[Note to readers: I'm still toying with a number of ideas for regular features that will give the blog the kind of daily rhythm Steve brought to it, so bear with me. For today, here are a few items from my morning reading that might provide a good accompaniment to your mid-day repast:]

Jon Chait meditates on the extraordinary power of Sheldon Adelson (and his wife) to keep Newt Gingrich in the presidential race, and asks us to “Imagine a sitting President trying to make a fair judgment about a policy decision impacting the businessman who single-handedly financed his entire election.â€

Here's some brain food for your mid-day meal:

* The ever-resourceful Sarah Posner of Religion Dispatches explains the connection of Gingrich Super-PAC sugar daddy and casino mogul Sheldon Adelson to an outfit producing the anti-Muslim conspiracy theory films being used to “trainâ€