Reactions to story from Salon

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  Salon's New Revelations on Illegal Spying

  http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/07/salons-new-revelations-...
  35 days ago in Deeplinks | Electronic Frontier Foundation · Authority: 1,406

  Salon's New Revelations on Illegal Spying Posted by Hugh D'Andrade Salon today published a new article in it's series of investigations into the Bush administration's illegal spying programs: Exposing Bush's History Abuse of Power (log-in may be
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  USE:

  http://brothersjuddblog.com/archives/2008/07/use.html
  36 days ago in BrothersJudd Blog · Authority: 93

  Exposing Bush's historic abuse of power: Salon has uncovered new evidence of post-9/11 spying on Americans. Obtained documents point to a potential investigation of the White House that could rival Watergate. (Tim Shorrock, Jul. 23, 2008, Salon) A prime
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  Americas Cyborg Warriors by Tom Burghardt

  http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2008/07/23/americas-cybo...
  35 days ago in Dandelion Salad · Authority: 374

  Dandelion Salad Global Research, July 23, 2008 Antifascist Calling As the costs of imperialist war skyrocket, securocrats find themselves under the gun so to speak, of corporate and Pentagon masters demanding results. No matter that the solutions sought
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  Abuse of Power

  http://barkbarkwoofwoof.blogspot.com/2008/07/abuse-of-power....
  35 days ago in Bark Bark Woof Woof · Authority: 116

  Salon.com uncovers evidence that the Bush administration's spying on U.S. citizens was -- and remains -- far more widespread than previously thought.The last several years have brought a parade of dark revelations about the George W. Bush administration,
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  Outrage fatigue

  http://jddblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/outrage-fatigue.html
  34 days ago in The Velvet Blog · Authority: 30

  So there's an article that went up on Salon today, "Exposing Bush's historic abuse of power," that sounds as if it might be important. The description: "Salon has uncovered new evidence of post-9/11 spying on Americans. Obtained documents point to a potential investigation of the White House that could rival Watergate."But I just can't read it. I can't. I'm tired of being outraged all the time at this administration. It's exhausting. I start to read this and my eyes glaze over.Maybe someone could just summarize it for me, and give me bullet points on the most egregious acts? That way, I can save time in working up to a high dudgeon. Sigh.IMMEDIATE UPDATE: The Onion weighs in on this phenomenon.
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  United States News

  http://globalissuesweb.com/wp/?p=7268
  7 days ago in Global Issues Web News: News, Commentary, and Analysis on World Issues · Authority: 15

  Showdown at Saddleback John McCain outperformed Barack Obama at Saddleback Church, where they expressed their different worldviews. Higher Costs Taking a Toll on Business Businesses have been passing the costs on to consumers, just as joblessness expands and spending power shrinks. Names of the Dead The Department of Defense has identified 4,138 American service members who have died since the start of the Iraq war and 572 who have died as a part of Operation Enduring Freedom, which is centered in Afghanistan. It confirmed the deaths of the following Americans yesterday:. Obama’s Ads in Key States Go on Attack Barack Obama has started a hard-hitting ad campaign against John McCain in vital states, painting Mr. McCain as disconnected from middle-class struggles. National Briefing | South: Georgia: Dr. King’s Son Sues Siblings Two of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s children have been sued by the institution that their mother founded and their brother heads. Exposing Bush’s historic abuse of power Salon has uncovered new evidence of post-9/11 spying on Americans. Obtained documents point to a potential investigation of the White House that could rival Watergate. The Obama show lands in Israel He got a rock-star reception here, but an intriguing question lingers: Which U.S. presidential candidate is better for this country? Court Rejects E.P.A. Limits on Emissions Rules The federal appeals court ruling is the most recent in a series of judicial setbacks to the Bush administration’s efforts to reshape federal policies under the Clean Air Act. The Prospects: One Hand on Her Job, the Other Across the Aisle Of all those said to be on the short list for the Democratic vice-presidential nomination, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas best embodies the kind of bipartisanship that Barack Obama has hailed. The Education of McCain John McCain and his advisers are running a much more conventional race, the kind he used to ridicule. The inescapable fact is: It is working. Texas Panel Rejects Plea to Halt Execution of Accomplice in 1996 Murder Jeffrey Lee Wood is sentenced to die this week for the murder of a store clerk during a robbery, even though he was sitting in a truck outside the convenience store when it happened. Chaos in the Caucasus An expert on Russian politics talks about what’s behind the military assault on Georgia, and how the U.S. and Europe failed to prevent it. Jack C. Landau, Who Fought for Rights of News Reporters, Is Dead at 74 Mr. Landau called himself a “First Amendment guerrilla,” and used his education as a lawyer in advocacy for journalists around the country. Would Obama prosecute the Bush administration for torture? Obama’s brain trust wants to form a commission on torture and call Bush officials as witnesses, but put off prosecutions — if any — till a second term.
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  United States News

  http://globalissuesweb.com/wp/?p=7212
  10 days ago in Global Issues Web News: News, Commentary, and Analysis on World Issues · Authority: 15

  Exposing Bush’s historic abuse of power Salon has uncovered new evidence of post-9/11 spying on Americans. Obtained documents point to a potential investigation of the White House that could rival Watergate. Barack Obama, John McCain discuss faith, issues at Saddleback Church forum Pastor Rick Warren conducts back-to-back hourlong interviews with the candidates, and some stark differences emerge. The presidential candidates were on stage together for just a moment, but John McCain and Barack Obama offered an arresting contrast Saturday night both stylistically and on sensitive issues, most sharply on abortion. ‘What Happened to Anna K.’ by Irina Reyn An entertaining debut novel moves Tolstoy’s tragic story of ‘Anna Karenina’ from 19th century Moscow to contemporary Queens. What Happened to Anna K. “We were basically hiring terrorists” The U.S. signed up legions of sketchy Iraqi fighters to help stop sectarian violence. Now, most may lose their security jobs — but remain armed and angry. In the political battleground of Colorado, a labor-business fight is raging The two sides duel over ballot measures, one of which is touted to be the nation’s toughest corporate fraud law. Colorado has become an important battleground state in the presidential election, and one of the biggest senatorial races in the nation is over filling the seat of its retiring senator, Wayne Allard. Vive la Obama différence! Why the French love Barack Obama — even if he’d rather not be seen with them in public. Bush blasts Russia’s ‘bullying and intimidation’ President Bush today accused Russia of “bullying and intimidation” in its harsh military treatment of Georgia, saying the people in the former Soviet republic have chosen freedom and “we will not cast them aside.” McCain seeks Georgia lift Both John McCain and Barack Obama will be paying particularly close attention to the polls early next week to see what impact the Russia-Georgia crisis has had on the…
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  12. NSA warrantless wiretapping

  http://netrootsmass.net/2008/08/12-nsa-warrantless-wiretappi...
  13 days ago in Hugh's Blog · Authority: 49

  Bush authorized warrantless NSA wiretapping in October 2001. However, Joseph Nacchio former CEO of Qwest convicted April 19, 2007 of insider trading reported that the NSA in a meeting on February 27, 2001 (1 month after Bush became President and 6 1/2 months before 9/11) tried to sign Qwest up to a warrantless surveillance program and that when Nacchio refused the NSA pulled hundreds of millions of dollars worth of contracts from the company. Under the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) a warrant would be needed from the FISA court (federal judges entrusted with these decisions in addition to their regular jobs) for domestic to international telephone or internet communication. The bar for such a warrant is extraordinarily low, has almost never been denied, and can be granted up to 3 days after the surveillance as begun (in order to give maximum flexibility in emergency situations). This is in contrast to international to international communications which have always been considered legitimate targets for US intelligence organizations and require no warrant. The post-9/11 Bush program acquired its legal basis from a John Yoo memo originating in the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC). It went much further than cutting FISA out of the loop and probably included surveillance of both international and domestic communications of targets generated from datamining NSA databases as well as their contacts and the contacts of those contacts in ever expanding and less relevant circles. While incredibly intrusive and in violation of Fourth Amendment protections, this operation was to all intents and purposes worthless. FBI agents sent to check out the information they received from this program were invariably sent on wild goose chases. They wasted a lot of time and resources on them, all of which could have been better spent elsewhere. Because this was often where their information led them, they took to calling these Pizza Hut leads. It has been suggested that what the NSA was using in its surveillance was a program called Main Core, a searchable database of databases. It is rumored to contain data on 8 million Americans deemed suspicious (yes, I don’t know what that means either) who in case of national emergency would be subject to anything from arrest to heightened surveillance. It may have been this massive warrantless surveillance, real or potential, of huge numbers of Americans that troubled some, like James Comey and Jack Goldsmith, at the DOJ. It screamed lack of probable cause and smacked too closely of being an enemies list, only a lot bigger. In addition to this, the Administration appeared intent on exploiting the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) to expand the scope of its surveillance. This act requires telecoms to configure their equipment to facilitate governmental wiretapping. While the act was not envisioned as a means of large scale warrantless wiretapping, it could with the help of service providers like the telecoms be turned into one. Supporting this view is that on March 10, 2004, the DOJ, FBI, and DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) petitioned the FCC to extend CALEA to the internet (see item 252). This action coming as it did on the same day as the Ashcroft hospital visit (described below) may have been an effort to expand or acquire additional cover for a data mining program like Main Core that was already in operation. In any case in March 2004, the OLC under its new head Jack Goldsmith a defense oriented conservative rejected Yoo’s reasoning and reversed its position on the NSA warrantless wiretapping program. Attorney General John Ashcroft and Deputy Attorney General James Comey both conservatives and Bush appointees accepted this finding. Then Ashcroft came down with acute gallstone pancreatitis and transferred his powers to his deputy Comey who became Acting Attorney General. In a scheme apparently orchestrated by Vice President Cheney, Bush called Mrs. Ashcroft and Cheney "on the President’s behalf" ordered then White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and Chief of Staff Andrew Card to go to the hospital and get the ailing and doped up Ashcroft to sign off on the surveillance program. Mrs. Ashcroft informed her husband’s Chief of Staff David Ayers about the impending visit and he contacted Comey. Comey in turn contacted FBI Director Robert Mueller to order the FBI agents guarding Ashcroft to remain in his room (as witnesses) and raced to the hospital and Ashcroft’s room in the ICU. This set the scene for the now famous March 10, 2004 hospital room confrontation where Gonzales and Card ignoring Comey tried to get Ashcroft’s signature. Ashcroft was, however, lucid enough to refuse to sign and to point out the obvious: that he did not have the power to do so since Comey was the Acting Attorney General. Despite the refusal by the DOJ to vouch for the program’s legality, Bush re-authorized it anyway. A threat by Ashcroft, Comey, and Mueller to resign did, however, result in changes to the program. The OLC came up with a narrower justification under the AUMF for a more limited program which became the TSP (Terrorist Surveillance Program). It should be noted that this program in all of its manifestations and despite its various justifications has been illegal on its face since its inception. The program became public when the New York Times reported on it in December 2005. In 2006 various unsuccessful attempts were made to accommodate the program. This included the infamous attempted "compromise" by Arlen Specter to legalize its worst excesses and retroactively amnesty any illegalities. Under mounting pressure and with a new Democratic Congress, Alberto Gonzales announced on January 18, 2007, a "deal" with the FISA court which would put the program under its supervision. Gonzales maintained, however, that Bush still had Article II power to go outside the court if he wanted to. On July 24, 2007, Gonzales testified under oath before Senate Judiciary Committee that before going to the hospital to see Ashcroft he had met with a bipartisan group of Congressional leaders overseeing intelligence matters (the Gang of 8) and that they had approved the predecessor to the TSP. Several of the Democratic members of the Gang of 8 denied that such approval was ever given. Additionally, Gonzales asserted that the program discussed was not the TSP but another program. Both General Hayden then head of the NSA and John Negroponte then DNI have indicated that this was precisely the program discussed albeit in its unmodified form. Finally, Gonzales maintained in his testimony that there had been no serious disagreement about the program despite the objections from the DOJ. Along with his constantly changing testimony concerning the US Attorney firings, this discrepancy led four Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on July 26, 2007 to ask Solicitor General Paul Clement (in his role of Acting Attorney General for matters in which Gonzales has recused himself) to name a special prosecutor to determine whether Gonzales has obstructed justice, perjured himself, and made false statements. Despite previous abuses, April 10, 2007 intelligence czar DNI John "Mike" McConnell (not to be confused with Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell) proposes allowing NSA to conduct domestic surveillance of foreign nationals completely outside of FISA, extend from 3 days to one week surveillance without seeking FISA permission "in emergency situations," immunize telecoms, and extend FISA warrants from 120 days to one year. McConnell has a large conflict of interest in the immunization of telecoms issue. Like too many others, McConnell has benefited from the revolving door between government and private enterprise. He has been director of defense programs at Booz Allen Hamilton a large defense and intelligence firm with CIA and NSA consulting contracts and chairman of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance, the primary business association for NSA and CIA contractors. In short, he has intimate connections to precisely those corporate players most closely involved in promoting the use of telecoms in intelligence gathering and with the greatest vested interest in keeping this arrangement going . On August 5, 2007, Bush signed into law a 6 month revision of FISA which would allow warrantless wiretapping of non-American individuals "reasonably" thought to be outside the US and incidentally of US citizens as long as these are not the primary targets of surveillance. The Attorney General (at the time of the bill’s signing this was still the eminently untrustworthy Alberto Gonzales) and the DNI (the as we will soon see truth challenged Mike McConnell) alone and without any outside judicial review would see the program was properly carried out. In effect, this was a backdoor way to surveil Americans without a warrant. It also granted telecommunication companies prospective immunity for aiding the government in these activities during this 6 month period but not retroactively for their past actions. The need for such a bill was raised at the last minute as lawmakers were on their way out of town for the August recess. Although it only became public later, the ostensible reason for modifying FISA at this particular juncture was an unspecified terrorist threat to the Capitol (which DNI McConnell knew at the time was based on an unreliable source). Mike McConnell then negotiated with Democratic Congressional leaders on a Democratic bill to address perceived shortcomings in the FISA law. The White House, however, wanted FISA gutted, and McConnell reneged on his deal with the Democrats. With the Congressional vacation coming on and members eager to leave, Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid caved. Through their parliamentary machinations, the Democratic bill was defeated and the Republican version endorsed by the White House passed. The end result was, abetted by a dishonest DNI, another power grab by the Bush Administration and the failure of the Democrats to stand up to it. On September 10, 2007, DNI McConnell testified before a Senate committee that the newly gutted FISA law the Protect America Act resulted in the arrest of 3 Germans planning to attack Americans in Germany. When German authorities pointed out that the Germans in question had come to their attention through US surveillance initiated under the old FISA statute, McConnell retracted his statement without apologizing for it. On September 20, 2007, McConnell testified falsely again that surveillance of Iraqi insurgents holding American troops had been held up for 12 hours due to FISA court restrictions. The delay, however, occurred because of the initial weakness of the request submitted by the NSA to the DOJ (which given the low threshold for FISA warrants is telling) and subsequent foul ups in finding a senior official to sign off on it. Since the old FISA law allowed surveillance to begin up to 72 hours before the granting of a warrant, it is unclear why this was even an issue. Because the Protect America Act (PAA) was set to expire after 180 days, in December 2007, an attempt was made in the Senate to pass a permanent extension. There were two principal versions of this bill, the Intel version from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) chaired by the conservative Democrat Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and another a revision of the Intel version that came out of the Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC). The Intel version was Republican friendly and was chosen by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) as the base or favored version. It granted the retroactive immunity the telecoms had been lobbying for (not in the SJC bill), allowed basket warrants for the surveillance, not of individuals, but of classes of persons, had weak minimization (i.e. disposal of information on Americans incidentally obtained) requirements and oversight, and gave only vague assurances that the program would not be used for reverse targeting (using a foreign national as an excuse to surveil an American). An objection by Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) threw this well orchestrated process into disarray, and Reid pulled consideration of the bill on December 17, 2007. In January 2008, with the PAA due to expire on February 1, Reid made a second attempt to pass the Intel version. This time he was blindsided by Bush and the Republicans. Senate Republicans played politics. They refused to allow any face-saving amendments (all of which were likely to be defeated anyway) to be brought up and were willing to see the PAA expire instead. Bush for his part announced he would veto even a short extension of the PAA to give the Senate time to act. So on the one hand Bush and the Republicans argued that the PAA was absolutely necessary and if it was not passed the terrorists would win and we would all die. On the other, they were perfectly ready to see it expire just so they could stick it to Senate Democrats. On January 28, 2008, with the SOTU scheduled for later that evening, that is what happened. In a near party line vote, Democrats defeated the Republican move (48-45 with 60 votes needed) for cloture on the Intel version of the PAA with no amendments. The Republicans then defeated a similar motion for a 30 day extension of the PAA on a straight party line vote. So to recap briefly, Senate Democrats were ready to pass a bad bill, but the Republicans who supported the bad bill wanted to rub the Democrats’ faces in it first. As a result, everything fell apart, and the upshot was everyone could and did blame everyone else. High school was not this bad. On January 29, 2008, a 15 day extension (to February 15, 2008) was agreed to by voice vote in the House and by Unanimous Consent in the Senate. An agreement was made to consider amendments to the PAA in return for a cloture vote. All of the amendments were rejected by Republicans voting as a bloc and conservative Democrats voting as weasels. SA 3915 (Feingold): stoppage of surveillance of an American upon finding of FISA court and minimization of information so acquired. Rejected: 40-56 SA 3913 (Feingold): No reverse targeting of Americans. Rejected: 38-57 SA 3910 (Feinstein): Exclusivity (surveillance must be conducted under FISA). Rejected: 57-41 (Needed 60) SA 3979 (Feingold): Segregation and audit of communications involving Americans. Rejected: 35-63 SA 3907 (Dodd): No retroactive immunity for telecoms. Rejected: 31-67 SA 3912 (Feingold): No bulk surveillance. Rejected: 37-60 SA 3927 (Specter): Substitution of US for telecoms in civil suits. Rejected: 37-60 SA 3919 (Feinstein): Transferal of civil suits to FISA court (with an eye to dismiss). Rejected: 41-57 (Needed 60) The first two were defeated on February 7. The others on February 12, 2008. Cloture was invoked, and the bill passed in the Senate 68-29. Senate Republicans timed their votes close to the February 15 expiration date in an effort to force the House to drop consideration of its own bill and accept the Senate version without revision. Instead the Democratic House leadership played for time and sought a further 21 day extension to the PAA. On February 13, 2008, this action was defeated by House Republicans along with a small group of liberal Democrats 191-229. In effect, the liberal Democrats called the Republicans and Bush Administration’s bluff. The deadline passed, the country did not collapse, as right wing commentators ominously predicted. A few Democrats showed some backbone although the vast majority of them continued to punt or enable. Somewhat lost in all the kabuki was the real object of the exercise: to grant immunity for the telecoms. DNI Mike McConnell touched on this in a February 15, 2008 NPR interview: The issue is liability protection for the private sector. We can’t do this mission without their help. But even this admission is heavily spun. The telecoms have substantial protection from liability under existing law and their exposure to large payouts is minimal. The government and telecoms are intimately intertwined, and this relationship will not be changed by a failure to grant immunity to them. Further the telecoms can not duck future cooperation with the government (even if they were so inclined) if that cooperation is accompanied by a court order. No, immunity is not about protecting the telecoms (they don’t need it) but rather squelching civil lawsuits which if allowed to proceed could expose the extent of this government’s spying on its own citizens. This isn’t about national security. It is about CYA. On June 20, 2008, the House passed the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 (HR 6304) by a vote of 293-129 with 105 Democrats, including the whole of the Democratic leadership, voting for. The bill spearheaded by the Democratic Majority leader Steny Hoyer was another cave on the part of Democrats to a deeply unpopular President at the end of his term. The text of the 114 page bill was made available to lawmakers less than 24 hours before the vote, meaning that almost no Representative actually read the bill before voting on it. No amendments were allowed, and only one hour was given for debate. The bill granted effective retroactive immunity to telecoms in a particularly cowardly way, not by Congressional action but by shifting responsibility to the federal district court level. All that was required was that the telecoms show they had received an OK from the President. There was no requirement that they demonstrate that they thought that the President’s request was lawful or that they (with their large legal departments) made any effort to assess its legality. This would end current lawsuits against telecoms which seek to learn what kind of spying the government was doing on its own citizens. On minimization (removal of information on untargeted Americans), the bill allowed for review by the FISA court only as to whether the government followed in general terms its own procedures, but gave the court no scope to judge the legality of the procedures themselves. If the government disagreed with the FISA court, it could continue wiretapping throughout the appeals process and keep all information so gathered regardless of the outcome of the appeal. The bill also contained a superfluous “exclusivity” clause making FISA the only bill through which this kind of surveillance could be carried out. I say “superfluous” because FISA already was the exclusive “legal” vehicle for such surveillance. In short, this is a dreadful piece of legislation and shows that the rot in our body politic is not confined to the Republican Party. House Democrats could have proposed responsible, uncontroversial changes to the FISA law, but they chose instead to endorse the lawless actions of the President and the telecoms and see that the extent of that lawlessness never saw the light of day. On July 9, 2008, the Senate easily voted down amendments to the House bill and passed it unchanged 69-28. Both Harry Reid the Senate Majority Leader (in how the bill was brought up) and the 2008 presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama (in not only not leading any opposition to the legislation but in fact supporting it) were instrumental in the passage of a bill codifying the power of the government to spy on its citizens without a warrant, sanctioning the illegal activities of telecoms, and hiding from public view the extent of the Bush Administration’s lawlessness in this area. No Republican voted against the bill. 21 Democrats and Joseph Lieberman (ID-CT) voted for it. Baucus (D-MT) Bayh (D-IN) Carper (D-DE) Casey (D-PA) Conrad (D-ND) Feinstein (D-CA) Inouye (D-HI) Johnson (D-SD) Kohl (D-WI) Landrieu (D-LA) Lincoln (D-AR) McCaskill (D-MO) Mikulski (D-MD) Nelson (D-FL) Nelson (D-NE) Obama (D-IL) Pryor (D-AR) Rockefeller (D-WV) Salazar (D-CO) Webb (D-VA) Whitehouse (D-RI) More on the FISA modification legislative history can be found here.
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  http://ronsilliman.blogspot.com/2008/08/photo-by-kaplan-harr...
  23 days ago in Silliman's Blog · Authority: 320

  photo by Kaplan Harris Andy Gricevich on the work of Barrett Watten Watten’s talk on ”The Expanded Object of the Poetic Field; or, What is a Poet / Critic?” (PDF) § Gricevich & Carrie Etter on Chicago Public Radio § Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is dead § The house of John Ashbery Ashbery in Italian § Poetry and Public Language: the book  “Poetry is slow politics” On Poetry and Public Language “No Way Out” No hope for the disappeared On misusing history § Terence Winch on Tim Dlugos § My nightmare § Mark Nowack on Bill Griffiths “A working-class hero is something to be” Alan Gilbert takes the bait Gilbert on art and/or propaganda Freestyle or fakin’ it Dreams as the brain’s Draino § Otoliths § Sharon Mesmer on the “I” in flarf flarf strikes back? § Alejandro Aura has died § Sonnets and Comedies § Defending O’Hara’s Collected § Oranges & Sardines § Summer camp with Bernadette Mayer § The growing world reputation of José Garcia-Villa § Marianne Moore & Magic Johnson § “From A to Zyxt” § Small Press Traffic is looking for a leader § Reading Hejinian Slowly § Reginald Shepherd on Jack Spicer § “the Jerry Seinfeld of American poetry” § On difficulty, real or feigned § Michael Palmer’s selected essays § The Irish-American anthology that never was § “World’s first poetry anthology… by lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans Christians” § Third Word: Post-Socialist Poetry § Southern Appalachian Poetry § Lucia Perillo on Kenneth Patchen § Natasha Trethewey’s Canadian roots § Coconut § A poetry bookstore in Beacon, NY § Pierre Berès has died § Andrew Crozier & literary connection § Poetry’s back in Baltimore § Why D.A. Powell isn’t a critic Catholic (big C) tastes in poetry Powell on Alice Dunbar-Nelson § Juvenilia for Spring & All Ginsberg on Creeley & Williams § Alvin Feinman has passed away § The Epithalamium of Harry Matthews § Rejecting Bill Knott § The Pigeon Poetry Project § Emily Dickinson & radical Tom A new reading of Emily Dickinson Alberto Mancini’s ED-based paintings § More poetry of Radovan Karadzic, this time from Iowa City The Bad Poets’ Society § Helping a bookstore expand § Terence Winch on Doug Lang § “Untouchable” poetics § Mary Karr on Etheridge Knight § Restarting the rep of Felicia Hemans § Going back with Christopher Wiseman § Two books by William Michaelian § Roberto Bolaño’s “Clara” § Kipling’s elegy for his son § The science of satire § Horsies! & more horsies! § Poetry & medicine § LA bids farewell to Scott Wannberg § Rereading Tipton’s Sophocles § What is literacy, anyway? § Kay Ryan’s wild ride Assessing Kay Ryan “malnourished, under muscled, simply lifeless  and still as a rusty coin in a cushion crack” § Al Young’s latest collection § On David Orr’s Baraka § Dave P. Fisher has won the Will Rogers Medallion § Anne Stevenson’s latest foreword § A Better Class of Doggerel § Aussie books want trade protection § Literary geography § Scruffy is unamused He’s the bookies’ favorite in the Mann-Booker long list Fatwa memoir forthcoming? A Salman Rushdie podcast (MP3) On writing Midnight’s Children § A novel-a-day for 3 months? § The Forward Prize shortlists India roots for one of its own § Orwell’s diaries § Shakespeare in your brain § 20th century poetry, from a Tamil point-of-view § A visit with Sam Cornish § Mary Ann O’Gorman’s Life in This House § Pitching every woman’s book as “chick lit” § Talking with Charmai Lai Chaman § Talking with Doris Lessing § Milwaukee’s team readies for the National Slam Madison readies for 76 teams § Updating campus bookshops § In Edinburgh, James Thin bookshops are set to disappear tho the bookstores themselves will survive § Poetry & the origins of fly fishing § More regulations coming on file sharing at school § Poetry & the material world § Murder at the book warehouse § A literary renaissance in Point Reyes? § Remembering Zbignew Herbert § Henry Gould & All § Pasternak & creativity Poetry & the Russian Soul § Poetry vs. poetics plus a game plus a forthcoming conference § Not George Bush’ poet laureate § E.M. Forster, Middle Manager § Poetry at the Calgary Fringe Fest § Dear temperamental adjective § A unique writing program in Arvon § A television prop comes to life § Microsoft adds tools for academic publishing § Ishmael Reed’s “informed rant” § Talking with Ray Bradbury § The heritage of gout § This is a break-even proposition if & only if Tao Lin’s novel makes $31,250 worth of royalties (do the math here) § “vomitous stupidity” § Art + kitsch = ? § Buildings have a short list too § Apollinaire & Picasso § The films of Ish Klein § Peter Schjeldahl on “After Nature” at the New Museum § Ad Reinhardt at the Guggie § The London art market & the dysfunctional one in China § Hirst’s first – a blow to the gallery system? § Henry Darger’s room § Harold & Clement § Saving Pollock’s Mural in the Iowa City flood § Saving rock art § Great art disasters § Robert Irwin on the Getty Gardens § The “Mr. Big” of indigenous art § Dance + Visual Art = performance?? § Said on music § Does post-genre music really exist? § Gilberto Gil chooses art over politics § New Albion goes to Bard § Don’t forget Comic-Con § The comic art of Gary Sullivan § Dissing anthropology § The Antikythera Mechanism § Kevin Bacon rules § Unfortunately, so does Main Core

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