Without getting too deeply into politics (being Canadian, I'm automatically an outsider looking in) it seems interesting that there's a mini-plethora of stories concerning some of George W. Bush's favorite authors, and why his championing of them is making others rather scared.

First, there's the ongoing fallout in light of the recent news that Bush met with Michael Crichton to talk about global warming -- specifically, to commiserate on how that whole thing's just a big ole hoax, as Mr. C said in his last novel, STATE OF FEAR -- and hushed the whole thing up. Seed's Chris Mooney blogged about it all week before the New York Times picked up on the story, and then press secretary Scott McLellan got a barrage of questions about this "private" meeting, even though Mooney calls necessary bullshit on this assertation: "there was nothing "private" about Bush's meeting with Crichton, or about his reading of State of Fear. Such intellectual activity, on the part of the president, is a perfectly legitimate subject for reporters to ask about. McClellan is blocking public access to politically relevant information -- information to which we are very much entitled."

Meanwhile, the erstwhile "Dr. Blogstein" delves into Bush's devotion to Vince Flynn, whose thrillers feature a renegade CIA operative in the mold of 24's Jack Bauer. Or as the blogger puts it, "He's not afraid to go against protocol if its for the greater good and he's not above torture to get answers from the bad guys. Any of this sound familiar?"

Hmmm, just a bit...