Hot or not? Hot!

If I was Andrew Rippin on Lavalife, I'd lose the photo, and rely on my wits. A photo of such boldness, of such confidence, of such imperviousness to the vagaries of feminine opinion, might scare off those who would be won over by his words.

Rippin's testimony was pointless in this hearing. It was legally irrelevant. But Faisal Joseph argued that it went to show inaccuracies of Mark Steyn's article.

It didn't do that. In fact, it proved that indeed there are radical Islamic sects that require total political submission to Islam.

Julian Porter declared his questions done. A second later, he remembered one more and proceeded to ask it. Faisal Joseph objected noisily. A-ha! A little victory! Porter didn't even care enough to push the point -- his work was done.

Now FJ is re-examining Rippin -- asking him to pin down the number of Wahhabis out there. Rippin says he can't, so he doesn't. FJ is trying to limit the damage. Too late for that.

FJ is asking about Osama bin Laden's religious training; Rippin says he doesn't know -- he's a Koranic expert, not a political expert.

Rippin's done. It's 5 o'clock, and I'd say the Rippin exercise was a win for Maclean's -- as if anything in this Alice in Wonderland hearing turned on things like facts or logic.