The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness -- John Kenneth Galbraith

Heard a great interview with John Collins, an assistant professor of Global Studies at St. Lawrence University, on MPR. He was plugging his book, Collateral Language (he's a co-editor of the book). He clearly favors an anti-war on terrorism perspective (and was surprisingly effective and interesting), and he clearly is no fan of the current administration (or regime, as he might prefer due to it's connotation of both impermanence and opposition). He described how the Bush administration is attempting to win the public relations battle for America by employing words like "unity" (as opposed to any kind of dissent or questioning of actions) and "weapons of mass destruction." He suggests that the latter is one of the biggest Orwellian doublespeak usages today: although the administration identifies "WMD" (for short) as chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, in the past, the weapons that have provided mass destruction most often have been conventional weapons. He also noted that the only government ever to have employed all three of the WMD is the U.S. Touche!

It was truly a driveway moment.

Speaking of our fearless (?) leader, another person has had to apologize for disparaging remarks directed at the White House, this time a "former Bush aide." This following the hilarious (for us, but not for Ms. Ducros) incident in which President Bush was labeled a "moron." Although Mr. Dilulio recanted his remarks as "groundless and baseless," it is hard to believe that they were insincere or untruthful, given that they were made when Mr. Dilulio believed he was off the record, and that Mr. Dilulio is a Democrat.

This leads me to a reflection on Presidents of the recent past. Thanks to our friends at the evening talk shows, caricatures of Presidents are not hard to come by. As I consider our recent leaders, this is my single image of each of them, as reflected in the opening monologues of Jay Leno and David Letterman:

Richard Nixon - a crook
Gerald Ford - a bumbler
Jimmy Carter - (Okay, I have a special place in my heart for Jimmy Carter. He wasn't particularly effective, but he is, without doubt, a good, decent man.)
Ronald Reagan - confused
George H. W. Bush - a hapless goof
Bill Clinton - a dog in heat
George W. Bush - without question, the biggest bungler of all

What does this say about our leaders?

Sadly, this is what amuses me: Doo-Wop Horses (my name for them -- I have no idea what the site is there for). I can have hours of fun with these guys.