The circus comes to town

Pardon me for not getting overly excited over President Bush's visit to Nashville yesterday. It was, as these things go, a standard outing for Our Maximum Leader: a visit to the Nashville Bun Company to celebrate the virtues of small business, praising an Iraq War veteran who lost his legs in an explosion for his courage and patriotism, making the same tired speech to the Chamber of Commerce about tax cuts and economic growth, and admitting that he doesn't know how music royalties work - almost a unpardonable sin in this company town.

The excitement for the day was provided by one Kristin Ashton, a Nevada woman arrested for driving around a roadblock set up to protect the President's motorcade. Interestingly, she apparently was in town to see Todd Snider, a previous Hill subject. Ashton had earlier raised a ruckus in Snider's front yard; she also left rambling messages about 9/11 on his web site, and declared the she loved Snider and that he was the only one who could save her.

Appropriately, perhaps, I stayed home last night and watched Death Of A President on DVD. Death Of A President is a fictional documentary depicting the assassination of President Bush that stirred controversy when it was released. Highlights include a Syrian immigrant convicted of the shooting on flimsy evidence, and a power-mad President Dick Cheney ramming the PATRIOT III act through Congress. The events struck too close to home for some folks, including a number of Republicans, and also Hillary Clinton, who pronounced the film "despicable" without having seen it. An interesting film, although not remarkable; it's thought-provoking in some places.