WELCOME TO THE READING ROOM.

WHAT WAS IKE THINKING? You know how President Dwight Eisenhower warned against the "military-industrial complex"? Documentary-maker Eugene Jarecki says that the original draft said "military-industrial-congressional complex."

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S NOT NAPALM! Between the two Iraqi wars, the United States exerted control over Iraqi air space. In the Village Voice, Sydney Schanberg reports on the current and future air war, ending with an overview of how the Pentagon came to admit using napalm-like weapons against Iraqi troops.

THOSE CRAZY REPORTERS! Pregnant, showering, and driving reporters...they don't let circumstances get in the way of their stories. (Thanks to Romanesko.)

WHO KNOWS BROOKLYN? In the New York Press's recent Brooklyn issue, Armond White asks "Who can forget the cringe-inducing folly of Lee's Wizard of Oz homage--a color insert in a black and white movie--at Grand Army Plaza? The answer: no one. The scene was actually shot at Fort Greene Park. (Wasn't it?) Other Brooklyn issue corrections, from reader mail: Fort Greene does have decent sushi and Thai food, Dee Dee's recently closed, and a reader claims that Park Slope was "rough around the edges" in 1969-70, not '79-'80. (That might depend on what your definition of "edges" is.)

SHAKESPEAREAN FUN FOR THE FAMILY! Come Play With Me spreads the good word about the 1950s-meets-Midsummer Night's Dream production called Fools in Love.

GOODBYE, "GRAMPA"! The death epidemic continues, taking the life of "Grampa" Al Lewis. "To say that we will miss his generous, cantankerous, engaging spirit is a profound understatement," said WBAI-FM program director Bernard White. (Thanks to Gothamist.)

Photo: David Marc Fischer