in terms of "bush is stupid" the clear fact is that he isn't stupid - nobody
gets to where he has if they are "just stupid" - even giving credit to the
most insane accusations of puppet-dom, he still would not be stupid.

he is not articulate - he is not well read - he has shown lots of signs that
he is dyslexic in a minor way (which strongly discourges reading) - he has
spent a sizable chunk of time as a heavy alcohol user, and as a cocaine
user, both of which has been PROVEN to have negative effects on brain
function and all sorts of mental performance measures - there are a lot of
things that Bush is, things which may well be factors - but I don't think that
he is stupid.

the book list - feh - might as well respond with the 100 issues of playboy over
it's history that you must read (and view) before you die (that is a loaded statement
of course - initial reaction from most people will be "girly pictures" because they
won't understand that for decades Playboy was one of the major outlets for
writers of progressive, and in fact all types, of political and social commentary)

doug