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.
They were barred from even confidential access to some prisoners in Gitmo, we now find. This is the defense:
A spokesman, Lt. Col. Edward M. Bush III, said, "I am in no position to speculate about what happened in 2003 … All I can tell you is what we do today. And the absolute policy now, today, is that the I.C.R.C. is granted access to everything."
Why were some prisoners withheld from Red Cross access – and in writing, a sign of the confidence some had that the Bush administration was very comfortable flouting international law? You know and I know. They were being tortured.
A young boy plays with a bird coated in sludge by the Black Sea shore on November 15, 2007 near the Krasnodar Region in Russia. A severe storm broke a small Russian oil tanker in two off the Ukrainian port of Kerch on Sunday, spilling up to 2,000 tonnes of fuel oil in what a Russian official said was an ‘environmental disaster’. By Igor Garin/Epsilon/Getty Images.
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?
An interesting nugget from Continetti:
Recently I’ve come across more than a few conservative Republicans who are open to voting for Obama should the Republicans nominate a polarizing figure like Giuliani. I asked one of them why they would vote for someone whose ideological leanings would result in policies with which conservatives disagree. "Well," this person said, "You’ve got to remember: the idelogical stuff never gets done."
