Weekend Fun, Friday Edition

George W. Bush reads Camus

August 11: My anger at The New York Times subsides somewhat as I skim Foucault and Sartre. Surveillance serves its disciplinary function only if the populace is conscious of it. And if Americans aren’t wrenched from being-pour-soi to being-en-soi (at least in relation to an observer who is Other) by the objectifying gaze of the state — well, then the terrorists have won.

August 14: Back in Washington. Dick exults that the foiled London terror plot and the tightened airport security should keep voters’ minds focused on national security through the midterms. Naturally, I think of Cottard, the shady entrepreneur in La Peste who comes into his own only when the city of Oran is under plague quarantine, and say so. Dick seems nonplussed.

It’s absurd, and funny. And it’s the only post this week, so having saved you a bunch of time, you’ll just have to read it to humor me.