About two months ago, we started getting comments from “manheim,” whose email address is a short and invalid address at AOL. All the comments have been — at most — marginally relevant to the article, all have referenced a Fox News story about the Middle East, and all have contained nothing more than a link to the story accompanied by a phrase that could be construed as a reaction. For example:

Iranian, Syrian Strongmen Try to Dilute Hopes for Peace in Mideast

up we go

Annan Asks France to Lead Lebanon Force

oh boy here we go….

pretty ridicoulous stuff

Iran Defies U.N. Deadline to End Uranium Enrichment Program

And here’s the most interesting part: all of them come from an IP address at News Corporation — the parent company of Fox News, as well as the NY Post, HarperCollins, DirectTV, and, interestingly enough, myspace.com. You would think myspace gives them enough page views for all the free advertising they could need, but perhaps not.

We’ve obviously been noticed by someone — but I don’t read blog comments avidly enough to have seen something similar elsewhere. Manheim (if you are a human being) and anyone who has seen comments from him elsewhere should please comment. If these were spam submissions, it’s a truly innovative little shtick on Fox’s part, but one we could do without!