Al Barger exchanges email with Ray Hanania, Jackie Mason's jilted opening act. Hanania explains that the Lebanese newspaper column where he called the Israeli government "Nazi-like", and expressed hope for the effective destruction of Israel "does not reflect my views ... it did reflect my emotions ...". Well that clears it up for me then.

Bedtime for Gonzo. The very useful Tim Blair tells us about an interview on the Australian ABC with the rapidly deteriorating Hunter S. Thompson, who shares his, uh, thoughts on September 11.

Axis of Evil. Syria is harboring Al Qaeda members in Lebanon, and apparently failed to tell U.S. investigators that Muhammad Atta made a number of mysterious visits to Syria prior to September 11. I suspect that the boy doctor despot from Damascus will soon regret his career change and will wish that he had gone on instead to a comfortable but unremarkable life prescribing eyedrops at an HMO somewhere. ( cookies and milk in Damascus, anybody?)

Joanne Jacobs reports on an idiotic brouhaha about the word niggardly, which is a perfectly legitimate word that unfortunately sounds a bit like a completely unrelated racial slur.