WhimsyLand

For some reason, Amazon is recommending poetry books by Jennifer L. Knox, Vijay Seshadri, D. A. Powell, Tyehimba Jess and Maile Meloy.  I don't think their Consumer Analysis Engine is smart enough to actually track the poetry genres that I like, and I've bought a lot of poetry books from Amazon that were all over the aesthetic map anyway.  They are probably just recommending books that are popular that I don't yet have.  Actually, Jess's leadbelly looks interesting.

Michael Hayden, the candidate for the top CIA job, is on the cover of Time (natch, it's a slow news week).  He was head of the NSA (which is one of the many intelligence operations of the Defense Department) and must have been pretty good at his job, as getting your 4th star is not a common occurrence nowadays (there hasn't been a 5-star since Omar Bradley).  By all accounts, he's a very bright cookie, but he also headed up most of the programs that have outraged civil libertarians, including the recent disclosures that all the major phone companies except Qwest handed over millions of phone records to the NSA.  There is also some nervousness at the CIA about his background, which excludes any experience in human intelligence gathering.  10 Questions for Mary Cheney, Big Dick's openly lesbian daughter, who has written her memoir at age 37 (doesn't anybody wait until they're in their dotage anymore?).  Don't get your hopes up, she's about as Republican as they come.  Protests against the Da Vinci Code include:  complete banning in the Faroe Islands; a threatened lawsuit by the Vatican; planned sermons by U.S. Christian pastors.  The same corporations with enlightened policies regarding same-sex couple benefits have been donating to candidates opposed to gay rights, including Merck, McDonald's and Morgan Stanley.  Joe DiMaggio's stuff is for auction, including a signed love-note from Marilyn Monroe  and his Babe Ruth Sultan of Swat crown.  The U.S. has the second highest infant mortality rate in the developed world at 0.5%, trailing only Latvia.  The price of metals has increased so much in the past two years that it costs 1.23 cents to make a penny and 5.73 cents to make a nickel.  45% of all Americans under the age of 5 belong to a racial minority group.  Expect Karl Rove to go on the offensive in the upcoming mid-term elections, using Christian values and anti-gay messages to rally the base.  There is speculation that he will be playing the race card as often as possible, targeting the outspoken and often embarrassing John Conyers and Charles Rangel.  Six experts opine on what it will take to fix the CIA, including promotion of field-proven agents instead of the usual ass-kissers.  An article outlines the pros and cons of talking with Iran, noting that direct negotiations would absolve the international community of it responsibility.  GM seems to be doing a little better with winners like the Saturn Aura, Buick Lucerne and Chevy HHR, but it still struggles of the legacy medical and retirement costs of two retired workers for every one now employed.  The gangs of New Orleans contributed to the highest murder rate in the country before Katrina, and police are worried that they may come back.  Big spread on Cars, Pixar's summer animated film with voice talents including Larry the Cable Guy, Owen Wilson, and Paul Newman.  Paris Hilton has a new video game called Diamond Quest.  William Hurt, who is in fact the grandstepson of Time's founder, will play a "well-to-do Christian minister in Texas whose life takes a sudden turn towards the unholy".