There's a beautiful satire in the New Yorker titled "BUSHIDO:THE WAY OF THE ARMCHAIR WARRIOR" by Evan Eisenberg. Here's an excerpt:

The armchair warrior feels in his hara, or gut, what ought to be done. He is like a warhorse that races into battle, pulling behind him the chariot of logic and evidence. When the people see the magnificent heedlessness of his charge, they cannot help but be carried along."

Should have been painful. Should have been disgraceful. Should have been embarrassing. Should have been... Actually, I take it back. It's fine this way. The following (from Elvis Costello's 1989 album Spike) was written about Margaret Thatcher, though it applies equally well to Reagan.

Tramp The Dirt Down I saw a newspaper picture from the political campaign A woman was kissing a child, who was obviously in pain She spills with compassion, as that young child's face in her hands she grips Can you imagine all that greed and avarice coming down on that child's lips Well I hope I don't die too soon I pray the Lord my soul to save Oh I'll be a good boy, I'm trying so hard to behave Because there's one thing I know, I'd like to live long enough to savour That's when they finally put you in the ground I'll stand on your grave and tramp the dirt down When England was the whore of the world Margeret [sic] was her madam And the future looked as bright and as clear as the black tarmacadam Well I hope that she sleeps well at night, isn't haunted by every tiny detail 'Cos when she held that lovely face in her hands all she thought of was betrayal And now the cynical ones say that it all ends the same in the long run Try telling that to the desperate father who just squeezed the life from his only son And how it's only voices in your head and dreams you never dreamt Try telling him the subtle difference between justice and contempt Try telling me she isn't angry with this pitiful discontent When they flaunt it in your face as you line up for punishment And then expect you to say "Thank you" straighten up, look proud and pleased Because you've only got the symptoms, you haven't got the whole disease Just like a schoolboy, whose head's like a tin-can filled up with dreams then poured down the drain Try telling that to the boys on both sides, being blown to bits or beaten and maimed Who takes all the glory and none of the shame Well I hope you live long now, I pray the Lord your soul to keep I think I'll be going before we fold our arms and start to weep I never thought for a moment that human life could be so cheap 'Cos when they finally put you in the ground They'll stand there laughing and tramp the dirt down

Ronald Reagan finally, officially, technically dead.

Bush met with the Pope today and gave him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Bush referred to the Pope as a "symbol of freedom," and praised him for his promotion of "freedom," etc. Question: What has the Pope done recently except oppose the war in Iraq? Under his watch, the Vatican has interfered with distribution of condoms in AIDS-striken countries. The Catholic Church, mainly through its hospitals and secular enterprises, has systematically interfered with the distribution of contraceptives, particularly emergency contraceptives for rape victims. They have sainted a woman who died rather than have a medically advisable abortion. What the hell does any of that have to do with freedom!? This is a disgustingly cynical move on the part of Bush. Does he not know how stupidly transparent he is? And about that saint: as I understand it, the Catholic Church teaches that it is every woman's duty to die rather than have an abortion. I always thought that someone earned sainthood for superogatory behavior. Are they now, by this act, acknowledging that refusing a medically-advised abortion is above and beyond what could reasonably be expected of an ordinary person?

I like recordings and transcripts: Enron traders chatting about screwing California

"They're f------g taking all the money back from you guys?" complains an Enron employee on the tapes. "All the money you guys stole from those poor grandmothers in California?" "Yeah, grandma Millie, man" "Yeah, now she wants her f------g money back for all the power you've charged right up, jammed right up her a------ for f------g $250 a megawatt hour."

Metafilter provided the link. And I'm not exactly sure why CBS feels the need to censor the word "avocado" in that final quote. Liberal bias, probably.

I done forgotted to post this earlier, so here's it now-like: Nixon was too drunk to talk to the British PM, and joked about nuking Capitol Hill.

Asked if he thought President Nixon was still rational, Mr Kissinger answered, "It's pretty rough."