March 08, 2008

THEY TOLD ME THAT IF GEORGE W. BUSH WERE RE-ELECTED, lawyers who challenged the powers-that-be would be subjected to secret disbarment proceedings.

And they were right! (Via Michael Silence, who has much more). The lawyer in question, Herb Moncier, has been instrumental in exposing a lot of political corruption in the area. Whether or not there's a basis -- and the secrecy will encourage some people to think the worst -- a lot of people are going to see this as a payback, one implicating the federal judiciary. It seems as if this would have been better handled in the open. I don't know if the rules permitted that, though it's hard to see why they shouldn't.

TAEGAN GODDARD: Could Gore be the nominee?

MORE ON REBECCA AGUILAR'S FIRING.

JEROME ARMSTRONG: Follies in the blogosphere.

YALE UNIVERSITY TARGETS JUICYCAMPUS.COM:

Dean of Student Affairs Marichal Gentry has consulted the University’s general counsel about the possibility of blocking the site from Yale’s network or punishing users who log onto it. Yale’s lawyers have contacted JuicyCampus about University concerns, Gentry said.

Choices currently on the table, administrators said, include asking JuicyCampus to remove offensive posts, trying to identify and discipline posters of allegedly defamatory or harassing comments, or banning access to the site from on-campus Internet access.

“When you have a forum that’s on the computer, that’s anonymous, that’s the only place where you can say those things without getting punished — it’s a problem,” Gentry said.

When you have a university whose first response to unwanted speech is to try to ban it and punish students who take part, it's a bigger problem.

A USEFUL LESSON from Josh Marshall.

MORE ON MCCAIN and his dumb endorsement of a vaccine/autism link, for which there's not any real evidence.

WOULD PLUG-IN CARS USE too much water? Some skepticism in the comments. I can attest locally, though, that nuclear plants sometimes have to shut down when streams get too low, because of a shortage of cooling water.

THE GIRL IN HILLARY'S 3 A.M. AD is actually an Obama supporter.

SO I TRIED TO WATCH this video from MSNBC on the Obama/Rezko land deal, and instead it says that the video is no longer available due to "usage restrictions."

UPDATE: I'm still getting the "usage restrictions" message, but several readers report that it's working for them. Go figure.

CHALK UP ANOTHER CAUCUS FOR OBAMA: Obama takes Wyoming.

YESTERDAY'S POST ON THE ROBOT LAWN MOWER inspired this email from reader Reid Reynolds (no relation) who owns one:

It's been almost 3 years since you posted my review, and 5 years since I bought the gadget. Perusing the Amazon site, I see people have had mixed experiences, but positive overall. My RL800 is still going strong. I've had to replace the battery a couple of times and the blades, but it was still gettin' 'er done at the end of last season. We'll see how "Herbie" made it through the most winter in the next few weeks.

I can't believe how expensive these things have become. I bought mine for $699 in 2003, but the newer model is about 3 times that. I guess demand grew as word got out. Amazon also links to what appears to me to be a new competitor at http://www.lawnbotts.com/lawnbott.html which has both cheaper and more expensive models.

I just wish they could make it more convenient. Laying down perimeter wire is hard work and, as it sinks into the ground over time, it becomes virtually impossible to find a break if it occurs and you just have to lay new line. Additionally, the random mowing pattern makes it take a long time to finish, and even then it can miss some spots, especially if you let it out after dark and you can't see what it missed when you think it's done - though being able to let it out in the dark is one of the greatest advantages to it.

I wish someone would create a system that utilzed a set of beacons that you could locate in the corners of the plot you want to mow. The mower would sense its distance to the beacons like your standard GPS receiver and triangulate its position. It would then know precisely where it was and could mow a specific pattern to finish the job as quickly as possible. If you post any of this, and assuming nobody else has already filed for intellectual property rights on the idea, let me state to any party interested in pursuing it that I freely relinquish all rights and privileges to it. But, it would be gracious of that party to provide me with a free model when they start production.

Take it away, inventors. And I'd forgotten this robot roundup post.

UH OH: "While Russia has, over the past nine years, eliminated separatist and Islamic terrorists from Chechnya, they now find themselves with a potentially worse situation in neighboring Ingushetia."

THE THUNDERBIRDS OVER LAS VEGAS: A pretty cool picture.

QUESTIONS ABOUT NEWS PRIORITIES, from Roger Kimball.

OKAY, this article on newly predatory French women got a lot of play, but the underlying stats seem kind of . . . unimpressive:

The proportion of French women who claim to have had only one partner has dropped from 68 per cent in 1970, to 43 per cent in 1992 and 34 per cent in 2006. A woman's average number of partners has risen from under two in 1970 to over five today, while a man's has remained the same for four decades, almost 13.

French women's first experience of sex is now almost as early as that of the opposite sex: in 1950 there was a two-year difference, but the gap has narrowed to four months, to around 17 and a half.

I mean, it's not exactly the Playboy Mansion over there.

JOHN TIERNEY: Global Warming Payola.

ADDRESSING NANO-FEARS at Oak Ridge National Lab.

AN INDIANA JONES TRAILER. Er, a Lego Indiana Jones trailer.

OOPS: "Democratic presidential contender Hillary Rodham Clinton tried to backpedal Friday from comments she made in October suggesting Mississippi was a backward place for women's progress. . . . Clinton was on a campaign swing through Mississippi before Tuesday's Democratic presidential primary."

SALIM MANSUR: Multiculturalism Cannot Survive.

WYOMING CAUCUS COVERAGE from Bill Bradley.

THOUGHTS ON BARACK OBAMA AND SAMANTHA POWER, from Michael Totten.

LOADS OF REZKO NEWS ON Rezkorama. It's constantly updated! And some related thoughts here.

THOUGHTS ON gloom, doom, and campus killers.

RETURN OF the muster.

The Glenn and Helen Show: Austin Bay and Jim Dunnigan on Iraq, Venezuela, and America

We talk to Jim Dunnigan, publisher of StrategyPage.com and author of numerous books on war, intelligence and security, and Austin Bay, who blogs at AustinBay.net, and who is the author of both novels and nonfiction works on war and military matters. They fill us in on the latest developments in Iran, Iraq, and Venezuela, and talk about why the Obama Campaign is good for America. (An Obama Presidency is a different story . . . .)

You can listen directly -- no downloading needed -- by going here and clicking on the gray Flash player. You can download the file and listen at your leisure by clicking right here. And you can get a lo-fi version suitable for cellphones, dialup, etc. by going here and selecting lo-fi. And you can always get a free subscription via iTunes absolutely free. Never miss another episode!

Music is by Mobius Dick. Show archives are at GlennandHelenShow.com.

Comments and discussion here.

DOMESTIC TERRORISM UPDATE: Eco-terrorism on trial out West. "Kolar testified against Briana Waters, telling jurors that her former friend helped her and three others set a massive fire at the University of Washington. Kolar also admitted to trying in 1998 to burn down the Wray Gun Club in Wray, one of four arsons she confessed to in her deal with prosecutors." (Via And Still I Persist).

HILLARY CLINTON, peacemaker.

UPDATE: More here.

JAMES PETHOKOUKIS: Can McCain win if there's a recession?

PATTERICO RESPONDS to Radley Balko on jury nullification. As I mentioned earlier, my thoughts are here.

HEH. My favorite Allan Sherman song was You Went the Wrong Way Old King Louis.

A ROUNDUP ON THE Wyoming Democratic Caucuses.

NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR ENGINEERS in Syria.

NOT VERY JUDICIOUS:

Shawn Sage long dreamed of joining the military, and watching "Full Metal Jacket" last year really sold him on becoming a Marine.

But last fall, a Los Angeles Superior Court commissioner dashed the foster teen's hopes of early enlistment for Marine sniper duty, plus a potential $10,000 signing bonus.

In denying the Royal High School student delayed entry into the Marine Corps, Children's Court Commissioner Marilyn Mackel reportedly told Sage and a recruiter that she didn't approve of the Iraq war, didn't trust recruiters and didn't support the military. . . . His foster parents, as well as his social worker, supported his decision to enlist early. Despite being denied, he still shows up for USMC physical training.

Read the whole thing.

CHRISTINA HOFF SOMMERS: Women earn most of America’s Ph.D.’s but lag in the physical sciences. Beware of plans to fix the ‘problem.’ Quotas in the physical sciences. Sure -- if it's a successful American institution, fairness requires that it must be crippled . . . .

(Via the Insta-Wife).

TRUER FOR MORE AND MORE, I EXPECT: "I find myself watching YouTube more than TV these days."

March 07, 2008

FOLLOWING UP ON TODAY'S EARLIER POSTS, could you have the beer robot bring you a beer while you sit and watch the RoboMower mow your lawn? The picture certainly brings that to mind. And then, I guess, the paintball robot could keep neighborhood dogs from despoiling your perfectly-tended grass. . . .

SUSAN ESTRICH: Nasty Twists in Democratic Race.

WOMEN'S HISTORY, with porn stars. But what point are they trying to make by pairing Hillary Clinton with Jenna Jameson?

A MCCAIN WRIGGLE on taxes?

JAMES LILEKS: "Sign of the times: you hear about a bombing of a Times Square recruitment office, and you assume it’s nutjob antiwar folks, not Al Qaeda." I guess that's proof that we're winning . . .

UPDATE: Worries at Berkeley: "After a bombing at a Marine recruiting center at Times Square in New York City, Bay Area military supporters came to Berkeley City Hall Thursday to express concerns that the city's Marine recruiting center could suffer a similar attack." Given the extensive incitement of anti-military hatred by the Berkeley city government, that's a reasonable fear.

JONATHAN CHAIT: Hillary Clinton, fratricidal maniac. I hope he's not calling her some kind of . . . monster.

But there's some criticism here.

AMAZON IS OFFERING $50 TO $150 REBATES on new MacBook computers. (Via Backpack Computing).

TOM MAGUIRE has more thoughts on Obama's Samantha Power flipflop problem.

UPDATE: More Obama national-security disarray: Intel Adviser Breaks with Obama over FISA, Telecoms.

"I do believe strongly that [telecoms] should be granted that immunity," former CIA official John Brennan told National Journal reporter Shane Harris in the interview. "They were told to [cooperate] by the appropriate authorities that were operating in a legal context."

Read the whole thing.

MORE: No we can't!

ED MORRISSEY: STRIKE TWO FOR THE TIMES:

He’s annoyed, sure, but hardly spitting and cursing. By the time she asks “Why are you so angry?”, the question is so inappropriate that he asks her to repeat it — and she declines, hopefully out of embarrassment.

Interestingly, the Times now has tried twice to get his goat, and for the second time, they’ve wound up with egg on their face.

Perhaps they'll hire Rebecca Aguilar for attempt number three. Hey, she's available!

UPDATE: McCain experiences the media shift: "When you're the darling of the press, you're feisty. When you're the Republican nominee for President, you're dangerously unstable."

MORE: Physics Geek: "This is like that line from Jerry Maguire: 'You've never seen me very upset.' He's visibly irritated, but he hardly raises his voice. Total non-story."

ANN ALTHOUSE UNDERSTANDS CONSERVATISM, with help from John McCain.

Plus, unimpressed with claims of a McCain flip-out: "Maybe a better question is what sort of person views that as 'flipping out'?"

The press hates it when pols get mad at reporters. I'm not convinced that anyone else does.

UPDATE: Ken Wheaton of Advertising Age isn't a fan of the new McCain ad. "Did someone have some spare Star Trek B-roll hanging around?"

DOES HUGO CHAVEZ HELP THE POOR? Not so much.

But he talks about it. Isn't that enough?

GOOD NEWS: Another FARC leader killed.

JIM GERAGHTY: "You realize the two advisers who have gotten Obama in trouble are named 'Austan' and 'Power'. If there's another adviser named 'Danger' on the campaign, they might as well let him go, too."

A REMOTE-CONTROL PAINTBALL-FIRING ROBOT. I prefer the BeerBot myself, but they both have their uses. Perhaps they could be combined, or -- no, that way lies madness.

LOVE FOR THE Ferrari Testarossa. With video.

RON BAILEY: For the Record, U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Are Down.

We are the change we've been waiting for!

WELL, AT LEAST GEORGE MCGOVERN KNOWS that it's not 1968 any more:

Since leaving office I've written about public policy from a new perspective: outside looking in. I've come to realize that protecting freedom of choice in our everyday lives is essential to maintaining a healthy civil society.

Why do we think we are helping adult consumers by taking away their options? We don't take away cars because we don't like some people speeding. We allow state lotteries despite knowing some people are betting their grocery money. Everyone is exposed to economic risks of some kind. But we don't operate mindlessly in trying to smooth out every theoretical wrinkle in life.

The nature of freedom of choice is that some people will misuse their responsibility and hurt themselves in the process. We should do our best to educate them, but without diminishing choice for everyone else.

It's not too late for him to jump into the Democratic race is it? This is better than anything I've heard from Clinton and Obama . . . .

HMM: Pelosi's Bill Could Benefit Husband's Stock Holding.

UPDATE: Sorry, my "hmm" was unclear. I don't see this story adding up to much of anything, unless there's something more out there.

IS OBAMA SOFT? Yes, says David Brooks, but not how you think:

The real softness of the campaign is not that Obama is a wimp. It’s that he has never explained how this new politics would actually produce bread-and-butter benefits to people in places like Youngstown and Altoona.

On the other hand, there's this: "If anyone doubts that Obama's supporters engage in cult-like behavior, try pointing out that they engage in cult-like behavior." Yeah, there's a certain Ron-Paulish vibe there.

UPDATE: What cult of Obama? Nothing to see here, move along.

MORE FOREIGN-POLICY EMBARRASSMENT FOR OBAMA: "For all the chatter about Obama adviser Samantha Power's calling Clinton a 'monster,' another set of remarks made on her book tour in the United Kingdom may be equally threatening to the Obama campaign: Comments in a BBC interview that express a lack of confidence that Obama will be able to carry through his plan to withdraw troops from Iraq within 16 months. . . . Power downplayed Obama's commitment to quick withdrawal from Iraq on Hard Talk, a program that often exceeds any of the U.S. talk shows in the rigor of its grillings." Like Obama's NAFTA doubletalk, I actually find this reassuring, but it's still a problem for the campaign. Is it free-fall yet?

UPDATE: Retreat, at any cost. Well, so much for the reassurance.

BOB KRUMM TO RUSH LIMBAUGH: Be careful what you wish for. I have to say, I question the idea that Hillary would be easier to beat than Obama. Obama's inexperience -- and considerably farther-left views -- will be a problem for him, as is becoming increasingly apparent. And his staffing isn't looking so great these days, either.

BEER ROBOTS: Man's new best friend?

IS THIS A GREAT COUNTRY, OR WHAT? A jet-powered Dodge Caravan. At the link, video of this "unholy amalgam of military might and mom-approved mobility."

SAMANTHA POWER RESIGNS as Obama adviser after the Hillary-as-Monster comment.

Meanwhile, Hillary gets another break: Archivists block release of Clinton papers. Including the background on the Marc Rich pardon.

WELL, THIS GADGET looks cool, but I'm afraid that -- as with the Kegerator -- it would translate into a quick 20-pound weight gain.

IN THE MAIL: When the Tide Rises, by David Drake.

WHY HEALTH INSURANCE isn't insurance.

Plus, related thoughts from Megan McArdle: "We force everyone to pay into fire departments because fires have very bad negative externalities: if your house catches on fire, unless you live on a rural farm, there's a good chance that your neighbor's house will burn down too. Fire prevention is a genuine public good; most health care, with the exception of things meant to stop the spread of infectious disease, simply isn't."

A CLASSIC ETHICAL BIND for lawyers.

NAME THAT PARTY: Special DWI Edition!

THOUGHTS ON JURY NULLIFICATION from Radley Balko. My own thoughts can be found here.

HERSCHEL SMITH ON Iran and Iraq.

MICKEY KAUS: Dial "P" for Pander!

HILLARY VS. OBAMA: Will Puerto Rico decide everything?

THE OIL BUBBLE: About to pop? I certainly hope so.

SHADES OF BILL LOCKYER: Having fun with prison rape.

SADDAM HUSSEIN WAS A MONSTER: Hillary Clinton is not.

UPDATE: Voyage to the Bottom of the Barrel.

ANOTHER UPDATE: An Obama apology. More here.

PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: Earmark Nation:

With all the talk about how Mr. McCain needs to unify his party, lost has been the question of whether some people will let him. Washington Republicans know he's their best shot at retaining the White House. Yet many remain ambivalent about him -- not because they question his conservatism, but out of resentment that he may get in the way of their earmarks.

This has resulted in a behind-the-scenes brawl, as spend-happy Republicans resist efforts by wiser heads to fall in behind Mr. McCain's anti-earmark message. At best, the spenders risk an embarrassing pummeling by their own nominee that could hurt them in their own re-election campaigns. At worst, they could undercut one of Mr. McCain's more persuasive messages. . . . Republicans have a choice. They can unite behind the feisty Mr. McCain, and take a position that is true to their small-government principles, popular with the public and a smart political move. Or they can hurt themselves, and possibly their nominee, by sticking with the lard.

The GOP delegation has shown that it would rather stuff its pockets than retain the majority in Congress. It's quite likely that it would rather stuff its pockets than see the GOP take the Presidency, too.

THE ESCALATING WAR against military recruiters. But don't question their patriotism!

I don't know why some people seem so anxious to reenact 1968. It wasn't a good year for anybody, except maybe Richard Nixon. And even that worked out badly in the end . . . .

March 06, 2008

RUBY TUESDAY'S IS IN FINANCIAL TROUBLE, and if you'll read the comments you'll see a lot of people saying it's because of their menu changes, complained about on InstaPundit here and here. And I agree with the guy who says that the decline began when they ditched the french onion soup.

FRIENDS OF THE COMMON MAN.

CBS: Obama's Rezko Ties Escape National Radar.

PROBLEMS IN PENNSYLVANIA: "The way I see it, Hillary is going to win this state, and the forces of Rush Limbaugh are going to do their damnedest to increase her margin of victory. This, it is believed, will help John McCain. Not only do I disagree with this approach, but I distrust it. Almost without exception, Limbaugh and the other major Hillary promoters hate John McCain and make no secret of it. So I am deeply suspicious of their claim that they are 'helping' John McCain by helping Hillary at the polls."

DOUG WEINSTEIN TAKES ON "the forces of darkness."

SOME THOUGHTS on the Rebecca Aguilar firing.

FONDLY REMEMBERING THE ORIGINAL S.U.V. -- the Jeep Grand Wagoneer. "It was so tough that my parents skipped out of their high school homecoming dance to go snowdrift-busting during a blizzard in one of my grandfather's early Wagoneers. Evidently this is what passed for fun in 1968 South Dakota."

IS OBAMA THE MESSIAH? Heck, some people say he's the Kwisatz Haderach.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT ON XM SATELLITE RADIO TONIGHT, you can listen to the latest edition of PJM Political online now.

PROBLEMS with the Texas caucus procedures.

THE MEDIA'S BUNKER MENTALITY: Amusingly, All in the Family is older now than the square acts that Archie and Edith Bunker sang about in the theme song were when the show was new.

REZKORAMA: It's Rezkorriffic!

IT'S ALWAYS COMFORTING WHEN CRITICS can't even spell your name correctly.

HMM: "Eight House Democrats were mailed a letter and photo of a Times Square recruiting station in Manhattan before it was bombed this morning, according to House insiders. The letter did not contain any specific threats against the lawmakers or the site, but the U.S. Capitol Police and the FBI are now investigating the matter." If I had to guess, I'd say this means we'll probably see more of these bombings until they catch whoever's behind it.

UPDATE: Much more here. "The content of the letters is now known, and it is an anti-war rant."

JACOB SULLUM ON guns on campus. "Instead of an increase in violence, adoption of Florida-style concealed carry policies has been followed by a decline in violence. The extent to which that decline can be attributed to more guns in the hands of law-abiding people in public places remains a matter of much controversy. But one thing seems pretty clear: The fears stoked by opponents of concealed carry liberalization were unjustified. Are there good reasons to think their dark predictions about guns on campus will be any more accurate? "

WILL THE REAL FREE TRADERS please stand up?

A U.S. CITIZEN we should be proud to have. He's in favor of peace!

AN ARMY OF EXPERTS? Well, perhaps a bit.

MORE CRUSHING OF DISSENT in Canada.

RICK MORAN on Obama-Rezko and media ignorance of "the Chicago Way."

ALI ETERAZ on Harvard's gym-closing mistake. Meanwhile, some readers wonder if Harvard will close its gyms to openly gay men at certain hours, so that straight men who are made uncomfortable by gays can work out without being uncomfortable. It appears that they're in sync with Islamic thought . . . .

TOM MAGUIRE:

By way of Ace I am watching this video in which Obama calls for the day that a young girl traveling abroad can say with pride that she is an American - that, we are informed, is the change he is working for.

I know that message lights Democratic fires, but my goodness - is that what he wants to present to the general public?

I would have expected Obama to tack to the center now, especially in light of the exit polls.

UPDATE: From the comments: "Maybe we can send him a copy of Barcelona and he'll wise up."

MAKING CHEAP SOLAR CELLS with an inkjet printer. Cool.

INDEED: "If you sue me, I'm going to do my best to figure out how I can sue you. You want to think about that dynamic before you sue somebody."

OBAMA AIDE: Neither Obama nor Clinton ready for that 3 a.m. call.

SECRET U.S. NEWS LAW-SCHOOL RANKING METHODOLOGY -- revealed!

REACHING THE BOTTOM OF THE BARREL? Clinton aide compares Obama to Ken Starr. Well, they're both lawyers from Chicago, but . . . .

JOHN SIDNEY MCCAIN: The Unity Candidate!

REBECCA AGUILAR UPDATE: After a lengthy suspension, she's been fired. Background here.

ACCORDING TO THIS REPORT, the we-don't-mean-it assurances on NAFTA started with Clinton's campaign, not Obama's. Go figure.

UPDATE: Or was it an Obama/Clinton mixup?

THOUGHTS ON THAT TIMES SQUARE BOMB ATTACK, from Bob Owens. "This was an act of domestic terrorism."

UPDATE: Rand Simberg emails: "Does Bill Ayers have an alibi? Was he having breakfast with Obama at the time?" It is feeling a bit like 1968. But where was our Summer Of Love? Britney's flings don't count . . . .

ANOTHER UPDATE: Oh, jeez. I was just kidding, but . . . .

FIVE COOL WEB APPLICATIONS -- and I hadn't heard of any of them.

THAT WHOLE "SOCIOPATH" THING is generating some pushback.

THAI POLICE BUST fugitive Russian arms dealer.

A NEW, MORE USER-FRIENDLY rebreather rig for divers.

My rebreather test-dive piece, with video, from a couple of years ago is here. Nice to see the tech advancing.

UPDATE: Rand Simberg emails: "That's not all Bill Stone is doing. Scroll to the bottom."

TOO BIG TO HIDE: Student protests in Iran.

FLIGHT SCHOOL FIASCO: Homeland Security remains a mess.

MEGAN MCARDLE: To Hell with the peacemakers.

PRACTICAL HYDROGEN STORAGE using nanotechnology.

FREE TRADE AND COLOMBIA:

Fresh off a tour of Colombia, Rep. Jim Matheson says a free trade agreement with that South American country could boost its strength as a U.S. ally, a point President Bush also stressed Tuesday.

Matheson, a Utah Democrat, spent three days in Colombia this weekend with several other members of Congress, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao and Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez. They met with President Alvaro Uribe and toured parts of the nation that Matheson says even police would not dare to visit just a few years ago. . . . Matheson says a fair trade agreement with Colombia - the U.S. already has an agreement with Central American countries as well as Mexico and Canada - would help augment the relationship between the U.S. and Colombia and boost the economics of both as well.

It's hard to believe that anyone would oppose that, but some people do. Here's more on Colombia and free trade, from Investor's Business Daily.

HAS ANYBODY SEEN BILL AYERS LATELY? Military recruiting office bombed. Gateway Pundit has a roundup.

More sixties rerunning. But they support the troops!

FREE SONGS FROM Kate Voegele and Pete Rock.

IT'S ALL PART OF THE PROCESS: The DNC looks at a do-over in Florida and Michigan.

March 05, 2008

CANADIANS ON A mole hunt. For the benefit of Barack Obama.

UH OH: Rezko In Debt $50 Million; How Did He Afford Obama Lot? "Obama says Mrs. Rezko bought it for $625,000, and then later sold a strip of the lot back to Obama so he would have a larger yard. Obama says he paid Mrs. Rezko a fair market price. According to the court transcript, Mrs. Rezko makes $37,500 a year."

"I LOVE BARBECUE." Well, yeah. Plus, thoughts on portion size: "Restaurateurs don’t necessarily want you to eat the whole thing; they are giving us what we’ve asked for. Americans don’t like restaurants that serve small portions. Whether they eat it all or should eat it all is another matter; consumers vote with their dollars and like it or not, American consumers love and buy big portions."

UPDATE: Rand Simberg finds an interesting angle.

OBAMA CAMPAIGN: What's Hillary Clinton hiding?

UPDATE: Hmm. That story seems to have disappeared from CNN's Political Ticker. Here's the Memeorandum link. And here's a Greg Sargent story.

COL. JEFF COOPER vs. the mindset of "the new feminized majority." I'm betting on Cooper, even though he's dead. Am I too optimistic?

LIKE MOST JOURNALISTS, the folks at The Atlantic wouldn't stereotype black people or gays the way they stereotype members of the military.

HMM: Rep. Ellison: Clinton Trying To Reap Benefit Of Obama-Muslim Smear. "I think that Barack Obama' s Democratic opponents will say and do anything to try and win." Well, yes.

But why does Ellison think calling someone a Muslim is a "smear"? If somebody called me a Muslim, I wouldn't feel smeared, any more than if someone called me Jewish.

UPDATE: Running with the story at Protein Wisdom.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Ali Eteraz: "Muslim is not a smear."

IRISH TERRORISM goes Islamic.

A SUCCESSFUL SURGE: "Hillary was eight points behind Obama in the March 1 Gallup national daily tracking poll. In the March 4 poll she is four points ahead." It wasn't so much additional resources as a change in tactics that made the difference . . . .

BLOGGING THE REZKO TRIAL, at the Chicago Tribune.

EXTREME MORTMAN: Hillary's right.

DAVID WEIGEL: "Clinton truly might have won the Texas primary on the backs of Rush Limbaugh listeners."

STENY HOYER didn't get the memo.

IN PRAISE OF TAX HAVENS: "Tax havens rile communitarians precisely because they are a standing reproach to the looters who use democratic mandates to justify their depredations. They act as a brake on the power of governments with a temporary majority in a democratic assembly every bit as powerful as other checks and balances such as independent courts and upper chambers."

DAN RIEHL: "Where has the Audacity of Hope gone?"

Plus, How Obama blew it.

FIGHTING THE NANNY STATE A BIT AT A TIME: The Picador Project.

UH OH: Did Rezko pay big-bucks bribe for Iraqi contract? (Via NewsAlert).

UPDATE: "Hide the bone"? That sounds kinda . . . dirty.

SEPARATE BUT EQUAL AT HARVARD: "In the old days, Harvard would have laughed if some Catholic or evangelical mother urged 'girls-only' campus workouts in the name of modesty. Today, Harvard happily implements Sharia swim times in the name of Mohammed."

The Saudis think they're buying Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, etc. Actually they're just accelerating their marginalization. Meanwhile, GWU Prof. John Banzhaf emails that this is almost certainly illegal:

In 1998 a female weight lifter in Boston was awarded $5000 when she was denied admission to a male-only section of a gym which had a separate gym area for women. The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination made the ruling despite arguments that separate weight-lifting areas were necessary to prevent "sexual harassment," and a finding that it did in fact tend to reduce sexual harassment. [Hassan and DiCenso v. City of Boston, et al., 20 MDLR 83]

Just a year earlier Superior Court Judge Burnes ruled that a "women only" health club violates Massachusetts' public accommodation statute by refusing to admit men, and could not justify its policy on privacy grounds. [Foster v. Back Bay Spas, d/b/a/ Healthworks Fitness Center, Suffolk Superior Court No. 96-7060 (1997).]

Although the legislature responded by exempting some health clubs which are established solely for use by one gender, that exemption does not appear to apply here because the gym is used by both genders together during most times of the day, and because Harvard receives public funds.

I had wondered about that very thing myself. "Given Harvard's stellar law school, it's surprising that it would take this action in the face of such clear precedent," says Banzhaf. "It would be even more surprising if one or more male students didn't take them to court over such a clear violation as my law students have so often."

UPDATE: Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, and The University of Texas.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Eugene Volokh thinks that Banzhaf may be wrong.

BOTTOM STORY OF THE DAY: Amy Winehouse is suffering from impetigo.

MORE TINY, CHEAP COMPUTERS: The Fit PC and the MicroClient Jr. I think we're seeing a trend.

BEN SMITH: Attacking Obama works.

UPDATE: Exit Poll: Clinton Holds Whites in Ohio.

MICKEY KAUS: "If the superdelegates all voted with the winner of their state, would Hillary get the nomination? I think maybe. That would be one way she might colorably claim a superdelegate decision in her favor would vindicate democracy."

PLAYING HUMAN TETRIS, with people as pieces. Hey, at least it's not "Minesweeper."

WALL STREET JOURNAL: "The perception that the U.S. troop surge in Iraq has succeeded is changing some public views of the war, potentially blunting Democrats' political edge on the issue."

YEAH, I SAW McCain's speech last night. It was good.

MORE ON Berkeley, Stanford, and Saudi Arabia.

IN THE MAIL: Parag Khanna's The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order. The blurb says it's "in the tradition of Thomas Friedman and Samuel Huntington." The book's claim that "globalization is the main battlefield of geopolitics" certainly raises more questions about Obama and Hillary's descent into protectionism.

A CALL FOR OBAMA to bow out.

THE LIMBAUGH EFFECT?

RAND SIMBERG posts an instant review of New Amsterdam.

INSTAPUNDIT'S IRAQ CORRESPONDENT, Major John Tammes, sends this report and photo:

Am now at Tallil, Iraq. I will be working, along with several others, to coach, teach, mentor and advise the Iraqi Army on what they need to do to sustain the fight by themselves.

Before I got to Tallil, I went through an Iraqi Army Basic Combat Training site. The jinood (soldiers) you see seated around the various instructors [you really CAN spot a drill instructor a mile away, no matter what army!] are the ones who will be carrying on the defense of Iraq, when we are all home someday. The Iraqis are starting to find their own way, and with help for a little longer, they will build a capable and formidable regional military.

SOME INTERESTING PATERNITY FRAUD NEWS:

Justice was also shortchanged, the judge said, because Mr. Samuels had been paying child support all of those years.

Last month, Judge Roper ruled that Jamie Hope, the child's mother, and Oba Wallace, the child's biological father, would have to repay Mr. Samuels $14,460 in child support he had paid since 1997.

Such an order is unusual, but not unique.

Or maybe it's non-paternity news.

FAST TIMES at Robot High.

I SEE THEIR LEGAL POINT, but this is a bad PR move:

A federal appeals court today will hear arguments on whether New York State can force airlines to provide passengers with cups of water, air-conditioning, and working restrooms during long delays on the tarmac.

I mean, who wants to be known as the airline that doesn't provide working restrooms?

OBAMA: A coming press pile-on?

Meanwhile, there's this: Press to Obama: Call us!

THEY TOLD ME THAT IF GEORGE W. BUSH WERE RE-ELECTED, university employees would be punished for reading the wrong books. And they were right!

THOUGHTS FROM JOE GANDELMAN on Hillary's comeback narrative. "Clinton, her campaign, and her followers will tout her victory today. And Obama, his campaign and his followers will try to downplay it. But the fact that Obama only won Vermont mean the net result is clear." It also underscores the class-conflict in this primary, which somebody -- I forget who -- was characterizing as Starbucks vs. Dunkin Donuts. Or in this case, maybe Ben & Jerry's vs. Baskin-Robbins . . . .

HILLARY: The comeback kid!

UPDATE: A big wrapup from James Joyner. Excerpt:

Yes, Clinton won. But she didn’t make up much ground in the delegate race. Then again, it’s not as if Obama had a commanding lead.

While winning 50 percent plus one of the delegates is the endgame, the bottom line at this stage of the race is perception. While he’s right on the delegate math, Obama has gone from the all-but-inevitable nominee into merely the frontrunner. And, if Clinton plays her cards right, she’ll convince people that the race is simply tied. Which, for all practical purposes, it is.

Read the whole thing.

AUSTIN BAY LOOKS BEHIND THE Colombia/Venezuela/Ecuador border fracas: "The real news behind South America's latest border fracas is Colombia's looming victory in its own narcotics-powered civil war. This is a victory Colombia's chief international antagonist, Venezuelan caudillo Hugo Chavez, fears -- for several calculating reasons."

MICKEY KAUS: "Have the Obamans blamed their Texas loss on Limbaugh-directed Republican spoilers? Maybe they should."

UPDATE: On the other hand, Bob Krumm says Obama should blame Canada.

ANOTHER TINY, CHEAP LAPTOP: The Everex Cloudbook. According to this review, though, the Asus Eee PC is a better buy.

A NEAR-SWEEP FOR HILLARY, with Obama taking only Vermont, and her wins in Ohio and Texas were by significant margins. I guess I was right when I suggested this weekend that the Obama wave had broken. Now he's going to have to campaign like an ordinary candidate, not a messiah.

This is good news for Hillary, for political pundits, and -- probably -- for John McCain and the Republicans. It's bad news for Obama, though it gives us an opportunity to see how he performs when things aren't going his way.

March 04, 2008

FOX CALLS OHIO FOR HILLARY. At the moment she has a modest lead in Texas, too, but lots of votes are still out.

STEPHEN GREEN IS DRUNKBLOGGING the primary returns.

UPDATE: Megan McArdle is liveblogging too, but she seems to be sober. Soberblogging?

ANOTHER UPDATE: Ann Althouse is liveblogging, too. (Bumped).

A SECOND AMENDMENT FLIP-FLOP from Larry Tribe: "Professor Tribe has the right to change his mind, but the air of forceful certainty with which he today argues for reversal seems inconsistent with his unrequited offer from ten months ago to play a 'more central role' in securing affirmance."

BIG LOSER TONIGHT? Iowa.

OBAMA'S FRIEND -- EARLY VOTING: "The Texas exit polls show Obama leading Clinton 52-48 among voters who decided a while back, but Clinton leading Obama by a whopping 61-38 among those deciding in the last three days. Insert your favorite Obama-bruising news story from the past 72 hours here." More ammunition for Hillary as she stays in the race.

FOX CALLS RHODE ISLAND FOR CLINTON.

UPDATE: "Hope." Heh.

TEXAS AND RHODE ISLAND called for McCain. Fox reports that Huckabee will be dropping out tonight, as McCain has clinched the nomination.

FOX NEWS CALLS OHIO FOR MCCAIN. The Democratic Primary remains deadlocked at this point.

UPDATE: Indeed: "The exit polls clearly have Clinton winning Ohio, but of course the exits have proven to be wrong in the past. Best to wait for actual vote totals."

CONGRATULATIONS: Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism is not only #1 on the bestseller list, it's also in its 11th printing.

FOX CALLS VERMONT FOR OBAMA, AND MCCAIN.

UH OH: "Don't Intrade's numbers suggest a winning strategy for McCain and Clinton is to do a unity ticket together?"

I'm pretty sure the whole would be less than the sum of the parts . . . .

AFTER WORLD WAR TWO, PEOPLE WORRIED ABOUT TAMING THE GERMANS, but apparently we succeeded: German soldiers too fat, smoke too much.

HERE'S A LIST OF MEMBERS OF CONGRESS WHO HAVE SWORN OFF EARMARKS. Call your Rep. -- congratulate 'em if they're on it, and if they're not, ask why not.

A LIST OF THE SEVEN most significant DVD releases for March.

TEXAS AND OHIO PRIMARY PREDICTIONS, from James Joyner.

MEGAN MCARDLE:

Perhaps I am too jaded by excess air travel, but most of our homeland security seems designed to

A) Increase the power of congressmen and agency heads or
B) Put on a show for the yokels

rather than

C) Make us safer

Homeland security is the conservative version of the national healthcare plans I keep reading. Sure, in theory this new agency is going to make us all safer. But the plans all seem to rely on the interest group politics, bureaucratic dysfunction, and congressional power games that have produced the immense problems in our current system somehow magically disappearing. Instead, the thing gets more expensive, and less efficient.

All I can say is I told you so.

A JOHN EDWARDS REVIVAL? I'll believe that when I see it. Well, maybe.

MEASURING MUGABE: "In the years following independence, Zimbabwe had the second largest economy south of the Sahara and the third highest per capita gross domestic product. In the first two years after independence, the economy grew by 24 per cent. This was followed by 5 per cent annualised growth in the next 15 years. The highest inflation rate was 12 per cent. Today, 70 per cent of the country’s commercial agriculture has been destroyed by government mismanagement. Only 10 per cent of the winter food crop was planted due to lack of fuel and fertilisers. More than four million Zimbabweans are in need of food aid, 45 per cent of the population is malnourished and unemployment is over 85 per cent." Read the whole thing.

SOMETIMES, hindsight is 20/400.