Not really, no.

Remarks by the President at Lynn Swann for Governor Reception:

Isn't it interesting today that the most violent parts of the world are where young democracies are trying to take root? Isn't it interesting that Hezbollah would attack Israel, a democracy in the heart of the Middle East, try to destabilize the Middle East so that Lebanon doesn't get to be a strong democracy and starts to try to turn the world against Israel? Isn't it interesting that the young democracy of Iraq is the place where the enemy is trying to stop the progress?

That's Dubya talking, advancing his “their ideology hates our ideology” meme. I say, fine. If that's all it is why don't we just let the two ideologies fight it out and the rest of us can stay home and take a nap.

(I wouldn't advise actually reading this speech unless you have a good supply of asprin on hand, although you might get a laugh from the story of how Elvis won WWII. Everybody else did:

You might remember I recently went down to Graceland -- that's Elvis's place -- with the Prime Minister of Japan. Wasn't that interesting? (Laughter.) I thought it was. (Laughter.) More importantly, my guest thought it was. He was an Elvis fan. I bet you, in 1949, 1950, if somebody had stood up and said, you know, I bet one of these days an American President is going to take the Japanese Prime Minister to visit the heartland, they'd have said, man, you are nuts. (Laughter.)

Maybe there's a football player joke in there somewhere and I just missed it.)

Speaking of memes - I mentioned memes a minute ago, didn't I? - there's another one making the rounds these days that's driving me bonkers.

Highway Safety Agency Unveils New Campaign Against Drunken Driving - New York Times:

“We’re taking the gloves off on drunk driving,’’ Nicole R. Nason, the [National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's] administrator, said in a telephone interview.

Here's the thing, Bunky. Gloves are to protect the fighter's hands, not to protect the guy who gets punched. In fact, wearing gloves allows the boxer to punch harder. So if they really mean to get tough on drunk drivers they should be putting the gloves on, not taking them off.

Also they wouldn't leave fingerprints that way.

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