€œIt’s clear that our current policy regarding aliens in this country is not working,â€� announced President Bush last Wednesday from the White House East Room, introducing proposed changes to America’s immigration policy. “For years we’ve tried the hard line approach, and we’ve all seen the results. It’s time for a change. Do I have the answers? Ha ha, good one. But I do know one thing is clear: These are some scary fuckers. I’m not kidding, they’ll bite your head off and crap eggs down your throat just as soon as look at you.â€�

Amid the stunned silence of the gathered crowd, President Bush detailed his controversial new plan.

“We may not have the weapons technology today to send aliens back to hell where they belong, blowing holes in them the size of a pie plates as they collapse in a pool of their own acid-burning blood and we laugh,� admitted Bush reluctantly, making a machinegun motion with his hands. “God himself knows I wish this was true. Anyone who watches television knows we’ve tried. Three, maybe four times. But it’s time to admit our failure, and accept these aliens into the fabric of American society. Until such time as we have some kind of plasma gun and we can blow their guts out their asses, that is. But nobody tell any aliens that last part or you’ll spoil the secret.�

Despite the aim of Bush’s staff to bolster the president’s chances of reelection by improving relations with the Latino community, to the White House’s dismay the proposed policy changes were not as immediately popular with Hispanic groups as expected.

“There’s just no pleasing some people,� Bush said later, disappointed that the Hispanic community failed to see the value of not being eaten by aliens.

Under Bush’s proposal, all aliens would be granted temporary visas to live “in Michigan or some place� where they’re not likely to harm the voting public.

“Aliens have the same right to work as everybody else,� suggested Bush. “And they can fill lots of jobs Americans wouldn’t want, like working deep underground or fighting Godzilla.�

The political response on Capitol Hill has been muted, with Democrats indifferent to Bush’s plan and Republicans insisting they didn’t hear anything about no aliens.

“What, seriously? You’re asking me about this?� responded Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz.

“It might be politically safer to ignore this issue,� Bush stated, affecting a somewhat British accent to sound statelier. “But this is something I cannot do. Some might think aliens are no big deal, or that we can ignore this problem and have it go away. But those are always the same guys who get sick at the dinner table and then they suddenly have an alien larvae shoot out of their chest like some kind of gory jack-in-the-box.�

“Ow,� Bush stated, wincing and clutching at his chest in mock-discomfort. “That ain’t gonna be me.�

ith the second confirmed case of SARS reported in the Guangdong province last week, the Chinese government has stepped up its campaign to wipe out all animals with the potential for carrying the virus, including the “four dangers�: cats, little yappy dogs, loud tropical birds and those goldfish with the gross big eyes. Despite accusations that this is just the Chinese government’s excuse to get rid of millions of annoying pets, officials insist the mass slaughter is necessary to ensure the public health.

The central focus of the crackdown has been cats, a delicacy in China and finer trailer parks around the United States and personal pet peeve of Chinese President Hu Jintao. Cats were targeted after rumors surfaced that China’s first SARS case of the season, a 32-year-old television producer from Guangzhou, may have contracted the virus after eating SARS-tainted cat meat. Though the producer later revealed that he had never eaten cats and must have contracted the virus elsewhere, Chinese officials insist that he probably accidentally ate a cat some time without knowing it, which can happen to anybody.

World Health Organization officials met with the Chinese president last week in hopes of stemming the slaughter, but such hopes were dashed when the meetings devolved into a hilarious Abbott and Costello routine of “Hu’s on first?� with the Chinese leader. While concerns remain that the Chinese slaughter of cats may destroy valuable evidence, if not aid in spreading the virus further to workers hit by cat shrapnel, progress is unlikely since WHO officials have been unable to breach the subject without inspiraing hilarious riffing about a second baseman named Noh Ba Di.

Early attempts at eradicating the cats through drowning, punching, and firing squad failed after Chinese workers grew bored with these pedestrian means of cat-killing. Later attempts at scaring all the cats in China to death with a special gigantic vacuum cleaner proved unsuccessful, though hilarious, and by the end of the week more creative and entertaining methods of cat eradication were being sought. On Thursday, over ten thousand cats were shot out of an air cannon at a large brick wall painted to look like a big dog.

By the weekend, the feline holocaust was proceeding on several fronts simultaneously, with a veritable midway of cat-killing attractions thrilling Chinese spectators all through the day and night. Popular attractions included the “Kick a Cat Off the Cliff� booth, the “Give a Cat the Gift of Flight� strength-testing event, the children’s favorite “Cat in a Hat Full of Cyanide� and a humorously themed Catapult. While successful, officials had to put an end to the gasoline-soaked cat-on-fire races due to problems arising from rampant gambling on the event.

Everyone got into the spirit by week’s end, with Guangzhou newspapers running front-page pictures of a smiling Mayor Zhang Guangning smashing a kitten with a giant wooden mallet. The Guangzhou airport was shut down briefly on Saturday was thousands of cats were scooped into running jet engines in a desperate attempt to meet the weekend deadline.

On Thursday, China’s second recent SARS case was declared after a 20-year-old waitress was isolated in a Guangzhou hospital. Though it is not clear whether the woman worked in a restaurant that served wild game, Chinese officials consider that detail to be inconsequential since she could have contracted the virus while camping, driving near nature, or watching the SARS-infected Disney animated film, Bambi.

Now that America has had a few post-Christmas weeks to calm down from the wet dream of capturing deposed dictator Saddam Hussein, we have to ask ourselves the very real question: What to do with the prick? And by us, I mean, Bush and his friends. After all, they were the ones who put their necks on the line to bring him to justice. It's not like the American people had any part in it at all.

The immediate consideration for the administration, beyond getting re-elected in November, speaking just in terms of the Saddam Hussein issue, is how to classify Saddam Hussein. Original classifications of "a tubby, hairy hole-livin' weapons-hider" proved to just be White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan having fun with reporters. No, seriously, the administration later stated, Saddam Hussein is to be classified as a POW, at least until such time as it becomes better political fuel to classify him otherwise.

It's no wonder the Saddam Hussein issue is being handled so delicately, like a hemaphroditic baby. There's no end to the kinds of information Saddam Hussein could tell us about his wondrous country. How he managed to make an entire population docile, unwilling to fight back and unseat him from his government, and how to antagonize other world leaders for 13 years running. It's the exact kind of thing vital to the Bush administration's plans for a second term.

Not to mention Hussein's biggest talents, either hiding incredibly large reserves of weapons of mass destruction, or making the world believe he has large reserves of weapons of mass destruction which he doesn't really possess. If you consider it, either is an amazing ability of limitless benefit to any world leader.

Imagine the amount of power any world leader could accrue if he could stockpile massive numbers of chemical, biological, or even nuclear weapons, and then hide them from the notice of everyone in the world. Even the world's greatest weapons-finders wouldn't be able to unearth them. So greatly hidden would these weapons be, world leaders would have to write them down and never lose the paper telling where they were, otherwise they'd be forever lost.

Or, even if it's true, as critics of the administration and pure logic tells us, there never were any weapons of mass destruction, imagine that. You're talking hot shit now. You could spend nil on weapons for defense, or offense, shell out all your money for educational and social programs to take care of your population or investing in creating new jobs, and not have to spend a dime on weapons. The world would believe you have them and never want to see them. It would be like being the most economically and militarily powerful country in the world, for half the money.

All of this, of course, hinges on the classification of Saddam Hussein. It's imperative now the United States keep the rest of the world away from the dictator. If we need to juggle his classification, from war criminal to jailed drunk or whatever, anything to keep outside investigators from sneaking and finding out his fat juicy secrets, we should do it. Sure, the U.S. might not even really need any of those secrets. But Saddam Hussein is, as the Bush administration (the first and the unpopular sequel) has attested for years, the most dangerous criminal mastermind to ever live. Never should we forget this propaganda, and we must keep him from passing his secrets on to other world dicks.

º Last Column: Gift of the Merger
º more columns