Still, I'll bet she drove a hard bargain

2003 may be looked upon as The Year of the Fake, according to Naomi Klein, writing in The Nation. In addition to the farcical FBI warning to regard almanac bearers as suspicious, Klein relates this humorous episode:

"Her main aim is to meet as many Nigerians as she can," the Queen's press secretary, Penny Russell, said of the monarch's December trip to Nigeria. But just as Bush never made it out of the airport bunker in Baghdad, the Queen's people decided it was too dangerous for her to mingle with actual Nigerians. So instead of the planned visit to an African village, the Queen toured the set of a BBC soap opera in New Karu, constructed to look like an authentic African market. During the "fake walkabout," as the Sunday Telegraph called it, the Queen chatted with paid actors playing regular villagers, while actual villagers watched the event on a large-screen TV outside the security perimeter.

The left -- where would we be without our sense of humor?