I unplug all the neon
turn the ringer off the phone
throw my thoughts like tomahawks
into this world which I disown


Dan Walsh, untitled, 2006

* From Harper's April 2008 edition:

-- Number of Ohio's five voting-machine systems that had "critical security failures" in a state-commissioned study: 5

-- Number of the systems that have been removed from operation: 0

-- Number of times that U.S. media have called John McCain a "maverick" since 1995: 6,757

-- Percentage change between 2001 and 2007 in the number of instances per year: +76

-- Rank of John McCain among the most conservative-voting senators in 2001 and 2007, respectively: 45, 8

-- Number of Grammys won to date by Barack Obama and Radiohead, respectively: 2, 2

-- Amount that Rudy Giuliani's campaign spent to win a single Republican delegate: $48,000,000

-- Number of copies sold of Barack Obama's two books since January: 94,000

-- Factor by which this exceeds the total sales of the seventeen books by Hilary Clinton, John McCain, and Mike Huckabee: 4

* Patricia Kelly writes to the New York Times:

"Surely it must have been a slip for Maureen Dowd to align the artistry of my late husband, Gene Kelly, with the president’s clumsy performances. To suggest that 'George Bush has turned into Gene Kelly' represents not only an implausible transformation but a considerable slight. If Gene were in a grave, he would have turned over in it.

"When Gene was compared to the grace and agility of Jack Dempsey, Wayne Gretzky and Willie Mays, he was delighted. But to be linked with a clunker — particularly one he would consider inept and demoralizing — would have sent him reeling.

"Graduated with a degree in economics from Pitt, Gene was not only a gifted dancer, director and choreographer, he was also a most civilized man. He spoke multiple languages; wrote poetry; studied history; understood the projections of Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes. He did the Sunday Times crossword in ink. Exceedingly articulate, Gene often conveyed more through movement than others manage with words.

"Sadly, President Bush fails to communicate meaningfully with either. For George Bush to become Gene Kelly would require impossible leaps in creativity, erudition and humility."

Patricia Ward Kelly
Los Angeles, March 16, 2008

* Photo essay: five years of war.

* "Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia." -- Charles M. Schulz