April 05, 2008

"PINK SLIP NATION:"

Actually, though, the unemployment rate in November 1996, when Clinton rode a soaring economy to victory, was 5.4%. That's right--three tenths of a percent higher than the "grim picture" of a "pink slip nation" painted by this month's unemployment report.

That was different, because back then a man from Hope promised Change.

A LOOK AT the state of the bookstore business.

TOM MAGUIRE: "'Rocky' Was Just A Movie?"

I'M SHOCKED, SHOCKED to hear of a Hillary healthcare lie misspeaking:

Over the last five weeks, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York has featured in her campaign stump speeches the story of a health care horror: an uninsured pregnant woman who lost her baby and died herself after being denied care by an Ohio hospital because she could not come up with a $100 fee.

The woman, Trina Bachtel, did die last August, two weeks after her baby boy was stillborn at O’Bleness Memorial Hospital in Athens, Ohio. But hospital administrators said Friday that Ms. Bachtel was under the care of an obstetrics practice affiliated with the hospital, that she was never refused treatment and that she was, in fact, insured.

No doubt if elected, she will be similarly scrupulous about the data on which her policies are based.

IN LIGHT OF EARLIER KNIFEBLOGGING, (also here and here) I note that prices have been slashed on Swiss Army knives. Heh. Slashed.

UPDATE: Boy, mention knives and the email pours in. What's with that? Anyway, reader Peter Gookins writes:

RE: emergency knives for the car. Take a look at this.

"Not as threatening" as a regular large knife (which is something I don't worry about) one hand opening, seatbelt cutter, tempered glass breaker. The glass breaker works by spring action - which may be handy if you're injured and can't swing a tool - I've had one in a nylon case wire-tied to the console shifter for years. We have lots of lakes, canals and retention ponds here in Florida; tying the case to the shifter keeps it centrally located so a passenger can reach it if necessary (the driver may be unconscious) and it will be in the same place even if the car is upside down. With your door pocket placement there may be other stuff placed on top of it, and if the car changes attitude severely enough there's no telling where it may wind up.

And Col. Douglas Mortimer emails: "I have one of these with only a blade - none of the cool Swiss Army Knife type attachments. Pretty cool for a stag handled Czech switchblade." Some people might find that threatening.

GODSPEED: Blogger Bob Krumm goes to Iraq.

AIRBRUSHED! A reader emails: "BBC article you mentioned was re-written to be more global warming friendly. The quotes you cited don't seem to appear any longer." Yes, if you go here and then follow the link you'll see that the passage I cut and pasted is no longer there.

Where do they think they are, Australia?

UPDATE: Dale Amon comments:

Making changes in the first few minutes after publication in this fast paced world is necessary. Going back hours or days later and making wholesale rewrites to the public record is not.

One might also note an exception: if one finds they have issued a libellous statement or accidentally published proprietary information or totally false information that is of course grounds for pulling the whole article... or striking out the offending phrase and placing a note like this one underneath. This is what the BBC should have done if they believed they had published incorrect data.

I think that's right. It seems a bit pretentious to me to add an update noting every minor change made after hitting "publish," but my general rule is not to make changes that are big enough, or late enough, that they'd make someone's post linking to me wrong. That's what the BBC did here, by eliminating the passage I quoted.

THOMAS EDSALL: What Did Bill Clinton Do To Get $15M From Ron Burkle? (Via Memeorandum).

3 A.M.: Another sleepless night for Hillary. "Jeepers, will all business during this Clinton administration be transacted at 3 a.m.? Is it some union-negotiated flex-time deal?"

PINCHED TO DEATH at The New York Times. (Via Memeorandum).

HILLARY CALLS FOR POVERTY CZAR: And the idea gets praise from Dan Collins: "History has shown that Czars are excellent at perpetuating poverty."

Okay, not exactly praise.

RUNNING AS A GROWNUP: An idea so crazy it just might work!

And the timing is certainly good.

THIS WOULD DEFY ALL CONVENTIONAL WISDOM, OF COURSE: Basra offensive a key step towards reconciliation?

Plus, this is what political progress looks like.

TRASH, COMPACTED: Walls close in on Phelpses.

UPDATE: Reader M. Simon emails: "No mention of the fact that Phelps was active in Democrat Party political activities. Why? You don't have to answer. :-)" And reader Chris Smith writes: "So now, if Phelps trots out some jeremiads of the Wright sort, will he get media sympathy?" It's doubtful. He lacks proper heritage.

INDEED: "One of the striking features of my current troubles with Canada's 'Human Rights' Commissions is the way, in the name of ersatz 'human rights', these pseudo-courts trample on one of the bedrock human rights: the presumption of innocence."

Plus, shocking charges that Australian human rights commissioner Tom Calma is racist. I encourage anyone with similar concerns to file complaints immediately. Make your voice heard for human rights!

WELL, THE GOOD NEWS FOR OBAMA is that this might distract people from the John McCain "warmonger" slur and the Phil Gramm "terrorist" slur: Obama Denies KKK Funding Charges.

PHIL GRAMM: Terrorist! Boy, this whole hope-and-unity thing sure is taking hold all over.

DIANA HSIEH GETS email from a critic.

APPRECIATING BOB SOMERBY: He has been on a roll lately.

MIXED MESSAGES CONTINUE:

This afternoon Obama says McCain "wants to continue this war in Iraq maybe for another 100 years," and his traveling press secretary says "John McCain is not a warmonger and should not be described as such."

Obama really needs to quit with that "continue this war for 100 years" line. He's been busted repeatedly on it. Is that a new kind of politics -- to keep repeating a falsehood even after it's been exposed?

BELDAR: "George Soros' head would instantly explode if Obama picked Jim Webb as his Veep nominee."

A LOOK AT the future of fusion: "The long-term future of energy may well lie in clean, plentiful fusion power - but will the reactors that produce that power carry a 'Made in the USA' label?" There's a brief mention of the Bussard fusion project, which would make that more likely.

ZIMBABWE GETS MORE ATTENTION BECAUSE IT'S A HELLHOLE of dictatorial corruption. But the BBC at least notes Botswana's success.

According to corruption watchdog Transparency International,Botswana is the least corrupt country in Africa, while the World Bank ranks it among the world's most politically stable nations.

Analysts credit the country's success to sound economic policies, and good management of its mineral wealth.

Of course, some people just can't be happy.

MORE ON OBAMA'S ANTI-GUN POSITION, this time relating to his stance against concealed-carry permits.

REMEMBERING THE ORIGINAL VOLKSWAGEN SCIROCCO: Those were great cars. My friend Doug Weinstein had one in college, after retiring the Grand Prix he bought from Ernie Grunfeld, and he was remarking the other day that he still misses it.

OKAY, THIS IS KIND OF COOL. I emailed the Exposure Manager folks with a question, and got this response:

I saw your D300 mention as I was driving home from the airport and figured I would drop you a note anyway, as it was your D70 review that launched our company 4 years ago. Since then it is has been quite a ride. We currently have over 3,000 photographers that sell through our system, including The Miss USA/Universe organization and the Academy awards. Your initial post definitely set the ball in motion! Thank you again!

I had no idea I had that impact. I should've asked for equity . . . .

UPDATE: Reader Robert Rafton emails:

It's not just exposure manager...I was interested in photography as a kid but started up again solely because you bought a D70. I got one too, and now (a few thousand dollars later and fourteen or fifteen cameras later) I'm into the photography big time. You can see some of my work here and at pbase if you like. I don't know if it's your type of thing though.

And yeah, I just bought a d300 and it rocks. Considerably better auto-focus than the D200.

I'm glad you're not into square-dancing........

So am I! I particularly like this shot.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Okay, here's one of mine.

THOUGHTS ON wealth and poverty.

OBAMA'S STRIKE-FORCE PROBLEM: "If his policies on the war will not be all that different from McCain's, he should stop ridiculing McCain for saying openly what his own people are saying behind closed doors. To some extent this is the result of a drawn out primary. Once the general election begins, the press will no longer give Obama a free pass on his vague statements about Iraq (the free ride may already be over). Perhaps Obama will take the opportunity to make his long-awaited pivot to the center--but that will strip the Democrats of their favored line of attack against McCain: that he would continue the war indefinitely while they would end it. Not so, apparently."

UPDATE: Related item here.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Is calling McCain a warmonger the way to spread hope and unity? Note the contrast with how McCain reacted when his introducer savaged Obama a few weeks ago. Obama, however, doesn't seem able to stand up to the haters on his own team. More at Hot Air, including an explicit comparison between McCain's behavior and Obama's. It seems especially unfair -- as well as unhinged -- to be calling McCain a warmonger when Obama's people are, sotto voce pushing similar plans for a long-term presence.

MORE: Okay, I linked this Ed Morrissey post on the Obama/McCain "warmonger" issue above, but this bit is worth quoting separately:

Contrast this with John McCain’s reaction to the introduction given him by Bill Cunningham in Ohio. When McCain found out that Cunningham repeatedly used Obama’s middle name in the preceding speech, he didn’t wait for the media to ask about it. He apologized, repudiated the comments, and promised to conduct a high-road campaign. And that was just for using Obama’s actual middle name.

Does Obama believe in reciprocity? Apparently not. Obama lets his surrogates do the namecalling at his events, and then comes on stage himself to blather about setting a new tone in politics and uplifting the level of discourse in DC. He has a fabulous start on it thus far, having his campaign events serve as a springboard for slurs against McCain — a man with one son already in this conflict and another about to begin a tour shortly.

Obama heralds himself as the candidate of change. So far, we’re just seeing the same tired, hysterical anti-war rhetoric coming from his events, delivered by a classless Air America host. If Obama wants to embrace that, then voters will understand which candidate talks about changing the level of discourse, and which candidate actually works to change it. Just as with most of Obama’s policies, it’s all talk and no action.

Really, he's not even close to living up to the rhetoric.

MORE: Obama camp responds: “John McCain is not a warmonger and should not be described as such."

TOM MAGUIRE: "Can we count on Keith Olbermann's pinch-ranter, Rachel Maddow, to pick up on the now-updated/discarded ThinkProgress fantasy and describe McHenry's 'two-bit security guard' as an American soldier? Yes we can! . . . There is a simple lesson here for journalists as well as Countdown performers - if you are getting your content from lefty blogs, mistrust but verify."

I think it's a Rovian disinformation operation, to undermine the lefty media before the general election. Or else they're just dopes. Your call.

A "JUDICIAL REVOLUTION" IN WISCONSIN: The more I see of appointed judges' work, the weaker my prejudice against elected judges becomes.

IT SEEMS LIKE IT'S DONE NOTHING BUT RAIN around here, but apparently we're still behind from the drought.

IN THE MAIL: Noah Feldman's The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State.

A WAVE OF TINY COOL GADGETS, using the new Intel Atom chip.

I JUST POPPED BY JIM FLETCHER'S BLOG after not visiting for quite a while, and he's now selling some of his excellent Smoky Mountain photos. Worth a look.

ZIMBABWE UPDATE: "Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said today he's the clear winner over Robert Mugabe in the first round of a presidential election and there's no need for a run-off." Lawhawk comments on the desperation: "Mugabe has destroyed the country, and is still holding on to power for as long as he can. The runoff election is yet another way to try and game the results in his favor, despite losing the election. Meanwhile, opposition lawyers were being blocked from going to court to force the publication of the election results." The chance of ending this nonviolently seems to be shrinking because of this behavior. If this ends up with Mugabe and his henchmen swinging from trees, it'll serve him right.

MICHAEL HIRSH: The Basra Model.

Basra may well turn out to be Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Kasserine Pass. That notorious battle, which took place in Tunisia in late February 1943, marked the first large-scale encounter between untested American troops and the battle-hardened Germans. The Americans, to put it mildly, did not do well. But they quickly fired incompetent commanders, adjusted in tactics, and never lost another major battle. In Basra the nascent Iraqi Army—also riddled with incompetence and self-doubt—actually came out looking better against Iraq's well-established militias than the American Army had 65 years earlier against the entrenched Nazis, says retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey. "At Kasserine we got our asses kicked. These people didn't," McCaffrey says. Despite a spate of early grim assessments of Basra in the U.S. media, U.S. military observers on the ground in Iraq are more sanguine, says McCaffrey, who has long been a critic of the war.

Read the whole thing.

MORE ON THE ONGOING STATE DEPARTMENT PASSPORT SCANDAL:

In the latest blow against the agency, court documents show a State Department employee provided personal information from passport applications for use in a credit-card fraud scheme. . . .

Mr. Harris also said the fraud ring submitted credit-card applications using the names and "identifying information" of the persons listed on the passport applications, and that a postal service employee then would intercept the cards before they were delivered to the appropriate residences.

Passport application data includes details such as a person's date and place of birth, e-mail address, mailing address, Social Security number, former names and travel plans.

But get this: "He was released on his own recognizance, under the condition that he not apply for or possess any passports."

Glad to know they're taking this stuff seriously. Just wait until they get all of your health records . . . .

REAL COOKING, with a microwave oven.

MICHAEL S. MALONE: Should Drudge and Huffington Get Pulitzers?

I'd say Totten and Yon should be ahead of both.

UPDATE: As usual, Dan Collins is funnier than me.

MICKEY KAUS: "Clintons' Tax Returns: The press is focused on where all that money ($109 million) came from. Fair enough. But where did it all go? This seems like a genuine mystery. . . . If it's all invested, what is it invested in? Green companies pursuing sustainable growth and living wages? Or hedge funds seeking the highest returns?" The latter posing as the former, or I miss my guess. . . .

TRANSATLANTIC POLITICS: A NATO Summit for Putin.

DRIVING WHILE POLYGAMOUS.

CLICK-LICENSE GOOD NEWS: Adobe Relinquishes Ownership of Photos Uploaded to Photoshop Express.

DUMBEST COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT CLAIM YET: Lawsuit Claim: Students' Lecture Notes Infringe on Professor's Copyright.

Okay, it's not quite as dumb as the headline makes it sound, but . . . .

April 04, 2008

SOME CRITICISM of the New York Times' Basra reporting.

AT TAXPROF, the Clinton tax returns.

I'M NOT FEELING THAT OLYMPIC SPIRIT: Chinese police kill eight after opening fire on monks and Tibet protesters.

DREAMS OF MY FOOSBALL.

BILL ROGGIO ON BASRA: A look at Operation Knights' Assault.

I'M SORRY FOR DOING THE RIGHT THING: "Hillary Rodham Clinton's chief strategist apologized Friday for meeting with Colombian officials pushing a free trade agreement that the presidential candidate opposes."

Well, that's par for the course.

WAR PROFITEERS.

BUMPER-STICKER politics.

WELL, THIS IS COOL: I got the new Nikon D300 in the mail -- I'll be reviewing it for Popular Mechanics. Haven't had a chance to do much more than unbox it and charge the battery so far, but my first impression is of tremendous solidity. I've used the D70 and D50 and they feel good, but this just feels much more, well, solid.

If you're interested, here's Ken Rockwell's much more technical review. And here's one from DPReview.com.

UPDATE: This is a pretty detailed review, too.

And don't miss this one from Thom Hogan. Naturally, I like this sentence: "Looking inside the D300 is a bit like observing the work of a bunch of nano-bots let loose on a D200 to improve it."

ANOTHER UPDATE: Hey, here's a review from Stephen Green.

A MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY OBSERVATION.

JET PLOT SUSPECTS RECORDED MARTYR VIDEOS:

In chilling videos shown to a jury Friday, men accused of plotting to bring down jetliners over the Atlantic called for revenge for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and praised Osama bin Laden.

Six of the eight defendants videotaped messages denouncing the West for what they said was its suppression of Muslims, prosecutor Peter Wright said as he outlined his case to jurors at a London court.

The defendants, all Britons with ties to Pakistan, are accused of plotting to blow up at least seven jetliners bound for the United States and Canada in 2006.

Some of the group were heard on secret police surveillance discussing plans to take their wives and young children on the suicide missions, Wright said.

Wright showed a jury clips of the so-called martyr videos, recorded for distribution after the attacks. Each man wore a black-and-white checkered head scarf and sat alone in front of a black flag inscribed with a message in Arabic.

Glad they were caught.

UKRAINE: Genocide? Or mere mass murder?

CALL IT coffin-nailgate.

UPDATE: More thoughts here. "If he cannot be honest about his personal addiction to nicotine, what else is he lying about?!?" Nacho cheese Doritos.

IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Is she a Cylon, or not?

KATHY SHAIDLE ON Canada's "Human Rights" Kangaroo Court.

ALTERNATIVE-FUEL CARS are taking off. "Sales of alternative fuel automobiles (hybrids, flex-fuel vehicles, etc.) rose to a record of nearly 1.8 million vehicles in the USA in 2007."

MORE MIXED MESSAGES: "A key adviser to Senator Obama’s campaign is recommending in a confidential paper that America keep between 60,000 and 80,000 troops in Iraq as of late 2010, a plan at odds with the public pledge of the Illinois senator to withdraw combat forces from Iraq within 16 months of taking office."

I'd like that to be true. But is it?

LARRY KUDLOW: "Recessions are part of capitalism. They happen every so often. We’ve had two in the last 25 years. And it looks like we are entering a third one after today’s jobs-loss report."

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: "The mainstream media are back in the tank."

CALLING A SOLDIER A "TWO-BIT SECURITY GUARD"? That's pretty lame. But hey, maybe he can get a job in journalism once the election's over.

Or, of course, Think Progress could just be wrong again. But Don Surber comments: "The guard might not have been a U.S. soldier. So what? The guy is willing to take one for you. Appreciate it."

Meanwhile, Tom Maguire has much more.

UPDATE: Oops: "ThinkProgress has now updated its post to note their apparent error regarding the security guard. But there is still no acknowledgement that the video they have posted was selectively edited to remove the self-deprecating context. BTW, for those not clicking the links, Amanda’s two sources for this story were: (1) McHenry’s opponent; and (2) a website quoting the press release from McHenry’s opponent."

Ouch.

HOW TO BE A REGULAR GUY, when you've never been one and generally look down on them. This is a problem that has plagued a lot of Democratic nominees.

IT'S A SMALL WORLD, but one with bigger people in it.

SECRET SERVICE: McCain is not protected. This is old news to InstaPundit readers.

IT'S NOT DEAD YET: "Microsoft will be making Windows XP available for Eee-class ultraportables until 2010, and possibly later. Demand for XP on devices like the Eee and Intel's Classmate machines has prompted MS to reconsider axing XP entirely this June: the company will now sell XP Home through at least June 2010, and for one year after the release of Windows 7 -- which means sales of XP could stretch into 2012."

WHAT IF THE DEMOCRATS used "winner take all?" The answer: "Clinton would currently have a 120 (1738 to 1618) total delegate lead and a remarkable 167 (1427 to 1260) pledged delegate lead."

SILENCE on Zimbabwe.

I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE to note Nancy Pelosi's media battlespace preparation efforts in advance of the Petraeus testimony. Of course, she may have, er, misspoken: "So, the senior Democrat in our national government acknowledges that Iran is waging a proxy war against the United States and the government of Iraq, and yet believes (i) it is in our national interest to cede Iraq to the Islamic Republic and (ii) the United States has no casus belli against Iran."

BOINGBOINGTV: Tibetan monks forced to participate in staged Chinese videos.

UPDATE: From the comments: "Xeni -- You look like a comm operator from Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow!" Heh. It's true.

MICHAEL TOTTEN: Blasphemers unite!

CLINTON DONORS pile on Howard Dean about seating the Florida and Michigan delegations. "Some participants grew so angry that Gail Furman, a Democratic donor who is neutral in the race, bemoaned the divisions in the party. According to a source, Furman said that as a psychologist, she was saddened and upset that some of the party's leaders were displaying such raw and rancorous emotions."

BLUE-EYED JIHADIS:

The debate between left and right over whether "profiling" is an appropriate tool, is one of several aspects of the "War on Terror" where people talking about something that is essentially a non-issue. The debate is welcomed by al Qaeda and other Islamic terrorist groups, since it diverts attention from more serious discussion of tactics and strategy.

Information from various intelligence agencies suggests that even before September 11, 2001, al Qaeda began actively recruiting "Western" looking people, men and women, for the purpose of circumventing any resort to profiling. They have apparently been having some success.

I suppose these efforts raise their costs of operation somewhat, but probably not enough to make profiling especially helpful.

I GUESS THAT'S COOL: The iPhone of door locks.

THE WRIGHT SAUCE IS NOT for the Chomsky gander.

ELECTED VS. APPOINTED JUDGES: "Do we like the way it's easier to believe that a governor (or President) has picked judges because of their neutral qualifications or is it better to have elections that make people see the ideology of judges? It's hard to picture elections ever moving us closer to choosing judges because of their lofty credentials and adherence to neutral principles, but it's not fair to blame the voters if they are savvy enough to see that candidates are ideological and to vote with their eyes open."

I'd just add that the balance may be different at different levels. Appellate courts -- especially courts of last resort -- inevitably make more policy. It probably makes more sense to have their members elected than trial judges, who are supposed to simply follow law.

I MENTIONED WALTER JON WILLIAMS' Implied Spaces the other day, and now here's a blog-review from Toby Buckell. Meanwhile, Buckell also reports that giving away free e-books helped his sales about as much as being nominated for a Nebula Award.

MORE NEWS ON the Chevy Volt. I hope it turns out to be good -- with all this buildup, it had better.

IN THE MAIL: Elizabeth Fox-Genovese's Marriage: The Dream That Refuses to Die.

Plus, Tony Robles' Joey Gonzalez, Great American. Here's an excerpt from the latter:

"But I don't feel different," Joey protested.

"Oh, but you are," said Mr.s Glass. "For one thing, it's a little bit harder for minorities to learn, especially if they don't have a father."

"But I'm learning just fine," said Joey. "I want to learn to be a great American."

"Don't worry, Joey," said Mrs. Glass. "There's a special way to help minorities get ahead. It's affirmative action. Soon we'll learn all about affirmative action right here in our classroom. That's a very important thing we do here at school."

It's in both English and Spanish.

MORE ON Pizza Hut and guns.

THEY TOLD ME CLIMATE CHANGE WOULD LEAD TO VIOLENT CLASHES, and they were right!

VIDEO: Rep. Brad Sherman on global anti-semitism.

IT HASN'T JUST SEEMED COOLER THIS YEAR:

Global temperatures will drop slightly this year as a result of the cooling effect of the La Nina current in the Pacific, UN meteorologists have said.

The World Meteorological Organization's secretary-general, Michel Jarraud, told the BBC it was likely that La Nina would continue into the summer.

This would mean global temperatures have not risen since 1998, prompting some to question climate change theory.

But experts say we are still clearly in a long-term warming trend - and they forecast a new record high temperature within five years.

I guess it's not time to put up giant orbiting sunshades until the situation becomes a bit clearer.

"OPTIMAL SEX:" With helpful graphics.

UH OH: HarperCollins to Authors: Sorry, no money... but we will publish your book. As they say in radio, Wow! What a Deal! Actually, as a former HarperCollins author, I wouldn't say that. The best thing about them was that the checks came on time.

FEET OF CLAY NICOTINE? "Heart-ache: ABC reporter fears Obama may have lied to him about smoking."

I have to agree with this take: "What right does a presidential candidate have to lie to a nosy reporter about something that’s totally irrelevant to the election and therefore none of his business?" Say, every right in the world?

UPDATE: Or maybe not. As Tom Maguire cautions: "Well, if it were totally irrelevant to the campaign I probably couldn't find 'Quit Smoking With Obama' at his campaign website." I eagerly await the "Quit Drinking With Ted Kennedy" program.

NANCY PELOSI TRIES TO prepare the media battlespace in advance of Petraeus's testimony.

But will Hillary apologize for her remarks last time? Will Petraeus remind her of them?

UPDATE: A problem for Pelosi? Report: Security in Iraq is improving.

VIDEO: An interview with McCain's "message man."

IN RESPONSE TO YESTERDAY'S POST on David Berlinski's new book, Claire Berlinski emails: "Yep! That's my Pop! Although calling him an 'ID proponent' would be inaccurate; see, for example, this." Alas, the link is subscriber-only, but I'll take Claire's word on that -- she should know. Of course, this means that Wikipedia was wrong, but I suppose that had to happen sooner or later.

THE "PATRIOTISM PROBLEM."

Plus, Noah Pollak says there are two Americas.

THE BAD GUYS COME OUT TO DIE:

The enemy had earlier learned that, to move around, they had to do so without carrying weapons and in small groups. But this made carrying out attacks more time-consuming. When using those tactics, the AH-64s caught an armed group in the open about once every two weeks. But in the last two weeks of March, the gunships found more targets than they had over the past 13 weeks.

The Sunni Arab and al Qaeda terror networks in northern Iraq have been under a lot of pressure these the past few months. These new desperation tactics, apparently to try and increase the number of attacks dramatically, failed. And the main reason was that you can't hustle around carrying guns, day or night, while the AH-64s are up there.

There seem to be efforts to try and create a "Terrorist Tet" to influence U.S. politics. So far, they haven't worked tremendously well.

SEAN OXENDINE: No, really. Hillary has a decent shot.

DOG BITES MAN: "An unhinged tirade by Air America Radio host Randi Rhodes." The only news is, this time she attacked Hillary and got herself suspended. "In addition, Rhodes referred to former Democrat vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro as 'David Duke in drag'."

A LOOK AT THE SITUATION IN IRAQ, via the Stanford Review.

OBAMA: Opposed to legal concealed-carry.

MICKEY KAUS on mysteries of the market: "So let's see: Corn prices soar. Farmer decides to plant corn. It's the yahoos fault!"

RECESSION POLLING: "It's not an opinion."

TOM MAGUIRE: Truth, put your boots on! "Punters, do keep in mind - the print people can just rely on the bum Hamsher transcript; Olbermann and Matthews would almost surely feel obliged to play the clip and strain to mishear it. Doesn't mean they aren't capable of it."

NEW YORK TIMES: Obama’s Support Softens, Poll Shows: "Senator Barack Obama’s support among Democrats nationally has softened over the last month — particularly among men and upper-income voters — as voters have taken a slightly less positive view of him than they did after his burst of victories in February, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll."

April 03, 2008

JON HENKE on politicians and heritage.

MUSLIMS leaving Islam in droves? I might need more convincing.

JAMES KIRCHICK on Matthew Yglesias: "A retrospective obsession, married to an indifference to Iraq’s prospects."

GLAD THEY GOT CAUGHT, FIRST: British Muslims 'planned to kill thousands by bombing SEVEN transatlantic airliners in one go'.

VIRGINIA POSTREL: The glamour of Obama may be hard to resist, but could it get the country into trouble if he wins the presidency?

APPARENTLY, it's the Diamond Age. In light of the great engagement-ring discussion, some may be interested.

SOMEONE TELL JOHN MCCAIN:

A measles outbreak in and around the Austrian city of Salzburg has spread to about 180 people, most of them schoolchildren, authorities said Thursday. . . .

Hubert Hrabcik, director general of public health in Austria's Health Ministry, said the vaccination rate for measles, mumps and rubella, which are administered together, may have been "almost nil" at the school. . . . Five people between the ages of 16 and 30 have been hospitalized but all are on their way to recovery and one was released Thursday, Salzburg's Federal Medical Center said.

Once a scourge of children in Europe, measles spreads very easily, jumping from person to person through droplets emitted in sneezing or coughing. It is one of the most contagious diseases known, according to the World Health Organization.

An estimated 242,000 people, the majority of them children, died from measles in 2006, the latest year for which figures are available, the WHO says.

Don't get your public-health advice from Don Imus.

DRINKING COFFEE FOR BRAIN PROTECTION? "Coffee may cut the risk of dementia by blocking the damage cholesterol can inflict on the body, research suggests. The drink has already been linked to a lower risk of Alzheimer's Disease, and a study by a US team for the Journal of Neuroinflammation may explain why."

First rate coffee, red wine, Guinness -- you won't live forever, but you may live longer. And more enjoyably!

STORING A TRILLION QUADRILLION BYTES ON A DVD using nanotechnology.

PHOTOS: Prepping the Space Shuttle for launch. (Via BoingBoing).

MICHAEL BARONE: In Terms of Geography, Obama Appeals to Academics and Clinton Appeals to Jacksonians.

PRO-GUN AND PRO-PRIVACY LEGISLATION killed in Tennessee.

HMM: "Consider this troubling question: Do mortgage lenders have any obligation to take over a property that has defaulted on its mortgage?"

ITUNES: America's #1 music retailer.

SEND IN THE STRIKE FORCE!

BRUCE SCHNEIER ON the difference between feeling secure and being secure.

SCHEDULING FEWER RERUNS, because everything's available online.

LEE SMITH: When Obama Talks to Our Enemies, What Will He Say?

ANN ALTHOUSE: "If this is Obama losing his cool, Obama is very cool."

Actually, on watching it, what strikes me is how close this guy got to Obama. He was, of course, no threat, but it does demonstrate that Obama's security -- like McCain's -- is nothing like the security that Presidents get.

SUBPOENA ABUSE, and an effort to chill bloggers' speech?

JERRY SEINFELD: "Because I know there are kids out there, I want to make sure they all know that driving without braking is not something I recommend, unless you have professional clown training or a comedy background, as I do."

SADR'S spring jam.

CANADIAN TROOPS will stay in Afghanistan. Plus, more troops from the French.

MORE ON OBAMA AND THE COOK COUNTY VOTE, from Tom Elia. Note the update.

YEAH, THAT'S THE TICKET: Obama-Kerry 2008!

KERRY HOWLEY: "Will no one protect French workers from their rapacious capitalist overlords?"

OUTSIDE THE MAINSTREAM: Hillary’s Pastor, in Interview, Sympathizes With Jeremiah Wright. "“I’ve come pretty close to saying in some sermons, I guess, what Jeremiah Wright did."

GOOD NEWS, though it's unlikely to find application in my own work: "The University of Tennessee has entered the ranks of the nation's elite in using supercomputing to solve the most significant scientific questions facing humanity. The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded $65 million to UT to build and operate one of the world's most powerful supercomputers and lead a nationwide partnership to put it to use."

FREE SPEECH BE DAMNED: Accreditors going after colleges for "incivility." I recommend that libertarians and conservatives who are made to feel uncomfortable on campus immediately file complaints with their schools' accreditors . . . .

JOHN MURTHA rips both Hillary and Obama.

EUGENE VOLOKH ON the legality of firing an employee for legally carrying a gun.

CORZINE FLIPFLOPPING ON HILLARY? Laying the groundwork, anyway. "While Corzine emphasized he still thinks Clinton will win the popular vote, he did open the door to a possible switch."

THE WORLD'S SMALLEST HD camcorder.

IN THE MAIL: David Berlinski's The Devil's Delusion: Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions. No idea if he's related to Claire Berlinski, though you would expect that an author-Berlinski living in Paris might well be.

UPDATE: Various readers email that David Berlinski is Claire and Mischa Berlinski's father.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Raymond Eckhart emails: "In addition to being Claire and Mischa’s Dad, he’s a fellow at the Discovery Institute and ID proponent. I’d love to hear a debate on ID between him and John Derbyshire. Methinks the Derb would clean up." I don't believe in intelligent design. The case for not-very-bright design, however, remains open.

CHINA'S LATEST INTERNET CELEBRITY: The government's efforts at censorship don't seem particularly successful. See this interview, too. Last night, however, the house was razed.

UPDATE: D'oh! The story's a year old. How did I miss that?

DISTASTE FOR NAPOLEON: "Over the long run, the costs to France and to Europe of Napoleon’s monumental ambition —indeed megalomania — were enormous. . . . Napoleon modestly portrayed himself as 'the savior,' and, although not a religious person, encouraged comparisons with Jesus Christ. "

BOGART, KIRK, AND MCCAIN:

Humphrey Bogart never said, "play it again, Sam," Captain Kirk never uttered, "Beam me up, Scotty" -- and John McCain never promised a hundred year war! . . . Of course, this lie isn't just spreading itself. The fact that Barack Obama and Howard Dean continue to intentionally mischaracterize John McCain's statements -- and mislead the public -- obviously creates a level of difficulty that may other misquoted victims haven't had to confront.

Indeed.

UPDATE: Other media mythmaking, more to McCain's benefit, explored at today's -- well, actually it's yesterday's -- Daily Howler.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader David Cavalier emails:

On this note, George Bush also never said that God told him to invade Iraq, although I hear this all the time when I am in Europe.

Also, George Bush never refused to sign Kyoto, as you constantly point out. Again, when I am in Europe I have to explain over and over that the U.S. Senate voted unanimously against the treaty when Bill Clinton was president, but never let the truth get in the way of a good ol' Euro Bush Bash.

Indeed.

BLOODSHED crosses the border.

PREDICTION: There will be hunger in Argentina. Well, that's the usual result of an unchecked socialist government.

UPDATE: And, also predictable, saber-rattling over the Falklands.

JON HENKE: Dark Clouds.

Related item: "McCain talking about his life? Raaaaaacist!"

ABSOLUT AZTLAN.

MICKEY KAUS: "Whether it was an incremental success or a humiliating fizzle, hasn't the Maliki government's assault on Sadr-linked Shiite militias operated, de facto, as a highly efficient purge of the Iraqi army?" Plus, Hillary hysteria!

NATO BACKS Bush's missile defense system. Apparently, we can still get some things done diplomatically in Europe.

UPDATE: Mick Stockinger notes that this makes things tough for Democratic opponents of the plan: "Making the missile defense a NATO alliance program sets a trap for the Democrats, who are on record as wanting to 'strengthen our traditional alliances'. Unilaterally abrogating the program would put them in a position of going-it-alone and having to explain to the American people what they are doing."

TALKLEFT: "I am completely unimpressed by Howard Dean's statement about seating the Florida delegates today."

SO FAR SO GOOD: Internet support for J.D. Johannes' Outside the Wire.

APPRECIATING SWITZERLAND: "They have one of the world’s most stable economies, a skilled workforce, internationally recognized export companies, a sound currency, and renowned banking and financial services. All this is combined with remarkable social harmony, given that Switzerland has four national languages and great religious diversity."

HILLARY'S "INSOURCING PLAN:" At TaxProf, a roundup of Hillary's proposals to keep jobs from going overseas.

THOUGHTS ON wealth, poverty, and psychology. "My argument is that the cause of poverty has been poverty."

So why doesn't giving people money do more good? Because it doesn't seem to have changed behavior for the better.

WANT TO LOSE WEIGHT? Don't skimp on your sleep:

Sleeping for eight hours a night is the secret to not putting weight on, according to scientists. They found that those who slept for less than six hours a night - or more than nine - put on more weight than those who slept for seven or eight hours each night. The research published in the Journal Sleep found those who did not get enough sleep gained almost 4.4lbs (2kg) compared to those who slept for the recommended number of hours.

It's early. Go back to bed!

April 02, 2008

ANN ALTHOUSE: "Ted Turner has become a deranged old man."

COLOMBIA'S PRESIDENT criticizes Obama. "Colombia's president sharply criticized U.S. presidential contender Barack Obama on Wednesday for opposing a trade deal with his country, calling the Democrat out of touch with the realities of the South American nation." I thought he was going to restore our reputation abroad.

TAYLOR MARSH: Obama is Weaker General Election Candidate.

L.A. TIMES ON PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE PORK: Hillary Clinton's tops in pork spending, Barack Obama's 2nd, but John McCain had none!

IT'S 3 A.M., and you'd better milk those Hillary jokes before it's too late!

VIDEO: The current state of the art in space defense.

REZKO UPDATE: "This afternoon, in the courtroom where Illinois political fundraiser Tony Rezko is on trial for corruption, prosecutors played a recorded phone call in which two of Rezko's alleged co-schemers discussed Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's knowledge of a conspiracy to extort a businessman named Tom Rosenberg. This is a pretty big deal." More here.

AMAZON IS PUSHING ITS SPRING FITNESS GEAR SALE, including lots of treadmills and elliptical machines. I don't know that I'd want to buy something like that over the Internet, though. I've bought lots of small stuff, but returning a treadmill if I needed to would be a major pain. Or am I wrong, and is it worth it?

UPDATE: A reader emails:

I bought a Sony 46" LCD from Amazon. They assured me if there was a problem or I didn't like it they'd arrange return shipping with the same trucking company. Didn't need it though, it was a great TV over $1000 less than I would have paid at Best Buy.

Hmm. I don't see that offer on treadmills. Am I missing it? I followed up with him to ask about that and he responded:

My recollection is that there was a 100% satisfaction guarantee, and that I called them to verify because there was an issue of clouding on some of the sets. They said they'd take it back in 30 days for any reason, and pay for return shipping. Some people that had posts on the web site said they had used this and had exchanged or gotten refunds. There were a number of people unhappy with the product, but no one unhappy with Amazon's service, which is why I went ahead and bought it.

(I checked and I don't see the 100% satisfaction in writing on the web site now)

I did have one problem with the delivery, the trucking company only wanted to come during the day, and they couldn't deliver it for a week. When I emailed amazon and complained, Amazon hired a third party to pick up the TV and bring it to me in the evening. Amazon's service was exemplary. I do most of my shopping at amazon now, (I have the amazon prime) and never have had a problem with any return for any reason.

Sounds better than I thought. Anybody else got any experience here?

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Pat Ramsey emails:

My wife ordered the Bowflex Series 7 treadmill (http://tinyurl.com/yuhdfj) from Amazon a year ago and we had no problems with either Amazon's shipping or the machine itself. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a quality treadmill and I'm like many other readers regarding Amazon. If I need to purchase anything besides grocery items, I take a moment to think about whether or not I can get it from Amazon.

I've always liked 'em, but I've always been a bit afraid of big items. Meanwhile, a reader who would prefer anonymity writes:

I don't really have any experience with Amazon, but as a long time employee of Best Buy, I can confirm that all the horror stories that you hear about our horrible customer service are true. We would have to get much, much better to merely suck. The philosophy of our corporate staff for the last few years has been, "We would rather save a penny than earn a dollar." and it shows.

I believe that James Lileks had a series of posts to this effect. And Douglas von Roeder writes:

I've been buying items from Amazon since 1997 and I highly recommend them.

Last year, I purchased a Panasonic 58" plasma TV. The delivery men helped secure the TV in the stand and then lifted the 100+ lbs. TV into the entertainment center. In addition, they carted away the boxes saving me a lot of time and trouble from having to cut the shipping carton down to size with a box cutter.

I ordered a 50" Panasonic TV last week. The original delivery date was April 8 but an email update indicated that it would be delivered on April 4. Yesterday, I got a phone call from the shipper to set up an appointment for either April 3 or April 4!

A note about pricing - the price on the TV was the best that I could find either locally or on the Internet, including companies that don't have Amazon's 10+ year history. When I placed the order, the price for the TV was $1,508. However, while writing this email, I checked the price again and it's now $1,424. I called Amazon and the CSR told me that they offer price protection for 30 days after placing the order - all you have to do is call them and they will post a credit to your credit card for the difference.

I use Amazon for most of my significant purchases. They have excellent pricing, a wide selection of commodity items, fast order fulfillment, and 2nd day shipping is free for a $75 per year fee. It's as close to "too good to be true" as…a Macintosh.

Well, possibly. Plus, Jeanne Marie Lynch writes:

For Christmas I bought my husband a Sony 40" flat screen. I had already checked out the set's picture at Best Buy and knew I wanted it. But after checking Amazon and seeing that their shipping was free, there was no sales tax and the sales price was $500 less than Best Buy (to whom I would have had to pay sales tax and delivery fee), I ordered it from Amazon.

I also remember going ahead and ordering it, because it would not cost me any money to have it replaced if it was damaged or didn't work. That was my one fear.

The delivery company phoned my home number, cell number and emailed me all within a couple hours in their attempt to set up delivery. They were able to schedule me the very next day. The delivery guy was clean, polite, efficient and knowledgeable.

The set worked. I was a happy camper. So was my husband.

I wouldn't be afraid to order large items from Amazon.

Sounds good.

STILL MORE: Lots of people are emailing here:

I too have had nothing but good experiences from Amazon purchasing large items. I once purchased a large gas grill for my husband's birthday, only to find out
that it had already been purchased by another family member. It was too late to cancel the order, but Amazon told me all I had to do was refuse delivery, and they'd send it back, no charge, and I wouldn't even have to pay restocking or shipping. Problem solved!

After that, when we remodeled our house, I purchased nearly all of my kitchen appliances through them. Their prices were fantastic, and their delivery people were always prompt. No problems with dents, and no problems with anything else.

And reader Aaron Westcott writes:

I purchased a 46' lcd and had to return 2 of them (bad luck). No problems with the return and the service that I got from amazon has only encouraged me, in other words, excellent.support from amazon.

Bad luck, indeed. But glad to hear it worked. But note, by the way, that purchases from Amazon aren't really "tax free." You're supposed to pay, in most states, a "use tax" on these that is equivalent to your state's sales tax. That's the case in Tennessee, and I have the bill to prove it.

IT'S NOT THE YEARS. It's the mileage.

BILL'S BLOWUP, illustrated.

UPDATE: Clinton to Richardson: Obama Can't Win. But can Hillary?

KARL ROVE IN . . . . GQ?

To be with Rove is to listen to a man who is utterly articulate and insightful and at the same time utterly…what's the word? Plain? Normal? Caucasian? . . . The nondescript gray suit and overcoat, the geeky glasses and bald-on-the-top-with-peach-fuzz do, the briefcase (in middle school, he was the only kid with a briefcase, which pretty much sums it up). In what ways is he cool? We can't help but ask. "None," he says. "I am the antithesis of cool."

And he seems okay with that.

HOW GAYS FIGHT TERROR IN IRAQ.

MORE ON THE AMAZON/PRINT-ON-DEMAND KERFUFFLE, from Sgt. Mom.

PROFESSOR BAINBRIDGE OFFERS A lukewarm review (at best) for McCain's Annapolis speech. "In many respects, this is a very interesting - and worrisome - speech."

JAMES FALLOWS ON China, poverty, and superpower status:

To spell it out: countries can support powerful and threatening military establishments even if their overall economy is faltering (the old Soviet Union). They can create problems for the world even if they are extremely poor (North Korea). Sometimes economic dislocation itself can make aggression more likely (post-Weimar rise of the Nazis). Often the attempt to escape poverty can cause environmental disaster. And so on.

What I was trying to convey is how different, both intellectually and emotionally, the phenomenon of "China's unstoppable rise" looks if you're actually here seeing the people in the middle of the process, versus how it must sound if you just hear about it from afar.

Read the whole thing.

EUGENE VOLOKH ON the United Nations "Human Rights" Council.

FIFTH CIRCUIT WILL hear Skilling's Enron appeal.

JOSH MARSHALL SPEAKS AT PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, and TigerHawk reports on it.

HILLARY CLINTON, champion of democracy!

UNIVERSITY OF MAINE LAW STUDENTS, working to shut the RIAA down.

MICHAEL SILENCE NOTES the slow drip of Obama endorsements.

MCCAIN TRAVELS ABROAD, and James Kirchick is surprised at the good press.

STILL MORE ON THE Clinton-Obama racial divide.

VOTING MACHINES, SECURITY, AND MORE: A video interview with Princeton security expert Ed Felten.

VIDEO: The wonderful, horrible life of Philip Johnson.

REMEMBERING THE 1983 PONTIAC TRANS AM: I actually preferred the prior, Smokey and the Bandit incarnation, which had a certain barbaric splendor that the later models lacked.

OBAMA: "I won't be smiling."

PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: Citizens Against Government Waste has released the 2008 Congressional Pig Book, and it's full of juicy, greasy, goodness. Here's a summary:

Some of the biggest pork projects, according to the group, include a Lobster Institute; the Rocky Flats, Colorado, Cold War Museum; and the First Tee, a program to build young people's character through golf.

Members of Congress requested funds for all these pet projects and thousands of others last year, according to the latest copy of the annual "Pig Book" released by Citizens Against Government Waste.

"Congress stuffed 11,610 projects" worth $17.2 billion into a dozen spending bills, the group said in the report released Wednesday.

The "Pig Book" names dozens of what the citizens group considers the most egregious porkers, the lawmakers who funnel money to projects on their home turf.

Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, requested the most money, $892.2 million, according to the group. . . .

"There were several candidates for the Narcissist Award," Tom Schatz, the president of the group said.

"But this one went to House Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel for the Charles Rangel Public Service Center at the City College of New York -- $1,950,000 (to a project) that he named after himself."

Rangel, a Democrat from New York, said last summer he was "honored that City College chose to have my name attached to what is an important project, not just for the residents of my congressional district, but for New York City and this nation."

A call to Rangel's office wasn't immediately returned.

Both parties came in for criticism, with the Democrats who control both houses of Congress topping the Republicans in spending.

Read the whole thing(s) -- and ask your Senators and Representative if they'll take the Earmark Moratorium pledge.

MORE NEWS FROM ZIMBABWE: "Zimbabwe’s official election commission has confirmed that the Zimbabwe Africa National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF), the party which has ruled the country for nearly 30 years, has lost its parliamentary majority, news agencies report."

UPDATE: More on Zimbabwe developments in this roundup.

IS HILLARY toughening up Obama?

WHAT IS IT WITH ALL THE HOOKERS IN AMERICAN POLITICS lately? At least Bill Clinton was getting it for free.

UPDATE: Gateway Pundit has a roundup, for those who are interested.

IN SALON, ELIZABETH SVOBODA WRITES ON GEOENGINEERING FOR GLOBAL WARMING:

Gregory Benford thinks Al Gore's a good guy and all, but he also thinks the star of "An Inconvenient Truth" is a little delusional. Driving a hybrid car, switching your bulbs to compact fluorescents and springing for recycled paper products are all well-meaning strategies in the fight against global warming. But as UC-Irvine physicist Benford sees it, there's a catch. Those do-gooder actions are not going to be effective enough to turn the temperature tide, and even incremental political changes like reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mining alternative fuel sources are not forward-thinking enough. "I never believed we were going to be able to thwart global warming through carbon restriction," Benford says. "Carbon restriction requires nations to subvert short- and midterm goals for a long-term goal they've read about online, and that's just not going to work."

As an alternative, Benford has cooked up a plan that amounts to a manmade Mount Pinatubo eruption. He has proposed shooting trillions of tiny particles of earth into the stratosphere, where they will remain suspended to help blot out incoming solar rays. Dirt is cheap, chemically unreactive and easily crushable, he argues, making it a simple matter to test this strategy on a small scale over the Arctic before total global deployment.

I think it's important to research this stuff, but I'd be very slow to move to "total global deployment," especially given that recent years seem to have been cooler. On the other hand, this passage captures the more, er, religious tone of many objections:

Questions of usefulness and necessity aside, grand-scale sun-blocking schemes feel dubious in part because they challenge our intuitive sense that large-scale wrongs can be atoned for only with equally large-scale sacrifices. Drastic emissions cutbacks require drastic lifestyle changes, like taking shorter showers and scrapping the Hummer. Such changes feel right because they're a little painful; putting the squeeze on ourselves is suitable penance for the collective sin of spewing tailpipe fumes into the atmosphere for the past 100-plus years.

Geoengineering, by contrast, seems like an undeserved dispensation.

Sin, penance, and dispensation -- the key elements of a scientifically-based climate policy!

PROFESSOR: If you text in class, I will leave.

MICHAEL YON ON CATCHING TERRORISTS by making clever use of brothels.

IN THE MAIL: Implied Spaces, by Walter Jon Williams. I met him in New Mexico some years ago; he seemed like a nice guy.

IF YOU KILL PEOPLE, your religion won't be mocked. This is a poor message to send.

ROGER KIMBALL: Rudyard Kipling, Unburdened.

PIZZA HUT IS COMING UNDER FIRE for suspending a driver who defended himself against a robbery attempt:

A Des Moines pizza driver who was suspended from his job after he shot an armed robber said today he has been overwhelmed by support from people who cheered what happened.

“But no one had contacted me directly about a job offer,” said James William Spiers III, 38, who was sent home by Pizza Hut managers after he fired multiple shots at a man who put a gun to his head Thursday and demanded money outside the Sutton Hill Apartments, 2100 S.E. King Ave. . . .

Spiers, who has a valid handgun permit, said he’s been “pretty much in the dark” about his job since the incident. Vonnie Walbert, vice president of human resources at Pizza Hut’s corporate offices in Dallas, said last week that employees are not allowed to carry guns “because we believe that that is the safest for everybody.”

Uh huh. Good thing he didn't listen or he might be being carried by six instead of subjected to mealy-mouthed HR flackery from one.

UPDATE: Kevin, I'm not "outraged," I just think it's, well, kinda mealy-mouthed on their part, especially in light of what actually, you know, happened.

TURNING NUCLEAR WASTE INTO ELECTRICITY with nanotechnology? I'd certainly like to see it work.

BOINGBOING TV: Videoblogging in Tunisia.

JOHN SCALZI on achieving the perfect level of fame.

F.I.R.E. TAKES ON COLORADO COLLEGE CENSORSHIP. Here's more from Inside Higher Ed.:

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education is criticizing Colorado College for punishing students who distributed a flyer that mocked a flyer distributed by feminist students on the campus. The feminist students’ flyer is called “The Monthly Rag” and the leaflet mocking it is called “The Monthly Bag.” When the latter appeared, with its authors identified only as “the coalition of some dudes,” college officials asked those responsible to come forward. When they did, FIRE asserted, they were ordered to hold a campus forum after being found guilty of violating the student code against violence. FIRE called this inconsistent and unfair. Greg Lukianoff said in a statement: “One flyer that mentions ‘male castration’ is not violence, but a flyer that makes fun of it by mentioning ‘chainsaws’ is prohibited? Both should be protected, but the double standard and lack of respect for freedom of speech in this case is simply staggering.”

Read the whole thing.

NABBED: "A Jamaican man behavior specialists spotted acting suspiciously was detained and arrested after components used to make pipe bombs, unknown liquids and bomb-making literature were found in his luggage at Orlando International Airport."

A LOOK AT AUTOMATED EXTERNAL DEFIBRILLATORS in public places. They really should be ubiquitous, and I'm actually kind of disappointed that my gym doesn't have one. I even thought about buying one of these for home, but since the Insta-Wife has one built-in it didn't seem like a good deal. Meanwhile, note that they're now recommending hands-only CPR for situations when AEDs aren't available. But AEDs are much better than CPR.

UPDATE: Or maybe not. Here's a study saying that home defibrillators don't help: "The study, which included more than 7,000 patients at risk of having the seizures because of previous heart attacks, found that patients in homes equipped with the gear died at the same rate as those without it." On the other hand, part of this may be because so few people need 'em to begin with: "Four of 14 patients whom the HeartStart deemed in need of a shock, and who then were given it, survived, according to the researchers. But the numbers were too small to be statistically significant." And here's why built-in is better: "More than half of the incidents occurred when no one was around to witness them, suggesting a possible market for better alert systems."

ANOTHER UPDATE: On the other hand, Ed Cone writes: "Thanks for the post on AEDs – one saved the life of my daughter’s classmate last month." He sends this news report:

Chris is a 14-year-old eighth-grader at Greensboro Day School with no history of medical problems. On March 3 , he was playing Battle Ball , a form of dodgeball, in the school gym. As he stepped behind some rolled-up wrestling mats, he collapsed against the wall and slid to the floor.

His heart had gone into an irregular rhythm — one that couldn't keep him alive. He had no pulse. He wasn't breathing. . . .

One of the AEDs was in a coaches' office just off the gym where Chris lay. The school's nurse, Linda Sudnik; its director of sports medicine, Jon Schner; and assistant trainer Mike Gale were moments away.

After students alerted them, Sudnik and Schner arrived and began rescue breathing and chest compressions. When Gale brought the device to the gym, they used it to shock Chris's heart. The shock didn't return Chris's heartbeat to normal, Schner said, but it did create a better rhythm, one that could sustain life.

By the time an ambulance arrived, Chris had a pulse and was breathing on his own again.

And here's a blog report on the story, too.

MORE PROBLEMS FOR HILLARY as a story about a firing comes out.

AUSTIN BAY: Whittling Away At Sadr.

UPDATE: A lengthy email from a Colonel in Baghdad provides some more background. Click "read more" to read it.

Read More ?

THE COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW corrects Barack Obama's deceptive references to McCain's "100 years" remark and wonders why the press lets him get away with this. Me too.

TO DEMONSTRATE A DEPRESSION IN 2008, The Independent ran a picture from 2005. (Via Gateway Pundit). Hey, at least they weren't using frame grabs from Titanic in a story about Russian Arctic exploration. Layers of editors and fact-checkers . . . .

THE A.P. AND CHELSEA CLINTON, engaging in the same old Kyoto revisionism:

Clinton told about 250 people at N.C. State that her mother, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, would work to repair the nation's reputation abroad.

"I think the world will breathe a sigh of relief when this president is gone," Clinton said, criticizing Bush for pulling out of various accordings, including the Kyoto Protocol on global warming.

In fact, this isn't true:

On July 25, 1997, before the Kyoto Protocol was finalized (although it had been fully negotiated, and a penultimate draft was finished), the U.S. Senate unanimously passed by a 95–0 vote the Byrd-Hagel Resolution (S. Res. 98),[63][64] which stated the sense of the Senate was that the United States should not be a signatory to any protocol that did not include binding targets and timetables for developing as well as industrialized nations or "would result in serious harm to the economy of the United States". On November 12, 1998, Vice President Al Gore symbolically signed the protocol. Both Gore and Senator Joseph Lieberman indicated that the protocol would not be acted upon in the Senate until there was participation by the developing nations.[65] The Clinton Administration never submitted the protocol to the Senate for ratification.

(Emphasis aded). Also, what's an "according?" And what happened to those "layers of editors and fact-checkers"? After all, they've made this mistake before, on multiple occasions.

April 01, 2008

STEPHEN GREEN ON NATO EXPANSION: "What Is the Game Plan?"

FACTCHECK.ORG: Getting a little too slick.

DIVISIONS IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND on how to deal with Islam. (Via JWF).

BILL RICHARDSON: Why I endorsed Obama. "In my view, Sen. Obama represents our best hope of replacing division with unity. That is why, out of loyalty to my country, I endorse him for president."

JEFF FOUST on the new (commercial) space race. "As the schedule for SpaceShipTwo slips, it provides an opportunity for other companies to gain a better footing in the market, and possibly even try to enter service before Virgin. Last week XCOR Aerospace made its latest move into the suborbital spaceflight market, announcing a vehicle, dubbed Lynx, that could enter service within two years. The efforts of XCOR and others are resulting in a wide diversity of vehicles, leaving it up to the market to determine which one—or ones—work best."

A VERY PERSONAL POST, from Donald Sensing.

AGING SUCKS: Older brains are prone to microbleed lesions. It's not some supernatural process. It's just things breaking down.

DANIEL SOLOVE LOOKS AT the contradictory goals of law-school rankings. I like this illustration of how things really work:

Let's look at Cornell Law School. In 1997, they were 12, then their ranking went like this over the next decade: 12, 10, 10, 12, 13, 10, 12, 11, 13, 12. When they drifted from 10 to 13 over the course of a few years, there were probably cries of outrage for dropping out of the top 10. When they suddenly jumped from 13 to 10, they probably celebrated with great cheers. Headline: "Cornell dramatically rises to the top 10!" In reality, Cornell is trapped in an orbit around 11.5 (that's their average ranking over the past decade). And they barely go much higher or much lower than that. From year to year, it appears that there is something going on -- Cornell appears to be moving. But it's just a clever illusion, created by US News to achieve the two contradictory goals of rankings.

Or the one overriding goal -- to sell magazines and make money . . . .

EDITOR'S CHOICE: Some DVD recommendations for April.

JAMES JOYNER: Obama-Webb 2008. Strong ticket, but Webb would probably be something of a loose cannon as veep. Plus, does he want to give up his Senate seat so soon after winning it?

GRAND ROUNDS is up!

HEH. Indeed.

THIS SEEMS FISHY: Changing the Tenure Rules — Without Telling Anyone? "Several university officials said, senior administrators have come to believe that departmental standards were not rigorous enough and so applied new standards, which have never been shared with faculty leaders, let alone with those who submitted tenure portfolios under the old standards." High standards are good. But double-secret high standards are not.

ANALYZING THE NEW MCCAIN AD: "The new McCain ad does many things, but one thing it does is engage subtly and forcefully in the debate over religious values."

THE REAL BUSH INTELLIGENCE FAILURE: "What we can say with assurance is that even as George W. Bush has overseen the single most far-reaching reorganization of the U.S. intelligence community (IC) since the CIA was created in 1947, his single greatest failure as a president might well be that American intelligence remains mired in bureaucratic mediocrity."

IN MEXICO -- Anti-Emo riots?

Rioting seems a bit much. Most people in America just settle for mockery.

FOND MEMORIES OF THE 1969 Volkswagen Beetle. I owned one of these for years. It wasn't as reliable as we thought, but it wasn't bad and it was easy to work on except for the limited engine-compartment space. It had great traction. I once took it up a muddy road in Vermont to Rob Merges's brother's cabin -- really muddy, like over-the-hubcaps muddy -- and Bruce said "hey, nobody's ever made it up that road when it's like this without a four-wheel drive." (To prove his superior mechanical skills, he also said that the #3 cylinder sounded like it was running hot, and sure enough I had a burn-through a few months later. Then again, the #3 cylinder always ran hot on these cars because of the oil-cooler positioning.) The picture in this one looks like a later model than mine, though -- more slots on the rear hood and bigger taillights/turn signals.

PHYLLIS CHESLER responds to Alice Walker.

THE APOCALYPSE IS UPON US: Frank J. is in USA Today.

DISSONANCE ON rich and poor. "On one hand, we have Barack Obama drawing the line between rich and middle class at families who make $75,000 or more — a surprise to those who find themselves above that line, most of whom consider themselves solidly middle class. At the same time, we have New Jersey’s Democrat-run state government setting the poverty line for children’s health-insurance subsidies at … $295,000."

TALKLEFT: "One of the complaints I've had with Barack Obama is the difficulty trying to pin him down on issues. His positions too often seem to shift over time."

A MUGABE DEPARTURE DEAL IN THE WORKS? That would be terrific news. Gateway Pundit has a roundup.

AN AVALANCHE OF asset writedowns?

A BOLD MOVE on the border fence from the Bush Administration. Are you sure it's not an April Fool . . . ?

AN EMAIL FROM DAMIEN CAVE in defense of NYT Iraq correspondent Qais Mizher -- click here to read it.

CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS on Hillary's real Bosnia problem.

OKAY, SINCE I POSTED THIS a few weeks ago, I've been listening to Bitter:Sweet's The Mating Game on my office computer and I have to say it's grown on me. It's not SBL, but I think it's better than my prior post made it sound.

GAYS, OBAMA, and another hateful reverend: "The problem for Obama is that Rev. James Meeks, like Rev. Jeremiah Wright, preaches a message that appears to be directly at odds with the promise of hope, unity and bridging social, racial and political divisions upon which his campaign is built. . . . Perhaps of even more concern than race-baiting diatribes like these is Rev. Meeks disturbing history of antagonism towards the LGBT community. A spring 2007 newsletter from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) named Meeks one of the '10 leading black religious voices in the anti-gay movement . . . . On a more personal level, Meeks has reportedly blamed 'Hollywood Jews for bringing us Brokeback Mountain'. "

MICHAEL TOTTEN POSTS another dispatch from Iraq. As always, it's a must-read. "The story in Karmah should be familiar by now. Iraqis said no. We will work with the Americans and drive you out of our country. So many Stateside Americans still wonder aloud why mainstream Muslims refuse to stand up to terrorists, so apparently the story in Karmah – which is hardly unique to Karmah – isn’t familiar enough."

THE HUFFINGTON POST AND PAJAMAS MEDIA: Guess which one has more traffic? You won't find the answer in the New York Times.

IN THE MAIL: John Hammergren and Phil Harkins' Skin in the Game: How Putting Yourself First Today Will Revolutionize Health Care Tomorrow. I hope that technology helps as much as they suggest -- they appear to be very much in line with Andy Kessler's belief that technology will start reducing healthcare costs and increasing capabilities in the not-too-distant future.

SOMEONE TELL JOHN MCCAIN:

The recent measles outbreak in San Diego—started by one child who imported the disease from Switzerland—reinforces the ongoing need to maintain high vaccination coverage, Dr. Jane Seward said at the winter meeting of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

The unvaccinated 7-year-old boy, who had rash onset 12 days after returning to the United States, infected at least 11 additional children ranging in age from 10 months to 9 years. Four were infected in the pediatrician's office that the child had visited the day before he was taken to a hospital emergency department for high fever and generalized rash. Another two cases were the boy's siblings, while five attended his school.

One infant was hospitalized for 2 days for dehydration, and another traveled by plane to Hawaii while infectious, necessitating “quite a response” by public health authorities in that state, Dr. Seward noted.

All cases were unvaccinated, including eight whose parents had claimed personal belief exemptions.

This really is a problem. Don't get your health-policy advice from Don Imus. (Via Dr. George Milonas, who emails: "The truth is we were very lucky that the dam did not break into a full scale epidemic. There were just enough kids vaccinated in the area to prevent the worst case scenario.")

THANKS FOR ALL THE traffic last month.

BILL QUICK: "For the first time I have developed some serious reservations about my long-held prediction that Obama will be the next US President."

SHOULD A WOMAN BE MORE LIKE A MAN? The latest Ask Dr. Helen column is up.

"THE GANG:" "Democrats should now ask themselves how a party of supposed racial transcendence inevitably ended up with primaries predicated along hardening racial lines, and a unity, trans-racial candidate who for twenty years was intimate with a pastor and spiritual advisor who seems to have derided almost everyone and everything, from America, to Italians, to Jews and Israel, to whites and moderate blacks, with serial slurs worthy of a Don Imus or Michael Richards."

FAIR AND BALANCED: "You hate both of our candidates."

INSIDE THE BLACK BUDGET: Of course, all those patches could just be a clever disinformation campaign. If so, it's one with a sense of humor.

BILL ROGGIO'S LONG WAR JOURNAL gets a surprisingly flattering profile in the Columbia Journalism Review. Roggio emails: "I would just like to make one clarification: the additional staff referred to in the article are volunteers. That said, it is heartening that more are noticing." Indeed.

IN THE NEW YORK TIMES: "Iraq's prime minister says the military operation to clear the southern city of Basra of Shiite militia violence has been a 'success.' Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said in a statement Tuesday that his office will recruit 10,000 more police and army forces and will move to enhance public services in Iraq's second-largest city. His comments come after a peace deal between radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and the Iraqi government has brought a tense calm following a week of clashes."

UPDATE: More at The Belmont Club.

MORE ON ONLINE PHOTO SITES and what you may be signing away. And note that Adobe is backpedaling on its Photoshop Express Terms of Use.

FROM ANDY BOWERS, AMERICA'S STUPIDEST BIKE LANE:

OLYMPIC COMMITTEE TO CHINA: Don't block the Internet.

China’s Great Firewall must be lifted during the Olympic Games to ensure free access to the rest of the world.

That was the message from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to the Beijing organisers of the Games during meetings that will be the last official sessions between IOC inspectors and the Chinese hosts before the Games open on August 8.

More backbone than I'd expected.

ALICE WALKER: Obama is our Mandela.

Well, yeah, except for the years of imprisonment, and the whole Apartheid thing. Jeez, people are really losing it. Plus, when did Alice Walker become white? "He is the change America has been trying desperately and for centuries to hide, ignore, kill. The change it must have if we are to convince the rest of the world that we care about people other than our (white) selves." Our?

MORE OBAMA-WRIGHT NEWS: No surprise, really.

I GUESS I'LL GO CATCH THE GRAY MEN WHEN THEY FALL FROM THE 14TH FLOOR: USA 2008: The Great Depression. On the other hand, I remember my grandparents' stories of the Depression, and they didn't include cable or big-screen TVs. And Bob Krumm notes the prevalence of iPods, cellphones, and sloppy dress.

Then again, it's April Fool's Day.

UPDATE: James Joyner: "We’re certainly not in a depression. And any of us old enough to remember the 1970s know that this doesn’t feel at all like a major recession. . . . But the boom times of the last quarter century have recalibrated our expectations. The milk and honey are now fully contained within the river beds rather than flooding the streets. So, naturally, people expect the government to stop pretending that it doesn’t have a magic wand to wave and get on with making it all better."

WOW: IBM suspended from new federal contracts, as a result of suspicious interactions with EPA employees.

PRIME TIME FOR OPPO DUMPS: A roundup of all the dirt-dishing in the Democratic race.

HOW HARVARD has changed. Heh.

RANKING FACIAL ATTRACTIVENESS via software.

March 31, 2008

MARSHA BLACKBURN on McCain's short list for VP?

THE IMPACT OF VIRAL MEDIA: An email from a former student of mine in the UK:

It has been a long time since I e-mailed you.

Anyway, my wife and I have been living in the UK since early 2000 and have been experiencing the US political scene from a distance since then. I watched the anti-Obama videos you linked today with some interest. I have always been a conservative so I would not vote for the Democractic nominee in any event, but I haven't been an enthusiastic McCain guy. He seemed too much like Bob Dole the Sequel to me. He came to London and I could have met him, but I couldn't be bothered at the time even though I deeply respect the sacrifices he made during his captivity.

Now I have watched Obama's commercial to "slow down" the development of weapon's programmes and more importantly saw the "Man in the Arena" ad linked on YouTube. I have to say that now I am a convert. I am not like the fake Republicans that the NY Times seems to find that support whatever liberal agenda the Times is pushing at the moment. There is a lot I would not like about a McCain Presidency. On the other hand, I love my country and, notwithstanding what Mickey Kaus thinks about having a president with dark skin somehow deterring a potential terrorist, it does us no good if Obama throws away our real defences. I can never see Obama saying or even thinking that "Do not flinch. Stand Up. We're Americans and we will never surrender. They will." That is the most important issue for me. It must trump all others.

I must say that now I will have to donate to the McCain campaign. I was going to sit this election out (except for voting), but now I see I need to do everything I can to help. I am a father. How could I not do as much as I can to make the world safe for my little girl? Anything less is negligent.

That one commercial made me a reluctant convert to the McCain campaign.

McCain has to hope that this will happen a lot between now and November.

ANDREA HARRIS could use some help. If you've enjoyed her blogging in the past, consider hitting the tipjar. I did. (Via Bill Quick).

A SHORTAGE OF O'DOUL'S: Of the nonalcoholic beers that I've tried, the Old Milwaukee NA is surprisingly the best, given that I don't like regular Old Milwaukee all that much. I should try a side-by-side tasting. Or not.

ALL THE NEWS THAT FITS:

Got that? The New York Times reporter was an officer in Saddam’s army. Nice. By the way, officers were not drafted (that’s how the enlisted ranks were filled). Officers had to be selected and regularly vetted for loyalty and effectiveness. So Saddam decided that he could trust our intrepid correspondent and so did the New York Times. . . . This is Seinfeld reporting—“news” about nothing.

As for the New York Times, one wonders why they didn’t embed a reporter with the Iraqi forces streaming south. Like Dr. Zaius, were they afraid of what they might find?

Ouch. (Link was bad initially; fixed now.)

UPDATE: A journalistic shell game.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Sadr's triumphant surrender: "The media appear to be unanimous: by getting his butt kicked, surrendering control of Basra, and being mocked as an Iranian catspaw Sadr has… succeeded. . . . I haven’t seen the media swoon this hard over a militant anti-American in decades. Is Sadr the new Che?" Well, Che was an incompetent buffoon who was a media hero, so . . . .

MORE: Heh.

STILL MORE: A lengthy defense from Damien Cave of the New York Times. I've known Cave as an honest reporter since before he went to the NYT, and his reporting on Iraq has been good. It's a bit lengthy, so click "read more" to read it.

Read More ?

YOUTH CRIME in Britain.

UPDATE: Related item here. And interesting discussion in the comments at the link above.

YOU AND YOUR RACIST FRIENDS. This is where the Party ends. . . .

I EAGERLY AWAIT THE HOLLYWOOD BLOCKBUSTER BASED ON THIS REPORT: EU Soldiers Accused of Torturing Civilians in Congo.

UPDATE: Too snarky? Sorry, but no. Snark is called for when dealing with rank, self-righteous hypocrisy.

REZKO TRIAL: Partying at the Purple Hotel. Was Eliot Spitzer invited?

ROSS DOUTHAT ON LIEBERMAN DEMOCRATS: "Lieberman is factually correct: The Democratic Party has shifted leftward over the last decade, on the fronts he mentions as well as others. Moreover, among many of Lieberman's left-liberal foes, this leftward shift is viewed as a great achievement, which suggests that they would be better served treating his comments as a compliment than as a calumny. It's fair to pillory Lieberman for failing to change with the times; it's a little strange to pillory him for merely pointing out that times have changed."

BOY, YOU CAN'T SLIP ANYTHING BY Stephen Green.

Yeah, I know, dog-bites-man. But still . . . .

QUESTION: Is Barack Obama a centrist, or not? Based on evidence so far, I'd say he has the manner of a moderate, but not the underlying views. Or maybe it's the adrenal glands of a moderate . . . .

THE TOP 5 APRIL FOOL'S DAY PRANKS you can build in the office.

HILLARY CLINTON'S 3 A.M. Call of Duty: Mission Bosnia. "I'm goin' in -- cover me, Chelsea!" Because it takes a village -- to take a village . . .

FEARS, CERTAINTY, WHATEVER: Zimbabwe on a knife edge as fears deepen that result is being rigged. This should end with Mugabe and his lieutenants either fleeing the country or strung up. We'll see how it actually goes.

BETTER FUEL CELLS via nanotechnology.

DO SOME DEMOCRATS hate Hillary more than they love the Democratic Party?

OUCH: "The professor gazing at rows of laptops in her classroom is gazing at a roomful of witless celibates." That doesn't actually seem to be true, however, from what I can observe.

OVER THE WEEKEND, I mentioned J.D. Johannes' Outside the Wire Iraq documentary project. You can buy 'em via his site, but you can also get 'em via Amazon if you prefer. I'm sure he gets more money if you buy directly from him, though.

The trailer is here.

OBAMA: LIFE IN A COCOON: "Today he got into a bit of a back and forth with a reporter over his Iraq position. What strikes you is that he’s not very good on his feet, hemming and hawing about what forces he would leave there and for how long. (He then resorts lamely to John McCain’s '100 years' comment, feigning ignorance about using the comment out of context.)"

IS THAT A BULLET in my blackened catfish? "Shh! Be quiet or everybody will want one."

Amazingly, this didn't even make the top 5 food-related threats list. Stephen Colbert, however, is #2.

AT TAXPROF, a comparison of law schools' reputation with their overall U.S. News ranking. Unsurprisingly (since the U.S. News rankings are budget-driven), Tennessee does better in reputation than it does overall (though since reputation is a major component of the overall ranking, it's hard to diverge too much). But if you look at scholarly impact, via SSRN, we're currently at #16, much higher than the U.S. News rankings. (SSRN link may require login, so I've put a screenshot below).

All of these rankings are (highly) imperfect approximations of the "real" worth of a school, of course, even if that term has meaning. But this won't stop schools from trumpeting the ones where they do best!

FOREIGN GIFTS to U.S. colleges.

COLUMBIA NOOSE INVESTIGATION TAKES A TWIST:

A Manhattan grand jury has subpoenaed the university records of the controversial black Columbia Teachers College professor who found a noose hanging from her office door - signaling that the investigation is broadening to examine possible links between the teacher, her closest friends and the racially charged incident, The Post has learned.

According to sources, the subpoenas obtained recently by the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force and prosecutors demanded the college hand over a laundry list of records pertaining to embattled professor Madonna Constantine, whose colleague found a 4-foot hangman's noose on her office doorknob last October.

The incident happened at the height of the school's probe of plagiarism charges against her.

(Via JWF, who offers a prediction).

STEVE GILL: Is Al Gore about to make his move?

TODAY IN ALTERNATIVE HISTORY: A look at what would be happening in Iraq today if Obama had gotten his way.

MAKE WAY FOR A FRESH CROP OF DAILYKOS DIARISTS: "The staff of Newsweek will shrink dramatically, after 111 staffers on its news and business sides accepted a buyout last week."

UPDATE: Rebel Without a Kos. Heh.

WAS JOHN MCCAIN rescued by the blogosphere?

IN THE MAIL: Robert J. Sawyer's Rollback.

JEREMIAH WRIGHT vs. The New York Times. Related item here.

A LOOK AT Clinton, Obama, and the racial divide. "The Democratic race is heavily racialized, and is perhaps becoming more so. Party leaders and pundits may be uncomfortable with that fact, but it's a fact nonetheless."

GOOD NEWS FOR FREE SPEECH: LiveLeak brings back Fitna.

EZRA KLEIN ON PRISON RAPE. "Prison rape occupies a fairly odd space in our culture. It is, all at once, a cherished source of humor, a tacitly accepted form of punishment and a broadly understood human rights abuse. . . . Although it would be unthinkable for the government today to institute corporal punishment in prisons, there is little or no outrage when the government interns prisoners in institutions where their fellow inmates will brutally violate them. We won't touch you, but we can't be held accountable for the behavior of Spike, now can we?"

UPDATE: Related thoughts from Ed Morrissey.

IT'S COME TO THIS: "Crop Rot Watch" at Kausfiles.

SHE IS STRONG, SHE IS INVINCIBLE: Hillary won't be bullied by the big boys.

VIDEO: Joe Lieberman on the Democratic Party.

MICHAEL YON posts a new dispatch from Iraq, with many cool photos.

If you were away from the computer over the weekend, you may want to check out this phone interview I did with Michael. And his book will be out soon, but you can order an advance, signed copy and those will ship out starting today. (He's also got a deal with his publisher where he gets more money for these advance sales, so if you want to help him stay in the field it's not a bad way of doing it.) If you prefer, however, it's also available via Amazon, though you'll have to wait a few weeks. And check out the note from the publisher.

DAVE HARDY'S SECOND AMENDMENT DOCUMENTARY will have its film-festival debut this Saturday in Los Angeles.

POLITICO:

During his first run for elected office, Barack Obama played a greater role than his aides now acknowledge in crafting liberal stands on gun control, the death penalty and abortion– positions that appear at odds with the more moderate image he’s projected during his presidential campaign.

The evidence comes from an amended version of an Illinois voter group’s detailed questionnaire, filed under his name during his 1996 bid for a state Senate seat.

Late last year, in response to a Politico story about Obama’s answers to the original questionnaire, his aides said he “never saw or approved” the questionnaire.

They asserted the responses were filled out by a campaign aide who “unintentionally mischaracterize(d) his position.”

But a Politico examination determined that Obama was actually interviewed about the issues on the questionnaire by the liberal Chicago non-profit group that issued it. And it found that Obama – the day after sitting for the interview – filed an amended version of the questionnaire, which appears to contain Obama’s own handwritten notes adding to one answer.

Busted. (Via Hot Air, which notes "Those positions won’t even fly with a large number of Democrats, let alone in a general election. The Hillary Clinton campaign has already begun making the argument to superdelegates that Obama holds extremist views so out of touch with the American electorate that he can’t possibly win in November. The questionnaire will bolster that argument, especially on guns, where the Democrats had tried to soften their stance since Al Gore lost his home state of Tennessee in 2000.") This also underscores Obama's disturbing tendency to scapegoat his own staff rather than take responsibility, something he's demonstrated on more than one occasion.

PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: Lawmakers tight-lipped on pet projects.

Congressional budget leaders are sifting through tens of thousands of requests submitted this week by House members seeking taxpayer money for projects back home.

These earmark requests are conducted in secret, reaching the light of day only when they are likely to get funded.

But a growing group of lawmakers and the three major presidential contenders are making earmark reform a campaign issue. More than 40 members of Congress have rejected these parochial projects outright, while at least 66 are voluntarily divulging what earmarks they are fighting for.

More, please. And consider contacting your own representatives and finding out whether they plan to disclose their earmark requests. If you hear anything interesting, let me know and I'll post it.

A LOOK AT THE DNC credentials committee contest.

FROM ZOMBIETIME, a photo report from the pro-troops rally at the Berkeley Marine recruiting office.

DAVID BERNSTEIN NOTES a dubious speaker at George Mason law school.

BARACK OBAMA as Pierre Trudeau?

RARE MEDIA PRAISE for President Bush.

ZIMBABWE UPDATE: "Zimbabwe's justice minister lost his seat on Monday and first election results showed the opposition level with President Robert Mugabe's party, but counting delays fuelled opposition suspicions of rigging." If by "suspicions" you mean "near certainty." If you're following it, be sure to check out the This is Zimbabwe blog, too.

UPDATE: More from Ed Morrissey.

March 30, 2008

WHILE THE GOVERNMENT FIDDLES WITH THE BALLOTS, here are the numbers on Zimbabwe's meltdown. They're pretty grim.

OUCH: "Clinton Pushes Housing Market Fixes As Campaign Manager Sits on Board of Bankrupt Lender." Do read the whole thing, as it explains a lot.

UPDATE: A McCain connection, too.

BLOGGER CLAYTON CRAMER is running for state senate with an Army of Davids approach.

SO I WONDERED why the Vatican was pushing the story that Muslims outnumber Catholics. But then I saw this column by Spengler and it started to make sense.

UPDATE: Related item here.

SAN FRANCISCO show-and-tell.

The lights on the suspension cables of the western side of one of the busiest bridges in the world are just for decoration, not for navigation safety or whatever. They sure make a big difference to the look of San Francisco at night when they are turned off.

Question: Turning off these decorative lights for an hour saves enough electricity to power Al Gore’s house (his actual house, not his San Francisco condo SOMA that’s visible on the right) for how many minutes?

Answer: About 13 minutes. Let’s work on that math, after the jump.

Amusing.

DAVE HARDY: "Who'd ever have dreamed that someday the two leading Democratic presidential candidates would be claiming they supported the Second Amendment individual right? . . . I've been involved in this issue for decades, and so have a long term view. It's been steadily downhill for the other side."

BITES FROM THE APPLE: A roundup of Apple news. Mac Minis as substitutes for Apple TV, MacBook Air as a Windows machine, and replacing those boring flag lapel pins with Apple-key lapel pins!

SCARY MCCAIN.

AND YET THE PLAN SEEMED FOOLPROOF:

A pizza deliveryman told Des Moines police that he shot a man who robbed him at gunpoint when he delivered a pie late Thursday to a south-side address.

The alleged assailant, Kenneth Jimmerson, 19, was taken to Mercy Medical Center in serious condition. He was charged this morning with first-degree robbery and will be taken to Polk County Jail when released from the hospital, police said.

Melanie Stout, 18, the woman who placed the order for the pizzas, was charged with conspiracy to commit robbery.

Pizza delivery guys are doing God's work. People who try to rob them deserve to be shot. Meanwhile, Pizza Hut has suspended the driver.

UPDATE: Thoughts from Dr. Weevil.

MORE ON OBAMA'S SELF-INVENTION: Obama keeps bending space and time regarding his biographical details, which is a problem for a guy who's made his biography such a centerpiece of his campaign.

ASSOCIATED PRESS: Women Push Back in Support of Clinton: "Amid mounting calls from top Democrats for Clinton to step aside and clear the path for rival Barack Obama, strategists are warning of damage to the party's chances in November if women - who make up the majority of Democratic voters nationwide, but especially the older, white working-class women who've long formed the former first lady's base - sense a mostly male party establishment is unfairly muscling Clinton out of the race."

IF TRUE, THIS IS UPSETTING: Amazon Insists Publishers Use Their On-Demand Printer. More here.

We're certainly seeing Amazon move outside its traditional role as distributor and retailer.

Much, much more on this subject at The Daily Brief.

LAST WEEK WHEN I POSTED ON LAWYER THREAT LETTERS AS EXTORTION, I should have linked to this post at Simple Justice, too.

ZIMBABWE UPDATE: Mugabe apparently faces major defeat in Zimbabwe. Only if he runs out of fake ballots.

UPDATE: "Robert Mugabe's Defeat Cannot Be Covered Up." Plus, in South Africa, "Our Silence Is Deafening." And, from The Guardian's Chris McGreal in Harare: "Mugabe clings on despite election defeat."

HILLARY: Not quitting.

A DIARIST AT MYDD IMAGINES general-election attack ads against Obama. "If we choose Obama as our nominee, we are locked-in to this narrative. There is no going back, no bogus NBC polls to save the day. No Anderson Cooper softball interviews or phony charges of racism that will rescue us." Their mashup doesn't quite ring true to me, but I suspect it will create a stir among Democrats.

UPDATE: Editorial suggestions.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Ed Morrissey: "It’s interesting to note that MyDD employed 9/11 footage that even the networks haven’t used for years — namely, the people jumping to their deaths in the minutes before the collapse. We finally get to see that again, and only in the context of one Democratic blogger attacking a Democratic candidate. . . . The 'GOP will use it' argument simply serves as a dodge for an attack on Obama over the Wright Stuff."

MORE: Via the comments at the MyDD post -- where the Obama backers are quite upset -- here's another homemade anti-Obama ad, though I'm not sure of its provenance. But it's already gotten 439,000 views.

STILL MORE: An email from a guy who says he's the MyDD diarist. Click "read more" to read it. And a reader sends this bit of lefty unhappiness with Obama, too.

Read More ?

EDWARDS PRAISES BOTH CLINTON AND OBAMA: Interesting photo. (Via Internet Scofflaw).

THIS IS A BIT AWKWARD: "The U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit confirmed Thursday the entire Detroit office has been recused from the Al-Hanooti case, but officials would not say why. The case is instead being handled by government lawyers from Washington, D.C. The indictment alleges that an ex-Iraqi Intelligence Service officer asked a former official with the Life for Relief -- Muthanna Al-Hanooti -- to publicize the damage of U.S. sanctions. As part of that, the indictment alleges, Al-Hanooti helped organize a trip to Iraq by a congressional delegation. Al-Hanooti allegedly received a potentially lucrative oil contract from Saddam's regime in return for his services."

A MICKEY KAUS NIGHTMARE? Only if the shirts are designed by Chris Bangle.

A MISTAKE:

A boy in his mid-teens learned Wednesday afternoon that it is not a good idea to try to rob a former U.S. Marine at knifepoint, even if the former Marine is 84 years old, police said today.

Santa Rosa police Sgt. Steve Bair said that's what happened around 2 p.m. in the 1600 block of Fourth Street. The elderly man was walking with a grocery bag in each arm when the boy approached him with a large knife, Bair said.

The boy said, "Old man, give me your wallet or I'll cut you," Bair said. The man told the boy he was a former Marine who fought in three wars and had been threatened with knives and bayonets, Bair said.

The man then put his bags on the ground and told the boy that if he stepped closer he would be sorry. When the boy stepped closer, the man kicked him in the groin, knocking him to the sidewalk, Bair said. The ex-Marine picked up his grocery bags and walked home, leaving the boy doubled over, Bair said.

Perhaps this will divert the young man from a life of crime.

UPDATE: Okay, the story says he's a Marine, but this video has him as an alumnus of the 101st Airborne. Since he's wearing a Screaming Eagles hat, I think that's likely to be right. Do reporters not know the difference?

JOE LIEBERMAN: "I say that the Democratic Party changed. The Democratic Party today was not the party it was in 2000. It's not the Bill Clinton-Al Gore party, which was strong internationalists, strong on defense, pro-trade, pro-reform in our domestic government. It's been effectively taken over by a small group on the left of the party that is protectionist, isolationist and basically will --and very, very hyperpartisan. So it pains me. I'm a Democrat who came to the party in the era of President John F. Kennedy. It's a strange turn of the road when I find among the candidates running this year that the one, in my opinion, closest to the Kennedy legacy, the John F. Kennedy legacy, is John S. McCain."

Related thoughts here.

STOP-LOSS ORDERS: Saving vets from the hellish civilian economy!

"A DAD IS MORE THAN A PAYCHECK." Indeed.

PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: Jacob Sullum writes:

On Friday March 21, a House Appropriations Committee Web site was so overwhelmed by legislators' wish lists that it crashed, forcing the committee to extend the deadline for earmark requests until Monday. Most members of Congress seem to think the problem with earmarks is like the problem with the committee's server: not any particular person's demands, just all of them together. . . .

On the face of it, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, and the two remaining contenders for the Democratic nomination, Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, take a different view: All three supported a one-year moratorium on earmarks that the Senate recently rejected by a wide margin. But only Mr. McCain has taken a principled stand against the pet projects that legislators love to slip into spending bills.

"We Republicans came to power in 1994 to change government," Mr. McCain told the Riverside, Calif., Press Enterprise last year, "and the government changed us. That's why we lost the election: We began to value power over principle."

Well, he's got that right.

FIVE WEB RESOURCES FOR TRAVEL.

JERRY POURNELLE thinks that things are going to get tougher for writers:

Borders is up for sale, and Barnes and Noble are in trouble. Just the kind of news one needs to hear. The independent book stores have been pretty well finished off, with very few left and those mostly in trouble. Now the giants which have been in ruthless competition. And there's still a great deal of fallout from the Sears / Kmart debacles.

We do live in interesting times. Authors may well have no choice but to build a stable of loyal Patrons/subscribers to assure themselves of enough income to be able to do large projects. Or be born with trust funds. In the 40's, a sale to the Saturday Evening Post brought Stuart Cloete enough money -- $4,000 for a short story, think about $35,000 now or what a short TV script brings -- to let him write a novel. But that was back then when the Post was important. Now there's nothing like that except in TV and you don't get in over the transom.

Book advances keep falling. There's still money in journalism and general science, but the computer magazines are thinner every issue.

Well, book advances aren't falling for everybody. Politicians seem to do fine, as Deval Patrick just scored a $1.35 million book advance. People used to write books to advance their political careers. Now, it seems, you become a politician to ensure a hefty advance for your writing. . . .

ANOTHER UPDATE: Various readers think I'm not being obvious enough in pointing out that fat book contracts can be a way of circumventing campaign finance laws, etc. Yes they can! And reader Lee Willis emails:

I remember reading once that many science fiction authors like writing short stories, but it was difficult for them to find a market to sell them. One either has to package a collection of short stories as a book, or get the short-story published in a magazine.

This may no longer be true, b/c of the Amazon Kindle. You can buy individual short stories from Amazon for a buck or two. This may create a new market for short stories, which don't have to bundled with a book or magazine.

Good point. I don't know how much you get per reader via the Kindle, but an author with a following could self-publish and keep it all, I imagine.

SHEILA JACKSON LEE booed by Obama backers.

SADR BLINKS: "Six days after the Iraqi government launched Operation Knights’ Charge in Basrah against the Mahdi Army and other Iranian-backed Shia terror groups, Muqtada al Sadr, the Leader of the Mahdi Army, has called for his fighters to lay down their weapons and cooperate with Iraqi security forces. Sadr’s call for an end to the fighting comes as his Mahdi Army has taken serious losses since the operation began. . . . Since the fighting began on Tuesday 358 Mahdi Army fighters were killed, 531 were wounded, 343 were captured, and 30 surrendered. The US and Iraqi security forces have killed 125 Mahdi Army fighters in Baghdad alone, while Iraqi security forces have killed 140 Mahdi fighters in Basra." But it's likely a blink, not a major defeat.

UPDATE: Ed Morrissey: Remind me again — who’s losing in Basra? "Did our media give anyone this context? No. They reported it as some kind of spontaneous eruption of rebellion without noting at all that a nation can hardly be considered sovereign while its own security forces cannot enter a large swath of its own territory. And in the usual defeatist tone, they reported that our mission in Iraq had failed without waiting to see what the outcome of the battle would be." No surprise there -- that's what they do every time.

MORE: Heh: "The speed at which the MSM went from ignoring Iraq to proclaiming that we were losing was actually pretty impressive. I didn’t know they could move that fast any more. But when they had to back up their narrative of our loss with facts like '230 people have died in Iraq because of this latest battle' (not saying where those 230 people were or which side they were on) I knew that the good guys were winning." It's like deciphering coverage in the old Soviet newspapers.

BATTLING EDS: Ed Cone says Ed Morrissey is wrong about the media coverage. But one of Cone's commenters disagrees. The NPR coverage I've heard was of a similar tone, though I do remember thinking the other day that if this was an effort to stage a Tet it was failing, because NPR spent more time on a story about contaminated Mozzarella in Italy than on the fighting in Iraq.

STILL MORE: Media criticism from Abu Muqawama.

MORE STILL: The Mudville Gazette: "Few have noticed that this round of fighting - the heaviest occurring in Basra and reportedly with flare ups primarily in the Iraqi-controlled southern provinces - is a fair approximation of what both Democratic Presidential candidates (and most everyone else in America from the President on down) desire for a future US military role in Iraq - providing a support function to Iraqi combat troops. Within the next week we'll have some idea of how close to reality that goal is."

Plus, comments from Dean Esmay.

AND MORE: Reader Thomas Wictor suggests that this video explains why Sadr backed down:

Intense firefight in Sadr City in a raid conducted by Iraqi and Coalition special forces. It appears that most of the vehicles and troops are Iraqis.

Don't let all the pundits and analysts fool you: the JAM is now seriously outgunned by the Iraqi security forces.

Given this level of firepower, do you really think Maliki would "cave in" to al Sadr the way the media is spinning it?

The whole video is shot in Infrared, and it's interesting how you can see the targeting lasers all over. Michael Yon was just telling me about that the other day, but this is the first time I've seen it.

DARFUR UPDATE: "The Arab League is under increasing pressure from Moslem organizations, to pressure Sudan to stop the atrocities in Darfur. The Arab League has defended Sudan to the world, accusing critics of being anti-Moslem. But many Moslems know better, and are appalled at the suffering of the Moslem victims of Sudan's ethnic cleansing program in Sudan."

IT'S HARD TO ARGUE: "Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Sunday branded Zimbabwe's president a 'disgrace' to his people and to Africa, and expressed concerns about verifying whether the country held free and fair elections."

IN THE MAIL: Jack Bauer for President: Terrorism and Politics in 24.

CASH-FLOW MANAGEMENT at Hillary's campaign: "Hillary Rodham Clinton’s cash-strapped presidential campaign has been putting off paying hundreds of bills for months — freeing up cash for critical media buys, but also earning the campaign a reputation as something of a deadbeat in some small business circles."

PROPERTY LAW in The Lord of the Rings: "Sadly, literary critics have neglected this crucial aspect of Tolkien's masterpiece for too long."

GORE-MENTUM BUILDS! Senior Democrats mull Al Gore's nomination.

UPDATE: Brendan Loy notes a snarky response: "You know you got a problem if the answer is Al Gore."

"KILLING FIELDS" PHOTOGRAPHER Dith Pran has died.

UPDATE: A Dith Pran slideshow.

ANN ALTHOUSE LOOKS BEYOND the Obama "law professor" controversy. "So, the 'law professor' puffery is something on its own. Not all that much, but something. Now, consider the other 9 items, and judge for yourself whether the Clinton campaign has made its point."

UPDATE: A reader emails disagreement: "Hey, there is a lot to Obama presenting himself early on as a Chicago law professor. It might pass as just an embellishment now, but a year ago it carried some gravitas. To this layman, anyway, being a professor meant that at some point it was a full time job. So my first take on Obama was a law professor who was also politically active, especially in less privileged areas of the community. And that was cool. And that was not true. First appearances matter. But it did help get him in the door. Now I'm watching him try and get the super duper new vacuum working on the carpet and Hilary's outside with the encyclopedias screaming about how I should never have let him in." Hmm. Hillary and Obama as competing door-to-door salesmen. Sounds like an I Love Lucy episode -- SNL writers take note!

AN ELECTION REPORT FROM ZIMBABWE:

Lines were long at the polling stations here well before morning had unscrolled its first light. And when the doors did not open exactly at 7 a.m., voters in the impoverished township of Warren Park rushed the schoolyard gate, most of them desperate to cast a ballot to oust the man who has been president for most of their lives, Robert Mugabe. . . . Still, Mr. Mugabe is so often accused of stealing the last presidential election that many Zimbabweans scoff at the very notion of a fair vote. In 2002, reported results had challenger Morgan Tsvangirai piling up a big lead. Then, suddenly, the announcements stopped. When they resumed, hours later, Mr. Mugabe was well ahead.

At the moment, the opposition is claiming an early lead, but don't hold your breath. But there's lots of coverage, including reports of the various swirling rumors, at the blog This Is Zimbabwe.

UPDATE: More here: "Zimbabwe's opposition said on Sunday it had won the most crucial election since independence, but President Robert Mugabe's government warned premature victory claims would be seen as an attempted coup."

THE CARNIVAL OF THE LIBERTARIANS IS UP, over at The Line is Here.

MORE ON EVENTS IN IRAQ, from Bill Roggio.

IMMIGRATION IDIOCY, from Michael Totten.

TEACHING ABOUT RESPONSIBLE DRINKING. Unsurprisingly, the bluenoses turn out to be wrong.

MOHAMMED FADHIL: Whither Sadr and the Madhi Army?