see if he would eat them. He did.

I forgot what the second injury was. I guess that’s good?