The Dish

This is their latest creation, courtesy of Kos:

McCain-Lieberman: the Independent ticket in 2008. I can dream, can’t I?

The NYT has a wonderful pargraph in its print edition today:

The other missiles that the North fired appeared to be a mix of short-range Nodong missiles, of the kind the North has sold to Iran, Pakistan and other nations.

In the online edition, the missiles are now called Rodong. But the 620-mile Nodong clearly exists. Let us now praise silly names for weapons and the fact that missiles of mass murderers manage to live up to them.

"We do not want gold, or dresses or the food of kings. We want to live without fear for our lives and our kids. These days neither your tribe nor the police can protect you. It is the jungle law," – Qais Mohammed, shop-keeper, in the hell of Ramadi.

This piece is a real example of the MSM at its best: gritty, balanced, detail-based reporting on the grim war of attrition against the insurgency in Anbar province. The soldiers who are fighting on our behalf in these conditions are among the finest this country has ever sent abroad. We need more of them. Two more divisions in Baghdad at the very least.

Minneapolis, Minnesota, 9.15 am.

San Leandro, California, 4.50 pm.

"All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God. These are grounds of hope for others. For ourselves, let the annual return of this day [Independence Day] forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them," – Thomas Jefferson, June 24, 1826, in the last significant letter he wrote (he died on July 4, 1826).

… One another. And a Catholic nation, Spain, (after Canada) leads the way.

An English reader protests my take on the English football player, Wayne Rooney:

Thuggish he may appear, but he is, unlike say a Vinnie Jones or any of umpteen Milwall hatchet men, a prodigious footballer, with grace, balance, timing and all the rest of it fused in one of those rare comings-together that produce talent that transcends their surroundings. Men far, far more knowledgeable and experienced than I am describe him as potentially a "great" on the scale of a Best, or a Maradonna. Like you, I am a former rugby player more than a soccer player, but I can recognise his brilliance in a way that I cannot see the skill of more humdrum players. To find this exquisite skill in a form so troll-like is startling, but it is as a footballer that one has to assess him.

The clip you link to does at least include some of the evidence that there is a case to be made that his dismissal was harsh, and that he is no shifty fouler.
Again, it’s probably my grounding in rugby, but I find the diving, the faking, the dramatising appeals to the ref and so on of football infuriating. Rooney strives to stay on his feet, he works hard. He is our greatest footballer for decades – celebrate him!