In December 2001, writer Dominick Dunne went on Laura Ingraham's radio show to claim he was called by "the animal behavior expert whose professional story had been recreated in the Nicholas Evans novel 'The Horse Whisperer.' The man, never named by Mr. Dunne, said that he worked in Dubai, where he met a man who procures call girls for wealthy Middle Easterners in Washington. Mr. Dunne then said: 'Now some of this I can't explain, and I don't want to get into any trouble saying. But according to what the procurer told the horse whisperer who told me, is that Gary Condit was often a guest at some of the Middle Eastern embassies in Washington - where all these ladies were. 'And that he had let it be known that he was in a relationship with a woman that was over. But she was a clinger. He couldn't get rid of her. And he had made promises to her that he couldn't keep. And apparently she knew things about him and had threatened to go public." Condit is suing Dunne for slander - Go Gary!

Nearly a year after Chandra Levy's disappearance, Gary Condit is still not a suspect. But when a Democrat is linked to a possible scandal, the corporate media doesn't care one bit about the truth. (Compare that to the media's treatment of the mysteriously-retiring Rep. Joe Scarborough (R-FL), whose involvement with the mysterious death of Lori Klausutis has NEVER been covered by the national media.) Still, Condit's defeat is really a loss for the GOP, since his former aide, State Rep. Dennis Cardoza, is a much stronger candidate to hold the seat in November. And while most news accounts say Cardozo's positions were identical to Condit's, Condit's record was mixed on abortion, while Cardoza declared he will "always fight to protect a woman's right to choose." Still, the corporate media succeeded in destroying Condit without any evidence that he committed a crime - with that victory under their belt, which Democrat will they turn on next? Don't let the media "Condit" any more Democrats!

Frank Rich writes: "Next week will mark 16 weeks since the revelation of Gary Condit's 'friendship' with Ms. Levy... In that time, half of the capital's press corps working at full blast has added little to the story beyond the details... of the congressman's sex life with women other than the missing Chandra. No reporter has yet figured out how Mr. Condit, who can't even throw away a watch box without leaving a trail, could have masterminded an apparently perfect crime, and no journalist has an alternative suspect or solution either. In Washington 29 summers ago, by contrast, it took essentially two reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the same 16 weeks to advance another metro crime story, the Watergate break-in, to an authoritative scoop laying out the Nixon administration's epic campaign of political espionage and sabotage. Next to the Woodward-Bernstein journalistic enterprise, the hapless Chandra sleuths of today's Washington don't rise to the level of the Bobbsey Twins."

So many of our metaphors come from an agrarian past. We say a rolling stone gathers no moss. If moss grows on the millstone - a heavy rock that is used to crush grain into wheat - it must be painfully scrubbed off. But a millstone used - ever turning and grinding - will not ever fall prey to moss. It is meant to be an exhortation to use one's assets, to keep busy and moving. But it is also a metaphor for the endlessness, relentlessness and callousness of the logic of the life of extracting cash from the land. The Wheels of Stone that drove Condit upward - water, wealth, commitment - are now grinding him under, pressed, as "grist for the mill," where they send horses that are no longer of use. People still speak of "Condit Country" here, but the words become ironic in their tone.

According to Larry Chin in Online Journal, "While the Bush administration has been busy: (1) continuing to assist murdering right-wing death squads in Colombia; (2) suing the California Coastal Commission for the right to drill for oil off the coast of California; (3) lying about budget surpluses to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy and further increases in military spending, the media have reported on none of it, much less 'investigated' details of these important stories. Regardless of whether or not he had a thing to do with Chandra Levy's disappearance, Condit, 'the Democrat who had an affair,' is the perfect lightning rod and punching bag for today's corporate-right wing media. Pieces of Condit meat are being tossed to rabid armies of ignorant, brain-addled drones who cannot get enough slime to satisfy their addiction." Here's one astonishing unreported fact: did you know that "Levy was friendly with members of the Bush administration, including Karl Rove?"