god is a word and the argument ends there


William Klein, Candy Store, Amsterdam Avenue, New York 1954-55

* Catapulting the Propaganda, by Molly Ivans. excerpt:

"As a longtime fan of both George Bushes' eccentric grasp of English, I naturally enjoyed this gem from W.: 'See, in my line of work, you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.'"
...
"'Catapulting the propaganda' would explain his performance at the press opportunity that same day at which he appeared surrounded by babies born from frozen embryos. He used the phrase "culture of life" at least 27 dozen times (I think I exaggerate, but maybe not). "The use of federal dollars to destroy life is something I simply do not support," he said to the press the following day.

"Meanwhile, back in Baghdad, federal dollars are being used to destroy life at a pretty good clip because Bush decided to wage an entirely elective war against a country that presented little or no threat to us. And according to the Downing Street memo, he damn well knew it, too."
...
"Bush is prepared to use his first-ever veto. Didn't stop the bankruptcy bill, didn't stop all those tax cuts for the very rich, didn't stop that gross agriculture bill -- but this he will veto. He says we will 'cross a critical ethical line by creating new incentives for the ongoing destruction of emerging human life.' And he doesn't think starting an unnecessary war was crossing a critical ethical line?

"It's the old slippery slope argument. Look, all of law is a process of drawing lines on slippery slopes. The difference between misdemeanor theft and felony theft is one penny. The difference between misdemeanor and felony drug possession is one gram. For that matter, the difference between a pig and a hog is one pound. We're always drawing distinctions, and it is necessary to do so -- hunting rifles, OK; .50 caliber rifles, don't be a fool.

"This is a don't-be-a-fool argument. 'Culture of life'? Whose life?"

* Remind Us details the lies George Bush used to take us to war.

* "Like so many Americans, she was trying to construct a life that made sense from things she found in gift shops." -- Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

* Two Poems

Talk Radio
--- by Charles Simic

"I was lucky to have a Bible with me.
When the space aliens abducted me . . . ."

America, I shouted at the radio,
Even at 2 A.M. you are a loony bin!

No, I take it back!
You are a stone angel in the cemetery

Listening to the geese in the sky
Your eyes blinded by snow.

Lust Song
--- by Hailey Leithauser

Love’s a blonde gone wrong
on a fogbound ship,

slow off-shoulder slip
of a strap unstrung.

It’s the glib diphthonged,
soft Freudian trip

of disloyal lips,
sight of bright red thong.

It’s dictatorship
of a yielding tongue

still culling the throng,
the blinding eclipse

of faint fingertip,
felt light and not long.