Self-inflicted wounds

New rules of engagement apply
Now that Congress is questioning why,
When Bush went to war,
Without bullets or gore,
That Truth was the first one to die.

Panel Hears About Falsehoods in 2 Wartime Incidents
By Michael Luo, The New York Times, 4/25/07

We mourn once more

The question on campus depends less
On what left the students defenseless
Than on answering why
We now mourn VPI
And must try to make sense of the senseless.

33 dead in Virginia Tech shootings
In the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history,
30 are slain in classrooms before gunman kills himself.
Angry students ask why the campus wasn't closed
after two earlier killings in a dorm.
By David Zucchino, Maura Reynolds and Stephen Braun
The Los Angeles Times, 4/17/07

So it goes

Kurt Vonnegut’s writing defined
A phase that expanded my mind.
Thus, I owe him a debt
And, so, cannot forget
That "God damn it, you’ve got to be kind."

"Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you've got about a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies — 'God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.'"
-------Mr. Rosewater in Vonnegut's
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, or Pearls Before Swine

Kurt Vonnegut, Novelist Who Caught the
Imagination of His Age, Is Dead at 84
By Dinitia Smith, The New York Times, 4/12/07

WWJD?

What would Jesse (or Mel, or Al, or Michael) do?

Mister Imus is sure on his own,
But it seems Rev'rend Jackson's been prone
To use racist speech.
Yet, shouldn't he teach:
"Let he, without slurs, cast the stone?"

Misogyny in the Morning
By Eugene Robinson, The Washington Post, 4/10/07

Knut ist ein Berliner

A polar bear cub, kname of Knut,
Has caused quite a heated dispute:
Is he better off dead?
Raised by humans, instead?
Would this matter if Knut weren't so kcute?


Rejected by his mother, Knut is forced to clean dishes
at the Berlin Zoo to earn his keep. Animal rights activists
say he would have died of dishpan paws in the wild.

*For those curious about the title: a short history lesson courtesy of Wikipedia

Rejected at birth, Knut becomes Berlin zoo's bear essential
By Kate Connolly, The Guardian, 3/24/07