Today on the Dish, in the aftermath to Irene, magic mushrooms bloomed, giant Gambian rats surfaced, and we parsed the reactions of the media and government. Bachmann blamed Irene on bloated government spending (ironically), global warming didn't cause Irene, and the real person behind @Irene remained calm. The right asked Perry to exchange identity politics for some actual policies, Erica Grieder expected him to follow public opinion, and we ran the numbers on a possible independent party bid. We exposed the Islamophobia racket, Peter Beinart eulogized neoconservatism, Zack went after Wehner's attack on the Obama economy, and TNC wasn't having Ron Paul's thoughts on FEMA. Perry compared his brain to chicken pot pie, and Brian Thill dissected the candidates' iconography.
Cameron's support for the Libyan intervention resembled Tony Blair's liberal view, we analyzed the spelling of Qaddafi's name, and we wondered if we'll need a big army if future interventions look like Libya's. The Middle East's bread riots aren't the region's first, one man's story of limbo at Guantanamo stands for many, and the fact that many of the revolutions were leaderless means the future of those countries can be determined in due time.
Humans aren't good at picking people out of a lineup, racists walk among us, and domestic terrorism was curtailed by suspect "preventative" measures. Bisexuality remains taboo even in progressive circles, the history of debt touches on sin and the sacred, and we reviewed a new film on lesbian romance in Iran. Readers connected infinity to Borges and Neil Gaiman and their own terror, attacked junk mail, and didn't want to be your gay best friend. David Sirota was sick of vegetarian foods glorifying fake meat, and Greek yogurt hails from Bulgaria.
Hathos alert here, creepy ad watch here, VFYW here, MHB here, and FOTD here.
–Z.P.
(Video: Irene NYC from Buffalo Picture House on Vimeo.)
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