In the case of “civil war,” it fell to a morning television anchor, Matt Lauer, to officially bless the term before the “Today” show moved on to such regular fare as an update on the Olsen twins. That juxtaposition of Iraq and post-pubescent eroticism was only too accurate a gauge of how much the word “war” itself has been drained of its meaning in America after years of waging a war that required no shared sacrifice. Whatever you want to label what’s happening in Iraq, it has never impeded our freedom to dote on the Olsen twins.

From Frank RIch in today’s NY Times…

Hello, My name is Chas and I can never remember how to use a semi colon, even though I consider myself a writer.

;                             

So its official, I have been on the road long enough that I have run out of the liquid body wash I brought with me from home. So today I used a Molton and Brown shower gel that came from some nice hotel, and while Molton and Brown make my favorite hand soap in Boston (Eastern Standard) this particualar fragrance is driving me crazy. Nothing tweaks my nose worse than smelling different then I normally smell, basically like me smelling like some (hopefully cute) girl I don’t know. And as much as I used to appreciate that circumstance back when I was a seemingly unattainable assistant poetry professor at Wellesley College – I’m older and wiser now…