“The kids are getting more conservative.”
“You’re right.”

“My students are getting more conservative. It’s really strange. I can’t use some of the old references I used to be able to…”
“It’s the triumph of Homeland Security.”

“Something to that effect. Actually, I think it goes back to 1967. A little conspiracy theory I have. (didn’t follow). But it took a while for that to kick in, and now we have…”
“What we have today.”

“Right. Actually, think about it for a minute. I saw Mel Brooks’ History of the World last night on AMC…”
“Great movie!”

“Yeah, it is a great movie, really funny, but I realized… it couldn’t be made today.”
“Hm. Maybe not…”

“Certainly not. And you know what else?”

“NBC News’ Meet the Press”, 4-18-04:

MR. RUSSERT:  Before we go, you and George Bush were both members of Skull & Bones, the secret society at Yale.  The rule is, if someone mentions Skull & Bones, you walk out of the room.  If you’re both in a…

SEN. KERRY:  I think you’ll see both of us have our two–you know I’d love to have a debate with the president right now.  There’s so much to talk about for our country.  Why not say to our nation, every month, let’s have one debate on health care.  Let’s have a debate on foreign policy.  Let’s have a debate on education.  Let’s really talk to the country the way Lincoln and Douglass and others have historically.  Barry Goldwater, as you mentioned, was going to fly around with Jack Kennedy.  We can do better for Americans.  I’d love to see that happen.

Questions and implications of the question dodged yet again…

Bob Woodward on 60 Minutes on Bush on History:

How does the president think history will judge him for going to war in Iraq?

“And he said, ‘History,’ and then he took his hands out of his pocket and kind of shrugged and extended his hands as if this is a way off. And then he said, ‘History, we don’t know. We’ll all be dead.’”

Yes. What is this “History” that you elite intellectuals keep yammering about? Why must I contemplate how it might unfold, and in what ways my “actions” might contribute to it?

The odd thing here is I’d feel a whole lot better about his reply if Bush had responded with “History is kind to those who bring freedom to an oppressed people”, or whatever.

But what do we have instead?… A Willfully Ahistorical Perspective.

WE’LL ALL BE DEAD.

Blazing through the Liberal Blog echo-chamber, and for good reason:

Charles Rangel Honors Reverend Moon!!!

It’s worth noting that Charles Rangel is the one who put forward the bill to reinstate the Draft… as a way of making less war, mind ye…

Conspiracy Theorists should go nuts now, pondering who gets which unlikely figure of power to do which unlikely deed for whatever service is being asked for…

Hillary wants to be on the VP ticket so that she dispels the notion that the Clintons are sabotaging the campaign and so that she can also go out there and really be the star. She’d be the star because she’ll be the one bringing excitement to it. And, by the way, she’ll get all kinds of criticism and the Republicans will launch all they’ve got at her, and she’ll endure that. They know that they’re pretty confident Kerry is going to lose and if Kerry wins there’s always Fort Marcy Park. So they’re rolling the dice on this.

So says Rush Limbaugh, references being to Vince Foster.

I don’t know who has these notions that the Clintons are sabotaging the campaign, btw. Still, the Clintons may just have Kerry assassinated if it looks like he’s going to win…

… and that brings Hillary Clinton, the woman who’s not going to be the vice presidential pick but a lot on the right continue to insist will be…

… because they want her to be president. I don’t want Hillary Clinton to be president, but Rush Limbaugh and Dick Morris sure do.

On the other side, there are those who believe that Paul Wellstone was assassinated. A letter to the Progressive Magazine put it, While you were writing a fucking eulogy to Wellstone, Alternet and World Socialist Web was raising the issue of his possible assasination. As usual, you’re not too swift on what the public is concerned about.

Coast to Coast guest-host, Ian Punnett, (tangant factoid alert: he’s called “God-boy” by his detractors), did a show entertaining the possibilities.

Amusing. Sure Wellstone was assassinated. But he was assassinated by Clinton, to get the old hacks of the Council on Foreign Relations in power… (or, I suppose, Norm Coleman is a safe man for the power-elite). Hey! You have to go beyond raw party-line politics here… Michael Ruppert…:

The day after the crash I received a message from a former CIA operative who has proven extremely reliable in the past and who is personally familiar with these kinds of assassinations. The message read, “As I said earlier, having played ball (and still playing in some respects) with this current crop of reinvigorated old white men, these clowns are nobody to screw around with. There will be a few more strategic accidents. You can be certain of that.”

At any rate…

If John Kerry dies before the election, is the optimum term “Vince Fostered” or is “Wellstoned”? Does it depend on the circumstances?

From the Bush Press Conference (which Rush Limbaugh described as a “home run”… where that bar was set, I do not know.):

Q Mr. President, why are you and the Vice President insisting on appearing together before the 9/11 Commission? And, Mr. President, who will you be handing the Iraqi government over to on June 30th?

Let’s see —

Tom Tomorrow had this comment on how this stuff just writes itself.

Sooo, my question… What did the President know, when did he know it, and does he know anything — anything at all – now?

Oregonian headline “Bush pledges to finish Iraq job “…

Underneath, someone posted … “With His Trusty MK-47.”*

This type of thing is going around, I suppose.

*I almost certainly got the weapon wrong, but it doesn’t matter.