gleans + 1xlagniappe + 1xaddenda at 7:50 PM MT, 3/15

US Draws Portrait of Iraq Bombers

BAGHDAD (AP) - The suicide bombers who have killed 10,000 people in Iraq, including hundreds of American troops, usually are alienated young men from large families who are desperate to stand out from the crowd and make their mark, according to a U.S. military study. As long suspected, most come from outside Iraq. Saudi Arabia, home of most of the 9/11 hijackers, is the single largest source. And the pipeline is continually replenished by al-Qaida in Iraq's recruiters.

 

More Rate Cuts From Fed Expected Tuesday
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Desperate to aid an economy in crisis, the Federal Reserve is ready to deliver yet another big interest rate cut....

 

Teachers’ Voices Are Getting Louder, for Good Reason By WINNIE HU  In an era of chronic ear infections, widespread iPod use and rampant attention-deficit disorders, school officials have embraced the microphones for mainstream classrooms.

 

BoÎte

 

And the Stars Raved

By DEBORAH SCHOENEMAN

At Villa, Los Angeles’s latest hot spot for tabloid mascots, one can barely toss an ice cube without hitting a celebrity.

 

 

 

Red Baron recast as a German hero

As RAF marks 90th anniversary, Germany reclaims Red Baron as national hero

 

 

 

Bay watch

Bay is a wonderfully delicate herb that can be used with all sorts. Nigel Slater turns over a new leaf

 

 

 

Don't hit the panic button
Risk by Dan Gardner and Panicology by Simon Briscoe and Hugh Aldersey-Williams argue that far from being in ever-increasing danger, we have, in fact, never been safer, says Rafael Behr

 

 

 

The atheist delusion <== recommended
'Opposition to religion occupies the high ground, intellectually and morally,' wrote Martin Amis recently. Over the past few years, leading writers and thinkers have published bestselling tracts against God. John Gray on why the 'secular fundamentalists' have got it all wrong

 

 

 

Obama's pastor 'forced to quit campaign'

Illinois senator desperately tries to distance himself from his mentor after pastor says America is to blame for Sept 11 attacks.

US elections in full

 

 

 

Toppling of the Luv Guv is ‘Wall Street revenge’

Eliot Spitzer’s downfall as governor last week may have roots in pursuit of bankers as state attorney-general

Eliot Spitzer is lewd but still shrewd

Cassandra: The really annoying thing about Eliot Spitzer

 

 

 

Imperialism lite prolongs Iraqi horror

Today’s imperialism lite, by debating its departure, induces instability, foments rebellion and undermines its mission

Simon Jenkins

Iraq’s forgotten refugee children

 

 

 

The professional way to protect a marriage

A man may be doing a far better thing in using prostitutes than in having torrid affairs with his wife’s best friends

Minette Marin

 

 

 

Singular genius of a double man

Tom Stoppard's disjointed upbringing gave him a talent for unlikely associations. Peter Kemp sizes up the man

 

 

 

Britain needs to bring back rationing

Philip Pullman, whose new novel has an ecological message, offers some drastic ideas on how to save the planet

 

 

lagniappe

Sestina by Elizabeth Bishop

September rain falls on the house.
In the failing light, the old grandmother
sits in the kitchen with the child
beside the Little Marvel Stove,
reading the jokes from the almanac,
laughing and talking to hide her tears.

She thinks that her equinoctial tears
and the rain that beats on the roof of the house
were both foretold by the almanac,
but only known to a grandmother.
The iron kettle sings on the stove.
She cuts some bread and says to the child,

It's time for tea now; but the child
is watching the teakettle's small hard tears
dance like mad on the hot black stove,
the way the rain must dance on the house.
Tidying up, the old grandmother
hangs up the clever almanac

on its string. Birdlike, the almanac
hovers half open above the child,
hovers above the old grandmother
and her teacup full of dark brown tears.
She shivers and says she thinks the house
feels chilly, and puts more wood in the stove.

It was to be, says the Marvel Stove.
I know what I know, says the almanac.
With crayons the child draws a rigid house
and a winding pathway. Then the child
puts in a man with buttons like tears
and shows it proudly to the grandmother.

But secretly, while the grandmother
busies herself about the stove,
the little moons fall down like tears
from between the pages of the almanac
into the flower bed the child
has carefully placed in the front of the house.

Time to plant tears, says the almanac.
The grandmother sings to the marvelous stove
and the child draws another inscrutable house.

 

addenda

Mid Life - Michael Haslam; Paperback
In Stock

The Best American Erotic Poems: From 1800 to the Present - David Lehman; Hardcover
In Stock

Christopher Marlowe: The Complete Plays - Christopher Marlowe; Paperback
In Stock

Chapman's Homeric Hymns and Other Homerica (Bollingen Series (General)) - Homer; Paperback
Available for Pre-order

Imbibe!: From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash, a Salute in Stories and Drinks to "Professor" Jerry Thomas, Pioneer of the American Bar Featuring the Origina - David Wondrich; Hardcover
In Stock

The Paris Review Interviews, I (Paris Review Interviews) - The Paris Review; Paperback
In Stock

The Paris Review Interviews, II (Paris Review Interviews) - The Paris Review; Paperback
In Stock

Xenophon's Retreat: Greece, Persia, and the End of the Golden Age - Robin Waterfield; Hardcover
In Stock

Cultural Amnesia: Necessary Memories from History and the Arts - Clive James; Hardcover
In Stock

Red, White, and Drunk All Over: A Wine-Soaked Journey from Grape to Glass - Natalie MacLean; Hardcover
In Stock

Hemingway & Bailey's Bartending Guide to Great American Writers - Mark Bailey; Hardcover
In Stock

Selected Stories (Lawrence, D. H.) (Penguin Classics) - D. H. Lawrence; Paperback
In Stock

The Highly Civilized Man: Richard Burton and the Victorian World - Dane Kennedy; Hardcover
In Stock

Moonshine: Recipes * Tall Tales * Drinking Songs * Historical Stuff * Knee-Slappers *How to Make It * How to Drink It * Pleasin' the Law * Recoverin' the Next Day - Matthew Rowley; Paperback
In Stock

Thirty-five Years of Newspaper Work: A Memoir by H. L. Mencken (Maryland Paperback Bookshelf) - H. L. Mencken; Paperback
In Stock

Honor: A History - James Bowman; Hardcover
In Stock

Collected Ancient Greek Novels - B. P. Reardon; Paperback
In Stock