January 26, 2008

PRAVDA: Yuri Gagarin was not the first cosmonaut.

Just the first who lived.

BILL BRADLEY POSTS SOME FINAL THOUGHTS ON SOUTH CAROLINA: "Bill Clinton may be responsible for Hillary’s wins in New Hampshire and Nevada. But in South Carolina, most voters said that his behavior was critical to their choice. And that proved to be a big negative." Read the whole thing.

UPDATE: See also this post by Tom Maguire.

BEWARE THE CRASHING SATELLITE! "A large U.S. spy satellite has lost power and could hit the Earth in late February or March, government officials said Saturday."

BILL QUICK'S ADVICE TO REPUBLICAN VOTERS: If you're unhappy with the offerings, show your unhappiness by writing in Fred Thompson. "By doing so, you send a message that can’t be mistaken or spun."

JOE GANDELMAN IS UNHAPPY WITH how the Clintons have conducted this campaign.

MICKEY KAUS: "Now that Bill Clinton has explicitly belittled Obama's South Carolina victory by comparing it to Jesse Jackson's, how does Obama's share of the white vote compare with Jackson's in 1988?"

UPDATE: More here: "The determining factor in how people voted was race. Not that this is a good thing — and really, I can't see how any liberal would prefer Clinton to Obama — but that's the way it went down today in South Carolina among Democratic voters."

MORE: Obama in a Rout: "Clearly, Edwards needs to remain in the race so his message will be heard."

Meanwhile, some Democratic pundits have figured things out.

And Dave Kopel says that Barack Obama sounds like a President.

And Mark Steyn thinks Obama is "Kennedyesque."

TRAINING TO DEFEND AGAINST SMALLPOX ATTACKS: "However, it is considered unlikely that a terrorist organization would use smallpox, because it would probably quickly get back to impoverished Islamic countries, where treatment and vaccination would be much less likely. Thus, Islamic terrorists using smallpox would end up killing far more Moslems than Christians. But, then, terrorists have never been noted for their heavy use of logic." Indeed.

OBAMA WINS SOUTH CAROLINA.

Stephen Green has been drunkblogging the coverage and reactions.

UPDATE: Hillary takes second, leaving Edwards coming in third in the state of his birth. Probably because of Hillary's anti-Edwards robocalls.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Video and more.

MORE: Eric Scheie:

I Just finished watching Obama's speech. Once again, I have to say that he is a great orator, a speaker with the ability to inspire. The best rhetorician I have seen (my B.A. is in Rhetoric and I say this as a compliment) since Ronald Reagan. His appeal is wide ranging, and his sincerity is obvious. While I am skeptical that he can overcome the entrenched Clinton machine, anything is possible.

I'm very impressed at his ability to go for the jugular in a respectful manner. He nailed the Clintons on their bullshit, and their racializing, yet he did so without a hint of an ad hominem attack.

I like that: "his ability to go for the jugular in a respectful manner." We need more of that . . .

INTELLIGENT THERMOSTATS: Back during the brouhaha over California's proposal -- since withdrawn -- to require that all thermostats be centrally controlled with no user control at all during a power emergency, I should have thought to check out Lynne Kiesling's blog. She's got a great post, pointing out that "Programmable Communicating Thermostats" that can take signals from the network are a great idea, but that thermostats that are centrally controlled, without user consent, are a terrible idea. Excerpt:

The PCT is the most cost-effective and forward-looking way to break down the monopoly that the distribution utilities currently have in providing retail electricity services to end-use customers. Without the PCT, a lot of dynamic pricing, product differentiation, and other market-based contracts and mechanisms are impossibly costly or simply not feasible. In conjunction with the two-way communicating meters (AMI) that the distribution utilities in California are installing, PCTs open the door to the type of retail choice and price-responsive end-use technologies that I discussed last week in my post about the GridWise Olympic Peninsula Project. Being able to program the thermostat to respond to signals, especially price signals, is a good thing. . . .

We do not yet have the evidence to indicate whether that responsiveness is likely to be enough to avoid most service interruptions, but that is no reason to resort to the use of such coercive force. If anything, the 2006 experience of one Stage 2 alert is an upper bound on the expected magnitude of the problem, and increased technology and voluntary participation in differentiated retail contracts will reduce that incidence even further.

Furthermore, from a marketing perspective, mandatory direct load control is a sure-fire way to make sure that consumers look at smart grid technologies with suspicion. Even if it were only on that grounds, I would oppose such a provision, because it taints all of the hard smart grid work that the GridWise Architecture Council and other groups have been doing.

There's a lesson here. People should keep control of their gadgets. Lots of folks would enable this kind of thing in exchange for a break in their electric rates anyway, but making it mandatory gets their back up and makes people want to cheat just to stick it to the man. It also creates -- as California found -- a huge groundswell of opposition.

UPDATE: A reader emails:

Perhaps, at some not too distant point in the future, we'll have "intelligent" menus in restaurants, where we'll only be offered the food that fits our health profile (as determined by the nanny state, of course). A little overweight? You get one set of offerings. High cholesterol? You get another. Diabetic? There's a third set.

After all, with the state paying for health care, it has every right to keep an eye on what you eat. Ordering off someone else's menu would, of course, be a crime.

As usual these days, reality runs ahead of satire.

DARKNESS AT NOON: More Palestinian / news media photo fakery. Really, it's hard to believe anything the press reports on this subject, since they've made clear that they're happy to knowingly pass along, and even help stage, lies on behalf of the Palestinians.

HILLARY'S MANEUVERS DON'T IMPRESS Josh Marshall. "The Clinton camp really needs to be shut down on this new gambit of theirs to muscle the party and the other candidates into seating the Michigan and Florida delegate slates."

TUITIONS ARE HIGH, and people aren't buying administrators' stories: "To a certain degree, suspicion and distrust of colleges and universities are problems of the higher education sector’s own making. . . . The dominant meme describes American colleges and universities as institutions driven by their own self-interest rather than by the interests of students or of society."

BILL BRADLEY IS REPORTING FROM SOUTH CAROLINA, with new posts as the day goes on.

10,000 PEOPLE SIGN UP FOR CHEVY VOLTS. That and more at this week's Carnival of Cars.

SOUTH PARK on the two party system.

HOW TO UPDATE YOUR Blu-Ray and HD-DVD firmware.

THOUGHTS ON THE TEN-YEAR ANNIVERSARY of the Monica Lewinsky affair. Would anybody have thought, then, that Bill Clinton would still be wagging his finger for the 2008 elections? Plus this: “Events raise the question, if Hillary’s campaign can’t control Bill, whether Hillary’s White House could.”

MICHAEL GRAHAM SAYS THAT IF OBAMA WINS S.C., he'll wind up losing.

That would have to disappoint Obama's future attorney general . . . John Edwards?

THE SOUTH CAROLINA DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY: A huge roundup by Pajamas Media, which will be updated as the day goes on.

THE TESLA ROADSTER is now street-legal.

THE EVER-EXPANDING pickup truck logo.

January 25, 2008

DIGITAL CAMERAS GALORE: Gizmodo's coverage of the 2008 PMA show.

A NEW TREND IN CAR DESIGN: Vanishing ashtrays and cigarette lighters.

GETTING PAID for losing weight.

HMM: "The newly launched Knoxville startup aims to be a family-friendly Web site by allowing users to block their accounts' access to books. If enough customers are blocking a certain book, Abunga.com removes it from the site entirely."

Can't say I'd want to shop there, but for those who don't like it there's always Amazon.

A NEW TV AD FROM THE MARINES:

SINCE PEOPLE LIKED THE FLASHLIGHT-BLOGGING OF A WHILE AGO, I guess I should mention this. "Not intrinsically safe."

OBAMA'S PROBLEM with white women. Is Oprah the cure? Not so far.

SHOW AND TELL FOR RICH UNIVERSITIES: "Now that the Senate finance committee has requested - the New York Times said 'demanded' - that the nation's wealthiest colleges and universities supply detailed information about their endowments and financial practices, it seems clear that college cost is emerging as a long-running, popular and bipartisan issue." One might ask why this is any of Congress's business, but universities are, at this point, in a poor position to raise such objections.

OUCH: "Here's how to deal with a recession: A federal government which is already spending more than its income should borrow even more money, so as to give lots of people a tax rebate. This is the bipartisan plan of President Bush and Congress. They are taking a leaf from the presidency of Jimmy Carter. . . . But the 2008 tax rebate brings us full circle back to 1980, as the final year of the Bush administration increasingly resembles the final year of the Carter administration-- including national malaise, getting tough on Israel but not on Palestinian terrorists, support for the DC handgun ban, the Olympics hosted by a communist regime with contempt for human rights, and a consensus that the current adminstration is lacking in competence." I guess it's Sucking in the Seventies: The Sequel. Oh, goody.

THE SWIFT VETS: Hollywood's greatest CGI triumph?

CYBERWARFARE in international law.

THE THREE POTENTIALLY OFFENSIVE PIGS: What's amazing is how people are willing to make fools of themselves to avoid imaginary offense. Nobody worries that much about offending me.

CARVILLE AND BEGALA BOOTED FROM CNN due to complaints from Obama? "One wonders as well what’s going to happen in the general election if Hillary Clinton is the nominee…will CNN continue to ban Carville, Begala, and Zimmerman so that they can’t play shenanigans against the Republican candidate?"

FROM KOSOVO TO COLD WAR:

The Kosovo war isn't over. At the moment, Serbian ballots take precedence over bullets; democratic electoral politics are a blessing in Serbia and Kosovo, just like they are in Iraq.

But make no mistake: Sunday's first-round 2008 presidential vote in Serbia was another battle in the Kosovo War, and it will not be the last. . . . The process has brought Vladimir Putin's muscular Kremlin into open conflict with Germany, Great Britain, France and the United States.

Read the whole thing. And somebody should ask Bill Clinton if this is all according to plan.

GOVERNMENT: AN ITALIAN PERSPECTIVE:

ME: There's no government?

Barman: Right.

ME: So what are we going to do?

Barman: God willing it'll last until January and we won't pay taxes...

But how likely is that, ever?

A WAVE OF SOCIALISM IN LATIN AMERICA? Not so much, says Raphael Rosen.

MCCAIN-FEINGOLD: No barrier to endless spending on commercials attacking Bill Clinton!

A PETITION TO SUPPORT CUBAN DISSIDENTS, from Lech Walesa.

WELL, THIS IS COMFORTING: "At the current rate of progress, Chinese military technology will match that of the United States in a decade or so."

YOU MUST CUT DOWN THOSE REDWOOD TREES -- the environment demands it! Full story here.

EGYPT BEGINS CLOSING GAZA BORDER, FUELING TENSIONS: It's part of their genocidal plan to conquer the Gaza Strip and . . . oh, wait, that's only when the Israelis do it.

THOUGHTS ON LAST NIGHT'S REPUBLICAN DEBATE from Rand Simberg.

AND THE TUITION IS RIDICULOUS, TOO: "The provost has now provoked arguably the largest crisis in faculty/administration relations in the history of Brandeis."

UPDATE: Reader Jonathan Guest emails: "In cases where professors are hauled up on the flimsiest of evidence and effectively pilloried for their very defensible words, why don't they have a pretty strong defamation case against a university?"

Yes. I would certainly have little compunction about suing both the university administration and the complaining student in such a case. And I think that false charges of racism aimed at a professor today are like false charges of unchastity or "loathsome disease" aimed at a woman in 1890 -- libelous per se. Those who make such charges should certainly be held accountable when they're flimsy or false. Plus, I imagine that the discovery process would turn up lots of interesting information.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader George Hamid emails:

Maybe the powers that be at Brandeis should heed the words of that University's namesake, Justice Louis Brandeis:

“Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's [academia’s] purposes are beneficial. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding.”

Indeed.

NEWS FROM BRITAIN: "Peter Hain has made history: his is the first British ministerial scalp to have been claimed by a blogger."

The blogger in question, Guido Fawkes, is gloating.

A HORRIFYING THOUGHT: "It just occurred to me that one of these jokers — Clinton, McCain, Obama or Romney — is going to be the next President."

"PANDEMIC DISILLUSIONMENT" with Bill Clinton.

Plus: Aieee! My eyes! And there's more here, including this video:

January 24, 2008

OUCH: When Did the French Become Better Adherents To Limited Government Than the GOP?

LARRY KUDLOW: "I just have to smile when a billionaire like Bill Gates turns a cold shoulder to the blessings capitalism bestows."

I threw up in my mouth, a little bit.

DRIVING THE TESLA ROADSTER.

WELL, DUH: Earmarks didn't drop under Democrats.

A CAUTIONARY TALE for post-Apartheid South Africa.

THE NEW YORK TIMES ENDORSES HILLARY CLINTON -- and, because they must want to do him harm, John McCain. (No, really -- Rudy's people are even pointing out the endorsement.)

ROBERT REICH: "I write this more out of sadness than anger. Bill Clinton’s ill-tempered and ill-founded attacks on Barack Obama are doing no credit to the former President, his legacy, or his wife’s campaign. Nor are they helping the Democratic party."

MICKEY KAUS ON BILL CLINTON AND RON BURKLE: "Focusing on economic conflicts--as if the Burkle-Clinton partnership were all about making millions--might be a distraction. With Clinton the general rule is not 'follow the money'.but 'follow the nookie.'"

GREG MANKIW ON THE STIMULUS PACKAGE.

Plus, a reminder that taxes don't stay where you put them. Stupid taxes!

DISAPPOINTING DOZENS, Dennis Kucinich quits.

TIGERHAWK IS liveblogging the Republican debate.

UPDATE: So is Rand Simberg.

Also, Stephen Green is drunkblogging. I tuned in long enough to see Romney answer a question on the Second Amendment and . . . well, it was a good Massachusetts answer. That was all I could take -- surely there's a Girls Next Door rerun or something.

HACKER GROUP declares war on Scientology.

A CORRECTION ON "SWIFTBOATING." Good point. Media spin notwithstanding, it was Kerry, not the swiftboaters, who had to retract falsehoods.

IF YOU MISSED IT ON XM, the latest PJM Political is online. It includes an interview with Ezra Levant on his run-in with the Canadian "Human Rights" Commission.

UPDATE: Check this out, too.

TAX REBATES FOR PEOPLE WHO DON'T PAY TAXES? Bill Quick breaks the code.

BREACHING STUDENT CONFIDENTIALITY at the University of Georgia. This seems disgraceful.

JOHN PODHORETZ WRITES: "We'll be liveblogging the debates tonight at Contentions. I predict Ron Paul will oppose the Iraq War."

GET YOUR OWN FULL-SIZED LOST IN SPACE ROBOT. Embarrassingly, I kind of want one. . .

INSURGENTS AND THE LAW: Francis Lieber and the code of conduct.

TOO MANY TARGETS, not enough robots.

"COAL-GATE?"

A TOOL FOR TEACHING KIDS about the value of a dollar and saving money.

BARACK OBAMA: I'm Not a Muslim! Forward This to Everyone You Know.

UNHAPPY WITH THE PRESIDENTIAL OFFERINGS? Rachel Lucas has an alternative.

ARRESTED FOR SPEAKING OUT AGAINST TOLL ROADS? They told me that if George W. Bush were re-elected, even modest acts of dissent would be criminalized. And they were right!

IN-FLIGHT BROADBAND on Southwest Airlines. It's about time.

THE DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY IN A NUTSHELL: "You're Black" Versus "You're The Boss's Wife."

IF YOU'RE TIRED OF "POLITICS AS USUAL," then here's your man woman candidate!

IS SPACE TOURISM about to take off? I certainly hope so.

ROBERT X. CRINGELY on spectrum auctions. "Why are all these companies so excited? Because the 60 MHz of spectrum that’s about to be auctioned is the last prime real estate for mobile communications that will be available in the U.S. for decades to come. . . . Some pundits (that would be me) think Google will bid to win its spectrum block, then will trade that block to Sprint/Nextel for some of that company’s 2.5-GHz WiMAX licenses that are far better suited for data."

IN THE MAIL: Neil Vidmar & Valerie Hans's new book, American Juries: The Verdict. Contrary to what you often hear, they think juries do a pretty good job.

REMEMBERING FRANKIE HOUSLEY: "If she had just jumped out, and left her passengers to die, she might well still be among us, maybe better known than a heroine who dies young."

STILL MORE on P.C. absurdities at Brandeis University. They told me that if George W. Bush were re-elected, academic freedom would be threatened by the whims of unaccountable bureaucrats. And they were right!

YEP. It's the Business As Usual GOP.

STRATEGYPAGE: "The army sets goals each year, for the percentage of troops who will re-enlist when their current enlistment (usually for four years) is up. This past year, about 14 percent of troops in each combat brigade were expected to re-enlist. Nearly all brigades exceeded this figure, with the most spectacular being the 4th brigade of the 25th Infantry division, which had 37 percent of its troops reenlist."

Good news.

WOOING the Fredheads.

MEGAN MCARDLE, marriage-minded. Interesting discussion in the comments.

A LOOK AT Fred Thompson and the blogosphere. (Via Danny Glover).

JULES CRITTENDEN looks at Gazan possibilities.

AH, THE INNOCENT 1990S:

(Via Gateway Pundit, who notes that the 10th anniversary is this weekend). And I was a Clinton defender of sorts, even longer ago.

LATER THIS MORNING: Senate hearings on tax rebates.

MORE ON BURT RUTAN, VIRGIN GALACTIC, and SpaceShip Two.

BILL ROGGIO ON events in Diyala.

JAMES FALLOWS ON why your flight is so late.

THE WAR AND STEALTH FUNDING: Bob Owens has thoughts that go beyond the undisclosed Soros influence. I have to say, though, that if the NRA funded a study on gun violence, the news media would tend to stress that aspect, along with pointing out obvious flaws in the study. They might even point out if it was designed to give political cover to the candidates of one political party in an election year . . . .

FROM DALE AMON: A roundup of developments in the commercial space business.

CHRISTIAN-NEWSOM UPDATE: Delays expected in Christian-Newsom carjacking trials.

January 23, 2008

ZIMBABWE ON THE CARIBBEAN: "Venezuela has more oil than than on the rubber sheets at a ’70s swinger party, but they can’t manage to keep foodstuffs on the shelves. Sad. Predictable, but sad."

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS produces absurdities at Brandeis.

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER'S HEALTH PROPOSAL: On the ropes?

FROM BECKY JACOBS: Brazil's Agricultural Trade War: Success and Failure on the Southern Route to Antarctica.

Very interesting, but probably won't be quite as big a hit as the piece on P.M.S.

LET WOMEN SKI JUMP IN THE 2010 OLYMPICS: A petition from my ski-jumping cousin, Karla Keck. I can't believe the Olympic folks are still dragging their feet on this. More background here.

UPDATE: Here's a picture of Karla, jumping. (Bumped to top).

FROM THE ANNALS OF BAD TIMING: "Fred Would Have Picked Up All 47 of Louisiana's Delegates Had He Not Dropped Out?"

MOON WAR! Dissent Grows as Scientists Oppose NASA’s New Moon Mission.

UH OH: "The world's rush to embrace biofuels is causing a spike in the price of corn and other crops and could worsen water shortages and force poor communities off their land, a U.N. official said Wednesday." Cellulosic ethanol, and methanol from biowaste, etc., can do some good. Corn-based ethanol is a lousy idea.

ARNOLD KLING REVIEWS Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism. Which is still in the Amazon top 10.

JACK LAIL: "The departure of Jim O'Shea from the L.A. Times shouldn't be construed as fighting the gallant battle for journalism. It was the battle for status quo and business as usual."

RANKING THE ONLINE COLLEGES. Like most rankings, I'd take this with a grain of salt, but it's interesting that people are paying more attention.

"COMBATIVE SOUND-BITE POLITICS:" Not so bad?

A ROUNDUP OF science fiction and fantasy links.

AMITY SHLAES: Bernanke should be worring about inflation, not deflation.

MONEYBALL COMES TO LEGAL ACADEMIA: NYU Pays $4.2m for Condo to Lure Columbia Prof.

THE RAINBOW COALITION EVAPORATES? "Black anger grows as illegal immigrants transform urban neighborhoods." Judging by the photo, at least some of them need a man-bra. Excuse me, I mean a mansiere. "A bra is for ladies. I'm talking about a support undergarment specifically designed for men."

TED FRANK ON Enron, "extortion," and the Supreme Court.

TEENAGER BUILDS HIS OWN electric pickup truck. Plus, plug-in Porsche 914s.

SPACE TOURISM UPDATE: "The Virgin Galactic spacecraft, which was being unveiled in New York today, is already under construction. Test flights are expected to begin in June, with commercial flights starting 12 months later." Bring it on!

And here's more on the unveiling.

A LOOK AT next-generation military choppers, and more.

THE NEW YORK OBSERVER endorses Obama over Hillary.

THE 47-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN: The latest Ask Dr. Helen column is up!

IN THE MAIL: Blogger Vox Day's The Irrational Atheist: Dissecting the Unholy Trinity of Dawkins, Harris, and Hitchens. Judging from the jacket copy, it's not so much pro-God as anti-atheist.

THE U.S. ARMY: Practicing Fourth Generation Warfare, while still training in Third Generation Warfare.

MORE ON IRAN.

HOWARD KURTZ: "It looks like a singular political figure has suddenly broken through and united both the left and the right in this country. Everybody seems to be ticked at Bill Clinton."

COURTESY OF SAM ZELL, getting rid of Internet filters at the Chicago Tribune. "You are now exposed to the dangers of You Tube and Facebook. Please use your best judgment."

BILL CLINTON: "Screw it, I'm running for President!" Heh.

MORE HUCKABEE PUSH-POLLS in Florida.

LASER TREATMENT for stroke victims.

THE EXAMINER: Has Bush Lost His Spine on Earmarks?

Public anger over earmarks cost Republicans their majority in Congress in 2006, but Democrats have proven themselves equally incapable of getting rid of outrages like the Bridge to Nowhere. More than 11,700 earmarks, totaling $16.9 billion, are attached to 2008 spending bills. It’s now up to President Bush to make good on his promise to “end this practice” once and for all. . . .

But Bush hesitates to exercise his authority. Surely he doesn’t fear challenging a Congress that trails him in public approval surveys. House Republican Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., has reportedly warned administration officials that meddling with earmarks will anger GOP members who are responsible for 40 percent of those in the 2008 spending bills. But what about angry taxpayers who see their hard-earned tax dollars being shoveled out the back door, and who correctly view earmarks as politically corrupting payoffs?

What, indeed? I could carve a better backbone out of a banana.

MICKEY KAUS: How Obama can escape from the ghetto. "Here we thought we were getting the Mondale/Hart campaign of 1984--without Mondale's likeability or Hart's weirdness--and instead we get the Dukakis campaign of 1988, in which an marginally likeable establishment figure established his mainstream (white) bona fides by running around the country thumping Jesse Jackson."

PIECING TOGETHER THE DARK LEGACY of East Germany's secret police.

REPAIRING HEARTS WITH STEM-CELL INJECTIONS:

British scientists have been given the go-ahead to begin potentially ground-breaking experiments using injections of stem cells to repair patients' damaged hearts. The team hopes to repair the organs of people who have suffered the most severe heart attacks. . . . The team will extract bone marrow from all 60 patients and separate out a class of stem cells that makes up 1% of the tissue. Previous studies have suggested that this cell type is able to regenerate heart muscle cells and blood vessels. By using the patient's own cells there will be no problems with tissue rejection.

I hope it works.

A BOMB-MAKING, SWASTIKA-PAINTING COLUMBIA PROFESSOR roommate -- just blocks from Ann Althouse. (See the update).

January 22, 2008

YEAH, THE CAMPUS POLITICS AT U.T. ARE a bit shaky right now. No, I don't know much about the backstory, if any. It's impacted our dean search, though, which has made it hard for me to ignore the campus politics as I usually do. For those who want to know more, well, here's a bit more from the local press.

OUCH.

READER TOM SARTIN WRITES:

Somehow, the following observation from Robert Heinlein seems quite apropos.

‘If you are part of a society that votes, then do so. There may be no candidates and no measures you want to vote for . . but there are certain to be ones you want to vote against. In case of doubt, vote against. By this rule you will rarely go wrong.”

“If this is too blind for your taste, consult some well-meaning fool (there is always one around) and ask his advice. Then vote the other way. This enables you to be a good citizen (if such is your wish) without spending the enormous amount of time on it that truly intelligent exercise of franchise requires.”

The more things change . . .

COLOR PHOTOS from the Great Depression and World War II.

MARK TAPSCOTT: Deja Vu all over again: Here comes the big collapse by Bush, Hill GOP on earmarks.

UPDATE: A Bush-McGovern comparison. Ouch.

PLAGUE PREP: A look at new infectious disease precautions.

IS BRITNEY SPEARS good for the economy?

FREDHEADS SHIFT POSITIONS: Bob Krumm is endorsing Rudy. Sort of. And Rusty Shackleford gets behind Mitt.

Liberty Belle, however, is still in the anger stage.

UPDATE: Eric Scheie: "Don't expect me to throw my support to anyone right now. (Not that it would make much difference.) Before I supported Fred I supported Guiliani and I guess I can do that again, but that's not the point of this post. The whole thing is just a damned shame."

Plus this: "I don't know what I'll do. . . . But November is a long ways away."

PROFESSOR BAINBRIDGE: The case against fiscal stimulus.

FAREED ZAKARIA:

Pity the U.S. presidential candidates. They had their positions on Iraq all worked out by last summer and have repeated them consistently ever since. But events on the ground have changed dramatically, and their rhetoric feels increasingly stale. They're fighting the Iraq War all right, but it's the wrong one.

The Democrats are having the hardest time with the new reality. Every candidate is committed to "ending the war" and bringing our troops back home. The trouble is, the war has largely ended, and precisely because our troops are in the middle of it.

Read the whole thing.

UPDATE: More thoughts from IraqPundit. "It would make a lot more sense if the candidates, especially among the Democrats, would talk about what they would do in the current circumstances, rather than bicker among themselves over past votes on war funding, while urging withdrawal from the Iraq of 2006."

FRED THOMPSON'S FIRST HIRE looks at the campaign.

LIKE MYSTERIES? I'm kinda lukewarm on them, but for those who feel otherwise, here's a roundup of the 2008 Edgar Award nominees.

I'LL BE ON HUGH HEWITT'S SHOW in about a half-hour from now, talking about the primaries and Fred Thompson's withdrawal.

I MISSED THE LYSANDER SPOONER BICENTENNIAL. And there was cake. I like cake.

QUIBBLING OVER COMMAS, at the Supreme Court.

FROM THE BLOGOSPHERE to the "fatosphere." What hath Bill Quick wrought? . . . .

UPDATE: A couple of readers wonder why I'm calling Bill Quick fat. I'm not, and he isn't. But he coined the word "blogosphere," from which "fatosphere" is derived.

VIA EMAIL FROM FRED THOMPSON: "Today I have withdrawn my candidacy for President of the United States. I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort. Jeri and I will always be grateful for the encouragement and friendship of so many wonderful people."

FORGET THE OSCARS: Nominations are out for the Golden Raspberry Awards. Lindsay Lohan had a good year . . . .

MEGAN MCARDLE: "Well, the Dow is of by hundreds of points, the Fed is announcing surprise inter-meeting rate cuts, Bank of America reported a 95% fall in its profits, and the outfits in the new spring catalogs have the shape and coloring of badly-decorated Easter eggs. All in all, not a good morning."

THE USES OF "Strategic Emotion."

MORE THOUGHTS ON friendly A.I.

MEMO FROM GULFISTAN: A look at Iran and the Arabs.

JOSE PADILLA gets 17 years.

"IF YOU CAN'T BE REAGAN, BE GOLDWATER:" That, reportedly, is Fred Thompson's attitude.

UPDATE: A.C. Kleinheider says finish the game.

LARRY KUDLOW THINKS the Fed got it right. I hope so, because they can't do this too many more times.

GOOD NEWS: Reader Richard McEnroe emails: "Tim Blair is out of surgery and doing fine. They think they got it all." I don't know how he's heard, but I'm happy to hear it myself.

REVIEWING THE REVIEWERS: A roundup of book reviews from the major papers -- including a review of Benjamin Franklin's The Way to Wealth, now in its 250th anniversary edition.

PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: The hogs want to be slopped:

Despite Blog Support, Flake Bid a Long-shot

Every so often, the liberal or conservative blogospheres will get excited and mobilized to make something happen that probably never will. Such is the case with the growing movement to get Arizona Rep. Jeff Flake (R) onto the House Appropriations Committee.

Flake -- the House's best known scourge of spending earmarks and the Appropriations panel in general -- is making a play to get onto the committee, hoping to take the slot vacated recently when Rep. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) was appointed to fill Trent Lott's (R) Senate seat.

Flake's bid has stirred up significant support on conservative blogs like Captain's Quarters, Townhall.com and PoliPundit. There's a Facebook page devoted to his candidacy, and this site hatched by the conservative group FreedomWorks specifically to promote his effort.

There's just one problem: Flake's chances are very, very slim, no matter how many bloggers he has in his corner.

Guess why. With even folks like Rush Limbaugh talking about sitting out the 2008 election, the GOP needs to do something to show people it's serious about controlling pork. Of course, first it needs to be serious.

THE OSCAR NOMINATIONS ARE OUT. I know a lot of people care about this, but I have to say my interest in new movies has dropped considerably. Part of that's because I'd rather watch movies at home, but part of it is that the new movies just aren't that good any more, and neither is the experience of watching movies in theaters.

THE AFGHAN AIR FORCE flies again.

THE EXAMINER editorializes on stimulus packages: "The biggest fairy tale in Washington isn’t Barack Obama’s voting record on the war in Iraq, but the notion peddled by Republicans and Democrats alike that the government has a big pot of its own money that it generously gives to people by 'injecting' it into the economy as a stimulus." Read the whole thing.

THOUGHTS ON Hillary and Hayek.

UPDATE: Greg Mankiw on Hillary's tax plans. Plus, Megan McArdle comments:"I don't want to hear any more about how the Democrats are the party of fiscal responsibility; none of them are planning to close the current deficit, much less deal with the now-seriously-it-really-is-looming entitlement problem."

Oh, and we discussed Hillary's economic policies with Gene Sperling here.

FOLLOWING UP ON LAST MONTH'S SINUS POST, here's some related news: "A nasal spray made from Atlantic Ocean seawater eased wintertime cold symptoms faster and slowed cough and cold symptoms from returning among children ages 6 to 10, researchers in Europe reported on Monday."

AVIAN FLU UPDATE:

Last year, for the first time since avian flu emerged as a global threat, the number of human cases was down from the year before. As the illness receded, the scary headlines — with their warnings of a pandemic that could kill 150 million people — all but vanished.

But avian flu has not gone away. Nor has it become less lethal or less widespread in birds. Experts argue that preparations against it have to continue, even if the virus’s failure to mutate into a pandemic strain has given the world more breathing room.

As I've noted here repeatedly, regardless of what happens with this particular pathogen, we're woefully underprepared for new outbreaks of deadly disease.

MICKEY KAUS: "The Reagan Coalition didn't die of natural causes." It's not dead yet. It just smells a little funny.

Meanwhile, scroll down to see my thoughts on this topic, including a related bit on Fred Thompson.

LARRY KUDLOW: "There’s a global stock market tsunami gathering force. It may hit U.S. shores very hard this morning."

UPDATE: The Fed must have listened to Larry, with a 75 basis point cut being announced already this morning.

THANKS TO BOB OWENS' FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT REQUEST, Scott Beauchamp's statements about his bogus TNR piece are now online. Will TNR respond? Doubtful . . . .

MILITARY VETERANS AND MURDER: Fact-checking the New York Times.

If you published a similarly anecdotal and unfounded piece about black people and murder, the NYT would call you a racist.

THE FEW. THE PROUD. The Morons.

THE GLOVES ARE OFF: Eric Scheie on last night's Democratic debate. "In an almost schoolyard manner, they taunted each other over who was doing the most good while the other was engaged in the worst sleaze."

HUCKABEE CONCERNS: "Remember, kids: The last time we had a populist moralizing evangelical in the White House, we gave away the Panama Canal."

WELL, THIS IS NEWS: "The west must be ready to resort to a pre-emptive nuclear attack to try to halt the 'imminent' spread of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, according to a radical manifesto for a new Nato by five of the west's most senior military officers and strategists. Calling for root-and-branch reform of Nato and a new pact drawing the US, Nato and the European Union together in a 'grand strategy' to tackle the challenges of an increasingly brutal world, the former armed forces chiefs from the US, Britain, Germany, France and the Netherlands insist that a 'first strike' nuclear option remains an "indispensable instrument" since there is 'simply no realistic prospect of a nuclear-free world'."

MORE SCRUTINY NEEDED: Nonprofits Pay Zero Tax on Billions of Unrelated Business Income.

January 21, 2008

SO I WATCHED THE NEW EPISODE OF TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES -- "Have you ever heard of The Singularity? . . . That's pretty much the time we can kiss our asses goodbye" -- and all I could think of was the whole Taser point. But would a Sarah Connor carry a pink one?

UPDATE: Hey, here are two plotlines that won't make it to TV: (1) With the help of Ray Kurzweil, they develop a "friendly" AI that subverts and converts Skynet as soon as it's hooked up; or (2) With the help of Miles Dyson's widow -- a recurring character already! -- they tie Cyberdyne up in endless intellectual-property litigation, ensuring that nothing ever gets built. This would probably work, but Litigator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles doesn't have quite the same appeal . . . .

I have to say that so far this series has wildly exceeded my (admittedly low) expectations. They've done a good job of porting the story over to a new cast, and the writing is excellent. So is the acting, including, but not limited to, Summer Glau's trademark spookiness.

RAISING money-smart kids.

STEPHEN GREEN'S POST-DEBATE WRAPUP: "I’d entertained thoughts of voting for Clinton or Obama next November. Tonight’s debate — the 'I’m More Dangerously Populist Than Thou' debate — ended all chances of that happening."

UPDATE: A Disney villainess?

WANT FRED THOMPSON IN THE RACE? Bob Krumm has a pay to stay plan. (Scroll down). "If Fred raises $1 million tomorrow (Tuesday), I’ll add another $1,000. So, if you’re going to complain that I’ve given up on Fred, don’t do it until you’ve spent at least that much money yourself. If you really want Fred to stay in the race, show him the money!"

THOUGHTS ON FIGHTING MALARIA from Katharine Mangu-Ward.

D'OH! "Japan's Nikkei index plunged below 13,000 for the first time in more than two years Tuesday as global markets tumbled on fears that a U.S. economic slowdown will lead to a global recession."

More worries here.

LONGEVITY UPDATE: A fundraising report from the Methuselah Foundation.

VIDEO: "Tensions finally boil over between Hillary and Obama."

WHITHER (OR WITHER?) THE GOP? Bill Quick has been soliciting ideas for a third party. And lots of people -- even Tom Delay -- are saying they'll stay home if the wrong guy gets nominated. Even Rush Limbaugh is saying he might not support the nominee.

Well, I've already said I'd vote for Hillary over Huckabee, but I'm not a Republican so that's not as newsworthy. But the GOP folks seem pretty unhappy. Weirdly, a lot of people are unhappy that Fred Thompson isn't running well, but not a lot of people seem to have, you know, actually voted for, or donated to, Fred.

A lot of that's Thompson's own fault -- I mentioned before that in my dealings with the campaign they seemed utterly disorganized. And I just got a copy of Townhall magazine in the mail, and Bill O'Reilly is saying the same thing. Blowing things with the Glenn & Helen Show is one thing, but blowing off O'Reilly is another. Thompson's good on policy, and I like him, but he's run a lousy campaign so far. Still, Thompson aside you're left with four Republicans of the less-than-conservative variety: McCain (good on the war, but what about immigration, campaign finance, etc.), Rudy (abortion, gun control, etc.), Romney (abortion, gun control, etc.) and Huckabee ("I'm from the government and I'm here to help!"). So you can see why people are unhappy.

Some people think it's time to teach the party a lesson. Fine, but I thought 2006 was supposed to do that. Did they learn anything? Seems to me that things are about what they were when I put up my pre-mortem post that had Limbaugh exercised. (For that matter, did losing in 2000 and 2004 improve the Democrats? What, exactly, have they learned that led to the Hillary/Edwards/Obama offering? Are political parties capable of really learning?)

People will make up their minds closer to the date. Meanwhile, here's a suggestion: If you care about saving the Republican Party, don't blog about it. Get to work at the local and state level. Push your views, and find and promote candidates you like. Meanwhile, my earlier thoughts about culture and politics are still relevant. If you feel that way, then focus your energies there. But either way, don't expect a candidate to be all you want. They seldom are, in my experience.

But note that neither political party is producing high-quality leadership, and that's been the pattern for a while, even as we've lowered the bar on what counts as quality. That's a systemic problem, and it's bigger than what's going on with either party, or any particular election.

UPDATE: "Isn't it remarkable how quickly zero becomes normal?" Okay, different topic, but it fit.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Mark Martin emails:

I don't know, Professor Reynolds. The whole "I'll sit things out because no candidate fits my litmus test(s) 100%" seems infantile.

Particularly given the threat of Islamofascism and (perhaps even more importantly) the possibility of THREE Supreme Court appointments.

Maybe the folks who want to sit things out need to sit down and ask Hillary/Barack/John their plans for Iraq? For dealing with terrorism? For appointing Supreme Court justices?

And saying that McCain or Romney wouldn't do much better isn't a genuine answer, because it is not true. Pointing out squishy appointments in the past (Stevens by Gerald Ford) is a justification that seems forced to me.

Sitting out the election *assures* a Democratic victory in the Presidency, Senate, and House. And what it sounds like to me is "...so things will go awfully and then folks will come running back to REAL conservatism..."

And that is not a mature attitude. I'm nobody important, but it sounds precisely like my seven year old on the playground.

You gotta do what you gotta do. But figuring out what you gotta do -- well, that's not for sissies.

MORE: Reader Richard Rollo emails:

I chuckle at the idea of "teaching the Republicans a lesson." When I was a Democrat, we thought we were teaching the Democrats a lesson but every year they would forget. Politicians are more like cats than dogs, and we all know that cats only learn what they decide to learn.

It's all explained here.

STILL MORE: Reader Alex Bensky emails:

I don't claim to represent anyone but myself. For what it's worth I am a lifelong Democrat and not just as a political rooting interest. I was active in Teen Dems, Young Dems, on the county committee, etc. And in the Michigan primary I voted for the candidate I want to win in November, John McCain. I probably would vote for any likely Republican candidate except Huckabee.

I did so because in this election I'm a one-issue voter: national security. I don't have any confidence in either of the likely Democratic candidates on this issue, and I even no confidence at all in their advisors, especially Obama's.

As I watch the campaign I am often reminded of Elmer Davis's remark that "the first requirement of any society is that it win its wars." As a corollary, a society needs to recognize that it is in a war and want to win it.

True enough. As I predicted a while back, I think the fact that the war is going better has caused people to focus more on other issues, which is bad for the GOP.

HEH: "Saudi Arabia is to lift its ban on women drivers in an attempt to stem a rising suffragette-style movement in the deeply conservative state."

Of course, the joke's on me as I'll now have Suffragette City playing in my head for the rest of the night.

A TEST FOR THE MEDIA: "Will they cover Bill Clinton nodding off (New York Post video of Clinton snoozing in church here) the way they did Dick Cheney?"

UPDATE: "They'll fail it."

SUPPORTING SEGREGATION IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. Well, sorta.

JAMES TARANTO: "In an age of heightened sensitivity over slurs involving race, religion, sexual orientation and so forth, why is anti-American bigotry considered socially acceptable?"

SOME FUSION RESEARCH video.

BILL CLINTON: attack dog-in-chief.

STEPHEN GREEN IS drunkblogging the Democratic debate. "So far, both candidates (plus special guest John Edwards!) have tied in their answers to MLK’s legacy. That’s not easy to do when talking about stimuli packages."

UPDATE: Tigerhawk is on the case, too. ("I hate to sound all Naomi Wolf, but what is CNN doing with those camera angles?") And there's more liveblogging at TalkLeft.

ANOTHER UPDATE: More from Ann Althouse: "Wolf Blitzer is still blabbing... 8 minutes into it! He's stumbling oddly. What the hell?"

I'M FROM THE GOVERNMENT, and I'm here to help!

OBAMA PULLS HIS ADS IN TENNESSEE.

Plus this: "For all the talk about South Carolina being the death knell for Thompson, who South Carolina really killed was Huckabee."

READER TED NOLAN wonders what's up with the Treasury Department's sharply lower limit on Savings Bond purchases:

The annual limitation on purchases of United States Savings Bonds will be set at $5,000 per Social Security Number, effective January 1, 2008. . . .

The reduction from the $30,000 annual limit in effect for both series since 2003 was made to refocus the savings bond program on its original purpose of making these non-marketable Treasury securities available to individuals with relatively small sums to invest. Approximately 98 percent of all annual purchases of savings bonds by individuals are for $5,000 or less.

Seems odd to me, too. The announcement says the limit was last set at $5000 back in 1973. What, we've got so many people wanting to buy our debt that we can afford to be choosy?

UPDATE: Here's a news story, though it doesn't really say much that isn't in the press release. Except this: "At a time when Americans are saving less than ever, the Treasury Department has lowered the amount that investors can spend on U.S. savings bonds in a year." This seems like a bad idea, and I'd like to know more about the reasoning behind it. Plus this:

"Would you consider a person who buys a lot to be one of your best customers?" asked Daniel Pederson, a savings bond expert.

So why hurt your best customers?

His guess is that the strategy is to promote the sale of Treasury securities, instead of savings bonds.

Hmm.

STILL MORE Scott Beauchamp documents posted by Bob Owens.

VOLCANOES UNDER THE ICE, in Antarctica.

FIXING THE AMERICAN DIET, one kid at a time? "Don't eat anything that your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food."

INDEED:

"Target the Jews" has got to be a whole chapter in the "Dictatorship for Dummies" handbook.

And Hugo Chavez has got himself a copy.

AND IT'S NOT LIKE WE HAVEN'T TRIED! "'We cannot ignore the recent improvements both in the security and political situation in Iraq,' Staffan de Mistura, head of the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), said in a speech to the Security Council."

HMM: There's this: "Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton said that if she became president, the federal government would take a more active role in the economy to address what she called the excesses of the market and of the Bush administration."

And there's this: "The stock market was in meltdown today as nearly £60billion was wiped off London shares as fears of a US recession sparked a global sell-off."

Coincidence, I'm sure.

UPDATE: "They'll turn us all into beggars 'cause they're easier to please."

WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN AND WHAT WAS: Bob Krumm has thoughts on Fred Thompson's campaign.

VOTER SUPPRESSION IS EVIL, except when it isn't.

Then there's this.

UPDATE: Oops. The link seems to have killed Heritage's blog -- at least, it's showing an "exceeded CPU quota" at the moment. That should fix itself soon.

FROM MARSHA GARRISON, thoughts on why marriage rates have declined, and what policy changes might reverse or mitigate this trend. (Via Larry Solum).

THE ECONOMY'S SLOWING DOWN, but the news isn't all bad: "Venture capital investments in U.S. startups climbed to a six-year high of $29.4 billion in 2007, raising hope that ample money will still be available to back promising new ideas even if the staggering economy falls into a recession."

BOB OWENS' SCOTT BEAUCHAMP FOIA REQUEST has borne fruit.

ANNOUNCING THE Nebula Award nominees. I'm happy to see that Tobias Buckell's Ragamuffin made the list, as I enjoyed that one.

UPDATE: Science fiction author Tony Daniel -- author of Superluminal and Metaplanetary, both books I enjoyed -- emails with a correction. Seems these aren't quite nominees:

The way the Nebula voting works is that SFWA members formally recommend works throughout the year. After a work passes a certain threshold of member recommendations (currently, I think this is ten), it makes the preliminary ballot. The preliminary ballot is then mailed out and voted on by the members to form the final ballot – a group of four. At that time, another work is usually added by a committee appointed to make sure works of particular merit are not overlooked. (I’ve served on the screenwriting committee on three occasions, for example.) This brings the final ballot in each category to five. The other categories include the short story, novelette, novella and the screenplay (or other dramatic work).

What you’ve linked to is the preliminary ballot for novels. That list will be winnowed to four – with a fifth added by the novels committee, and that’ll make up the final ballot. The awards are going to be given out in Austin, Texas this year, I believe, on the last weekend in April.

Anyway, I think I’ve got all that right. The politicking within SFWA can be fierce at this time of year! Not that it isn’t the rest of the year, for that matter.

So I hear.

ROGER KIMBALL: "I am glad that our former paper of record is getting some small portion of the obloquy it deserves for 'Across America, Deadly Echoes of Foreign Battles,' the front-page story it ran on January 13 inaugurating a series about the supposed violent tendencies of American soldiers who had returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan."

Plus, don't miss The Media Violence Project.

ONE WAY TO FINANCE YOUR NEXT RELEASE: JillsNextRecord.com.

OPINIONS ARE stubborn things.

CATO PODCAST: Ilya Shapiro on the Stoneridge decision.

PHARMACEUTICAL CHEMIST DEREK LOWE looks at research on aging and life extension. "Some people may not be able to get past Aubrey de Grey’s hair, and may have decided the whole subject is out on the fringe. But, increasingly, I don’t think it is. This stuff could work, eventually, and if it does, it’ll be one of the biggest inflection points in the history of the species."

SAVE WINDOWS XP: A petition and campaign.

ANOTHER DRUG RAID GONE WRONG:

Officer Jarrod Shivers was shot and killed while executing a search warrant in Cheseapeake, Virginia Thursday night.

The suspect had no criminal record (at least in the state of Virginia). And he says in an interview from jail he had no idea the undercover cops breaking into his home were police. The suspect, 28-year-old Ryan David Frederick, also says a burglar had broken into his home earlier this week.

Though the raid was apparently part of a drug investigation, police aren't saying what if any drugs were found. They won't even confirm that police had the correct address. But they have arrested Frederick and charged him with first-degree murder.

Full story here. Stay tuned for more.

T.M. LUTAS is back.

A LOOK AT HUCKABEE'S EFFORT TO expand his appeal beyond evangelicals. It didn't work.

IT'S ON! And Baldilocks is buttering the popcorn.

OBAMA CAMPAIGN CLAIMS vote irregularities in Nevada.

MICHAEL YON IS PROFILED in today's New York Times.

He's heading back to Iraq shortly. If you like his work, consider making a donation.

A MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY REMEMBRANCE, from Extreme Mortman.

IN CASE YOU MISSED THIS BACK OVER CHRISTMAS, beware the Terrorists' Tet.

COINCIDENCE: "Judge Monica Fernandez, a Venezuelan human rights advocate, was shot by on January 4 in what police ruled a botched car robbery. The night before the attack, she was branded an enemy of the state, a coup-plotter, and a fascist on a state television show which condemns those who dare to oppose the government’s actions."

1950: BIRTH OF THE CUPHOLDER.

January 20, 2008

FIGHTING BACK AGAINST THE CRUSHING OF DISSENT:

A former presenter of One Man and His Dog has won £2,000 in compensation after being wrongly arrested on suspicion of stirring up racial hatred. . . .

Robin Page fought a five-year, one-man campaign to clear his name over remarks he made at a pro-hunting rally which led to him being held in a police cell.

Using the Data Protection Act, he obtained official documents which showed that there had been no grounds for prosecution before Gloucestershire Constabulary agreed the settlement for his wrongful detention.

"I believe I have scored a significant victory over the ludicrous and sinister politically-correct 'hate crime' culture that is currently doing so much to prevent free speech in this country," he said.

His heinous remark? "If you are a black, vegetarian, Muslim, asylum-seeking, one-legged lesbian lorry driver, I want the same rights as you." Seems admirably universalist to me.

PERRY DE HAVILLAND: "I just do not understand it. When Spain capitulated to attacks from Islamic fascists and elected a socialist government who promptly pulled its troops out of coalition operations... a policy we have been told by many that the USA and UK should follow in order to stop provoking the Islamists... that should have been the end of Spain's non-Basque terrorist problems." And yet . . ..

THE MAGIC 8 BALL said I'd be worth millions one day. I hope it wasn't talking about this. It reminds me of Dan Aykroyd as Jimmy Carter delivering the good side of inflation.

COUNTERINSURGENCY and our NATO allies.

MORE UPROAR OVER ISLAMISM in the Netherlands.

BARACK OBAMA: Urging unity and attacking Bill Clinton.

TAKING ENERGY CONSERVATION TOO FAR:

California is proposing revisions to its housing code that would require all new or remodeled homes to have a "programmable communicating thermostat." Equipped with special "nonremovable" FM radio receivers, these devices would allow state power authorities to set the temperature in your home as they see fit. Ostensibly to manage demand during "price events" and other "emergencies," you would basically cede control of your home's heating and air conditioning to the state (when and if state officials wanted to exercise it).

Taken by itself, this may not sound so scary. But then again, as Gulliver learned, one Lilliputian is an intriguing freak. Two are kind of cool. But 10,000 teeny-weeny folk tying you down?

Of course, tying Americans down, limiting their options, foreclosing on any path not acceptable to today's social controllers of the right and the left is perhaps the defining spirit of our age.

Break those threads. And don't worry too much about trampling a few of the Lilliputians underfoot.

UPDATE: Reader Charles Prael emails that this proposal had been withdrawn before the above ran. That's what I get for relying on the L.A. Times!

THE NANNY STATE HAS NO RHYTHM:

(Via Ed Driscoll).

AMAZON SEEMS TO HAVE SOLD OUT OF JONAH GOLDBERG'S BOOK, and it seems to be out of stock at lots of other places -- including Wal-Mart and book-wholesaler Baker & Taylor. So don't give your local bookstore a hard time if they're sold out now. . . .

VIDEO GAME saves a life:

A North Carolina man who saw an SUV flip and roll on a highway last November was able to provide medical aid to the victims with skills he learned from the America's Army, say the videogame's makers. . . .

Galvanek said he learned about controlling bleeding from playing section two of the "medic" class training in America's Army, a game developed by the Army as a recruitment tool.

Violent videogames -- if they save just one life, it's worth it!

IS MORALITY important in a spouse?

UNHAPPY WITH THE STATE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, Bill Quick is interested in ideas for a new one.

SOME QUESTIONS FOR George Clooney.

MORE CRUSHING OF DISSENT, REVERSED:

Months after first reviewing the expulsion of a student activist from Valdosta State University, the Georgia Board of Regents agreed to allow T. Hayden Barnes — once dubbed a “clear and present danger” to the campus by its president, Ronald Zaccari — to return to his studies, reversing the university’s May decision to “administratively withdraw” him.

F.I.R.E. was involved.

"I DIDN'T KNOW SANTA wore blue."

A WHILE BACK, I MENTIONED the Samsung duo Blu-Ray / HD-DVD player. I was too impatient to wait long enough, but now here's a first-person review from Boots and Sabers.

A NEW HAMPSHIRE DATELINE, filed from Jerusalem?

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: "McCain is starting to show a certain attraction to many bedrock conservatives that must be based on his war record and service, and this trumps their worries about his less than conservative fides — or at least allows them to accept McCain's won't-make-that-mistake-again changed views on closing the border, tax cuts, etc. Privately many conservative voters have looked at the polls and know McCain does best against the Democrats." But read the whole thing, which is less positive.

UPDATE: Mark Levin isn't feeling the attraction.

Neither is Dan Riehl.

But read this.

FIGHTING COUNTERFEITING around the world.

THE PERFECT PUSHUP: So I've seen all the hoopla about these gadgets, and Amazon keeps emailing me recommendations, so I decided I'd order a set (they're only $39.99) and try 'em out. It's basically two rotating handles, each on a broad base, that extend your range of motion and let you rotate your arms/shoulders as you do the pushup. (Follow the link for a picture if you haven't seen one of the ubiquitous infomercials.)

Verdict: Not bad. I did a dozen pushups in regular position, and another dozen with my feet on a yoga ball. (What's that? One of these). Does the handle-rotation make for a better workout? Possibly. It felt like it did. The range of motion is a bit better, too, because you're elevated off the ground, making it more like a bench press -- though you don't quite get that much range of motion. It's easier on my wrists because they're straight instead of bent, though I felt a bit of a pinch in my palms -- probably better with workout gloves, at least if you suffer from barely-under-control computer-related RSI like I do. (I usually do pushups karate-style, on my knuckles, to spare my wrists and palms). The insert promises that if you use these you'll "get ripped," which is undoubtedly true -- if, while you use them, you follow a proper "getting ripped" diet at the same time, something that they downplay. If you drink beer and eat pizza, you can do "perfect pushups" all day and you won't get ripped, you'll just get better muscles underneath the beer-and-pizza fat. Not that there's anything wrong with that!

I used to have a full home gym, but I got rid of that stuff years ago as I found that going out to the gym motivated me more. I do keep a bike and some dumbbells and a yoga ball around for when I have to work out at home for some reason. These gadgets aren't a bad addition, and they don't take up much space. But, contrary to the hype, they won't work miracles -- sadly, nothing does. You have to actually work out and eat right, alas. Meanwhile, the Amazon reviews are almost uniformly positive, almost suspiciously so. If I were reviewing it, I'd give it 3 stars -- not bad. If it's all you use, and you follow their workout plans, you'll probably make good progress for 6-8 weeks, then level off because there's not enough variety. I wouldn't build a whole workout around these things, but they make a nice supplement. That's about as much as you can expect from any single exercise gadget.

UPDATE: A couple of readers say you can get these at Wal-Mart for half the price. But of course!

THE PROBLEM WITH BOYS.

INDEED: "You fight an election with the politicians you have."

UPDATE: Bill Quick emails: "No, you fight elections for the principles you have. When you are reduced to merely fighting an election with whatever politicians are available, you are conceding that you have no principles for which to fight, and are now merely concerned with a squabble over power."

Hmm. I'm sympathetic to this in the abstract, but by the time we get to an election those principles are embodied -- however imperfectly -- by the politicians who are actually running.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Bill responds further on his blog. Ultimate problem -- you don't want the better to be the enemy of the good, but you don't want the perhaps-barely-tolerable to be the enemy of making things better. Some more background on Bill's rather sour take here. I'd certainly be the last to argue that the GOP hasn't been blowing it for years.

In response to some of Bill's commenters, let me note a couple of less-sour things. First, people have been predicting America's imminent decline into fascism for my entire lifetime, and so far it hasn't happened. Second, if you want to make things better, party politics is probably not your best focus. Politicians are weathervanes, and the winds they respond to come mostly from forces in the culture and the media. If you want to turn them around, work on that. Change the culture and the politics will follow. Leave the culture to Oprah, Olbermann, and worse, and you won't accomplish much through politics over the long run.

My thoughts, anyway.

MORE: A troubling post from Philo of Alexandria includes this:

I do worry, however, about the short-term perspective that democracy encourages, especially when voters have little historical perspective. I’m starting to think there’s something to Arthur Schlesinger Jr.’s 30-year cycle theory, simply because each generation has to relearn the same hard lessons. I see echoes of the 1970s all around me, and so far it looks as if those who are succeeding in this campaign are those most likely to repeat its mistakes.

Ugh.

REVIEWING THE NEW Nissan Altima coupe. I saw one of these the other day, and it was pretty.

CLARK HOYT makes TigerHawk cranky.

NO LOVE FOR HUCKABEE among the Fredheads, according to Bob Krumm.

UPDATE: A personal message for Fred Thompson.

ANOTHER UPDATE: From McCain's supporters: "Go, Fred, go!"

MORE: A McCain coalition?

MICKEY KAUS: "It's going to get ugly in the South. By the time Hillary is through with Obama, voters will think his middle name is 'Hussein'!"

Plus, Mickey generously offers "a way McCain could get right with GOP conservatives and virtually guarantee his nomination:"

A ROUNDUP OF REACTIONS to last night's election news. And here's more.

UPDATE: An NRO symposium on what's going on.

ANOTHER UPDATE: From TigerHawk, a cheerful take:

Watching McCain's victory speech, I agree with my co-blogger CardinalPark -- the Republicans have a pretty good field. So far, I could support all of McCain, Romney, Giuliani, and Thompson in the general election. I would have a hard time forcing myself to the polls if Mike Huckabee were the Republican candidate (given our likely choices on the other side), but if he cannot win in South Carolina, where can he win?

Read the whole thing.

A LOOK AT MESSENGER'S photo-flyby of Mercury, which I meant to blog earlier this week. Better late than never -- now there are more pictures, anyway.

A TURNTABLE THAT transfers tunes directly to an iPod without a PC.