Will it be ready for XMAS? Of course, why el$e is Jackson working on it now:
“I’m going to work on an extended DVD version, though I don’t think all of that will make it in, because the pacing would be really weird,” Jackson told the magazine. “But there’s some good stuff that’s not in the book.”
I don’t know as I want much good stuff that was not in the book. As much as I loved the movie I am still smarting over the missing Scouring of the Shire.
There may be a good reason why bush has not released his military records.
Via Dru Blood.
Tyler Cowan takes a look at medical care outsourcing:
More Americans and other nationals are traveling to Thailand for health care. A heart bypass costs 8-15K instead of 25-35K in the U.S. and arguably the service is better. In addition to a good doctor they will give you limo pick-up and convalescence time in a hotel. You can get a nose job for less than a quarter of the price. If you are uninsured, lightly insured, or stuck in a Canadian queue, why not go abroad for your care?
Hmmmm…, I wonder at what point your insurance company will pay your travel costs?
James Joyner considered the performance and found that:
Overall, it was largely uneventful, but the president acquitted himself well enough. He came across as thoughtful and considered. And, while he was almost certainly prepared for hours by staff members, he didn�t appear to be giving the memorized speeches that one is accustomed to from politicians on these programs. Bush actually seemed to pause and consider his answers.
Brad DeLong thought Russert could have done a better job with his followup questions
Tim Russert didn’t seem to me to do a very good job. He didn’t ask what seemed to me the natural follow-up questions…Here are three examples
Go read’m.
Now, Kevin Drum appears to disagree a bit with James:
It’s hardly surprising that I thought Bush’s performance on Meet the Press was weak (“labored and uninteresting….like he was addressing a class of sixth graders”),
and expresses some surprise at the responses from NRO:
…but the fine conservatives over at NRO are piling on in a fashion normally reserved for Jimmy Carter op-eds…For once, I find myself in full agreement with National Review….
(Kevin quotes a number of the responses he refers to.)
I’ve watched part of it and at this point find it unlikely I’ll invest the time to watch the last half hour unless it is to reconsider what James described as pausing to consider his answers. My reaction after a few of these pauses was that bush was faking them in order to pretend the answers were considered. My secondary thought was that he was pausing in order to assure himself that he was dredging up the correct practiced answer for the question.
And, as Dave Ehhrenstein notes, these are frightening words:
I’m a war president. I make decisions here in the Oval Office in foreign policy matters with war on my mind.
Norbizness has pictures of these evil doers:
Five Cuban acts nominated for Grammy Awards, including Ibrahim Ferrer of the Buena Vista Social Club, have been denied U.S. visas needed to attend Sunday’s ceremony in Los Angeles, a top Culture Ministry official said Thursday.
And as usual with this opaque administration:
Officials at the American mission declined to comment on the case, citing confidentiality rules.
And my usual note: in a free country this type of confidentiality is unacceptable.