EVERYTIME YOU CLOSE YOUR EYES... Anais Nin used to keep a card index of lies she'd told - in a box helpfully marked "Lies" - which helped her keep track of what she'd told to whom.

George Bush is lucky - he's had Mother Jones produce something similar to help him keep track of his enormous whoppers.

While we're talking about Bush, his NBC interview yesterday was fascinating - asked to suggest what he'd like to be his Apollo Mission (as an overarching, memorable achievement to mark his Presidency), he looked confused, thought for a bit, mumbled something about sorting out the Medicade finances and then suggested "energy". The first bit, financing help for the poor and the weak, is the everyday business of government (like saying "I hope I'll be remembered for procurement") and the other wasn't even quite defining a problem, much less proposing a visionary solution.

We know it's not surprising, but you'd have thought this far in he'd have had something to offer that people could gather around...

 
THINGS ARE OUT OF WHACK: How odd is it when it's the Tory "homeland security" spokesperson who, despite his TERRORTERROR job title, actually talks sense when the current government-stoked fear starts to turn to random racism:

Two men were taken off a flight bound for Manchester after some passengers became alarmed about what they regarded as suspicious behaviour.

People on the Airbus 320 at Malaga alerted staff and demanded their removal, Monarch Airlines said.

Two men, reported to be of Asian or Middle Eastern appearance, were questioned for several hours.

The Conservative homeland security spokesman, Patrick Mercer, described the incident as "a victory for terrorists".

"These people on the flight have been terrorised into behaving irrationally," he told the Mail on Sunday.

"For those unfortunate two men to be victimised because of the colour of their skin is just nonsense."

Brilliant. John Reid's created a world where everyone gets a chance to play with the sus laws.

 
WH SMITH AND SON... VERY BAD NEWS: The Communication Workers' Union is organising protests and a boycott over plans to shut down Post Offices in Slough, Hammersmith, Altrincham, Shrewsbury, Swansea and Ashton-Under-Lyne. Plans are to move the franchises to almost nearby Smiths stores instead. Just the franchise, not the 124 staff.

Apart from the joblosses, the crucial functions of the Post Offices are going to be carried out by non-specialised and inexperienced staff - and, to be honest, some of the current WH Smith workers have trouble finding a propelling pencil in a box of erasers, which would be a worry if you ever need anything more challenging than a first class stamp in Shropshire in the future.

 
CHOOSING SIDES: There's no act of charity without a press release, of course:

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Steven Spielberg's Righteous Person Foundation will donate $1,000,000 for relief efforts in Israel with an initial donation of $250,000 to the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles Israel Crisis Fund. Additional gifts will be made to the New Israel Fund and other relief organizations in Israel in the weeks and months ahead. The Federation donation will support emergency efforts for children who have been evacuated from the North, adults and families who cannot leave the North, and an effort to put shatter proof glass into Haifa's three hospitals as well as emergency assistance to the hospital in Naharia. The New Israel Fund donation will help provide emergency assistance to underserved communities in the North through support of crisis hotlines, emergency economic assistance, and improved food distribution for those in need.

Yes, that is "Steven Spielberg's Righteous Person Foundation" - we're not sure how Steven judges the righteousness of a person, but we'd be fascniated to see the working.

And while nobody can begrudge assistance coming to the people who have found themselves caught in a conflict between their government and some chimeras, it's a pity that Spielberg couldn't also find some righteous people on the other side of wherever the Lebanon border is at the moment. After all, with somewhere over five billion dollars in direct aid and loan guarantees from the US to the Israeli government last year alone, you'd have hoped they might have had some cash left over to fix their own windows. Indeed, you might wonder why they didn't upgrade the windows before they precipitated the latest spiral of violence.

 
EVERY LITTLE HELPS: There aren't many places which would welcome a new Tesco superstore, but Gillmoss on Merseyside has had its arms wide opened. Tesco had been part of a scheme that would have seen some blighted housing razed and rebuilt around a gleaming new shop. Everyone would be happy, and at long last the oft-repeated Tesco claim that communities around its outlets welcome the addition of the retailing behemoth would have a grain of truth to it.

Except now that Everton have indicated plans to build a new stadium not far away, Tesco have changed their mind, pulling out the scheme, apparently - although they're not commenting either way - to concerntrate on the more lucrative partnership with the football club and leaving the 100 families who'd moved out to make way for the development in limbo. A further 20 families who were waiting for relocation are now stuck in a near-derelict estate surrounded by vandalism and without much hope.

Still, at least Tesco have lightened their own load.