[Politico]

“Sharron will be sharing her beauty and makeup challenges during the campaign and how she overcame them! She had confidence that she would look great with 14 -16 hour days & with numerous appearances daily… so can you!” [SeneGence email, via Political Wire]

You probably don’t know Milton Levine by name. But you know him by his works.

His was an American life. Born in Pittsburgh, in 1913, to Russian Jewish immigrants. Fought in World War II. Built bridges in France and Germany. Married the USO piano player in Normandy. Returned home to start a business with his brother-in-law. Moved to Hollywood in 1952 to seek his fortune.

And there, ladies and gentlemen, there he found it.

For it was here, in Southern California, the Land of Dreams, that the fecund mind of Milton Levine conceived that Icon of American Modernity, that Symbol of Progress, the Eighth Wonder of the World:

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Our guest columnist this afternoon posted this from the American embassy in Cairo on May 14, 2007.

Presidential succession is the elephant in the room of Egyptian politics. Despite incessant whispered discussions, no one in Egypt has any certainty about who will succeed Mubarak, or how the succession will happen. Mubarak himself seems to be trusting to God and the inertia of the military and civilian security services to ensure an orderly transition. In the current political framework, the most likely contenders are presidential son Gamal Mubarak (whose profile is ever-increasing at the ruling National Democratic Party), [Egyptian General Intelligence Service] chief Omar Suleiman, dark horse Arab League secretary general Amre Moussa, or an as-yet unknown military officer. Whoever ends up as Egypt’s next president likely will be politically weaker than Mubarak. Once Mubarak’s successor has assumed the post, his first priority will be to build popular support. We thus expect that the new president will likely adopt an anti-American tone in his initial public rhetoric, in an effort to prove his nationalist bona fides to the Egyptian street, and may possibly extend an olive branch to the Muslim Brotherhood, as did previous Egyptian presidents at the beginning of their terms…

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Title: “Mr. Sunday’s Soups”

Authors: Lorraine Wallace and Chris Wallace

Rank: 64

Blurb: “After a long day on air, Chris would often arrive home hungry and delight at the sight of a big pot of his wife Lorraine’s soup on the burner.”

Review: “I like to make big vats and store in freezer bags.”

Customers Also Bought: “Known and Unknown: A Memoir”, by Donald Rumsfeld

Footnote: “Mr. Sunday is a serial killer.”

Mr. Sunday’s Soups [Amazon]

Buy or Die [Stinque@Amazon kickback link]

We now return to our wall-to-wall Egypt coverage, brought to you by Halalipops! Official snack of pagan revolutions!

[WorldNetDaily]

One of the advantages of allowing Our Dear Scatterbrained Readers to stray off topic is that you never know what kind of perverse shit they’ll come up with. For example, a polite discussion Thursday about Sarah Palin’s surprising onset of verbal acuity suddenly morphed into nominations for America’s Most Phallic Civic Landmark.

As we were unfamiliar with most of the nominees — clearly we’ve led a sheltered life — we thought it expedient to line them all up for a Stinque Priapic Edifice Challenge. While everyone can agree that Size Matters, we think the most telling observation is this: Which would embarrass you the most around your mother?

And yes, everybody knows about the Washington Monument, which spends its days taunting the totally not gay Lincoln Memorial. We’re excluding that on account of obviousness.

With that out of the way, here are your nominees:

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