Michael J. Fox defends his advocacy against Rush Limbaugh’s ignoble attack: “Because the thing about ... being symptomatic is that it’s not comfortable. No one wants to be symptomatic; it’s like being hit with a hammer.”

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The recent spate of racially-charged anti-Ford ads have been linked to a Rove acolyte and veteran hitman with a history of dirty campaigning.

New York Times:

The advertisement in question suggested a flirtation between a young bare-shouldered white woman, played by a blond actress, and Mr. Ford, the Democratic candidate in Tennessee for the Senate. It was supposed to stop running on Thursday amid complaints that it seemed intended to stir racial hatred, though there were reports that it was being broadcast on some stations.

Associates of Mr. Howell said the advertisement was typical of a media strategist who has in the past manufactured political controversy to win tough races in spite of—or because of—the intense reaction the work so often provokes.

He helped produce the early 2004 advertisement for President Bush that showed a coffin coming out of the rubble of the World Trade Center wreckage. It was immediately criticized by a group of Sept. 11 widows but was later credited with changing the subject of the campaign from economic woes to the president’s national security credentials.

In Georgia, Mr. Howell also was a top member of the media team working for Saxby Chambliss, the Republican whose advertisement in the 2002 Senate race accused Max Cleland, the Democratic incumbent and a triple-amputee Vietnam veteran, of being weak on national security by featuring an image of Osama Bin Laden to drive the point home. The spot infuriated Democrats but helped lead to Mr. Cleland’s defeat.

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The South African government has traditionally taken a head-in-the-sand approach to AIDS, despite suffering one of the worst epidemics in the world.  However, recent shifts in policy indicate a newfound interest in aggressively addressing the crisis.

Washington Post:

JOHANNESBURG—The South African government is seeking to shake off years of international denunciation for its handling of the AIDS epidemic—including a fixation on the supposed protective powers of beets and lemons—while expanding treatment, testing and prevention programs, officials and activists say.

In public comments and private meetings over the past six weeks, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka has emphasized that the government now believes unequivocally that HIV causes AIDS, a connection that President Thabo Mbeki once publicly questioned. She has also said that antiretroviral drugs must be the centerpiece of the government’s response while playing down the dietary recommendations long cited by Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang as key to fighting AIDS.

“The beetroot and all that lemon stuff is out the window,” an adviser involved in recasting the government’s policy said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about it. “These guys are now serious about getting it right.”

Driving the recent change is a growing realization of the severity of AIDS in South Africa—an estimated 5.4 million of 47 million citizens have HIV, among the highest totals in the world—and concern that the controversy surrounding the disease was damaging the country’s international reputation.

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While oil companies have been raking in record profits, Detroit has struggled to pitch gas guzzlers to consumers, causing a rift in the once amicable relationship.

Wired:

The third quarter was so good to ExxonMobil that the company’s profit outstripped the losses of GM, Ford, and Chrysler combined. Exxonmobil

ExxonMobil made $10 billion in Q3, even outstripping the profits of last year’s Katrina-excused price gouging. On the other hand, Chrysler lost $1.5 billion, Ford lost $5.8 billion, while GM lost “only” $115 million. As gasoline prices keep going up (and additional revenue makes it way into big oil’s pockets), people continue to eschew the trucks and larger vehicles that drove the Big 3’s profits for more than a decade.

(I’m sure this leads to some uncomfortable cordialities when the CEOs run into each other at the country club.)

Similarly, BP, Chevron, and Shell are also doing swimmingly too, but at least they are investing some of their huge profits into biofuels, solar and wind energy. These companies have a long-term view of profitability, unlike ExxonMobil, which is hoarding money and giving a lot of it to execs like former chief Lee Raymond, who walked away with $400 million. (I haven’t visited an ExxonMobil station in years, and will never again.)

You can expect that the auto companies will accelerate their slow move away from bigger vehicles and pimping for the oil companies. We’ll hopefully see more choices by 2010 in cars that get good gas mileage.

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