POTUS INTERRUPTUS

Bush goes to the U.N. and waggles his finger at the Islamic nations of the world, particularly Iran and lectures them that their leaders are denying them their freedom and waging war against the West and basically misrepresenting them. You can't really argue with that, but no one says, or no one says enough, is how Bush misrepresents the vast majority of Americans to the rest of the world. Most Americans don't want to be at war in Iraq, or if they do, they want to do it in concert with the United Nations and they want them home as soon as possible. And at least some of us are starting to strongly suspect that all of this paternalistic concern about Iran's nuclear program has less to do with a genuine concern about there being another nuclear power in the world and more to do with an agenda for taking the fight from Iraq to Iran so that a friendly pro-American government can be re-installed in Teheran and ExxonMobil can get access to all that oil around the Caspian Sea.

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez isn't afraid to say it however, even if his rhetoric can sometimes be as inflammatory and ill-considered as Bush's. Is Bush really "a devil"? I don't know, but I enjoy how much Chavez gets under Bush's skin as he promotes leftist, pro-Latin American reforms throughout South America. They may not be the quality of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, but if Bush and Chavez had a debate tour across the country I'd pony up pretty good money for a ticket.

As a final note, and in the interest of proving that I'm not merely a knee-jerk, fuzzy headed liberal, the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said in the past both that Israel should be "wiped off the map" or relocated to Europe and he has questioned the existence of the Holocaust. Folks, this is why the world is in so much trouble right now...two stubborn idealogues who would both call themselves "religous conservatives" and who don't let the truth get in the way of rhetoric--or plans for war.

Notes: Slapdash & Funky

* CBS' SMITH is a stylish, cool but cliched thriller/drama about a high end gang of thieves led by Ray Liotta. This is not to be confused with the high end gang of thieves run by Andre Braugher from last year's THIEF on FX, nor the high end gang of thieves run by Dougray Scott & Steve Harris from last year's HEIST on NBC or even the high end gang of thieves run by Adrian Lester from A&E's HUSTLE. You get the idea.

Honestly, the performance of the cast and the direction towered above the script, at least in the pilot, but oh what a cast. Liotta is Bobby Stevens, he runs the crew. Virgina Madsen (looking better than ever) plays his wife, who may or may not be aware of what he's up to. Shoreh Aghdashloo is the money behind the operation. Simon Baker is the sociopathic gun expert. Amy Smart is the sociopathic girl. In the pilot they all had their moments and Madsen in particular suggested a depth and mystery to her character that may not have been in the script. It will be interesting to see if the individual characters and various heist scenarios can be developed enough over the course of the season to keep viewers hooked from week to week.
You Will Like SMITH If: You can't get enough of twisty crime thrillers, you like the big name cast or you become mesmerized by trying to catch Ray Liotta blinking (good luck).
You Won't Like SMITH If: It seems too derivative of other recent TV shows and movies with a similar theme.
Will Find An Audience If: The same people who turned THE UNIT into a surprise Top 15 show don't change the channel. All SMITH has to do is finish a strong second to LAW & ORDER: SVU and it will be renewed.
Created by: John Wells
My Grade: B+
Show Trivia: Co-star Simon Baker previously had a hit TV show in the timeslot on the same network with THE GUARDIAN (2001-04), which was his breakthrough role.

* Musical thumbs up for the new albums by John Mayer, TV on the Radio and Bob Dylan. Musical thumbs down for the new albums by Beyonce and Justin Timberlake. And what's the big deal about the Arctic Monkeys? They have a couple of nice songs, but the Mercury Prize winners sound like a cross between Modest Mouse and The Killers and not quite as good as either of them.

* After a couple of weeks, it can be said: the new CBS Evening News with Katie Couric is kind of a joke. I give her credit for trying to modernize the look of the show and bringing in a strong interactive component, but the ratio of fluff to hard news is kind of overwhelming for the network that was once home to Murrow, Severeid, Cronkite and Rather.

Sorry for such a long blog today...I've been mentally constipated for a few days and I just had to crap it all out!

Peace...