Methodist Bishop Bucks Bush on War

And now the most intriguing two minutes in television, the latest from the wartime grapevine:

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Postponed Poetry

The White House has postponed a poetry festival after an invited versifier vowed to transform the event into a blank-verse anti-war protest.

First Lady Laura Bush's office announced this week that it had put on hold a symposium on poets Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson and Langston Hughes.

Sam Hamill sent an e-mail to colleagues asking them to contribute statements or poems to protest President Bush's stance toward Iraq.

Following the White House decision, Hamill told the Boston Globe, "It tells you how little they understand poetry and poets, including the poets under discussion. It's a way to co-opt people, makes them look like they are interested in the arts without bothering to understand the arts."

The White House defends the decision, saying "While Mrs. Bush understands the right of all Americans to express their political views, this event was designed to celebrate poetry."

Methodist Bishop Bucks Bush on War

President Bush belongs to the United Methodist Church — one of whose officers now appears in an anti-war ad.

The spot, sponsored by the National Council of Churches, features Methodist Bishop Melvin G. Talbert and claims a war in Iraq would kill or wound a half-million people.

Anti-war actress Janeane Garofalo then asks, "Do we have the right  to do that to a country that's done nothing to us?" to which Bishop Talbert replies:

"No nation under God has that right. It violates international law. It violates God's law. War only creates more terrorists and makes a dangerous world for our children."

The sponsors of the ad say they're running the spot for three weeks — but only on cable news stations in the New York and Washington markets.