Category: The Dish

"I was having a conversation over drinks with a friend, a lifelong Republican, big Wall Street legal brain (but now retired), sometime generous contributor to party funds, normally good-natured and mild-mannered. We weren’t even talking politics. The topic was the current woes of the poor old dollar.

Suddenly, with uncharacteristic anger, my drinking buddy said something like this: "The federal government’s main functions are to maintain a stable currency, keep us out of unnecessary foreign entanglements and wars, and patrol the coasts and borders. That’s three strikes on George Bush, [blasphemous expletive]! The man’s been a total [sexual expletive] disaster. What the [blasphemous expletive] [sexual expletive] hell was I thinking of, voting for this [cognitive-function expletive]?”" – Derb, reflecting how many feel.

I cannot independently verify this, but everything we know about the junta in Burma suggests it’s more than possible:

"Many more people have been killed in recent days than you’ve heard about. The bodies can be counted in several thousand."

Adventures in the state of education today. Or: why The View’s Sherri Shepherd is definitely not smarter than a fifth grader:

Being surrounded by crime and the fear of crime literally makes people sick:

A new UCL (University College London) study has shown that people with a strong fear of crime are almost twice as likely to show symptoms of depression. The research, based on data taken from the Whitehall II study*, also shows that fear of crime is associated with decreased physical functioning and lower quality of life. The findings are published in the American Journal of Public Health.

The study’s lead author, Dr Mai Stafford, UCL Epidemiology & Public Health, said: "Very broadly, these results show that if your fear of crime levels are higher, your health is likely to be worse – particularly your mental health. Of course, you might expect that people who are depressed or frail might be more afraid of crime and venturing out of doors, so we have taken account of previous mental health problems and physical frailty and adjusted for those accordingly. Even with a level playing field, the data still demonstrates this strong link between fear of crime and poorer mental health.

A chewing gum brand taste-test.

Inspiration can come from the strangest places:

In my search for the perfect title, I’ve begun to look to nail polish for inspiration. …This summer I was into shades of red and pink, and at my local beauty salon, where they use the OPI brand, my two favorites were "Moscow Nights" and "I’m Not Really a Waitress," both of which bring to my mind the sex trade. In a good way.

And so a story-title is born.

It stands for entertaiment, apparently, in this quite fantastic training video for being a walkabout cartoon character.

Conservative shadow foreign secretary William Hague addresses delegates at the 124th annual Conservative Party Conference at the Winter Gardens on September 30, 2007 in Blackpool, England. Party Leader David Cameron today called for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to call a snap election and added that the Conservatives can win. By Christopher Furlong/Getty Images.

William’s rhetorical defenestration of Brown is reported here. His riposte with respect to Thatcher is related to Brown’s gambit in inviting the Iron Lady to Number 10. The cheek.

Tight, tight, tight:

Among all Iowa Democratic voters, Clinton draws 31 percent, followed by Obama (25 percent) and Edwards (21 percent). But among likely caucus-goers, Obama enjoys a slim lead, polling 28 percent to best Clinton (24 percent) and Edwards (22 percent). Bill Richardson is the only other Democratic candidate to score in the double digits (10 percent).

Still, the poll suggests that Clinton’s supporters may be the strongest of the pack. A majority of her boosters (55 percent) say their support is “strong,” edging Obama (41 percent) and Edwards (37 percent). Neither Clinton’s gender nor Obama’s race seem to be a sticking point for Iowa Democrats; 94 percent of voters say they would be willing to vote for either a female candidate or a black candidate. But only two thirds think the country is ready to elect a woman (63 percent) or African-American (66 percent) president.

If Clinton loses Iowa to Obama, everything changes. Matt comments on the poll here.

I have deleted a post I put up a little while ago because I misread a post of Michael Ledeen’s. My specific point, such as it was, became moot once I re-read and thought about it. My apologies.