POET TELLS LAURA TO FUCK OFF

As you probably know by now, the poet Sharon Olds has turned down Laura Bush's invitation to this weekend's National Book Festival in Washington and -- "more better" (in the mortal words of the Bullshitter-in-Chief) -- a chance to dine with the bullshitter's wife-in-chief.

Olds writes, protesting the war in Iraq and the regime's attack on human rights, "I knew that if I sat down to eat with you, it would feel to me as if I were condoning what I see to be the wild, highhanded actions of the Bush Administration." Olds says she couldn't help thinking she "would be taking food from the hand of the First Lady who represents the Administration that unleashed this war and that wills its continuation, even to the extent of permitting 'extraordinary rendition': flying people to other countries where they will be tortured for us."

She adds: "So many Americans who had felt pride in our country now feel anguish and shame, for the current regime of blood, wounds and fire. I thought of the clean linens at your table, the shining knives and the flames of the candles, and I could not stomach it." Hell, even Americans like us, who long ago lost their pride in the U.S. of A. (remember Vietnam?), feel shamed and anguished.

-- Tireless Staff of Thousands