Party for the President
A few days ago I went to hear the President talk about Social Security. I brought along a little notebook where I took notes. Here are those notes:

March 4, 2005

I?m sitting on a shuttle bus half-filled with people taking us to the Westfield Armory. At the Armory, we will hear President Bush talk to us about his plan to save Social Security. The event is being billed as a "Town Hall Meeting". I am surrounded by Republicans and for the first time since I discovered I'd have to attend, I am happy at the prospect. I find myself curious about what the day will bring. Will it be a pep rally or a real dialogue about the pros and cons of the situation?

~~

I?m standing in the longest line ever to get into the building and a group of secret service types just walked past us and it was like a scene from Reservoir Dogs. They were way too cool to be looking at us but we stared openly as they strode by with their ear pieces, heavy overcoats and shades.

~~

It?s freezing out here in this damn line. The SWAT Team just showed up and we all had to move out of the way so that they could get by with their armored vans. The Marines are here and the Army, too. I wonder where the hell the Navy and the Air Force are. Slackers.

~~

I totally should have brought a book.

~~

I?m finally inside and it?s a madhouse. I ran into someone I know while I was trying to find a seat. She and her husband arrived here this morning at six and then stood out in the cold until the doors opened at eight. I finally found a seat way in the back, about level with the camera crews. The mood is decidedly jubilant.

~~

There?s a blowhard sitting behind me who will not shut up.

~~

I really, really, really, really should have brought a book.

~~

Lot?s of people brought their kids and all the little boys are dressed in collared shirts and sweater vests. It?s like an Alex P. Keaton fan club meeting in here.

~~

Blowhard is still not shutting up.

~~

I?m starting to get hungry.

~~
~~

At this point I ran into someone I knew and couldn?t make any more notes but later, on the ride back to my car on the shuttle bus this is what I wrote:

Pep Rally. Total freaking pep rally. People were yelling, hooting, screaming, hollering, chanting! ?George Bush! clapclapclap! George Bush! clapclapclap!? Or ?Four More Years! Four More Years!? Or, as was the case of the blowhard behind me, sporadic bursts of ?YEAH!? peppered throughout the event.

Bush first touched on the mid-East and the spread of democracy, but then really got going on Social Security. The ?panel? he had up there with him was a perfect cross-section of America. He had a middle aged woman who is a professor at Wharton Business School, a retiree from Long Island, a mother with five kids, a Latino fire fighter who also owns his own real estate business, and a 23-year-old business man.

All were heavily in favor of Bush?s plan. I know, I was shocked, too.

I kept waiting for someone to ask a question and really get the ?Town Hall Meeting? part of the event going, but it never happened. Bush talked, then he gave the mike to each of his panelists and they parroted him and then it was over. OVER!

I guess I'm not sure why I'm surprised. Way back when I first heard about this I flippantly remarked to someone, "We'll go, he'll lie, I'll be back for lunch." Who knew I would be so close to the truth?

Because some of the roads here are closed, the shuttle buses are awkwardly trying to navigate the narrow streets of this little Jersey town. One of my fellow passengers just said of a sad group of straggely protestors, ?Run ?em over!? Now THAT?S compassionate conservatism. Really warms the heart.

It must be really nice to be a Republican. You never have to worry about anyone but yourself and your biggest fear is that the libs might get into power and try to give some of your money away to the undeserving poor.

Screw the Poor! Cheating Medicaid is AWESOME!
Now Playing: Hollaback Girl - Gwen Stefani
From the New York Times:

Report Says Medicaid Overpays for Drugs
By ROBERT PEAR

WASHINGTON, March 7 - Federal health officials are not enforcing a law that requires drug companies to cut their prices on drugs bought for poor people under Medicaid, Congressional investigators said on Monday.

Camilla Windsor?
Am I the only one who looks at Camilla and thinks, ?My God, he cheated on Diana with YOU?? It?s embarrassing.

What?s more incredible is that these two are able to hold their heads up in public after so much adultery and unhappiness. Talk about a wicked stepmother.

Richards and Sheen to Divorce
This is like marrying Robert Downey, Jr. and then acting surprised when he wanders into the neighbor?s house one morning after binging all night on coke, painkillers, acid and the random drink thrown in to wash it all down.

Jennifer Lopez is still amazed she has a recording career
As are we, Jennifer. As are we.

And the Asshat of the Year Award Goes To
From the Center for American Progress:

RIGHT WING ? SHOTGUNS AT SHOW AND TELL? Don't like the idea of hand grenades in elementary schools? Then stay out of Arizona. Yesterday, the Arizona House of Representatives voted for a firearm free-for-all, passing a bill which will let people "carry weapons - including guns, grenades, rockets, mines and sawed-off shotguns - into schools, polling places and nuclear plants if they claim they're only trying to protect themselves." The legislation was the brainchild of Rep. Doug Quelland (R-Phoenix). The problem? Quelland never actually read the legislation before pulling together support to get it passed. In an interview, Quelland said "he had no idea the legislation, crafted by constituents he wouldn't identify, was so broad that it would provide a catchall exemption in the state's weapons laws."

~~

This is one guy who deserves to be shot. And it just might happen in his own state.

Jon Stewart Rules
Until at least 2008. Woo hoo!

Please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please...
According to The Awful Truth, Will & Grace are on the rocks:

Hey, been tryin' to hold back a bit, because having a kid can be hell on the nerves, I know. (Two cats, a dog and myriad dysfunctional man-amigos gives me an inkling of what you're going through.) Here's what I'm hearing (and not from the NBC janitors):

"They are not getting along on the set," sniffed an inside-inside Will veteran, speaking of the four leads: Messing, Eric McCormack, Megan Mullally and Sean Hayes.

"Pray tell, why?" I asked. "Is Eric balking at doing those bum-waxing scenes again?"

"Uh...no," replied my high-level source, as if I were some sort of anally obsessed idiot. "One big reason is about moving the show to New York, which is what Debra wants to do."

Oh, does she? "No, she doesn't," pleasantly piped D.M.'s press repper. "And this stuff about people on the set not getting along is silly. There's no bad blood. Everybody loves each other."

As for Messing wanting to vamos to Manhattan--any truth? "None," came the official reply.

And regardless of whether this set-uprooting notion is what's causing the on-set tsuris, other Will campers claim it's true the key castmembers aren't exactly peachy-poo with Messing right now.

"Basically," a Will-pooper revealed, "the rest of the cast thinks they can do this without Debra. They do not want to move to New York. And nobody's talking to her right now."

~~

Be still my beating heart! Will & Grace without Grace? What would that be again? Ah, yes. PERFECTION! I don't know who Debra's been sleeping with all these years to get ahead but it's ruining my Thursday night viewing pleasure.

Debra! You're not funny! Go home, let the media take pictures of your soon-to-be-messed-up kid, and leave us alone!

Holy Christ.
Excuse me for a moment while I put the world on pause so that I can marvel at the hypocrisy of it all.

One More Nail in the Coffin of Women's Rights
U.S. Pushes U.N. on Abortion Declaration

By EDITH M. LEDERER
The Associated Press
Sunday, February 27, 2005; 4:56 PM

UNITED NATIONS - Ten years after a landmark U.N. conference adopted a platform aimed at global equality for women, the United States is demanding that a declaration issued by a follow-up meeting make clear that women are not guaranteed a right to abortion.

~~

Maybe we should wait to make abortion illegal when it also becomes illegal for men to abandon women and the children they father. Saddling a woman with a kid she can't afford and doesn't want tends to exacerbate most situations, especially if the father decides to split. Just saying.