A Not-So-Swiftboat Allah has this headline: Video: Mary Katharine Ham slams John Kerry on Fox I think on balance I’m more grossed out by the idea than turned on.  But honestly, I can’t help but be turned on a little, too.

If, for some reason, you’ve been distracted by other chores and find yourself without a candy stash on Halloween, it is best just to turn out your porch light and pretend you aren’t home.  Because handing out to today’s savvy trick or treater individual cheese cubes or that copy of Strunk and White’s Elements of Style you stole from the English Department’s storage closet?  Turns out to be not such

The ongoing debate on torture has been often been characterized by an intensity of passion entirely appropriate to such an ethically precarious subject.  In the midst of this discussion, there have been a few, arguably well-intentioned, rhetorical over-extensions that are worth exploring in some more detail.  In particular, the question of whether or not any given kind of torture is morally or ethically equivalent to any other given form of

“I’m sorry . . . did I say Genghis Khan?  I may have meant Kublai Khan.  Or maybe Chaka Khan.  Or maybe, you know, that guy that Ricardo Montalban played.  I can’t tell you for certain.  We were all doing a lot of that Thai stick that the Special Forces guys gave us when we took them into Cambodia.  Christmas, 1968.  Or was it 1972?  I don’t know, Senator, but

***update: Kerry to speak at 2pm press conference…I expect nothing less than full-throated indignance, condescension, and blame avoidance…great news for the GOP… That’s what I call must-see TV.  Oh, it’s more than just mild.  You’re rolling in it now. Poor Johnny.  So misunderstood.  I think he needs a little Loven. And now a word from our brave men and women in uniform: hanoi john, the gift that keeps on giving. 

Unfortunately Vlad the Regaler will be off the air tonight, in order to deal with the allegations regarding him that have been published by Wonkette. At this very difficult time for Vlad and his family, we request that the media understand and respect his need for a period of privacy. h/t Patterico

”101 103 Of Our Children Died In Iraq This Month” Headline at Kos. Unrelated: Brandy, You’re a Fine Girl . . . Bleg: Does anyone have the link to that site that covers Sharia fashion trends?  Thanks. Timing Questioning Opportunity: Wages, benefits up at 2-year best pace Joe Malchow: Kofi Annan Releases Long-Sought Financial Disclosure Forms… To Secret U.N. Committee He Just Made Up

1.  dirt 2.  dress socks 3.  Gilbert Gotfried 4.  a smear of Staphylococcus aureus

At the Backache, Pamela sets out her reasons for despising Halloween: What I didn’t know was the history of Halloween. It has deplorable, ugly elements. I would deck the house full out in Halloween decoration—but it was my kids who came home years ago and said. “hey ma, they use to kill Jews on Halloween. It’s a pagan holiday.” Apparently Halloween was a night when many pogroms would occur against

The Lebanese Muslim Association, which runs the main mosque in Sydney's south-west, sent an open letter to Sheikh Taj el Din Al Hilaly—Australia’s senior Muslim cleric— asking him to step aside from his position after it was revealed he had compared some women to uncovered meat during a sermon.  Coincidentally, the sheikh has asked for indefinite leave from his duties at Sydney's Lakemba mosque, after being hospitalized o­n Monday. Meanwhile,