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I passed Mary Stuart Masterson this morning on Fifth Avenue near 19th Street.
Our eyes met briefly, and I didn't sense even the slightest hint of alarm on her part, which is encouraging, I think.
Isn't it interesting (by which I mean, of course, maddening) how Dubya lately seeks military solutions to every problem he faces?
Not just in foreign policy matters, which would be bad enough, but in domestic policy, too.
He put a Coast Guard official in charge of Katrina relief, after Michael "Heckuva Job!" Brown and Co. demonstrated their utter incompetence.
He's nominated an active-duty general to head the CIA.
And tonight he's expected to propose having National Guard troops patrol the U.S.-Mexican border.
Just how far are we willing to go in the militarization of our domestic governance? We're supposed to be operating as a democracy, after all, not a military junta.
As we listen to Dubya present his ridiculous and offensive proposal tonight, it behooves us all to remember that, just over a year ago, Dubya axed the funding that would have provided nearly 10,000 more border patrol agents, the vast majority of which would have been stationed on our southern border.
The truth is, this whole immigration kerfuffle is just a straw man distraction, smoke and mirrors like gay marriage, Terry Schiavo, and all the rest. They're trying to take our minds off the real problems by distracting us with bogus issues.
If Dubya really believes illegal immigration from Mexico is a serious problem, why, then, did he cut the funding that would have put thousands of additional agents, who are actually trained and qualified to confront this problem, along the border?