George W. Bush says he doesn't care about the polls or his stunningly-low approval ratings. Does anyone believe that? Why all these self-serving exit interviews if he isn't trying to get them up a tad before he goes off to claim his post-presidential financial rewards from all the corporations he made rich?

Here's one contradiction, and I'm not the first person to point this out. Asked about regrets and mistakes, he always mentions the "disappointment" of not finding Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq. Now, on one level, that shouldn't be have been a disappointment. That meant that the sanctions and peaceful methods of disarmament had worked and that Saddam Hussein was not as grave a threat as some thought. Isn't that kind of a good thing?

Before we invaded, there were those saying it would be like Waco; that the madman would set his compound on fire and just start killing everyone if he was going down. People were afraid ol' Saddam would use those Weapons of You-Know-What before we could secure them and that a lot of our soldiers would die as a result. Shouldn't we be relieved that that didn't happen? As it was, way too many lives ended without W.M.D. in the mix.

In any case, Bush has said on several occasions that he would have ordered the invasion even if he'd known there were no Weapons of Mass Destruction there. So, uh, then what was the problem with not finding any? If we would have gone to war anyway, then the main effect of not finding W.M.D. is that George W. Bush was embarrassed. He looked clueless and reckless and uninformed as a leader. That "disappointment" is not about the people who were killed or about the destruction or about the fates of the U.S. or Iraq. It's that George Bush looked foolish.

Pressed by Charlie Gibson to name a regret in connection with Hurricane Katrina, Bush mentioned no regret that his appointments had turned FEMA into such an ineffective agency, no regret that New Orleans had been a lake for a couple of days before he even seemed to recognize that people there were dying and needed help. What he said instead was…

I've thought long and hard about Katrina. You know, could I have done something differently, like land Air Force One either in New Orleans or Baton Rouge? And then your questions, I suspect, would have been, "How could you possibly have flown Air Force One into Baton Rouge, and police officers that were needed to expedite traffic out of New Orleans were taken off the task to look after you?"

Look at that reply. It's not about the people who suffered. It's about criticism of George W. Bush, defending the fact that he did a flyover days later and didn't land and stage a proper photo-op to show concern. He thought long and hard, sure…about which course of action would bring him less criticism. For that matter, most of the praise — self-praise and external — for his actions on 9/11 have to do with him giving good speeches, standing on the rubble with his arm around a fire fighter and vowing to bring Osama to justice. It's amazing how many people still count that a high point of his presidency, despite the lack of follow-through.

America is very, very happy to be rid of this man. And while his approval rating may be upped a bit in the future just because we're a forgiving people, I doubt it will climb much. Can anyone imagine anything that could happen that would make the handling of Katrina seem competent or even compassionate? Can we gin up any scenario that will make people say, "Thank God Bush left us that deficit"? Toppling Saddam might eventually look like a wise course of action if Iraq becomes a stable democracy but that's not likely to happen…and if it does, it'll be because of grand diplomacy and engineering by Bush's successors. Even then, I think most Americans will conclude the gains are not worth what they cost us.

I don't think we're going to see Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld (et al) charged with war crimes. That would mean a trial that would involve quizzing Senators, many of them Democratic, about what they were briefed about and why they didn't stop this or that. The Bush administration ain't the only ones culpable…and Obama has way too much to do to disrupt the Senate like that, to say nothing of alienating a lot of needed allies there. We may just have to settle for Bush and his guys going down in history as men who destroyed everything they ever touched. Except Halliburton.

This one got completely by me. I walked into a DVD store the other day and was surprised to see that a favorite film of my childhood — Hey There, It's Yogi Bear — had been released on disc. Had I known this, I would have beaten a few drums in advance. It wasn't the kind of film to make Mr. Disney worry but I was a huge fan of Yogi and other Hanna-Barbera shows at the time it came out — 1964 — so I enjoyed the hell out of it.

I saw it at the Picwood Theater, which is no longer there…but when it was, it was near the intersection of Pico Boulevard and Westwood Boulevard in West L.A. Here's a photo of the Picwood taken, I assume, shortly after it was built in 1946. By the time I started going there, it was no longer a free-standing building as in that picture. On one side was a bowling alley that was connected to the theater. On the other was a building that kept changing tenants…and one of those tenants was, for several years, the Blue Chip Stamp redemption center that I wrote about in this post.

And if you're going to click around this site, you can find more info about the movie, including a video clip of its best sequence, over here.

Since I'm throwing out memories: I think Hey There, It's Yogi Bear was the first movie I ever attended without my parents. They loved me but not enough, I guess, to sit through that one. Some time in June of '64, I went with my classmate Valerie who lived a few blocks away and was about to move to another city, far far away. So it was kind of a "going-away" day with Valerie. My folks drove us to the Picwood, gave us cash for tickets and popcorn, and dropped us off. Then they picked us up when the film let out and drove us over to Valerie's house, where they left us so we could go in this great Highboy swimming pool she had. I think the water was about two feet deep and the pool was about ten feet in diameter…so you couldn't do a lot of swimming in it. But we got into our suits and splashed around for a while.

Valerie's parents were away so we were all alone there in the pool. Suddenly, surprising the heck out of me, Valerie suggested that since we would probably never see each other again after that day, we ought to really see each other and take off our swimsuits. I refused and she withdrew the suggestion. Why did I decline? Well, remember I was just a little more than twelve years old at the time. If she'd offered a few months later, I would have been interested.

Here's an Amazon link via which you can order a copy of Hey There, It's Yogi Bear. And here's a link via which you can purchase A Man Called Flintstone, which apparently came out on DVD at the same time, and which I didn't like nearly as much as Yogi's film.

A look at the music of Schroeder. That's the kid who played piano in Mr. Schulz's legendary Peanuts.

Fred Kaplan draws some interesting parallels between John F. Kennedy and Barack H. Obama. And of course it goes without saying that we all hope the parallels only extend so far.

We ask questions here, we get answers…

Divers are combing the Hudson with sonar today to try and locate the engines and the black box, to determine the precise moment that two birds collided with passenger jet. The extremely cold weather and water currents have limited the divers' search. A giant crane has been brought in to help remove the plane from the water off Battery Park tomorrow morning and to bring it to an undisclosed location.

An undisclosed location? Why are they taking it to Dick Cheney?

The whole article can be read here. Thank you, David M. Lynch. Now, does anyone know about the luggage?

This morning, we're all reading about the heroism and skill of the pilot who landed (watered?) that U.S. Airways plane yesterday, and of his crew. And they seem to deserve praise and huzzahs and medals and such, and I don't mean to take away from any of that…but I have one question or maybe it's two. In the articles I've read, I don't see anyone discussing what happens to that airplane that's now at the bottom, I guess, of the Hudson River. I mean, the Hudson is said to be a foul place but I don't think even that water will dissolve an entire Airbus A320…not for at least a few months. Do they haul the thing out in pieces or bring in a big crane or what?

And just out of curiosity, is there any chance of the passengers ever seeing their checked luggage again? I have a suitcase that I suspect could be submerged in water for an extended time without its contents being destroyed, especially if it's in some sort of sealed compartment. Are divers going in to try and get the bags out? Or does this wait 'til they haul the whole plane out of the river or what? Someone reading this will know.

This should interest any comic fan who's going to be in or around Los Angeles between mid-February and August. The Skirball Cultural Center — a large, beautiful facility located near Westwood — will be playing host to two allied exhibitions. One is called, unfortunately, "ZAP! POW! BAM! The Superhero: The Golden Age of Comic Books, 1938–1950." Details of that one can be found here. The other is called "Lights, Camera, Action: Comic Book Heroes of Film and Television" and you can find out about that one here. Both run from February 19 through August 9 and both feature art and artifacts from superhero glories.

There will be several events in connection with these exhibitions. Not listed yet on the Skirball site is that on the evening of March 5, there'll be a program featuring Jerry Robinson, one of the great comic artists whose work is being exhibited. Mr. Robinson will be interviewed by that guy who hosts all the historical-type panels at the Comic-Con International each year…what's his name? Oh, that's right: Me. Jerry was also a Guest Curator of the exhibition and I hear it's quite wonderful. If you're going to be in L.A. while it's up, you might want to plan for a visit.

This just in…

Circuit City Stores Inc., the nation's second-biggest consumer electronics retailer, said Friday it had run out of options and will be forced to liquidate its 567 U.S. stores. The closures could send another 30,000 people into the ranks of the unemployed.

Let's hope someone notes that a pretty high percentage of those 30,000 people were folks who were hired, not because they knew anything about computers or electronics or any of the things Circuit City sells, but because they were willing to work cheaper than the ousted employees who did. This is the same thing that killed or wounded Egghead Software and The Good Guys and CompUSA or any other chain that was selling technology. The main reason people go into a store to get a computer instead of ordering it over the Internet is because they want to talk with someone who knows more about computers than they do.

Every time I ever went into a Circuit City or any of those other places, there was — at best — one person on the premises who did…and he/she was always swamped with questions not only from customers but from other salesfolks. At the one near me, the answer to every query was, "I'll have to ask Steve." Once upon a time, before they slashed salaries, those places had a lot more Steves.

It's kind of like a hospital saying, "Business is down…let's get rid of all those doctors and hire some kids who've watched E.R.!" Until companies learn what they're selling, we're in for a lot more liquidating and downsizing in the retail electronics business.

Sorry for giving you short notice (the puns are unavoidable) but Turner Classic Movies is running The Terror of Tiny Town tonight around 11 PM Pacific, 2 in the morning back east. And I know what you're thinking: "Oh, dear God, not another western movie cast entirely with midgets and dwarves!" Yeah, I'm sick of 'em, too…but this is kind of a classic. Made in 1938, it stars Billy Curtis and everyone else then in Hollywood who was shorter than Mickey Rooney. ('38 was a good year in this town for little people. Almost everyone in this movie also got work in The Wizard of Oz.)

It's not a good movie but it's too weird to ignore. Apparently, producer Jed Buell planned for this to be the first of a whole series of features (or maybe short subjects) like this. The next was to be Paul Bunyan, starring all the same actors as normal-sized people…and a normal-sized man as Paul. It was never made, probably because no one went to see this one. You might want to see it…or set your TiVo or VCR and see how long you can last.

And if you like bizarre, TCM is following it with The Unholy Three and Tod Browning's Freaks.

My friends in Los Angeles who haven't seen Spamalot may be interested in this. It's going to be the opening show of the Ahmanson's season in July, with John O'Hurley signed to play King Arthur.

The Ahmanson has some interesting offerings before then. There's Minsky's, the new Broadway-bound musical that's loosely adapted from one of my favorite movies, The Night They Raided Minsky's. Then there's Ain't Misbehavin', Frost/Nixon (with Stacy Keach as Nixon) and Dame Edna. I'm going to some or all of those.

Just sitting here, watching news coverage of today's extraordinary air crash. A U.S. Airways jet with 155 passengers aboard made an emergency landing in the Hudson River…and no one was killed. One person suffered a couple of broken legs but that was it. The pilot, they say, made a miraculous water touchdown when his plane was damaged by a collision with a flock of geese. Then that pilot, Chesley D. "Sully" Sullenberger, assisted in getting the passengers off and he and his co-pilot were the last to leave the plane.

I have no fear of flying. I'm afraid of some things but not flying. Nevertheless, from now on when I get on a jet, even if it isn't U.S. Airways, I'm telling myself it's Sully in the cockpit.