The Dish

A reader provides some legal context for the reasons for Fred Thompson’s divorce from his first wife, noted here:

I’m a supporter of Ron Paul, but the Daily Mail statement regarding Fred Thompson’s "cruel and inhuman" treatment is very misleading.  "Cruel and inhuman treatment" (or something similar) is a common legal cause of action in the divorce law of many states.  In states without no-fault divorce, one needs (or needed) a legal cause of action in order to file for divorce.  One of those causes of action is "cruel and inhuman" treatment.  Importantly, cruel and inhuman treatment was and is one of the most common causes of action in fault-based divorce states/cases, because it has a very low, very subjective standard of proof in order to get the judge to grant the divorce.  In fact, the "cruel and inhuman" treatment cause of action is identical in many respects to the "irreconcilable differences"/no-fault cause of action, but without the procedural requirements of a lengthy separation.  The standard for a "cruel and inhuman" cause of action can amount to simply showing that forcing the couple to remain married would be unreasonable.

In other words, the fact that Thompson’s divorce was based on his "cruel and inhuman treatment" means nothing other than that he and his ex didn’t want to have to deal with a 2 year separation before seeking their divorce.

Flattery will get you anywhere:

John Seiter and Eric Dutson of Utah State University, recruited two hairstylists who, after cutting their customer’s hair, randomly pulled one of three pennies from their pocket.

If the penny was marked with a 1, they gave the customer no compliment. If it was marked with a 2 they told the customer: "Your hair looks terrific". If it was marked with a 3 they said: "Any hairstyle would look good on you." The amount tipped by each customer was then recorded by the hairstylist.

You guessed it: the more compliments the bigger the tip. Worth thousands in a year of haircuttery.

"The lazier a man is, the more he plans to do tomorrow," – the caption on Fred Thompson’s high-school yearbook photo, according to the Daily Mail. I realized the other day who he reminds me of: Foghorn Leghorn. As in:

The latest major poll of Iraqis makes a very sobering counter-point to the guarded optimism of Petraeus and Crocker – and it’s instructive to compare the latest results from earlier this year. How do Iraqis view the invasion? In February 2007, at the beginning of the surge, 47 percent defended the invasion; now that’s down to 37 percent. The percentage who believed the invasion was somewhat or absolutely wrong in February was 53 percent; now it’s 63 percent. There is a slight decline in the number of Iraqis believing that the security situation is good or very good. 61 percent of Iraqis say that the security situation has deteriorated since March. As for their own neighborhoods, 24 percent say things are more secure; 31 percent say things have gotten worse; and 45 percent report no change. 72 percent believe US troops are making the security situation worse. 92 percent of Sunni Arab Iraqis see attacks on US forces as acceptable, compared with 50 percent of the Shia. I don’t see progress in these self-reported findings. Worse: the vast majority want Iraq to remain as one country. They just differ over who should run it.

(Photo: Roslan Rahman/AFP/Getty.)

Matt is concerned. Why hasn’t there been more focus on the very 9/12 extremism of Giuliani’s platform?

Here’s an Osama quote I somehow missed, reassuring us about his benevolence:

"The Jewish community in Morocco today is one of the largest communities in the world. They are alive with us and we have not incinerated them."

I think this is a new standard for Islamist treatment of the Jews. If not incinerated, it’s toleration.

An update on this apparently erroneous report.

Here’s a whole new meaning for "still life":

Martin Klimas drops clay figurines from the same height in complete darkness with the camera lens open. When the figurine hits the ground, the sound of the impact triggers the lights to go on for a fraction of a second.

Interview and more photos here.

A BBC global poll finds a convergence (PDF) between views across the world about the Iraq occupation, and the views of Americans’. Just not the president’s.

Kevin Drum notices some sleight of hand in a Petraeus graph.