Category: Grave

Five highlighted responses by President Bush from his interview with the Irish press during his trip abroad this weekend (culled from “Interview of the President by Radio and Television Ireland”, June 24, 2004):

1. “Let me finish. Let me finish. May I finish?”
2. “Let me finish. Let me finish, please. Please. You ask the questions and I’ll answer them, if you don’t mind.”
3. “Let me finish, please. Please. Let me finish, and then you can follow up, if you don’t mind.”
4. “Let me finish.”
5. “Please. Please. Please, for a minute, okay. It’ll be better if you let me finish my answers, and then you can follow up, if you don’t mind.”

As a benefit to residents of the city of New York, as well as fans of urban planning and economic development in general, we at low culture are providing this quick-and-easy tear sheet/scorecard entitled, “Holding the 2004 GOP Convention in New York City.”

A positive economic benefit of $184 million to the city of New York.

“The transportation plan calls for one lane of avenues directly outside Madison Square Garden to remain open to motorists, except during the approximately 13 hours the convention will be in session…
It also imposes parking restrictions and reroutes bus service…
Streets bordering the convention to the north and south would be closed for several blocks…
A restricted area around the arena will be controlled by checkpoints, where police will demand identification from anyone seeking entry…
Cars entering the area, including those carrying delegates and dignitaries, will be screened for explosives and other contraband by devices that provide real-time video images of their undercarriages…
Between 6,000 to 10,000 officers have been assigned to patrol the streets and subways around the convention…
[Penn Station] riders could face delays, but no shutdowns, officials said…
Preliminary plans call for state and city police officers — armed with bomb-sniffing dogs and hand-held chemical detection devices — to board commuter and subway trains one stop before they reach Penn Station during the hours of the convention. The trains will be swept for suspicious packages and terror suspects before being allowed to continue into the station, officials said…
The Lincoln Tunnel, just to the west of the convention site, and the city’s other tunnels and bridges will be heavily guarded, but open to usual traffic, authorities said.”

Well…for all practical purposes, it seems as though the residents of the city of New York come out roughly even in the end, there, huh?
Thanks, Republican Party, and thanks, Mayor Michael Bloomberg! And at the very least, all of this inconvenience finally gives people something to get all riled up about (in the designated protest areas, of course).

From President Bush’s faith-based initiative-oriented “Remarks by the President in a Conversation on Compassion”, Cincinnati, Ohio, June 21, 2004:

I know that many a good soul makes a mistake in their life and ends up in prison. And it seems to make sense to me to spend taxpayers’ money to help these prisoners realize a better tomorrow when they get out of prison, give them a second chance. And I want that second chance to be done not only in kind of the traditional way, but also through faith–based and community–based programs. I mean, I can’t–frankly, can’t think of a better reentry program for somebody to be there with open arms saying, I love you, no matter what you may have done in the past. I want you to succeed, and here–and we’re here to help.

If the White House’s Office of the Press Secretary has the gall to call this speech a series of “Remarks by the President in a Conversation on Compassion”, what, then, does the local Ohio media have to say on the matter? Let’s check in with the Cincinnati Enquirer:
“Bush praises power of love”
Well, now that the Enquirer mentions it, the President’s speech on rehabilitating prisoners does bear a very, very loose metaphorical resemblance to Celine Dion’s lyrics:

‘Cause I am your lady/And you are my man/Whenever you reach for me/I’ll do all that I can
We’re heading for something/Somewhere I’ve never been/Sometimes I am frightened/But I’m ready to learn/Of the power of love

Ah, prison jokes! Truly the lowest common denominator of humor. Well, that and films about Dodgeball.

From Yahoo! News: “Vice-President Dick Cheney swears in Alan Greenspan for a fifth term as chairman of the Federal Reserve, the central bank said in a statement. (AFP/White House/David Bohrer)”

From “Snow: Saudis Intent on Terror Money Cuts”, the Associated Press, June 20, 2004:

“I think the two biggest exports of Saudi Arabia have been oil and terrorism, and that one of the ways in which they supported terrorism was by their support for the schools in which hatred was taught of the West, the so-called madrassas,” [Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich.] told CNN.
“Now, I think they finally have been hit at home, so they realize that what they have helped to unleash in the world is coming back to bite them as well. And so I’m hopeful that they’ll take stronger action now,” Levin said.
“But until now, I don’t see that they have taken strong actions in many areas. And that’s part of the problem that we’ve had.”
The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., said that unless Saudi Arabia better protects Americans and other foreigners working in the kingdom, “they’re in deep trouble with regard to the oil business.”

Yes, Senator Lugar, Saudi Arabia is and will be in “deep trouble with regard to the oil business.” Which in no way effects American consumers and the prices they pay for gasoline…
RELATED: John Kerry’s campaign website (and this is their typo, not mine) on the matter of “Skyrocking Gas Prices and the Impact on America’s Families, Industry and Economy”
Happy skyrocking! Me, I’m off to go spacedancing with my renewable-energy beatbox.

Odds of a Kerry/McCain 2004 Candidacy: 0/1,000,000
Odds of a Kerry/Kucinich 2004 Candidacy: 1/1,000,000
(cf. McCain, Bush Begin to Mend Ties; Senator Wooed by Kerry but Will Appear With Former Rival, Washington Post, June 17, 2004)