Kerry rolls out an impressive array of numbers counting how many people have lost health insurance, and then trots out his health care plan, with its signature description of giving every American the same health care members of Congress enjoy. And Bush zinged him with one number, a price tag of $5 trillion over ten years.

Media Tenor is back with a new Slant-o-meter for the second debate. I thought Bush won the debate on points, the Kerry supporters I know think it was a tie, yet amazingly, Media Tenor finds that the post-debate analyses were more negative towards Bush after the second debate than they were for the first.

Why would that be?

The digging up of a mob burial ground in Ozone Park, Queens, has finally gotten underway and already the feds have made some grim discoveries. According to the New York Post, “a set of keys, a small gold cross on a thin chain belonging to Philip ‘Philly Lucky’ Giaccone, and a credit card with Dominick ‘Big Trin’ Trinchera’s name on it, as well as a pricey Piaget watch” were found among the trinkets, in addition to actual human remains.

As mentioned in an earlier post, the murders of both Giaccone and Trinchera were brutally depicted in Donnie Brasco. But as disturbing as that scene was (and the later “disposal” of the bodies), both author Joe Pistone and director Mike Newell do deserve some credit for its grisly portrayal: Just as in the movie, “a boot with tissue attached” was actually found in the excavation. For those who have seen this movie, you know what I am talking about.

Apparently new dads as a group are the most likely to consider switching professions to become teachers. Good hours, good holiday schedule, etc. In Britain, these recently sleep-deprived men are now the target of a marketing campaign aimed at placing more male role models in schools. Guardian

Just read through the reasons most novelists surveyed by Slate are voting for John Kerry. Not surprisingly, a few emphasize Kerry’s use of language. Surprisingly, one of them, Thomas Beller, author of The Sleep-Over Artist mentions Kerry’s book The New Soldier, in which Beller found “his remarks were compelling.”

This is interesting given that Kerry’s “remarks” before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee were heavily edited for The New Soldierin order to remove his most libelous and controversial comments on the U.S. military. I wrote about this a few weeks ago for the Standard.

It’s also interesting how these novelists express political support. In a childish, nanny-nanny-poo-poo voice: “I’m voting for Kerry, because I have a brain and so does he.” (Amy Tan) In educated-class blather: “Because in every regard vis-à-vis the policies of this country I support John Kerry instead of George Bush.” (Chang-Rae Lee, who I kinda like) Wearing their provincialism on their sleeve: “Like virtually everyone I know, I’m voting for Kerry.” (Joyce Carol Oates)

This spoof, Fellowship 9/11, is going to be gigantic.

You see, the entire preemptive war against Morder was brought about in response to the attack on Helm’s Deep. But Aragorn knew about Helm’s Deep in Advance. His close friend, Gandalf the Gray was connected to Saruman–the very person responsible for the attack.

As Grima Wormtongue (D-Rohan) explains, “People were afraid after the attack on Helm’s Deep. A culture of fear swept Middle Earth. People will do anything if they’re afraid. . . . I’m saying Sauron never attacked us–Saruman did. Think about that.”

And you see, the war was never about any “One Ring.” It was about oil.

Go, watch, enjoy.

Man bit by deadly snake. Michigan police average 110 mph while driving the anti-venom to him. Awesome.

Whether you’re a Bush or Kerry supporter, if you were honest with yourself, you’d admit that you, too, would pay anything to hear Bush follow P.J. O’Rourke’s suggestions for the next debate.

My personal favorite: “You say that we won the war, but we’re losing the peace because Iraq is so unstable. When Iraq was stable, it attacked Israel in the 1967 and 1973 wars. It attacked Iran. It attacked Kuwait. It gassed the Kurds. It butchered the Shiites. It fostered terrorism in the Middle East. Who wants a stable Iraq?”

Also, it might be nice if Bush mentioned Kerry’s vote against the 1991 Gulf War. But I’m sure the president has an excellent reason for not bringing it up in either of the first two debates. After all, he has an unbelievably penetrating mind. Karen Hughes says so.

As Howell Raines observed earlier this year, Hughes claims in her recent book that “‘what “Bush does best of all’ is ‘ask questions that bore to the heart of the matter.’ She says that during the 2000 campaign she and a ‘brilliant’ issues staff ‘never once succeeded’ in anticipating all of Bush’s penetrating questions. ‘He has a laser-like ability,’ Hughes writes, ‘to reduce an issue to its core.'”