Bob Woodward’s new book about the invasion of Iraq quotes Colin Powell as telling George W. of the importance of a post-war political solution. This has apparently upset the good folks at Pottery Barn.

From the NYDailyNews:

“You are going to be the proud owner of 25 million people. You will own all their hopes, aspirations and problems. You’ll own it all,” Woodward quotes Powell as warning Bush about the consequences of invading Iraq. “Privately, Powell and [Deputy Secretary of State Richard] Armitage called this the Pottery Barn rule: You break it, you own it.”

Yesterday, Pottery Barn’s Oshirak complained bitterly: “This is certainly not our policy in any of our 174 Pottery Barn retail outlets in North America. In fact, there is no policy regarding this whatsoever.”

And, instead of dealing with, like, important stuff, a State Department spokesman actually responded to this:

“I don’t think anybody from the State Department would ever have intended to cast aspersions on Pottery Barn’s commitment to customer service,” [spokesman Adam] Ereli told me.

Oshirak shot back: “Well, it’s out there.”

Yes, this is surely the worst thing about the U.S. Iraq policy; that Pottery Barn is upset. Haliburton, however, seems fine with it.

The excellent Southern Living magazine has had to recall its April issue because following one of the recipies could apparently cause burns.

In a recipie for icebox rolls, readers were instructed to boil a cup and a half of shortening in water for five minutes. You may have heard that oil and water don’t mix all that well; four readers were burned by spattering fat.

The publishers pulled the issue — a difficult and expensive thing to do — and mailed a postcard with a corrected recipie to all subscribers.

I would imagine that there’s an opening for a test kitchen editor in Alabama right about now… (And as of this writing, there’s sho’nuff just such a job posted.)

Seems that there’s a new federally required warning on condom wrappers.

From the AP:

Justin Kleinman hadn’t noticed the condom packet wording until he squinted to read it recently.

“This is completely pointless,” the 24-year-old Chicagoan said of the warning telling him that, while condoms can help prevent the spread of some sexually transmitted diseases, there are no guarantees.

I’m with this guy:

But scientists who study HPV worry that abstinence groups are dismissing important information to promote their own values.

“I want to be polite. But it appalls me when I see scientific and medical studies being manipulated for a different agenda,” said Tom Broker. He’s a professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and president of the International Papillomavirus Society, a coalition of experts who study HPV.

It’s not enough that Donald Trump owns buildings and casinos and a large chunk of the New York City skyline. This CNN story shows that he wants to own segments of my career.