Category: The Dish

Weirder and weirder. They appear to be coming from a company based in … Utah. And that company, according to Liz Mair, has at least two employees, including a senior VP, who have actually donated to Romney. Romney is blaming McCain-Feingold – and you can allow your own head to do a Linda Blair on that one. So a dirty trick? Or some self-inflicted self-hate crime? Well, we’ll almost certainly find out soon …

Dallas News wonders why there are so few grocery stores in poor neighborhoods. Econobloggers pounce: AWOL store executives? Lack of cars? More discussion here.

Finally, a use for stupid spoiled you-know-whats:

Neuroscientists have found that a cardboard cutout of the ubiquitous Hilton Hotel heiress has a painkilling effect on mice. But don’t expect clinical trials to begin anytime soon: Paris works only for males, and it may be only because she stresses them out.

Hat tip: Bookforum.

It seems as if it’s becoming a two-person race.

I can’t believe I beat Drudge on this one. The Islamists are poised to move in for a p.r. coup in helping the victims. We need to counter swiftly. Latest death count? Up to 500. Over half a million in shelters. More Sidr updates and news here.

A remarkably weak column from Mona Charen. Bottom line:

No, Ron Paul is not my candidate. Not for president. He might make a dandy new leader for the Branch Davidians.

The anti-Semitic slur is repeated.

Scott has some new, and deeply disturbing details, about the torture of an innocent man, thanks to the Bush Justice Department:

[Inspector General for Homeland Security] investigators were astonished particularly by what transpired in the first ten days of Arar’s detention. Well-defined procedures were not followed. The State Department was consciously kept out of the loop. Steps were taken to circumvent Arar’s rights, and particularly to guard against the prospect that a lawyer for Arar would challenge his highly dubious treatment through a habeas corpus proceeding. Who was at fault in this process? A group of very senior figures, mostly in the U.S. Department of Justice.

Hence the attempt to quash the report.

… is the broader economy next?

"If America is forced to withdraw by the Democrats and civil war erupts, it will be Cambodia 2.0, and the American left will own a second genocide in a single generation," – Hugh Hewitt.

Aren’t we being forced to withdraw next spring because we have reached the outer limit of what the current military can sustain? Is that the responsibility of the Democrats as well? Is Bush ever responsible for anything?

"Political campaigns can be actually taken over by the ‘public relations’ experts, who tell the candidate not only how to use TV but what to say, what to stand for and what ‘kind of person’ to be. Political shows, like quiz shows, can be fixed–and sometimes are… Whether TV improves or worsens our political system, whether it serves the purpose of political education or deception, whether it gives us better or poorer candidates, more intelligent or more prejudiced campaigns-the answers to all this are up to you, the viewing public.

It is in your power to perceive deception, to shut off gimmickry, to reward honesty, to demand legislation where needed. Without your approval, no TV show is worthwhile and no politician can exist," – John F. Kennedy, TV Guide, 14 November, 1959.

(Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty.)