Last month (which was National Poetry Month) the Academy of American Poets started a "National Poetry Almanac." (I didn't notice till now, damnit--and I'm an Academy member.)

Poem of the Day Dept.:

"The Indian Upon God" by William Butler Yeats. A moorfowl (grouse?), a roebuck, a peacock . . . as part of this chain, how does a human see God? (The web pages where I found this poem embedded are really quite interesting in other ways as well).

Yipe! Another book review.

"Less is Moore in subdued, effective '9/11'" is a piece on the Cannes Film Festival premiere of Michael Moore's Farenheit 9/11 by Roger Ebert.

"Although his approval ratings have slipped somewhat in recent weeks, President George W. Bush still enjoys the overall support of nearly half of the American people. He does not, however, fare nearly so well among professional historians." "Historians vs. George W. Bush" at History News Network.

"Oh, yeah. Later on I found out that was a typical day. I talked with my commanding officer after the incident. He came up to me and says: 'Are you OK?' I said: 'No, today is not a good day. We killed a bunch of civilians.' He goes: 'No, today was a good day.' And when he said that, I said 'Oh, my goodness, what the hell am I into?'" "A Soldier of Conscience."

"Winterthur XXX: Searching for Early American Erotica" by Karen A. Sherry. Apparently there isn't very much of it left around, and what there is is hard to find.

How to Get Out of Iraq

For those, like myself, who opposed and openly spoke out against the U.S. invasion of Iraq, on general principle (and not necessarily pacifist principle) and for specific reasons which have been obvious from the beginning to anyone not brainwashed by the media, recent events have been a bitter vindication of our position. Now that it has become blatantly obvious that the U.S. hasn't a chance at "winning" in Iraq, a few thoughts and proposals from, among others, Jonathan Schell, Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky: "How to Get Out of Iraq."

"By saying that our leaders are power-drunk chimpanzees, am I in danger of wrecking the morale of our soldiers fighting and dying in the Middle East? Their morale, like so many bodies, is already shot to pieces. They are being treated, as I never was, like toys a rich kid got for Christmas." Thus Kurt Vonnegut in "Cold Turkey," at In These Times' website, where he sounds off on everything from the Sermon on the Mount to Mel Gibson's greed to smoking to America's oil addiction.

Yikes!

I've actually completed a book review. How embarrassing.