INFLUENCING PEOPLE: Glen at A Brooklyn Bridge is horrified by a report that the Pentagon will be replacing inadequately armored humvees with Chrysler minivans. In the story he links to at The Smirking Chimp is a perfectly karmic bit of synchronicity:

You think it can't get more outrageous, and then the Discovery Channel weighs in Monday with a documentary on the pilgrimage to Mecca titled "The Hajj: Journey of a Lifetime." The sponsor? A toilet bowl cleaner.