30 June 2005

daily dose of w

I am mindful not only of preserving executive powers for myself, but for predecessors as well.

GWB
29 Jan 2001
Washington, D.C.

Hindsight is 50-50...

29 June 2005

daily dose of w

It's hard to be a manufacturer in the state of Pennsylvania if you're worried about where your next energy is coming from.

GWB
15 Mar 2004
Ardmore, Pennsylvania.

28 June 2005

Librarian Loots Library

I've heard tell of librarians that loot their own libraries. I'm glad the date line is France, and not some North Florida coastal town...

daily dose of w

By mentoring a child, you shape the character of a child. And it's a high calling in life, because that influence reaches to eternity.

GWB
29 Oct 2003
Dallas, Texas.

If foreign policy doesn't work out, I guess he and Michael Jackson can open a day care center.

27 June 2005

daily dose of w

As governor of Texas, I have set high standards for our public schools, and I have met those standards.

GWB
30 Aug 2000
From the CNN Internet chat line.

23 June 2005

daily dose of w

It's very important for folks to understand that when there's more trade there's more commerce.

GWB
21 April 2001
From comments made in Quebec City, Canada.

Who are you who are so wise in the ways of commerce?

22 June 2005

Grrrr... wouldn't ya know it

I had a nice little bit of down time last PM and decided to sit down and rant my ass off. Had some great material and the @%#$! phone and DSL is out. Indefinitely.
The following is on the Whitehouse press release in which W says " With this resolution, Congress has now authorized the use of force. I have not ordered the use of force. I hope the use of force will not become necessary.":

No joke. Click it and see if I'm lying. I'm not, but I know someone who is...
OK. If he didn't order the use of force, why then did the UK and US start bombing Iraq some months before? Either he's lying, or there are rogue colluding folks in the UK and US military. Even though Rumsfeld has got cahones so huge he can't even sit down (why do you think he works standing at his desk?) I don't think even he'd start bombing people without the President's nod. And, for all you jack-booted pedants out there, this is not a Clintonesque parsing of words deal. If Rummy begs "Oh please, pretty please W let me bomb Iraq!" if W said "Okie dokie!", he did so by issuing an Executive order.

daily dose of w

Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.

GWB
5 Aug 2004
Washington, D.C.

Instant classic. Good for a little milk out the nose.

21 June 2005

daily dose of w

If the terriers and bariffs are torn down, this economy will grow.

GWB
7 Jan 2000
Spoken in Rochester, New York during presidential campaign.

From the net*:

Barrif: "Balding middle-aged bureaucrat who impedes free trade."

I could see W: Mr. Clinton, tear down this terrier!

I wonder how W's delusions of Reaganess (acually, he's been far more
destructive, so Reagan is a shadow of W) messes with Barbara B's
Reagan fantasies?

* You probably don't want to go to the site. It's a right-wing deal
with a flashing gif of a big bald man trying to impregnate a
sidewalk.

20 June 2005

daily dose of w

We actually misnamed the war on terror, it ought to be the 'struggle against ideological extremists who do not believe in free societies who happen to use terror as a weapon to try to shake the conscience of the free world.'

GWB
5 Aug 2004
Washington, D.C.

That's pretty good, actually.

17 June 2005

Luckiest Guy in the World

I don't know what y'all are doing this fine Friday night, but I've just uncurled from curling up with my SIGPLAN Notices and Revisiting an Automatic Program Inverter for Lisp by Glück and Kawabe.

daily dose of w

It is not Reaganesque to support a tax plan that is Clinton in nature.

GWB
23 Feb 2000
From comments made in Los Angeles and reported by Slate magazine.

It's also not Reaganesque to support expanding economies and balanced budgets that are Clinton(esque) in nature.

Does W have the Reagan nature? Promulgating war crimes and torture, lying to congress, keeping company with corrupt criminals while maintaining a smiling hypocritical veneer? Yes, W has the Reagan nature.

16 June 2005

daily dose of w

Sometimes Churchill will talk back, sometimes he won't, depending upon the stress of the moment, but he is a constant reminder of what a great leader is like.

GWB
16 July 2001
The president's assessment of the late Winston Churchill after receiving a bust of the former British prime minister from Tony Blair.

Is this one of those "ya had to be there" moments?

15 June 2005

daily dose of w

Well, it's an unimaginable honor to be the president during the Fourth of July of this country. It means what these words say, for starters. The great inalienable rights of our country. We're blessed with such values in America. And I -- it's -- I'm a proud man to be the nation based upon such wonderful values."

GWB
2 July 2001
Spoken during a visit to the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.

It's as if Lee Greenwood died, went to Hell, turned into a demon and returned to Earth as President of the United States. Satan hates English, and with the ascendency of his spawn, all I can say is "Mission Accomplished!"

14 June 2005

daily dose of w

Our nation must come together to unite.

GWB
4 Jun 2001
Remark made in Tampa, Florida.

13 June 2005

daily dose of w

Mr. Vice President, in all due respect, it is -- I'm not sure 80% of the
people get the death tax. I know this: 100% will get it if I'm the president.

GWB
17 Oct 2000
From Presidential Debate in St. Louis, Missouri.

10 June 2005

In music, I'm decades back.

Continually.

When I was a kid, I was into Pete Seeger, kids of fellow kiddomship were rocking out to Peter prompted. People used to rock out to Frampton. Do you feel... Me: David "I'm a hermaphrodite alien mullet sportier! (check the pictures, Iman, it's true)" Bowie. You: Def "Look Ma! Two arms!" Lepard (Is that how it's spelled?). Me: Gang of Four. You: Christina Augararaia (Is that how it's spelled?).

In movies, I'm decades back.

Confession: I started out with a premise, but science blew it away. I figured that I was always trailing a certain number of decades back that slid in a fixed window through time with me, but it's not true. But can't stop now.

Celine and I just caught a couple of blockbusters: The French Connection and The Godfather II.

Yup. Right on top of things, culturally speaking.

I liked The French Connection, although I would have done the opening title stuff differently in any era. If that's all I'm bitching about, it must be a pretty good movie, right? Right. It was. It's on my see again list putting it for a subsequent viewing in 2032.

The Godfather II was great. A sequel that could stand alone, and whoop many comers.

Except its old man.

I understand there are a couple of competing camps. Although de Niro is a primal force of acting ass booterie, and, although I thought that Brando and Pacino underachieved in TGF, TGF edges out its progeny, IMHO. The reasons why are ENG101 (JJJ, pinhut feel free to straighten me out with your erutditeness): the development of Michael Corleone. TGF: "fuck this mafia stuff" -> "family in trouble" -> "off with his head". TGFII: "I'll kill you (or fuck you up in the trying)" -> "I'll kill you (or fuck you up in the trying)" -> "I killed you". de Niro was good, but, having seen TGF you knew he was going to blimp up into Brando. When the don killed his mama, you knew that was his ass... and it was.

Even the pivotal scenes didn't match up. de Niro taking out the fat man in the white suit? Gun shot to the mouth was a nice touch. Didn't match the revenge scene in The Princess Bride, much less the story leading up to and including the climax at the restaurant in TGF.

Yeah...

TGF by three lengths.

Love and schmoooches!

daily dose of w

I think there is some methodology in my travels.

GWB
5 Mar 2001
Speaking to the press in Washington, D.C.

08 June 2005

daily dose of w

Border relations between Canada and Mexico have never been better.

GWB
24 Sep 2001
In press conference with Canadian PM

07 June 2005

daily dose of w

Redefining the role of the United States from enablers to keep the peace to enablers to keep the peace from peacekeepers is going to be an assignment.

GWB
14 Jan 2001
Quoted in the New York Times.

No peace for you!

06 June 2005

daily dose of w

I quit drinking in 1986 and haven't had a drop since then. And it wasn't because of a government program, by the way -- in my particular case -- because I had a higher call.

GWB
3 Nov 2000
Reported by CNN. Comment made in West Allis, Wisconsin.

03 June 2005

The Squeeze on Miller and Cooper

Why are Miller and Cooper getting threatened with time when it was Novak what who did the spilling of the beans? Precisely because it was Novak what who spillt the beans.

Huh?

I had to throw in the why part. Read what John Dean has to say and let me know what you conclude.

daily dose of w

I want to thank you for coming to the White House to give me an opportunity to urge you to work with these five senators and three congressmen, to work hard to get this trade promotion authority moving. The power that be, well most of the power that be, sits right here.

GWB
18 Jun 2001
Washington, D.C.

All power, all the time.

02 June 2005

daily dose of w

One of these days, this little lady right here is going to be driving an automobile with a hybrid engine in it, and a fuel cell in it. And it's going to work. And I hope I'm around to see it, too.

GWB
25 Feb 2002
Forgetting that hybrid cars already exist.

01 June 2005

daily dose of w

You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.

GWB
21 Feb 2001
From a speech delivered in Townsend, Tennessee. Reported by The New Republic
(March 5, 2001 issue).