Thank you, but no, thank you.

I came across this letter from poet Sharon Olds to Laura Bush in which she declined an invitation to speak at the National Book Festival in Washington DC the same day of the anti-war demonstrations last Saturday. Olds rejected the invitation by saying:

But I could not face the idea of breaking bread with you. 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.

What kept coming to the fore of my mind was that I 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.

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.

Who could have said it better, but a poet?

Laura got zinged big time here. I really, really do wonder what she thinks of her husband's policies and actions. Does she have an opinion about them (who wouldn't?) Does she express them to him? Or would he hit her if she did? Maybe she's afraid of speaking up. I think I'd rather believe that then think she agrees with that troglodyte of a husband.