From Donald Rumsfeld's mouth to our ears:

On Democracy
People elected
Those people to office.
That's what they think, and
That's life.
(Feb. 20, 2003)

Clever Hart Seely reads the paper and the DOD briefings. From his readings he finds poetry by Donald Rumsfeld in these papers--rising unbidden as a vapor. It is thought provoking writing. To quote Robbie, " it kinda makes you think".

You can listen to an interview by Steve Inskeep with Hart Seely on NPR > Additionally, the Seely/Rumsfeld combination has manifested itself in song and music too. NPR couldn't resist, and here is a story on that>>

Here are some appropriate favorites for this wonderful news from Hart Seely's book, Pieces of Intelligence: The Existential Poetry of Donald Rumsfeld:

The Unknown
As we know,
There are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.
We also know
There are known unknowns.
That is to say
We know there are some things
We do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don't know
We don't know.
—Feb. 12, 2002, Department of Defense news briefing

The Digital Revolution
Oh my goodness gracious,
What you can buy off the Internet
In terms of overhead photography!
A trained ape can know an awful lot
Of what is going on in this world,
Just by punching on his mouse
For a relatively modest cost!
—June 9, 2001, following European trip

The Situation
Things will not be necessarily continuous.
The fact that they are something other than perfectly continuous
Ought not to be characterized as a pause.
There will be some things that people will see.
There will be some things that people won't see.
And life goes on.
—Oct. 12, 2001, Department of Defense news briefing

Richard Williams sums up his impression of Donald Rumsfeld here>

I guess there will be some things that people will see and that people won't see...But this Philip Glassian almost mantraesque notations we need to see and be sad that this will no longer continue in the governmental tomes.

On with the new!