Random note

Word. That's all I have to say to the troops taking part in the "town hall meeting" with Donald Rumsfield. Just... Word.

He thought it was going to be easy, that they wouldn't ask the hard questions, and they kicked his ass. They didn't just ask the hard questions about troop deployment in Iraq -- they asked about armor for their Humvees and about their medical insurance and about a ton of other little details that show just how much the administration really cares about troop safety and they did it live on TV. (They didn't ask about Abu Ghraib, which was probably a welcome relief to Rummy.)

And then they gave him a standing ovation at the end which, okay, confuses me a little. But the fact that they weren't afraid to ask hard questions, and that it was the military itself questioning the Secretary of Defense ... Word.

Oh, and one more thing...

Rumsfield claims he's stopped reading the newspapers because they're so horrible about Iraq.

Basically, he's arguing that the reason that the military is having problems in Iraq is that the media isn't only broadcasting the good news (by which we mostly mean "lies"). He said: "all we hear about are the problems." Me: Well, you know, they're pretty big problems.

Among the good news not being reported, he said, is that oil is being pumped in Iraq. Damn the media for not telling us that! If I'd know that oil's being pumped, well, I'd certainly not have cared about people dying and being tortured and all that! That would really have changed my mind about Iraq, you betcha! Because oil's being pumped.

Some problems are just a little bit bigger than that, Mr. Rumsfield.

huh? Dean Martin where what now?

They just played Dean Martin's "Sway" on CSI. "Sway" is one of my favorite gone-through-kitsch-and-come-out-the-other-side songs ever. I mean, I don't like Dean Martin much at all, but that song's fabulous.

And it seems incredibly random to hear it on CSI. I mean, it's not exactly a famous song, really. But it does have incredibly hilarious lyrics, although really it's his emphasis that really makes the song.

When marimba rhythms start to play
Dance with me, make me sway
Like a lazy ocean hugs the shore
Hold me close, sway me more

Like a flower bending in the breeze
Bend with me, sway with ease
( When we dance you have a way with me )

... ooooh, Nicholas Lea! Clearly I haven't been paying attention if I didn't know he was guest starring on the show...