Last Friday, I saw the wonderful movie "The Queen", dealing with the reaction in Great Britain to Princess Diana's death. It's an apparently fact-based insider view of the British royal family (particularly Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip and their son Prince Charles) and of Prime Minister Tony Blair's family. The royals come off quite badly, particularly Prince Philip; the Blairs are treated much more favorably, although they're far from perfect themselves.

It's no revelation to observe that the Bush family fancies itself as being quite patrician, better than the American masses, yet still somehow "in touch" with those masses.

Well, the Bush family is just about as out-of-touch as the Windsors. All we need to do is reflect on Barbara Bush's incredible comments such as how WELL the Katrina evacuation to Houston was working out for most of the evacuees. Let them eat cake, Barbara? Guess YOU are Philip here, to your husband's Elizabeth II.

And remember how badly the Bush family reportedly treated Neil Bush's ex-wife, Sharon, after their divorce? Maybe they ARE just like the Windsors...

Now we have Poppy Bush displaying his own detachment from the cold, hard world -- reminiscent of his reported astonishment at UPC scanners back in 1992. (To be fair, Snopes.com essentially debunks this as an urban myth, but hey, I'll believe this UPC scanner myth just as long as Dubya's followers believe HIS myths about WMDs.)

Even if Dubya doesn't really believe it, *I* believe what he said in Indonesia is true:

"And so, look, people protest, that's a good sign. It's a sign of a healthy society." Another sign of a healthy society is a government that DOES listen to its detractors -- and does NOT herd them into official protest areas, a mile away from the actual site being visited by the President, out of sight or earshot.

Queen Elizabeth II had the good fortune to be well-advised by Tony Blair during the Princess Diana funeral crisis, possibly saving the monarchy; is James Baker going to be Dubya's version of Blair, saving all of us from the Iraq crisis? Heaven knows SOMEONE needs to give him a heavy dose of cold water bringing him back to reality, and Poppy apparently isn't the man to do it!

At least Elizabeth herself found her humanity buried deep inside, almost smothered under many decades of duty and protocol. Too bad the elder Bush seems unable to do likewise.

Hey, Walter, please fix the typo on the headline for this article -- it's "just DESSERTS", not "deserts". (Wish I wasn't so obsessive-compulsive about that kind of thing -- sorry, can't help it! I also hate to see people use "it's" when they mean "its"...)

Thanks!

I've learned something today -- it really IS properly "just deserts" rather than "just desserts"!

Assumptions are dangerous, and intuition can often be wrong -- the reliable Snopes.com confirms that "deserts", with emphasis on the second syllable, is actually correct in the "just deserts" usage. Not even my trusty Websters dictionary reveals that fact.

Ah, well -- on to other, and bigger, mistakes. Maybe now I'll learn that "nucular" is a proper variation on "nuclear" -- I'll probably lose my mind totally after that...

I've always wondered why people supposedly say, "Oh, I'd like to have a beer with George W. Bush -- he's such a nice, regular guy!" No matter what other concrete criticisms you see reported about Dubya, THAT has been a constant refrain for years.

Well, here's one person who would just as soon never lay eyes on the man, much less sit down and enjoy a cool one with him. He is NOT a "nice" person -- seems like he got an extra large dose of his mother Barbara's personality. She's another decidedly nasty person who, unaccountably, is embraced by large numbers of Americans.

Just reflect once more on this classic passage from Tucker Carlson's 1999 interview with Dubya, the then-governor of Texas, in which the execution of Karla Faye Tucker was discussed:

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In the weeks before the execution, Bush says, a number of protesters came to Austin to demand clemency for Karla Faye Tucker. "Did you meet with any of them?" I ask. Bush whips around and stares at me. "No, I didn't meet with any of them," he snaps, as though I've just asked the dumbest, most offensive question ever posed. "I didn't meet with Larry King either when he came down for it. I watched his interview with Tucker, though. He asked her real difficult questions like, 'What would you say to Governor Bush?'" "What was her answer?" I wonder. "'Please,'" Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, "'don't kill me.'" I must look shocked — ridiculing the pleas of a condemned prisoner who has since been executed seems odd and cruel — because he immediately stops smirking.

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"Nice" or "Christian" are two words that don't pop into my mind after re-reading THAT, while "vile" and "self-centered" do. Once again, the real Dubya bubbled to the surface in the reported exchange with Senator-elect Webb.

...at least he'll get to live in the new mansion he's building, passing time in a home that bears more than a passing resemblance to the REAL White House and dreaming of what might have been. *sigh*