I don’t know if you know this — I didn’t, before Monday — but President Bush met with bloggers who focus on human rights in their countries of origin. I learned about this from Val Prieto, of

Babalú. He wrote about it here. And a photo from the meeting is here. Those in attendance do their writing about China, Iran, Belarus, Burma, and Cuba. Bush had this meeting before he went to Iraq and met his world-renowned shoe-thrower.

Perhaps some day Bush will be given credit for his attention to human rights; perhaps some day he will be known as a human-rights president. Maybe if he called himself that, it would help. Jimmy Carter did — called himself a human-rights president, repeatedly. So did his people, and all the media. Anyway . . .

Val wrote me, “My father was in tears when I told him I had been invited to the White House. He said that giving me my freedom, by going into exile from Cuba, was the best thing he ever did in his life.”

‐A reader has some enjoyable comments on my Impromptus of yesterday:

Jay,
I have a slightly different take on Bush’s agile response to the flying shoes — different from those other readers’. As the former owner of a baseball team, he should have caught the shoes. Well, the second one, as the first was a surprise.
If you play baseball, you know that your first reaction to anything coming toward you is to catch it. I give high marks to the president for being quick on his feet, but I’d hate to think he’s lost some of his baseball mojo. Ah, if only he’d caught the second shoe and, in the same motion, hurled it back. That would have been something to behold.
By the way, won’t it be wonderful when history allows us to appreciate this president?

Well, there’s no need to wait for “history,” that fickle broad.

‐A report from the Associated Press, out of London: “An Iraqi doctor who claimed he intended only to frighten Britons has been convicted of conspiracy to murder with car bombs in London and Scotland.” Well, many Britons are plenty frightened as it is. And others, of course, are too blasé. Hard to strike the right balance in these matters, huh?

‐For a few years now, I have commented on the reporters for the AP — and said that many should make honest men and women of themselves by working for (left-leaning) opinion journals, not a wire service. Check out this report, written by Laurie Kellman: “When the auto bailout talks collapsed, Sen. Bob Corker won by losing. The freshman Republican from Tennessee represented conservative Republicans who opposed the $14 billion rescue package passed by the House and saw Senate negotiations as one last chance to bludgeon organized labor before the GOP minority shrinks and Democrats expand their control of government.”

Now, it may well be that the main purpose of conservative Republicans is to “bludgeon organized labor” (as opposed to, say, effecting smart federal policy). But that is an opinion. And does it belong in the lead of a wire-service report?

I’ve said it before (I’m sure): Can’t someone at The New Republic or The Nation give Ms. Kellman a job? Of course, if you can write like that working for a wire service, why change?

‐Many reports say that Arne Duncan, Obama’s choice to be education secretary, is a reformer — someone willing to stand up to the education establishment, including the teachers’ unions. Bill Bennett used to call this “the Blob” — the immense, immovable, oh-so-depressing education establishment.

I’m wondering, “How reformist can he be?” — because I read glowing comments about him from Sen. Ted Kennedy, Rep. George Miller, and so on. Let us hope he disappoints them. (But then, policy is determined — and even tone is determined — by “the man at the desk,” as Bush 41 used to say: and that’s the Big O, the man who will be president.)

‐John Kerry will become chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Was it really so long ago that Jesse was chairman? How the worm turns . . .

‐At Judiciary, you’ve got Pat Leahy — and way back in the summer of 2001 (carefree days), I had a piece on him: “The ‘Nastiest’ Democrat”:

By consensus — a consensus of Hill Republicans — Pat Leahy is the meanest, most partisan, most ruthless Democrat in the Senate. Ask a Republican about Leahy, and he’ll shudder. Then he will say that, though Leahy can be nice and smiling on the surface, underneath he is — take your pick — “a left-wing brute,” “nasty,” “a pile of pure malice.” Republicans are not in complete agreement, however: One says, “He’s the most obnoxious [SOB] in the Senate now that Howard Metzenbaum’s gone”; another says, “Nah, he was always worse than Metzenbaum, it’s just that the general public didn’t know it.” . . .
So, what about this “junkyard dog in a Vermont sweater” (to quote yet another staffer)?

And so on. For that entire piece, go here. And one thing’s sure: Leahy is a fixture. He’s been in the Senate since 1975, when The Captain and Tennille, and Glenn Campbell, were topping the charts (“Love Will Keep Us Together,” “Rhinestone Cowboy”).

‐Speaking of old pieces: In yesterday’s Impromptus, I mentioned — and quoted — a piece that appeared in NR after Hurricane Katrina: “All the Uglier: What Katrina whipped up.” I take account of global-warming hysteria, media bias, and general lunacy. For example, here was a writer in The Huffington Post: “Would New Orleans and the nearby Gulf Coast be suffering so terribly today if President Carter beat back Reagan in 1980? . . . I am wondering if those voters in Louisiana and Mississippi who helped polluter-allied Reagan win in 1980 would have found themselves fated differently under a second Carter term.”

Anyway, if you’d like to revisit “All the Uglier,” go here.

‐So, “Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano was sentenced Monday to 15 years in prison for running a wiretapping scheme that spied on the rich and famous.” That’s what the news said. And I remembered those amazing days of the Lewinsky scandal, when Team Clinton was using Pellicano, and I rejoiced in referring to him, as often as I could, as “Clinton’s dick.”

#JAYBOOK#

‐Longtime Impromptus readers may remember something I had to say from Davos, one year. Lord Carey — the former archbishop of Canterbury — stood up. Sitting next to a Saudi potentate (Prince Turki, I believe), he said, “Sure, you can have your mosques on every corner of Europe. But wouldn’t it be nice to have a church in Saudi Arabia one day?” (I have paraphrased.)

I thought of him — thought of Carey — when reading this item about Russia: “The Saudis have recently asked permission to build a mosque in Moscow, a city where there are only four mosques and 2 million Muslims. The Russians, however, are saying they want, in return, an Orthodox church in Saudi Arabia.”

Interesting.

‐Above, I wrote, “Lord Carey . . . stood up. Sitting next to a Saudi potentate . . . he said, . . .” Isn’t English grand — to stand up (in a way) while sitting down?

‐Okay, another language note: A headline over an AP story read, “No respite as wintery storms spread over nation.” The word “wintry” — two syllables — is so much better!

‐A note from a reader?

Jay,
In a recent column, you mentioned the frequent criticism that Bush’s policies have alienated our allies; that “our image and name need to be restored.” This reminded me: On the day of Georgia’s Senate runoff election, I happened to be in Atlanta, walking past what I guess was Jim Martin’s campaign headquarters. [He was the Democratic nominee.] Outside it were news vans, plus one van with painted slogans promoting the candidate. The one that caught my eye was, “America is back.”
So, was America ever gone?

In the eyes of many Obamites: yes.

‐Speaking of slogans — let’s have a little fun with bumper stickers. A reader sent me a photo of a Prius (!) festooned with stickers. Among them:

“Jesus was a liberal”

“1/20/09, the end of an error”

“Evolution is a FACT, get over it”

“When Bush took office, gas was $1.46” (oops)

“Born OK the first time”

(That last one is a slap at Jesus’ injunction to be “born again.”) A fine collection, huh? And here’s my question: Do the stickers come on a Prius from the factory, or do you have to put them on yourself?

‐Couple of notes on the current Bond movie, about which I made a few remarks last week. A reader writes, “Jay, I haven’t seen the recent movies, but doesn’t the current Bond [Daniel Craig] look like Putin?” Yes, kind of, now that you mention it.

And, in those remarks, I said that the Bond movie was long (or criticized as long, or long-seeming); nonetheless, I wished that the movie were longer. Several readers pointed out that, at an hour and 46 minutes, Quantum of Solace is the shortest Bond movie ever.

Oops. Ah. Yes. Sorry.

‐Finally, a reader said, “Jay, thought you might like to see this T-shirt. We made a dozen to sell at our church — sold out in one Sunday (usually a dozen shirts will last us a couple months).” The man included a picture of the shirt. And it says, “Go ahead and say it . . . Merry Christmas!”

Interesting what qualifies as subversive and daring in America these days. See you!

Oops, before I go, I should mention the RSS for Impromptus: here. Hope it’s working!

See you!