Even More Linkblogging

It's summertime, which means easy living, jumping fish, high cotton, etc., etc. Here are a few more stray items.

I'm not sure exactly what Liddy Dole was up to, but boy, was it strange. The Senate was considering a bill that would, among other things, triple funding for international AIDS efforts. The bill was already named after the recently deceased Tom Lantos and Henry Hyde, but Dole wanted to add Jesse Helms, one of the most notorious foes of AIDS research and funding (even if Bono ultimately talked him in to supporting funding to combat AIDS in foreign children). Needless to say, the AIDS community was up in arms, but I can't imagine that conservative supporters of Helms could be happy about this, either--could they want Helms's legacy to be associated with an issue he so vociferously opposed? The AP story reporting the bill's passage makes no mention of the proposed name change, which didn't make it through. Is this Liddy's passive-aggressive way of suggesting that she doesn't really want another term?

Am I the only one who thinks it would be wonderfully entertaining to watch Maureen Dowd engage in a little "harmless teasing" of John McCain?

Via Boing Boing, a new Black Canary Barbie is making waves on the other side of the Atlantic. Calling her "S&M Barbie" and making special note of her "kinky fishnets," The Sun whips up quite tizzy. My favorite part is this quote from an appalled Christian group: "Barbie has always been on the tarty side and this is taking it too far." Indeed.