Not that this will convince anyone, but Lt. Col. Killian’s secretary says she didn’t believe in the CBS documents (original). She says, as has been hypothesized, that she would have typed the documents for him and that she doesn’t remember doing so. She was very specific about the typewriters she had available. She also verified the content of the memos, and said that they accurately reflected Killian’s opinions about Bush. This all jibes pretty well with the theory that Bill Burkett (original) was the source of the memos. He believes he saw Bush’s records being purged (original) back in 1997. He’s highly pissed off about the whole thing. I’m ready to believe that he made a stupid mistake, and that he recreated (or perhaps simply retyped) memos that summarize how Killian felt at the time. ...

Jandek On Corwood, 9:30 PM, Coolidge Corner Theater. More here.

If you want to see the Sin City footage shown at Comicon, you can. It’s being filmed in digital on digital sets, and the trailer is really oriented towards demonstrating how well Robert Rodriguez is capturing the look of the comic book. (Answer: quite well.)

This line from a CNN story on the explosion in North Korea amused me: “The White House insists diplomacy is still the best strategy, although officials say the president never takes military action off the table.” So I have this image of aides patiently explaining that Canada has been an ally for a long long time, and that it really doesn’t make sense to invade them just because they won’t send troops to Iraq, and Bush is looking all stalwart and determined. “I just don’t think we should take military action off the table. You never know.”

You know what? This document was not created in 1973. Maybe it’s a transcription, but that’s Times New Roman, and those are curly apostrophes, and there’s just no way. Also, it’s a lousy CYA memo, since it’s just claims with no backing evidence. CBS needs to provide an evidence trail for those memos, or give up on their authenticity.

One cannot help but feel somewhat apprehensive about reports of a mushroom cloud over North Korea (original). I would feel less apprehensive if it hadn’t occurred on the anniversary of North Korea’s foundation, which is apparently used as an opportunity to stage patriotic and inspiring events. Can’t help it; I’m still not feeling all that much safer now that Saddam’s out of power. I know I’m meant to feel like Bush has done a wonderful thing, but the problem is… it only takes one bomb in the hands of a madman. Doesn’t matter if the bomb comes from a mythical weapons program in Iraq or a real weapons program in North Korea, except in the peskily practical sense that you can’t get a nuclear weapon out of a mythical weapons program.

I just realized something about how I play My Life With Master. I don’t ever particularly care about getting to the endgame, in which the players take down the Master. In fact, I always kind of don’t look forward to it, because it sounds like it’s going to be a long drawn-out process in which success or failure of the mandated goal depends entirely on a lot of tough die rolls. ...

A couple of years ago, I linked to Dave Barry on this date. That suits again. Also this, which makes me sad every time I look at it, and today makes me cry.

For the easily amused: Huey Long’s Men of Action.