Category: The Dish

"That still only counts as one." Gimli, "Lord of the Rings."

The conflict is heating up. Clinton is now calling the Pentagon’s dismissal of her request for plans for withdrawal "outrageous and offensive." Money quote:

"I deeply resent the administration’s continuing effort to impugn the patriotism of those of us who are asking hard questions."

If the Bushies wanted to shore up her anti-war credentials with the base, they’ve given her a golden opportunity to grandstand. It was, in my view, a grotesque over-reach from a Cheney protege at the Pentagon. Here’s the dumb-ass, offensive letter. Memo to the Pentagon: senators are not the enemy, and asking for accountability is not treason.

(Photo: Robert Sullivan/AFP/Getty.)

A website shows you how.

A reader writes:

I see eye-to-eye on most issues regarding this administration, but I think you’re making a mountain out of a molehill over Petraeus. So what if he’s a Republican? So what if he’s partisan towards the Administration? He’s the best man for the job. He should have been in command there years ago. He’s the closest thing to the classical warrior poet that we have in the modern context. His job is to kill the enemy, placate the population, and try to stabilize Bush’s disaster. So long as he does that job, who cares about his partisanship? I have seen no evidence whatsoever that his partisanship is affecting his judgment or his performance.

My simple response: I don’t think generals should be publicly Republican or Democrat. I’d rather Petraeus did his job in Iraq than played politics in America. Let him offer facts in September, based on the metrics cited last January. Spinning now on GOP propaganda outlets is counter-productive. What would the response be if he were offering administration talking points on Rush Limbaugh’s show? And what, pray, is the difference between that and Hewitt? Is Hannity next? Levin? Savage?

(Photo: Chris Hondros/Getty.)

More good news from the HIV treatment front: pozzers can get their immune systems back to normal functioning after a few years of HAART therapy. Not all of them, of course. But enough to make a real difference – and the study is a large one. They are also much less likely to infect others with undetectable viral loads. No doubt, Gabriel Rotello would prefer we not pass on this news. It’s off-message. The truth often is.

About the creepiest weird illness story I’ve read in a long time.

GPS + cell-phones = no one is safe.

Norm Geras differs from my conservatism and Ramesh Ponnuru’s Christianism.

A graphic art time-waster. Most cool. Even cooler: a flash animated kaleidsocope thingy.

Can I second Gregg Easterbrook, Glenn Reynolds and Glenn’s reader, Richard Fagin? Pioneers of new technology and new medicine are rarely regarded as humanitarians by the media or the liberal intelligentsia. But they may do more to improve and save people’s lives than any benevolent government or charity worker. I’m not saying charity-workers do not deserve our support and praise. I’m saying that the definition needs to be expanded. But that would include the drug companies, wouldn’t it?