I HAVE SOMETHING IN COMMON WITH BUSH

Well, two things, if you count that time I flew over the handlebars of my bike in 1995.

From the Washington Post:

The pistol wielded by Saddam Hussein when he was captured in his spider hole last year isn't the only war relic President Bush is fond of showing visitors to the White House. Recent guests tell us that Bush proudly displays two other iconic items in a study off the Oval Office: a brick from Taliban leader Mohammad Omar's home in Kandahar, and a roughly two-foot-high cross made of steel recovered from the World Trade Center wreckage.

I can relate to the brick. Currently at TFM Alternate Headquarters, located somewhere in the Bay Area, I have two bricks salvaged from the wreckage of San Mateo High School, which was demolished at the tail end of 2002. But fear not! The school is being rebuilt -- in a U-shape, rather than a T --and will look almost exactly the same from some angles, particularly from Delaware Street just to the west.

So yeah, I'm all about keeping commemorative bricks.

The other big deal about Bush's trophy room -- aside from housing the pistol of "the guy who tried to kill my daddy" -- is:

Another visitor, who asked not to be identified, said the collection is in the same private area where Bush's predecessor once trysted with Monica Lewinsky.

Sigh. Those were the days. And ain't that just the perfect paradigm: What once was used for love is now a monument to war.

But have no fear, not all things are doom and gloom!

The collection isn't entirely somber. It also includes a few bobble-head dolls depicting the president -- which, we're told, Bush likes to flick with his finger for guests' amusement.

For Bush's sake, I sure hope he doesn't find that funny every time. Imagine yourself as a Secret Service agent, within earshot of multiple demonstrations of the bobbleheads by Bush. *Flick!* *Chuckle chuckle smirk!* Now that's an eye-roller.

Now I'm gonna bust out my copy of Surfacing and remember the good old days...