Random Thoughts

Unavailable

Every now and then, when you're single, you meet someone that interests you and you give them your number.
Sometimes you find they actually call you! But when that person calls they have a block on their phone number and what shows up on your caller ID is 'unavailable'.

Let me tell you folks, it doesn't get much more obvious than that, does it?

Donald Rumsfeld

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is an accomplished man. Not only did he guide the war in Iraq, he has been a pilot, a congressman, an ambassador, a businessman, and a civil servant.
But few people know that he is also a poet.

Until now, the secretary's poetry has found only a small and sceptical audience: the Pentagon press corps. Every day, Rumsfeld regales reporters with his jazzy, impromptu riffs. Few of them seem to appreciate it.

But we should all be listening. Rumsfeld's poetry is paradoxical: It uses playful language to address the most sombre subjects: war, terrorism, mortality. Much of it is about indirection and evasion: He never faces his subjects head on but weaves away, letting inversions and repetitions confuse and beguile.

Let us sample the best of Donald Rumsfeld's poetic insight.

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.

A Confession

Once in a while,
I'm standing here, doing something.
And I think,
"What in the world am I doing here?"
It's a big surprise.

Clarity

I think what you'll find,
I think what you'll find is,
Whatever it is we do substantively,
There will be near-perfect clarity 
As to what it is.

And it will be known,
And it will be known to the Congress,
And it will be known to you,
Probably before we decide it,
But it will be known.