All work and school makes Arlo a bad blogger. Yeah, I've been absent from here, and not much in the foreseeable future is going to rectify that. Kelly has kept you company, I'm sure.

The press conference last night was notable. The speech it self was eloquent. Sure, a load of horseshit, but well-spoken for the President. He reiterated the scope of the war on "terra" by listing off notable terrorist of the last two decades -- none of which Iraq had anything to do with. Let's laugh at his one gaffe in the speech, shall we?:

Secretary of State Powell and Secretary of State Rumsfeld

Yes, he said that.

It was the Q&As, however, that feature the best stuff:

Q Thank you, Mr. President. To move to the 9/11 Commission. You, yourself, have acknowledged that Osama bin Laden was not a central focus of the administration in the months before September 11th. "I was not on point," you told the journalist, Bob Woodward, "I didn't feel that sense of urgency." Two-and-a-half years later, do you feel any sense of personal responsibility for September 11th?

THE PRESIDENT: Let me put that quote to Woodward in context. He had asked me if I was -- something about killing bin Laden. That's what the question was. And I said, compared to how I felt at the time, after the attack, I didn't have that -- I also went on to say, my blood wasn't boiling, I think is what the quote said. I didn't see -- I mean, I didn't have that great sense of outrage that I felt on September the 11th. I was -- on that day I was angry and sad: angry that al Qaeda had -- well, at the time, thought al Qaeda, found out shortly thereafter it was al Qaeda -- had unleashed this attack; sad for those who lost their life.

What?

And a free Iraq is going to be a major blow for terrorism.

I guess in the same way Jenna Jameson would give a major blow to Ron Jeremy, or that a drug dealer would give some major blow to Robert Downey, Jr.

Maybe I can best put it this way, why I feel so strongly about this historic moment. I was having dinner with Prime Minister Koizumi, and we were talking about North Korea, about how we can work together to deal with the threat. The North Korea leader is a threat. And here are two friends now discussing what strategy to employ to prevent him from further developing and deploying a nuclear weapon. And it dawned on me that had we blown the peace in World War II, that perhaps this conversation would not have been taking place. It also dawned on me then that when we get it right in Iraq, at some point in time an American President will be sitting down with a duly-elected Iraqi leader talking about how to bring security to what has been a troubled part of the world.

No, we didn't blow the peace with Japan. Actually, we blew the bejeesus out of two cities. We didn't create peace with Japan; we bitch slapped them to their knees. Sure, it's old news, water under the bridge now, but that has more to do with our desire for Hondas and Sonys. The relationship between the US and Japan is not the result of two nuclear bombs that killed over 100,000 people and ushered in the Cold War. For all intents and purposes, the Japanese should hate us still. (I'm glad they don't -- my next car will be a Toyota hybrid.)

Moving on...

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?

THE PRESIDENT: We will find that out soon. That's what Mr. Brahimi is doing; he's figuring out the nature of the entity we'll be handing sovereignty over. And, secondly, because the 9/11 Commission wants to ask us questions, that's why we're meeting. And I look forward to meeting with them and answering their questions.

Q I was asking why you're appearing together, rather than separately, which was their request.

THE PRESIDENT: Because it's a good chance for both of us to answer questions that the 9/11 Commission is looking forward to asking us, and I'm looking forward to answering them.

Awwww, SNAP! I am so totally NOT going to answer your question! Sit down, bitch!

...prior to 9/11 the country really wasn't on a war footing

Really?

Look, nobody likes to see dead people on their television screens -- I don't.

Oh, so that's why we don't see images of caskets returning to the United States -- Bush doesn't like to see them.

Even a big plasma screen television made by our friends in Japan couldn't fit all of those caskets anyway.

And as the greatest power on the face of the Earth, we have an obligation to help the spread of freedom. We have an obligation to help feed the hungry. I think the American people find it interesting that we're providing food for the North Korea people who starve. We have an obligation to lead the fight on AIDS, on Africa. And we have an obligation to work toward a more free world.

From The Nation: "Rather than support existing and proven international programs to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS, the Bush plan has undercut and circumvented them at nearly every turn. It has reduced funding for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria from $550 million appropriated by Congress for 2004 to $200 million for 2005, a 64 percent reduction at a time when the fund desperately needs resources to make its fourth round of grants."

Last but not least, I don't think this one needs any editorializing:

Don, if I tried to fine-tune my messages based upon polls, I think I'd be pretty ineffective.