December 15, 2007

HMM: "McCain is rising in New Hampshire polls, and savvy on the ground observers there tell me McCain's campaign is catching fire."

DEATH THREATS AT PRINCETON:

Four officers of the Anscombe Society and a prominent conservative politics professor received threatening emails Wednesday evening from off-campus email addresses.

The five individuals received identical messages telling them they would "suffer," ordering them to "shut the fuck up" and declaring that "you are not welcome here." "We will destroy you," the message said.

Though the message did not explicitly mention the Anscombe Society, the four students who received emails were Anscombe vice president Jonathan Hwang '09, president Kevin Staley-Joyce '09, former president Sherif Girgis '08 and administrative committee chair Francisco Nava '09. Politics professor Robert George — who has publicly supported conservative causes, including the Anscombe Society's goal of promoting chastity — also received the message.

I guess it's part of the growing climate of fear in America.

UPDATE: More here:

Francisco Nava '09 was physically attacked by two men in Princeton Township Friday evening, sustaining a concussion but no other serious injuries. The assault comes on the heels of several threatening messages recently sent to Nava, apparently in connection with his involvement with the socially conservative Anscombe Society.

I wonder if this will get the kind of attention that politically-reversed assaults would get?

MORE: Regardless, it appears to be a hoax.

STILL MORE: Andrew Sullivan seems to regard this as an "Insta-Embarrassment." But there's no embarrassment in correcting an error as soon as you're aware of it. That's something that Andrew, and his friends at The New Republic, should have figured out already.

ACE: "Everyone's always clamoring for more art coverage on this blog, so here you go."

HAPPY BILL OF RIGHTS DAY: Tim Lynch looks at how we're doing.

I MENTIONED blogger-turned-Supreme Court clerk Will Baude the other day (not actually the first such, but the latest) and now I see that he's got an interesting article out. Topic: "When an Article III court decides a case, and the President disagrees with the outcome, what can he do about it?"

UPDATE: Approving commentary on Baude's "sexy reference to Ex Parte Merryman." Yeah, baby!

GPS UPDATE: So I wound up ordering the Garmin Nuvi 660 instead of the 350 I mentioned earlier. Everyone who emailed about the 350 loved it, but the 660 gives me bluetooth (which I may care about) and traffic alerts/rerouting, which I definitely do care about. I've often had the experience of being on a trip and stuck in traffic, and wishing I knew local conditions well enough to find a way around the jam. I'll let you know how it works out.

A FISCAL CRISIS IN CALIFORNIA? Ed Morrissey notes that the inability to restrain spending has made this inevitable, and suggests that the likely outcome is a tax increase justified by the crisis.

I've just been reading Daniel Weintraub's excellent Party of One: Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Rise of the Independent Voter, which comes out in a couple of weeks, and you can certainly see how Schwarzenegger's compassionate-conservative approach, coupled with the inbred, gerrymandered lack of accountability in the California legislature, made this inevitable. I predict that Schwarzenegger will announce a "compromise" tax increase based on the "emergency," with some cosmetic budget cuts that won't really amount to much. But I could be wrong -- as Weintraub's book notes, Schwarzenegger is a canny politician in many ways. However, his budget approach seems to have been based on kicking the can down the road, and that only works for so long. Meanwhile, I'm reminded of Poul Anderson's statement that "compassionate government" is a code phrase meaning that there will be absolutely no compassion for the taxpayer.

SIX BOGUS STORIES IN SIX WEEKS? The media quagmire deepens.

THE BOSTON GLOBE endorses McCain and Obama.

UPDATE: The Des Moines Register endorses McCain and Clinton.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Thoughts from Marc Ambinder.

PROF. KENNETH ANDERSON on Mormons, Muslims, and multiculturalism.

RUDY DOESN'T REMIND ME OF REAGAN particularly, but this new video has overtones of both "Morning In America" and "There's A Bear In The Woods."

FIRST CLINTON, NOW HUCKABEE: Clemency for political cash? Is this some kind of Arkansas thing? (In Tennessee they just pocket the cash.)

UPDATE: I should have done it sooner, but I just looked to see what Arkansas blogger Freeman Hunt thinks of Huckabee. Uh oh.

WHAT THE OTHER REPUBLICANS can learn from Ron Paul. "One shame of this race is that for all the enthusiasm the Texan has generated among voters, he hasn't managed to pressure the front-runners toward his positions. His more kooky views (say, his belief in a conspiracy to create a 'North American Union') and his violent antiwar talk have allowed the other aspirants to dismiss him. They shouldn't dismiss the passion he's tapped. If Mr. Paul has shown anything, it's that many conservative voters continue to doubt there's anything 'heroic' or 'compassionate' in a ballooning government that sucks up their dollars to aid a dysfunctional state. When Mr. Paul gracefully exits this race, his followers will be looking for an alternative to take up that cause. Any takers?"

I see more on-the-ground energy for Ron Paul in my neck of the woods than for any other Republican candidate except Fred Thompson, who has a local advantage -- and who, interestingly, is more of a small-government type than any of the other GOP candidates himself.

ROBERT WRIGHT: Anyone but Edwards.

DISTRUST OF BIG MEDIA IS WIDESPREAD, outside the United States as well as at home. "In the United States, Britain and Germany, only around 29% of those interviewed thought their media did a good job in reporting news accurately."

IX-NAY ON THE IHAD-JAY. Second thoughts on jihad from an influential Muslim thinker.

A LIST OF THIS YEAR'S most popular toys. I have to say that the bionic eye seems kind of cool. I would have loved it when I was a kid.

UPDATE: Just went online to order some presents for nieces and nephews, and a lot of stuff's starting to sell out. Plus, surprisingly, some of the Amazon third-party suppliers are showing problems with delivery in time for Christmas even on items that are in stock, though Amazon itself still seems okay. But I wouldn't recommend putting things off much longer if you're planning to order online.

WITH SPIES LIKE THESE . . .. More questionable intelligence.

THANKS, "INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY:" For Iran, the NIE Report is the Gift That Keeps On Giving.

WE STILL DON'T KNOW WHO WILL WIN, but the big loser in Iowa is clearly Carolyn Washburn, together with the Des Moines Register. No wonder the Thompson campaign is using her as a foil.

UH OH: Videotape shows Sharpton cutting a deal. Sharpton is questioning the timing.

THE TRUTH IS OPTIONAL: BE SURE TO SUCK UP TO THE OMBUDSMAN -- because correcting factual errors about you isn't something you're entitled to, you know.

THE CARNIVAL OF CARS IS UP!

A REVIEW OF CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR, from Extreme Mortman. "Sorkin’s style has transitioned from trademark and distinctive to annoying and farcical. And his heavy touch with music absolves the audience of any requirement to think for themselves." But read the whole thing.

UH OH: Air of inevitability escaping Clinton.

NOT WINNING ME OVER: Robert Bork endorses Romney.

My thoughts on Bork can be found here.

IN THE MAIL: Jim Rogers' A Bull in China: Investing Profitably in the World's Greatest Market. I'm not sure I'd be putting a lot of money into China at the moment, but then I'm usually too pessimistic about these things.

DESPERATION MODE? "There must be at least something to that purported Sunday New York Times piece on questionable Clinton Library donors. Dismissing the attacks on Clinton, Inc for going negative on Obama, Bill Clinton kept them up while on with Charlie Rose. One has to wonder if, knowing some mud was coming their way from the New York Times, they didn't opt to drag Obama down into it first. If you doubted the Obama drug smear was a planned attack, you can pretty much get over that thought now."

UPDATE: More here. And Marc Ambinder has a post, too. And there are some angry Obama fans in the comments.

This underscores a problem for Hillary -- if she beats Obama, but in a way that Obama supporters think is dirty, via smears or excessive reliance on "superdelegate" votes -- they may not turn out in November. If she doesn't pull out all the stops, though, she may not win the nomination. And this has to bother Bill, who managed to retire undefeated, by sullying his legacy since her loss will reflect badly on him.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Juan Paxety emails:

An interesting post on potential dissatisfied Obama voters if Hillary wins. But what will the reaction be when the Obama voters realize that Florida and Michigan, two states with substantial minority populations that might be prone to support Obama, will not be allowed to have delegates at the Democratic Convention?

This is not the first time the Democrats have pulled a similar stunt. In 1968, before the street demonstrations, the Democrats packed the convention balconies with "observers" then took a voice vote on whether to seat the legal delegations from several Southern states. The "observers" could clearly be seen shouting votes to remove the delegates. The Georgia delegation was replaced by one led by Julian Bond, of all people. Georgians fled the Democratic Party in droves and didn't support another Democrat for President until Jimmy Carter ran in 1976.

Will the Obama supporters similarly abandon Hillary in the fall?

Yes, this is an issue. If Hillary beats Obama soundly in the early primaries that's one thing. If it's close, and it looks like she's won by smears, or by clever insider manipulation, then she may lose not only Obama supporters, but black voters who are generally supportive of the Clintons. On the other hand, with Obama looking strong, she may not win the nomination without playing those cards. The best thing for the Democratic Party, of course, would be for her to play it clean, ensuring that whoever wins the nomination is in a better position to win the general election. Evidence to date, however, suggests that she'll do what most candidates do -- whatever it takes to win the nomination, and try to deal with the general election problems when they arise.

THE INNER LIFE OF A CELL: A cool video from Harvard. This link may not be permanent -- it works fine now, but it's a frontpage link -- so here's a YouTube link, too, for people who come to this post later. Thanks to reader Michael Segal for the tip.

UPDATE: Narrated version here.

TERROR CONVICTIONS IN LOS ANGELES:

Two members of a prison-based Islamic terrorist cell that authorities say was poised to attack military sites, synagogues and other targets across Southern California pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to conspiring to wage war against the United States.

The plot, which police stumbled upon during a routine investigation into a gas station holdup, represented one of the most realistic terrorism threats on U.S. soil since Sept. 11, experts said. The case also raised concerns about whether the country's prisons could serve as recruiting centers for Islamic extremists.

"Could"? Seems like we know the answer already. More here:

It was not the most spectacular domestic terrorism plot since the Sept. 11 attacks, and certainly not the best-known.

But no other case posed such a real and immediate threat as the audacious scheme to attack more than a dozen military centers, synagogues and other sites in Southern California, experts said Thursday. . . .

The case illustrated how quickly authorities must be prepared to move in the event of an actual terrorist threat, they said. In a matter of weeks, the FBI, Los Angeles and Torrance police departments and two dozen other agencies conducted 19 searches, seized two dozen computer hard drives and examined about 53,000 documents, all without the normal luxury of moving at their own pace with undercover informants, surveillance and wiretaps.

The plotters "were flying dangerously below the radar," said the FBI's John Miller, who was the LAPD's counter-terrorism head at the time the case broke. He added that the defendants had robbed gas stations for the money to buy rifles, had picked their targets and had set a date.

"The clock was ticking. All they needed to do was to start killing," he said.

The prison-hatched scheme raised another fear in U.S. counter-terrorism circles, particularly within California, which has the nation's largest inmate population: Were there other members of the conspiracy, spawned in cellblocks and prison libraries, preparing to carry on the plan?

It's a bad idea to keep so many people in prison, and it's a worse idea to do so and then have them exposed to radical "clerics."

"BIBLE BOMBS" in China?

DATING TOXINS.

SO THAT'S WHAT THEY'RE CALLING IT NOW: Men with a big carbon footprint.

GOOD NEWS: Iraqi oil exceeds pre-war output.

UPDATE: More related good news from Jules Crittenden.

THIS SEEMS RIGHT TO ME: A Fifth Amendment right not to enter an encryption passphrase.

LOOKING AT LAWRENCE O'DONNELL'S VIEWS ON MORMONISM: Kind of embarrassing for MSNBC.

December 14, 2007

BLOGGER AND COMMENTER TRITICALE has died. I hadn't heard of his leukemia, but I enjoyed his blog posts and comments. He will be missed.

UH OH: "5th Grader Questions Obama, Making Immigration-Terror Link."

UPDATE: Dan Riehl has questions.

SARTORIAL ADVICE for law professors.

SHOCKINGLY, THE SCIENCE behind the new Will Smith vehicle, I am Legend -- which sounds like a remake of The Omega Man -- turns out to be bogus.

UPDATE: A bunch of readers email that, in fact, both movies are based on the same book. So I was right, though in ignorance.

FRED THOMPSON'S CAMPAIGN is trying to get 2400 donors in 24 hours. They're pushing the "show of hands" video and asking "Don't you want a conservative leader who won't grovel to the liberal media?"

TIM NOAH: "The big-picture political story of the 2008 presidential election is the disenfranchisement of the primary voter."

SOME RECOMMENDED GIFTS in jewelry and watches.

THE RON PAUL blimp.

ANIMAL HOUSE RULES RULERS: Yesterday it was The Flounder Principle. Today we hear about the Delta House Congress:

In the movie "Animal House," the fraternity brother known as Otter reacts to the Delta House's closure with the classic line, "I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's part." To which Bluto, played by John Belushi, replies, "We're just the guys to do it." The movie ends by noting that Bluto becomes a Senator, so perhaps this explains the meltdown among Democrats on Capitol Hill.

Memo to Congress: We're not laughing with you. We're laughing at you.

A LOOK AT the cybercrime economy.

THE FREAK SHOW COMES TO LIFE: A writing assignment.

J.K. ROWLING'S Tales of Beedle the Bard. In an extremely limited edition, hand-written and illustrated by J.K. Rowling. Pictures at the link.

NO LOVE FOR HILLARY IN WYOMING:

Wyoming's Democratic Party chairman says that Hillary Clinton will "completely reverse" progress the party has made in that state and that "most voters in Wyoming seem to hate Hillary Clinton."

He prefers Obama.

THOUGHTS ON teaching, principles, and the role of the professor. From Leonard Kaplan, victim of a pretty clearly bogus political-correctness scandal in Wisconsin.

MITT ROMNEY: The right's John Kerry? Ouch.

"HUCKACIDE?"

HEY, YOU DON'T NEED TO WORRY IF THE BATTERY'S CHARGED: "Sony on Thursday unveiled a prototype digital camera shaped like a pizza cutter with a wheel that can be turned to generate enough power to take pictures." I don't think it'll sell, though.

RON SILVER on fear.

GUN FREE ZONES AND MASS MURDER, in the Portland Press-Herald.

VIDEO: chugging water at record speed. Just stay away from the vodka. "A man nearly died from alcohol poisoning after quaffing a liter (two pints) of vodka at an airport security check instead of handing it over to comply with new carry-on rules, police said Wednesday."

REPORTING FROM THE digital video expo. This hurts: "Panasonic's AG-HMC70 is a low-cost, solid-state, shoulder-mounted HD camera. Sporting an array of pro features -- balanced audio inputs (bottom), HDMI outputs, AVCHD codec and an adjustable eyepiece -- this new camera will be quite a deal when it's released at around $1,200."

And I know the reason for the price plunge . . . . .

Plus, convert old movies to digital video at home.

IN THE MAIL: Jay Nordlinger's Here, There and Everywhere.

Plus, Hot Hand by Mike Lupica. And The Ranger's Apprentice.

STORY OF THE DAY: IRS goes after couple whose ID stolen by illegal aliens. "I've read it twice and my jaw is still on the floor."

WASHBURN BOMBS: "You know you’re in really sorry shape as a presidential debate moderator when another member of the press — a far more famous and powerful member — demands your resignation." I'm almost starting to feel sorry for her.

GPS UPDATE: So after all the discussion yesterday, I'm thinking of getting the Garmin nüvi 350 -- price has been chopped and it does very well in customer reviews. Anybody out there got one?

OUCH: "Hurrying in after the signing was over and signing the EU 'Reform' Treaty by himself, Gordon Brown reminded me of King John when he became a vassal of the Pope and made England a fiefdom of the Papacy. Like John, he was thinking only of himself."

LEFT AND RIGHT COME TOGETHER in mocking dumb attacks on citizen journalism.

NAOMI NOVIK FOUNDS THE ORGANIZATION FOR TRANSFORMATIVE WORKS. It's designed to promote fan fiction and fan culture. Website is here. I'm quite a fan of Novik's -- as some readers may recall, she won this year's John W. Campbell award.

FICTIONAL CHARACTERS IN THE NEWS: This must be part of that journalistic "professionalism" we've been lectured about. "Evidence contrary to that narrative is not fit to print."

CRITICIZING THE HUFFINGTON POST'S business model. Though the criticism comes across as a bit jealous.

FARC FAILS to Kidnap President Uribe's Two Sons.

TEST-DRIVING the Nissan GT-R.

FINISHED READING S.M. STIRLING'S In the Court of the Crimson Kings last night. I enjoyed it very much; it's one of those books whose feel sticks with you overnight, always a good sign. (Plus the cool King Crimson reference in the title). It's a sequel to The Sky People, and part of his effort to update Burroughs-era pulp to the 21st Century. I was a bit skeptical of this when I first heard of it, but he's definitely pulled it off. Here's the interview where he described the series:

Right now I'm working on an alternate history series which might be summed up as "What if the background of some of the pulps existed in the real world?"

In the 1950's, we discovered that Earth was definitely the sole inhabitable planet in this solar system, which was a terrible blow to traditional SF.

In my new alternate history, we discover instead that we have two other habitable, and in fact inhabited, planets. Mars is a cold, dry world of ancient ruined cities, thinly peopled by the decadent descendants of lost civilizations (or are they?); Venus a hot, wet, fecund one of primitive humans (and other hominids) with an archaic fauna.

Then I try to treat everything else in as densely realistic a style as I can. It makes for an interesting contrast.

It does.

ENERGY BILL UPDATE: "Senate Democrats yesterday bowed to Republicans and stripped a proposed tax increase for oil companies from a broad energy bill, clearing the way for passage of the measure that includes the first increase in vehicle gas-mileage standards in 32 years."

BETTER THAN BRINKS: "Lexington Police say a woman shot Joshua W. Harrison, 27 of 3008 Maddie Lane, who was trying to get in a window. Harrison was shot in the lower torso. He was taken to UK Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Harrison is charged with burglary in 2nd degree and is being held in the Fayette County Detention Center."

CAIR VS. TALK RADIO: Apparently Baghdad Bob is doing their PR.

But why would anybody listen to an organization that has only 1,700 members and is funded by foreign potentates?

THE AGONY OF VICTORY, and not the thrill of defeat. Blackfive looks at Pelosi's latest misstep. Video here. More thoughts from Bryan Preston.

OBESITY AND POLITICS -- but the best line is from the comments: "They are going to take potato chips from us for the common good."

Plus, a solution: "Maybe all those fat people should start smoking again." Hmm. Smoking goes down, obesity goes up. I wonder if this is another unintended consequence of government action . . . .

December 13, 2007

A BLEAT READER comes to the rescue.

VIOLENCE IN THE INNER CITY: It's not often that the San Francisco Chronicle gets praise from Clayton Cramer.

IT'S A NEW LOOK for Bloggingheads.tv.

STEROIDS AND Chris Shays.

MORE ON THE GPS POST, here.

THOUGHTS ON terrible 1970s American cars.

ABC: Eyewitness Account of Huge Taliban Defeat. May there be many more, until they're all out of the picture. It seems to me, though, that this sentence reveals a lot about both the war, and modern journalism: "While hundreds of Taliban are believed to have been killed, two British soldiers and one American soldier lost their lives."

UPDATE: Reader Alex Gadea emails:

I love your posts, but I don't think you are being fair to Stephen Grey, the writer of the Blotter article on the fighting in Afghanistan. I believe he is saying that it only cost 3 coalition lives to rout the Taliban, and even those were lost not due to anything the Taliban were able to do but by mines left by Soviet forces in the 80s. Grey appears to be actually be underlining how powerful and successful the attack was and does not seem to be making the invidious comparison that you seem to feel he does. I do believe the MSM has been attrocious and avidly anti-american in their coverage of Afghanistan and Iraq, but don't allow anger over that to strike at someone who actually seems to be given an honest accounting.

Fair enough. The report is quite good -- I just found the turn of phrase odd.

BLOGGER WILL BAUDE, a founder of Crescat Sententia, will be clerking for Chief Justice Roberts. Congratulations, Will! This'll continue to put a dent in his blogging career, but I hope he'll be back in the 'sphere one day.

CARBON TAXATION without representation. How about we require that delegates to the U.N. General Assembly be democratically elected?

YALE'S REALLY RICH. TOM SMITH OBSERVES: "I have thought of asking Yale to stop writing and asking me for money. But why should I? I like getting the letters. They fill me with a kind of awe. They remind me that greatness comes to those who dare to ask for more than anyone can possibly think they deserve. They fascinate me. What can they possibly say to make me think I should send what $50, $100? to the people who are making 28% a year on $22.5 Billion? They say they need the money, which cannot be true, except in the sense of me and the beggar. I am astonished."

SCRAMJET PROGRESS: I could go for the two-hour New York to Tokyo flights. The missiles, not so much.

AL QAEDA IN LONDON: "Investigators examining the bungled terrorist attacks in London and Glasgow six months ago believe the plotters had a link to Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, which would make the attacks the first that the group has been involved in outside of the Middle East, according to senior officials from three countries who have been briefed on the inquiry."

"Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia" is what the New York Times calls Al Qaeda in Iraq.

IF YOU MISSED IT ON XM RADIO, the latest PJM Political is now online.

CARMAGEDDON: Who wins when a 2001 Ford Escort and a 2002 Chevy Cavalier collide?

Hint: Not Matthew Hoy.

CIVILIZATION AT RISK: "So without any real standards, anyone has a right to declare himself or herself a journalist."

Yep. Which is pretty much how it works now. Journalism isn't a profession, it's an activity -- and often those who engage in it for a living act pretty unprofessionally. Or just write lame, self-serving columns.

UPDATE: A response from Chuck Simmins.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Ouch.

And Bill Quick comments: "Your reputation wasn’t murdered, dummy. It was a victim of suicide." And here's an intimation of an agenda:

This goes back to lobbying for H. R. 2102, now in the Senate. The bill would provide legal exemptions and a federal "shield law" for journalists, but only for "professional journalists." Anyone not making a living at journalism would not be covered. More here.

Next comes the push for licensing legislation. It's an attempt at establishing a monopoly protection act, and reserving freedom of the press for "professionals." Funny, I don't recall such an exclusion in the First Amendment--but that's what they'll claim as they go forward.

No doubt.

MORE: Hell, Big Media types can't even read money.

LET THEM EAT CAKE: Ron Bailey reports from Bali: "Is threatening to confiscate their patents really the way to encourage companies and inventors to invest in creating the innovative low-carbon energy technologies that world is being told are vital to stopping dangerous climate change?"

A DEM DEBATE ROUNDUP: "Democratic presidential hopefuls called for higher taxes on the highest-paid Americans and on big corporations Thursday and agreed in an unusually cordial debate that any thought of balancing the federal budget would have to wait."

A BIG CHRISTMAS GPS sale at Amazon. Maybe I should crack and finally buy one. But I'm pretty good about finding my way around, and I'm afraid my skills will atrophy if I have a box on the dashboard telling me where to turn. Am I wrong?

UPDATE: Lots of responses, so I'm bumping this. Reader Jane Woodworth says I'm right to worry:

I recently bought a car with a GPS system, automatic headlights, a camera that shows you what you are backing into, a keyless ignition and a few other current conveniences.

I can say categorically that I am now too stupid to drive an ordinary car. As evidence I took my business partner's car recently, and not only left the lights on but left the car running until the battery died.

I am now absolutely too dumbed down to drive a lawn mower, never mind a normal car. I say fight the urge.

Matthew Cowles says not so much:

Yes, it's possible that a person's navigation skills might atrophy as a result of using a portable GPS. But I've been a flight instructor and consider my navigation skills pretty good, and I'd still say that that's a bit like being afraid that getting a typewriter will cause a person's penmanship to deteriorate.

Portable GPSes aren't useful all that often because, pretty much by definition, people mostly go to places they're familiar with. But when they are useful, they're very useful indeed.

I have a review that's about a year old (and therefore not directly useful) of the Magellan 2200T that explains my opinion.

Tom Ussery says don't worry:

Do yourself a favor and get one. I thought the same until I bought an Acura TL with the navigation system. I have never looked back, and my manliness, and internal compass-direction finding ability has just been enhanced, not hindered.

That's a relief. Reader Henry David says go for it:

I have had two Garmin Nuvi 660's ( one was stolen ) and would not drive without a GPS.

Two big deals - 1. Traffic report is great !!! I check out where the congestion is before I head off.
2. The device calculates and updates my arrival time - I don't have to guess if I'm running on time, and 3. It counts down miles to the next waypoint.

Of course I'm in LA and its very very big with lots of alternate routes if you have a heads up.

Well, that describes Knoxville, too. And Mason Kidd says I've got it backward:

Concerning your post on getting a GPS. I too thought the same thing - that with a GPS unit I would become reliant on it and lose my skills with directions. We got a new car with a navigation system in it, and I've found the opposite to be true. Having a map in front of me while driving allows me to visualize things much better, and remember the layout of those streets better in the future. The key has been to not actually use the turn-by-turn directions unless really necessary.

Good suggestion.

MORE: Reader Rick Lang emails:

I'm a retired AF F-15 Pilot and thought pretty much the same as you. My wife however is "directionally challenged", so when we bought her a new car, I went ahead and got one. I thought it was pretty cool, find the nearest McDonalds or Gas Station. Not really necessary though. But when we took her car and my dad to my son's college graduation and while we were transiting Austin, he went into hypoglycemic shock. Two clicks on the GPS and we're getting turn by turn to the nearest hospital. Long story short ALL my vehicles have one now.

Good point.

STILL MORE: Some further thoughts from Kim du Toit, whose situation seems like mine.

THE FRED THOMPSON CAMPAIGN apologizes.

NOT QUITE BRINKS SECURITY: "A female homeowner who shot a male intruder in her back yard in October 2006 spoke to KNBC's Laurel Erickson on Wednesday, one day after a jury found the man guilty of all charges. Nadine Teter shot Michael Lugo twice in the stomach and once in the leg after he broke into her Canyon Country home. Lugo broke the lock on Teter's door and barged in. She fled to the back yard with her gun, according to police. . . . Teter said she thinks that every woman should carry a gun. . . . 'I was not going to get raped. I was not going to get murdered. There was no way -- and I didn't,' Teter said."

ANOTHER FAKE MASSACRE IN IRAQ? They're as common as presidential debates this fall.

DAVID GULLIVER: "You know, if the general election is Hillary against Huckabee, Hillary just might prove correct in her thesis that many Republican women will vote for her."

I WAS JUST CLEANING OUT MY OFFICE and looking at the September, 2007 issue of the ABA Journal, in which the war on terror received a D+. Now I see that the ABA Journal has made Alberto Gonzales its Lawyer of the Year.

ANOTHER DEBATE? Jeralyn Merritt is liveblogging the Democrats in Iowa.

MAN SHOOTS RED-LIGHT CAMERA -- in self-defense?

UPDATE: Not just an isolated phenomenon, apparently. Albuquerque reader Karim Fattah emails: "Maybe the red-light cameras can be recycled and used as targets at shooting ranges. That's about the only way they'll be popular with the public."

LEE HARRIS ON UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES: "It is simply a myth to believe that only interventionism yields unintended consequence, since doing nothing at all may produce the same unexpected results. If American foreign policy had followed a course of strict non-interventionism, the world would certainly be different from what it is today; but there is no obvious reason to think that it would have been better."

QUESTIONS POSED by big universities with bigger endowments: "In the present circumstances, the administration and boards of these schools now control the money because the endowment is managed by internally controlled entities. Accordingly, the most important voice at Yale would have to be the estimable and much-respected David Swenson, who has managed the Yale endowment to astonishing annual returns of over 20% for 10 years. Yale's endowment is about $22.5 billion. What does this mean for the future of governance at Yale? I wonder."

MORE ON HONOR KILLING IN CANADA:

Several Canadian Islamic groups have had the decency to deplore the slaying, which seems to have been carried out with the collusion of Aqsa’s brothers. Yet in an exquisite demonstration of moral equivalence, Shahina Siddiqui, the Canadian-based executive director of the Islamic Social Services Association of the United States and Canada, said:

“The strangulation death of Ms. Parvez was the result of domestic violence, a problem that cuts across Canadian society and is blind to color or creed.”

Oh, no, it doesn’t, Ms. Siddiqui, not this type of domestic violence, nor this particular crime: This was Shariah-based justice meted out to a Muslim girl for defying her fundamentalist father.

It was, and it shouldn't get a multi-culti pass.

THIS IS JUST WRONG: "Amazon.com may not offer free delivery on books in France, the high court in Versailles has ruled."

ROBERT KAPLAN ON CIVIL-MILITARY RELATIONS: "It is obvious that a military can only fight well on behalf of a society in which it believes, and that a society which believes little is worth fighting for cannot, in the end, field an effective military."

Read the whole thing. Though where he says "society," he's talking more about elite segments thereof.

VITAMIN D UPDATE:

PEOPLE should sit outside in the middle of the day to help stave off potential deadly medical conditions, an Australian researcher says.

Current recommendations about when people should be exposed to the sun the most were wrong and did not allow people to get enough vitamin D, according to David Turnbull, a research fellow at the University of Southern Queensland’s Centre for Rural and Remote Area Health.

Vitamin D, when absorbed through the skin from UV rays, has been found to help prevent various cancers, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease. . . . “In the US, between 50,000 and 60,000 people die each year because of issues relating to not getting enough sun exposure,” he said.

Last month, researchers from King’s College London released a report linking vitamin D with slowing ageing in women.

The British study found more sunshine could also cut the risk of age-related illnesses such as heart disease.

I've always been skeptical of the extreme sun-phobia we've seen from dermatologists, etc. This suggests that I was right -- but read the whole thing.

A LOOK AT THE ten worst gadgets of 2007.

I'm not sure about the Pleo, though -- as I noted here before, people like it, except for the torture films.

ELON MUSK REPORTS on what's happening with SpaceX. (Via Rand Simberg, who has some suggestions.)

KHADAFY pitches his tent in Paris.

IN THE MAIL: The new Harry Turtledove book, Opening Atlantis.

THE FBI AND IRS INVESTIGATE AL SHARPTON: "The FBI and IRS are investigating whether Sharpton improperly misstated the amount of money he raised during his 2004 White House run to illegally obtain federal matching funds, a source familiar with the probe said. . . . The feds are also looking into allegations of tax fraud, including whether Sharpton commingled funds from his nonprofit National Action Network with several of his for-profit ventures, the source said."

PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: Some good news on the pork front:

It’s not just another day in the nation’s capital. At 11:30 a.m., Office of Management and Budget Director Jim Nussle and Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., will throw the switch on a new landmark of government, USASpending.gov. Mandated by the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (FFATA), which was co-sponsored by Coburn and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., USASpending.gov is a searchable, Googlelike database that puts most federal spending within a few mouse clicks for every American. (Obama won’t be present at today’s activities because he is on the presidential campaign trail.) . . . .

There are innumerable reasons why the establishment of USASpending.gov is a milestone, but two of them are particularly worthy of mention. First, Coburn and Obama drew little attention when they introduced FFATA and the bill mostly flew under the radar as it progressed in Congress. But when passage became a real possibility, the Old Bulls in Congress — ever jealous of their ability to spend our tax dollars on their pet causes — used every legislative trick in the book trying to stop FFATA. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, and Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., even placed secret holds on the measure, stalling it for weeks in the Senate. But they were unmasked by Porkbusters.org, an Internet-based coalition from across the ideological spectrum.

Porkbusters.org sparked thousands of phone calls and e-mails asking senators if they were responsible for the secret holds. Stevens and Byrd soon gave up and within a few weeks Bush signed the bill into law.

Second, it may take a few years before the good effects of USASpending.gov are fully felt, but here’s fair warning to the old-school politicians who thrive on pork-barrel politics: It’s no longer just the dwindling ranks of the mainstream media covering the big spenders. Starting today, legions of citizens and professional watchdogs have access to an unprecedented amount of information and data on where tax dollars are going. And they’re all connected via the Internet. The pig roast with tax dollars as the main course is coming to an end.

Let's hope.

UPDATE: Some background from Mark Tapscott.

THOUGHTS ON Wiki-Government.

FICKLE CONGRESS, in a different context:

For years, Congress had been pushing lenders to lend vigorously in poor neighborhoods and to avoid redlining. This effort worked--only too well.

Now Congress has discovered "predatory lending."

Don't trust content from Congress . . . .

UPDATE: It's the Flounder principle at work!

A BAD PRESS DAY FOR THE DEMOCRATS:

Washington Post: Democrats Blaming Each Other For Failures

Wall Street Journal: Intraparty Feuds Dog Democrats, Stall Congress

Washington Post: Democrats Bow To Bush's Demands In House Spending Bill

The Hill: Dems Cave On Spending

USA Today Editorial: Surge's Success Holds Chance To Seize The Moment In Iraq – Democrats “Lost in Time”

Links rounded up by reader Amos Snead, who seems to be enjoying himself. As well he might.

TURNING HETEROSEXUALITY on and off.

JOE GANDELMAN on the Hillary / Obama drug flap: "It negates all the imagery the campaign did early on to create a more likeable Hillary Clinton." And that's just the beginning of his complaints. Read the whole thing.

I think it demonstrates that Hillary isn't good under pressure. Plus, campaigning like it's 1992:

In the 1990s, the Clinton's mastered the art of having surrogates say things about their enemies while claiming to be aloof from it. This was James Carville's act for pretty much the entire second term. Sid Blumenthal was employed for similar purposes.

So when the Clinton team's top man in New Hampshire attacks Barack Obama's past drug use (couched in the "concern" that the GOP will make an issue of it if he wins the nomination) and then "disavows" the comments I find it hard to believe anyone is buying. For months we've been told how disciplined this campaign is and now that the polls aren't going her way this happens by accident? Nah-ah.

It's a very different political -- and media -- environment now. Have the Clintons kept up?

UPDATE: Blowback. "Believe me, the last thing Hillary Clinton wants is for anyone on her campaign or any other campaign to start looking into drug use. Especially for Candidates shacking up in Berkeley, just down from Telegraph Avenue, in the lovin' summer of 1971."

IGNORANCE OF THE LAW IS NO EXCUSE. Unless, apparently, you're in law enforcement.

STEVEN LEVY liked the Kindle. The New Republic sneered at Levy. And then Ann Althouse produced this beatdown on The New Republic. Advantage: Levy. But then, it's been a bad year for TNR.

INDEED: "I don't need any stinkin' resolution to honor Christmas or the Christian faith."

IT'S NOT UP TO HARRY TURTLEDOVE STANDARDS: Eric Alterman's alternate universe.

ANOTHER PAN FOR IOWA: "The biggest loser in today's debate by far was PBS, whose tightly wound Des Moines Register schoolmarm moderator Carole Washburn did not allow any lengthy answers, nor meaningful exchanges between the candidates; she only wanted 30 second sound bytes, and it was an abject lesson in how NOT to conduct a debate about something as serious as choosing our next President."

UPDATE: Heh: “What the hell was Keyes doing anywhere near real candidates? Did PBS feel the need to bring someone new in to make Ron Paul look sane? And did anyone let the Secret Service know that Keyes was going to be near the real candidates?”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Piling on.

MORE: Howard Kurtz:

Okay, it was soporific. It went nowhere. It was largely a recitation of position papers. With all due respect to a newspaper editor who's not expected to be a hotshot TV performer--and even by the standards of famous-for-being-nice Iowa--the Register's Carolyn Washburn in Iowa seemed unfamiliar with such concepts as the followup question, or contrasting one candidate's position with another. She even asked them for new year's resolutions!

And what's with refusing to ask about immigration or terrorism?

Not a great job.

GOOD NEWS: "Americans may be too fat, but at least their cholesterol is low. For the first time in nearly 50 years, the average cholesterol level for U.S. adults is in the ideal range, the government reported Wednesday." I blame those evil drug companies. And I'm right to: "The growing use of cholesterol-lowering pills in middle-aged and older people is believed to be a key reason for the improvement, experts said. When the survey began in 1960, the average cholesterol was at 222."

UPDATE: Or maybe we should thank McDonald's!

TURNED ON BY FICKLE POLITICIANS:

For six years, Central Intelligence Agency officers have worried that someday the tide of post-Sept. 11 opinion would turn, and their harsh treatment of prisoners from Al Qaeda would be subjected to hostile scrutiny and possible criminal prosecution.

Now that day may have arrived, after years of shifting legal advice, searing criticism from rights groups — and no new terrorist attacks on American soil.

The Justice Department, which in 2002 gave the C.I.A. legal approval for waterboarding and other tough interrogation methods, is reviewing whether agency officials broke the law by destroying videotapes of those very methods.

The Congressional intelligence committees, whose leaders in 2002 gave at least tacit approval for the tough tactics, have voted in conference to ban all coercive techniques, and they have announced investigations of the destruction of the videotapes and the methods they documented.

“Exactly what they feared is what’s happening,” Jack Goldsmith, the former head of the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department, said of the C.I.A. officials he advised in that job. “The winds change, and the recriminations begin.”

Or as they said in Animal House, "You f*cked up. You trusted us."

UPDATE: Attorney Fritz Schranck emails:

Seeing your Animal House reference in this post brought a smile.

In discussions with my clients and others, I often refer to this pivotal moment in film history, and call it either The Flounder Rule or The Flounder Principle, in honor of the original recipient of this comment.

It's a highly useful explanation for a lot of stuff in life in general and government life in particular.

Indeed.

December 12, 2007

ICE VS. IEDs.

HEH: "In this election we obey the laws of thermodynamics!"

YOUTUBING Harry Reid. "Reid helped put those troops in harm’s way. He promised to fund them."

"AXIS" TERROR ATTACK in Lebanon?

OUCH: "To bring it full circle, Keyes's distracting presence was yet another indictment of the unworthiness of the Iowa media for the enormous role it plays in this process."

UPDATE: Indeed. Video here.

SOME RECOMMENDED GIFTS for kids and teens.

BEST CHILDREN'S BOOKS of 2007.

POSSIBLY PRESAGING PROBLEMS FOR THE G.O.P. IN 2008: "Idaho's senators are blocking President Bush's nominee to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, saying the agency has become overly aggressive in enforcing gun laws."

PERRY DE HAVILLAND: "Yes, it is true. I am going to go and sign the treaty for the European Constitution on behalf of Belgium. . . . If the people who were voted out of office in Belgium months ago can sign the treaty, then why not me too?" Plus, Perry will look far more dashing while he does it.

WHEN I WATCH BRINKS HOME SECURITY COMMERCIALS LIKE THIS ONE, I think that the nice lady might be safer from the evil intruder if she had a gun, instead of a telephone and a siren. Of course if Brinks home security offered this degree of service, it might be different . . . .

UPDATE: An alternate commercial, from reader Peter Gookins:

Alarm going off.
Other sounds.
Phone rings.
Customer: Hello
Brinks: Ma'am, this is Brink's. Is everything all right?
Customer: Well, there's a dead guy on the porch and empty brass all over
my family room. Can you send help?
Brinks: We'll dispatch the maid service right away.

Heh.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Kind of like this one.

BEST BUY threatens blogger. For reporting on someone else's parody.

They're not very smart at Best Buy. If I owned stock, I'd sell it. And threatening bloggers, especially when you're not very smart, is . . . even more not very smart. At least they apologized. I hope that those responsible have been sacked. And replaced by Llamas.

IT'S NOT JUST HYBRIDS -- clean diesels are coming on strong.

HEH: From the comments to this post: "The MSM interprets truth as damage, and routes around it."

SEPARATED AT BIRTH? Reader C.R. Scott sees something familiar about Mike Huckabee. "My wife pointed out to me that Huckabee is the spitting image of Gomer Pyle. No wonder the Dems are angling him to win!"

Hey, Gomer was pretty popular. And gay-friendly!

STILL MORE human rights violations in Canada.

I MENTIONED THE ASUS MINI-LAPTOP EARLIER, and here's a video review.

STEPHEN BAINBRIDGE: Why I'm not voting for Huckabee.

AN INTERVIEW WITH HUCKABEE'S CAMPAIGN MANAGER, Chip Saltsman.

DECLAN MCCULLAGH: "A top Republican in the House of Representatives is demanding that Google answer a barrage of questions about privacy, some of which are related to the company's proposed purchase of the DoubleClick advertising firm." Plus, a handy chart of various search engines' privacy policies.

CHILDREN OF THE KORNHEISER.

CLINTON GOES AFTER OBAMA on drug use.

UPDATE: Ace wonders if anyone has asked Hillary about drug use?

BILL CLINTON: Bye, bye Burkle! I eagerly await Mickey Kaus's take.

AT THE NEW REPUBLIC, a circular firing squad forms.

RON BAILEY FILES another report from Bali. John Kerry is there! "The venue at the Grand Hyatt was packed with people eager to get a look at the anti-George W. Bush, or at least the best stand-in until newly minted Nobel Peace Laureate Al Gore arrives later this week." Excitement abounds.

UPDATE: Kerry was against Kyoto before he was for it?

A LOOK AT four basement studios.

ONE MILLION WITHOUT POWER after ice storm: They can't read it, but here's a blackout survival guide, and here are some home generator safety guidelines. Others may find it useful in preparing for their own inevitable power loss.

Or you can get a big honking battery. (Some useful backup power advice in general at the link, too.) Or you can always power your house with a Prius!

UPDATE: Some generator advice from Bart Hall: "Yesterday we toasted a couple of transformers (router and furnace) because the generator was cranking out 160 volts instead of 120V. We've used this generator without problem for years, but evidently there was either a short in the field or the voltage regulator failed, and it'll cost us well over a hundred bucks, not counting repairs to the generator itself. Henceforth I'll meter the output before backfeeding the house, and recommend you do the same."

WHY POLICE DON'T WANT YOU TO RECORD THEM: "A teenage suspect who secretly recorded his interrogation on an MP3 player has landed a veteran detective in the middle of perjury charges, authorities said Thursday." (Via Volokh.)

HEH: "Well, it's a pleasure to welcome Mrs. Clinton to the Second Amendment side of the debate. "

PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: 'Earmark' cash aids Dem freshmen:

A year ago, Democrats won control of Congress in part by criticizing billions of dollars spent on pet projects. Now, freshmen Democrats are benefiting from the same kind of spending, a USA TODAY analysis shows.

All 49 of the new Democratic lawmakers sponsored or co-sponsored at least one project — known as an "earmark" — inserted into the House and Senate spending bills, the analysis found. Freshmen Democrats were the sole sponsors on projects worth $351 million, an average of $7.6 million. Republicans got approval for projects worth $65 million, or $5 million each.

The analysis found that some of the most vulnerable freshmen Democrats in next year's election were among those who got the most money. . . . Democratic candidates criticized Republican incumbents last year for abusing earmarks. Patrick Murphy attacked then-representative Mike Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., during a debate for failing to make the "tough decisions" on a transportation bill heavy with earmarks, the Bucks County Courier Times reported. Now a representative, Murphy sponsored $11.8 million for local projects and businesses — fourth-highest among House and Senate freshmen.

I guess Boehner is right.

THOUGHTS ON RON PAUL: "I haven't seen anything to suggest to me that Paul is a pacifist who wants to 'dismantle the military.' He strikes me, in fact, as a 'rubble doesn't make trouble' guy."

INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY: "As the Supreme Court ponders what the Constitution means, a volunteer security guard in Colorado shows that the problem with society may not be who has guns, but who doesn't."

SARKOZY: A "danger of war" with Iran. Somebody tell the CIA!

A LOOK AT THE NEW CROP OF TINY PCs. I was supposed to review an Asus for Popular Mechanics, but apparently demo models are too hard to come by right now.

OUCH! GOP leader Boehner: Democrats are as bad at running Congress as we were. That's gotta hurt.

THERE'S ANOTHER DEBATE? I didn't know that, but John Podhoretz is liveblogging.

THEY'RE GIVING AWAY FREE STUFF at Autoblog.

MICHAEL NOVAK endorses Mitt Romney.

THINGS THAT HILLARY has never done with Bill.

UPDATE: Bill's planning a coup?

MORE ON THE N.I.E.: "I'm told that recent polling data shows that Americans—sensibly enough—think that Israeli intelligence on this subject is more reliable than the CIA's." The Israelis face consequences when they get things wrong. The CIA -- as recent history has made clear -- does not.

FROM PLANTED QUESTIONS, to planted outraged readers?

IN MUSIC, business plans are the new punk rock: "Radiohead's pay-what-you-want move -- which was an undeniable success, if only for the amount of free publicity it garnered the group -- is just one of many innovative ideas being tried out by bands, record labels and others in the music biz. Some are hopelessly mired in last-century thinking, but smart concepts are bubbling up as the music industry struggles with the death of the CD and the increasing irrelevance of old ways of doing business."

COBURN: Skunk at the appropriations porkfest.

MARC AMBINDER: "Rethink Iowa."

THE CARNIVAL OF EDUCATION IS UP!

IN THE MAIL: M. Stanton Evans' Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America's Enemies.

THE SARAH PALIN JUGGERNAUT is gathering steam!

ONLINE SEX OFFENDER LIST leads to murder.

CONDI RICE: Not building confidence. Nope. Her turn as Secretary of State hasn't been great, though to be fair I don't think much of value can be done in that position, with the State Department as it is.

ORIN KERR picks up on the "in the mail" trope. I expect that the writers' strike will cause DVD sales to boom, and I don't think I'm the only one to think so -- I noticed that Target has a big display of TV shows on DVD right up front.

LONGEVITY UPDATE: Pledges to the Methuselah Foundation top $10 Million.

COMPUSA PACKS IT IN: I don't go there too much, but I'm still sorry. It was a good place to pick up a power supply or a fan when you needed one.

HUGO CHAVEZ'S CRUDE POLITICS. And those who collaborate in it.

MARS UPDATE: "The lame wheel on the NASA Mars rover Spirit has proved an invaluable science tool, turning up evidence of a once habitable environment, scientists said Monday."

MEGAN MCARDLE: How can markets be efficient if people are such morons?

ANOTHER PR SNAFU from the U.S. Army.

FACEBOOK MAY HAVE broken the law. By making users' video rentals public.

AT POLIPUNDIT, a big roundup of immigration news. (Via Mickey Kaus).

THE A.P. GETS IT WRONG ON KYOTO AGAIN: "The U.S. is the only major industrial nation to reject Kyoto. President Bush contended the emissions cuts would harm the U.S. economy, and should have been imposed on China, India and other fast-growing poorer economies."

We've been over this whole thing before, and more than once: "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),[40] 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.[41] The Clinton Administration never submitted the protocol to the Senate for ratification."

You have to wonder, though, why people bother to listen to the Associated Press when it can't get basic bits of recent history right.

UPDATE: The link above no longer works. Here's a link to what appears to be the same story.

WHO KNEW? "From Iraq to taxes, a bedraggled Bush is blooming." Plus, a look at the new bipartisanship!

ADVICE TO HILLARY: "Anyway, given today's outlook, Hillary is well advised to drop the 'halo of inevitability' and don the fur suit of the Energizer bunny candidate who will just keep going and going even if she, say, loses the first three primaries and the next three. Her strategists are presumably already thinking about such a long-haul comeback plan."

THE DECLINE of the West.

I, FOR ONE, WELCOME our new robot hecklers.

FROM RADLEY BALKO, a Cory Maye update.

MICKEY KAUS: "I would be less skeptical of the severed-friendship part of HuffPo's story if it wasn't exactly what the Clintons would want to come out right about now."

AARON HANSCOM: Is murder a victimless crime?

JOHN HAWKINS interviews Matt Sanchez. On don't ask/don't tell: "Personally, I'd settle for gays serving, if Congressman John Murtha would stop outing himself as a Marine."

December 11, 2007

CHRISTMAS TOYS: Educational, and otherwise.

Educational or not, I like the marshmallow gun.

SCOOP!

IM IN UR CAMPANE GRILLIN YR D00DS.

ARE THINGS AS BAD FOR THE G.O.P. AS PEOPLE THINK? Special election wins in Virginia and Ohio suggest not. But who knows? If they keep blowing it on pork, they could still lose big in 2008.

UPDATE: Hey, maybe they're doing better on pork.

CAIR INSTRUCTS THE MEDIA? But why would anyone listen to an organization with only 1,700 members, and that is funded by foreign potentates?

HMM: "The Young America's Foundation has sued the Department of Defense for failing to enforce the Solomon Amendment -- the law that requires schools receiving federal funding to give access to military representatives for recruiting purposes, and to treat military recruiters in the same way they treat all other employment recruiters."

GIFT RECOMMENDATIONS FOR the person who has everything.

NATIONAL REVIEW endorses Romney.

HIJAB POLITICS AT The Huffington Post.

PROFESSOR PUNISHED FOR BELIEVING IN EVOLUTION.

Biologist fired for not believing in evolution.

You've got to walk a fine line on this subject, I guess. My position: I evolved -- but I didn't inhale.

THE OTHER DAY I ASKED IF IT WAS TIME TO ABOLISH THE CIA: Christopher Hitchens says yes.

UPDATE: On the other hand, John Podhoretz asks: Is Jose Rodriguez a hero?

BOB ZUBRIN HAS A BOOK OUT ON ENERGY POLICY, and Fast Forward Radio interviews him here.

COMPETING ON PRIVACY:

Will privacy sell?

Ask.com is betting it will. The fourth-largest search engine company will begin a service today called AskEraser, which allows users to make their searches more private.

Ask.com and other major search engines like Google, Yahoo and Microsoft typically keep track of search terms typed by users and link them to a computer’s Internet address, and sometimes to the user. However, when AskEraser is turned on, Ask.com discards all that information, the company said.

Ask, a unit of IAC/InterActiveCorp based in Oakland, hopes that the privacy protection will differentiate it from more prominent search engines like Google.

The search world needs more competition. If you go to Ask.com you can see the little "AskEraser" button in the upper right. I still miss Jeeves, though. And you knew he would never blab . . . .

TOM SMITH -- the law professor Tom Smith, not the journalist Tom Smith -- on the guilty pleasures of NYT editorials.

EVAN COYNE MALONEY reports that his flap with Indiana University has ended amicably.

DAVID FREDDOSO: "That Republicans would not welcome an earmark-free bill is yet another sign that they are hopelessly in the grip of New Deal politics."

MICKEY KAUS: "Today's video: Huckabee sucks up to the teachers' union."

Plus, Huckabee's plethora of pardons.

THOUGHTS ON parenting really smart kids.

FORMER D.C. POLICE CHIEF no longer supports handgun ban.

FROM CAR LUST TO CAR DISGUST: Remembering the unforgettable Yugo.

THE QUAGMIRE DEEPENS: NBC refunds advertisers as ratings plunge.

THEY CAN TAPE YOU, but they don't like for you to tape them:

A Newton activist who concealed a camera to videotape a Boston University police sergeant was convicted of violating state wiretapping laws. An associate is charged with witness intimidation.

Peter Lowney, 36, was sentenced last week to six months probation and fined $500. A Brighton District Court judge ordered him to stay away from the sergeant and remove footage from the Internet.

Lowney shot the film during a 2006 political protest. Ordered to stop recording, officers arrested Lowney for hiding the still-rolling camera in his coat.

The notion that videotaping events at a public protest is "wiretapping" -- or that a court could order such footage removed from the Internet -- is absurd.

UPDATE: More thoughts from Eugene Volokh. It's my position, of course, that there's no such thing as "privacy" for police officers who are in the performance of their duties. This is further evidence, however, of the need for federal civil rights legislation protecting the right of citizens to photograph, videotape, and otherwise record the public behavior of law enforcement officials.

STILL MORE on the Colorado Springs shooting. ""You Christians brought this on yourselves . . . . Christians who are to blame for most of the problems in the world."

OUCH: "For educators fretting that the Internet is creating a generation of 'intellectual sluggards,' the problem isn't just that Yahoo!'s site helps ninth-graders cheat on their homework. It's that a lot of the time, it doesn't help them cheat all that well."

TRYING AGAIN WITH THE AIDS VACCINE: " September brought lousy news from the front lines of the fight against AIDS: In clinical trials, the most promising HIV vaccine in the pipeline failed to prevent infections. But researchers hope that tactical setbacks will deliver crucial insights." Let's hope.

DAMIAN PENNY on Canada's human rights problems.

UPDATE: A Canadian honor killing: "The 16-year-old Mississauga girl who was allegedly strangled by her father in a dispute over her refusal to wear the hijab has died."

HMM: "Growing numbers of people think the U.S. is making progress in Iraq and will eventually be able to claim some success there, a poll showed Tuesday in a sign the politics of the war could become more complicated for Democrats."

ARMED STORE OWNER thwarts thugs.

TED STEVENS, ex-Senator? I've been telling the Repubs they should get rid of him. They should have listened. As usual.

IF YOU HAVE A BAD COLD, and the symptoms keep getting worse, it could be this nasty new virus. If it seems out of the ordinary for a cold, and you have trouble breathing, get to a doctor fast.

UPDATE: Reader Stephen Hill emails:

I had this virus, succumbing to it two days after returning from a trip to Australia. To give you an idea of just how bad it can be, understand that I'm not your normal, everyday, healthy adult male. I'm a National Champion Elite-level cyclist. I had a 104°F fever within a day, and a cough that would not quit. Now I have trained through just about every kind of illness that is transmittable (and some that aren't), but it was three weeks before I could even think of riding again, and for a week could only exercise lightly. Six weeks later, I still have an occasional (4-6 times per day) coughing fit.

Wash your hands!

Always good advice. Or use hand sanitizer.

EMILY LITELLA LIVES: 2007 -- the year of the "never mind" story?

WITH ALL THE BALI CONFERENCE HYPE, just remember that you can offset your carbon emissions just as effectively as a lot of the big guys do. And for free!

IN THE MAIL: John West's Darwin Day In America: How Our Politics and Culture Have Been Dehumanized in the Name of Science. Call me crazy, but I don't think our problem is too much science.

Also, Barry Bercier's The Skies of Babylon: Diversity, Nihilism, and the American University. This looks as if it would go well with Tony Kronman's new book.

ROGER SIMON: Paul Haggis, Sean Penn, and the Kucinich factor: "I came to this movie – the tale of a retired military policeman (Tommy Lee Jones) in search of the murderers of his son, who had gone AWOL on return from Iraq - expecting to be put off by its antiwar message. But I was even more put off by the ineptitude of the film itself, especially the screenplay. Simply as a mystery, it’s worse than a mediocre episode of the Rockford Files. Much of the movie is taken up with a red herring about drug dealing so obvious (and so out of an old TV show) that they might as well have had flashing neon of a red fish on the screen."

WORKING ON A MALARIA VACCINE:

The sign on the wall reads “Emergency Response Procedures for a Mosquito Release.”

Among them are “Do Not Leave the Room or Open Any Doors!!!” and “Do Not Panic!”

Everything in the room is white, including the lab coats and surgical masks — for sterility, yes, but also the better to see a mosquito. Hanging next to the sign, in vivid Coast Guard orange, is the last line of defense, a brace of fly swatters.

But the work is deadly serious.

A GUN-FREE ZONE LIABILITY ACT: "If you create a gun-free zone, you're liable for any harm it causes."

ARNOLD KLING: "What the housing market needs in order to get back to normal is a strong dose of reality."

OBAMA drops some dirt on Edwards.

ROMNEY ON RELIGIOUS TESTS: Given that he's known he'd face these questions for a long time, he doesn't seem to me to be dealing with them very well.

Of course, he's not the only one to deal poorly with known issues.

TOM SMITH -- the journalist Tom Smith, not the law professor Tom Smith -- responds to his critics.

OUTING ANOTHER Tennessee mayor.

WHY DYSLEXICS become entrepreneurs.

CIA DOCUMENT-DESTRUCTION SCANDAL: Imploding? Or spreading? "Ted Kennedy said the tapes were destroyed in response to the Democratic victory in 2006 in order to cover administration tracks in a Watergate-like cover-up. The tapes were actually destroyed in 2005, on the decision of career CIA officials (You know: the Valerie Plame crowd) and the lawyers gave them a greenlight."

I'm guessing it's imploding, as Congress doesn't seem to have much stomach for going after career CIA bureaucrats, much less lawyers.

THE BOGOSITY OF GUN REGISTRATION -- AN EXAMPLE:

Her father made a public records request: has the Canadian gun registry system gotten reports of stolen guns, and later allowed them to be registered to someone else?

Answer: only about 4,500 times, by their count. Plus another 500 lost ones re-registered.

I doubt it's any better in the United States.

MORE BLOGGING from Virginia Postrel.

TERROR BOMBINGS in Algeria. Gateway Pundit has a roundup.

BOB KRUMM: "Huckabee's finished."

That's better than being "Carteresque."

UPDATE: But Krumm fell for the old "Internet date" problem. Oops!

CINDY SHEEHAN is on a roll!

December 10, 2007

LOOKING FOR dirt on Obama. And not typing very well.

COLORADO SHOOTING UPDATE: The "security guard" who stopped the shooter was actually a volunteer parishioner who used her own gun, not a rent-a-cop. Much more from David Hardy, who notes that press coverage tends to obscure this point. Meanwhile, it's more evidence that people don't stop killers, people with guns do.

Plus, was this a "hate crime" by a man who "hated Christians?" (Bumped).

UPDATE: More here:

Assam worked as a police officer in downtown Minneapolis during the 1990s and is licensed to carry a weapon. She attends one of the morning services and then volunteers as a guard during another service.

Boyd said Assam was the one who suggested the church beef up its security Sunday following the Arvada shooting, which it did. The pastor credited the security plan and the extra security for preventing further bloodshed.

Boyd said there are 15 to 20 security people at the church. All are volunteers but the only ones armed are those who are licensed to carry weapons.

The security guards are members of the church who are screened and not "mercenaries that we hire to walk around our campus to provide security," Boyd said.

Still more here:

Jeanne Assam, a church member who volunteers as a security guard, shot and killed Murray, who was found with a rifle and two handguns, police said. The pastor called her "a real hero."

"When the shots were fired, she rushed toward the scene and encountered the attacker there in a hallway. He never got more than 50 feet inside our building," he said. "There could have been a great loss of life yesterday, and she probably saved over 100 lives."

Boyd said the gunman had a lot of ammunition and estimated that 40 rounds had been fired inside the church, leaving what looked like a "war scene."

Compare this to Virginia Tech.

MORE: A hero for our time?

STILL MORE: More on the shooter here.

SOME RECOMMENDED GIFTS FOR boyfriends and husbands.

IN SEARCH OF HUCKABEE'S SERMONS: He's just taking Matthew 6:6 a little more seriously than most . . . .

Mickey Kaus: "The dog ate my sermons!"

THIS'LL HELP YOU SLEEP BETTER: A suicide attack at a Pakistani nuclear weapons complex.

SHOULD HARVARD ABOLISH TUITION? It could certainly afford to.

ATTENTION COLLEGE BLOGGERS: It's not too late to win ten grand.

DON SURBER: Halliburton should pay. His commenters are a bit suspicious, though.

AL HUNT: Tensions in Hillaryland.

ANTIMATTER PROPULSION, ANYONE? A look at the danger of infection on long space flights.

A VIDEO TEST DRIVE of the 2008 Lamborghini Reventón.

PROMOTING FREE MARKET IDEAS in Europe.

AND YET WE STILL DON'T HAVE POINTY EARS: "Human biological evolution has accelerated, to perhaps 100 times as fast as in prehistory."

JOHN SCALZI: "If being compared to Heinlein is such a liability, then why am I selling so many goddamn books? Because you know what? I am." He sure is.

Well, so did Heinlein, despite all the twits who criticized him. BTW, I mentioned it before, but here's an interview with Scalzi. And here's one we did a while back. Related post here.

UPDATE: Another interviewee speaks. Ouch.

ALASKA GOVERNOR SARAH PALIN, standing up against pork.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG, supply-sider?

DANNY GLOVER LOOKS AT the anti-Huckabee blogswarm.

HOW GREEN WAS my Bali?

AT THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, a conflict of interest?

A VIDEO INTERVIEW with blogosphere fave John Scalzi.

Plus, some science fiction and fantasy book recommendations.

WHAT AMERICA NEEDS: A new political blog from Glamour magazine!

PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: Robert Novak notes the GOP's pork dilemma:

Mitch McConnell has proved an effective minority leader who has kept his 49 senators remarkably unified. What is often overlooked is that McConnell is the first Senate Republican leader in nearly half a century with a seat on the Appropriations Committee. Sen. Lamar Alexander, newly elected chairman of the Senate Republican Conference and a McConnell ally, is also an appropriator. So are Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison, the Conference vice chairman, and the canny Robert Bennett, McConnell's close adviser who sits at the leadership table as the minority leader's counsel. These Senate GOP leaders opt for pork as the party reaches a fork in the road.

That fork offers choices not only for current government spending but also for the Republican future. One way pressed by conservative reformers would either block an omnibus bill or stop it by sustaining a presidential veto, insisting on a CR that would save taxpayers $30 billion a year. The other course makes a deal with an omnibus bill $8 billion to $11 billion over Bush's guidelines, virtually forcing him to sign it by inserting troop money, further depressing the demoralized Republican voter base. That was the course McConnell clearly indicated last week.

Most likely result: McConnell will remain an effective minority leader for some time . . . .

UPDATE: David Hauptmann emails:

I’m the new media advisor for Sen. McConnell. I saw your post based on Robert Novak’s column today and wanted to point out that the column isn’t accurate in its description of where Sen. McConnell stands on the omnibus bill.

In fact, he agrees with Congressman Boehner and the president on the overspending in the proposed omnibus. Here is his statement from Saturday:

Boehner’s statement:


Statement from OMB director Jim Nussle:

The New York Times also has it correct in this story.

Glad to hear it.

THE SUPREME COURT DECIDES WATSON V. UNITED STATES: "The question is whether a person who trades his drugs for a gun 'uses' a firearm 'during and in relation to … [a] drug trafficking crime' within the meaning of 18 U. S. C. §924(c)(1)(A).1 We hold that he does not." This isn't really a gun case, particularly, but in my look ahead at this Supreme Court term I wrote: "The case itself is only moderately interesting, but the Court’s handling of this question should shed some light on the interpretive style of the Roberts Court and its new members. The statute seems pretty clearly to have envisioned firearms ‘'use’ in a gun-slinging, Miami Vice sense. . . . The ‘‘tough on crime’’ interpretation leaves Watson in jail; the narrow, 'rule of lenity' approach probably lets him go free. The Court’s choices may prove revealing." Draw your own conclusions.

A WEAPONS POLICY I can support. But only 5%?

ED MARKEY, SETTING A GOOD EXAMPLE: Top Congressman Skips Bali, Addresses UN Climate Change from Second Life Instead. Bravo.

RON BAILEY: Do we need death?

UPDATE: John Weidner responds.

AN ELECTRIC CAR THAT ALSO PROVIDES peak power for utilities: "When the car is in the V2G setting, the battery’s charge goes up or down depending on the needs of the grid operator, which sometimes must store surplus power and other times requires extra power to respond to surges in usage. The ability of the V2G car’s battery to act like a sponge provides a solution for utilities, which pay millions to generating stations that help balance the grid. Kempton estimates the value for utilities could be up to $4,000 a year for the service, part of which could be paid to drivers. The technology will work on a large scale, he said, because on average 95 percent of all cars are parked at any given time." Sounds kind of cool.

NEW YORK TIMES ABOLISHES PAY-WALL, traffic soars.

I told you so. Well, I did.

A POTENTIAL CHALLENGER for Lamar Alexander.

A LOOK AT human rights violations in Canada.

IN THE MAIL, something a bit different: A shiny new Zune. When I was at Blogworld Expo a Microsoft guy asked me why I had never written about the Zune. I explained that I generally just blog about things I buy, and I hadn't bought one. He responded with horror to the thought that I'd never been sent a sample. It's a nice-looking piece of hardware; I'll give you some further thoughts once I set it up. I do like that it has an FM tuner.

AFTER THE BATTLE OF AL-FAJR: Michael Totten posts another report from Fallujah.

FORMER "NO NUKES" PROTESTER changes her tune:

The only way to rescue our plug-hungry planet from catastrophic global warming is to embrace nuclear power, and fast.

That's the argument of Gwyneth Cravens, a novelist, journalist and former nuke protester. Her new book, Power to Save the World: The Truth About Nuclear Energy, is a passionate plea to understand, instead of fear, atomic power.

Just think how much better-off the planet would be if people had been smart enough to ignore the no-nukes crowd 30 years ago. Related item here.

UPDATE: More on safe nuclear power.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Better than being the Soylent Green movement.

MORE: Related thoughts here.

SAYUNCLE IS COMPILING A LIST of mass murderers who encounter armed citizens.

Meanwhile, Roger Kimball has Toquevillean thoughts on gun control.

RX-8 UPDATE: So far, after four years I've had no problems with the car. But the original-equipment tires went bad. I noticed an increasingly-loud roaring noise from the rear at speed, and it turned out the tread had "cupped." Apparently this is a problem with a lot of low-profile tires. I replaced them and it was like getting a new car. I replaced the Bridgestone Potenzas that were original equipment with Kumho Ecsta SPT tires of the same size. They seem at least as grippy, and considerably quieter and comfier than the Bridgestones were even when new. They were very reasonably priced, considering that they're big, wide, low-profile ultra-high-performance tires. Replacing the tires isn't news -- they were four years old and even though I don't drive the car every day they were ready to be replaced. It's the subtlety with which the noise built up, and caused me to enjoy driving the car less without quite grasping the reason at first. Very glad to have that gone.

UPDATE: Reader Bill Nickless emails: "My RX-8 is my daily driver, so with ice and snow in the winter I can't run either the original equipment Bridgestones nor the Kumho Ecstas. But with Bridgestone Blizzaks the RX-8 is an excellent winter car. It's 17 degrees F here in Richland Washington this morning, with an inch of snow on the road in front of my house, and I'm not worried at all about my 10 mile commute."

Yeah, I had a first-gen RX-8 7 (a 1980 model) and it was pretty tailhappy even on dry roads, and kind of iffy on anything slick. The new ones are much better in general, so this doesn't surprise me.

A PULITZER PRIZE IN TERRORISM: Much more on A.P. and the Bilal Hussein story.

THE SUCCESSFUL WAR MOVIE HOLLYWOOD DIDN'T MAKE: Reader Don Wolff emails:

Did you know that Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare for the video market has moved 3 million copies -

That as Amazon shows it runs about $50 a copy - that' s a 'box office' of 150 million.

And it's about the current war against terror.

:"Armed with an arsenal of advanced and powerful modern-day firepower, players are transported to treacherous hotspots around the globe to take on a rogue enemy group threatening the world. As both a U.S. Marine and British S.A.S. soldier fighting through an unfolding story full of twists and turns, players use sophisticated technology, superior firepower, and coordinated land and air strikes on a battlefield where speed, accuracy, and communication are essential to victory."

So, if as Hollywood whines that the public doesn' t want Iraqi War movies, why is this selling so well, top of the rental lists, and ever so popular? At this rate it'll be the successful game companies, that gives the pubic what they want, who'll buy out the studios for their IP and name. Hollywood appears to have missed the impact of the technological shift as badly as MSM has. The public is getting the entertainment they crave, just not in the form that the old gatekeepers dispense.

I think that's right.

UPDATE: My cousin-in-law Stewart Rubenstein emails that Old Media are smart enough to buy in, anyway: "Vivendi has owned Blizzard (Diablo, World of Warcraft, etc) for quite a while, and they just acquired 52% of the new 'Activision Blizzard'."

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Ian Watson emails:

I think your emailer, while correctly pointing out good video game sales, is missing the subject matter point. The problem with comparing the subject matter of CoD4 with these horrid Hollywood movies is that no one goes to Hollywood movies for multiplayer. A vast (I would say nearly everyone) bought CoD4 for the multiplayer aspect of it, in which there are two teams people play on… Marines/SAS v. RandomTerrorists. Even beyond this point, it is the gameplay that sells this series far more than the story line. It is a first person shooter, that means a tactical twitch game. The entertaining and excellent singleplayer was given such high regards because of its challenging AI, excellent level design, and technical perfection. While I’m sure that the game would have suffered if we were terrorists blasting Marines the whole time, it is the technical perfection and the excellent multiplayer that sold this game.

Looking at specific game sales really doesn’t tell you anything, because games rise and fall dependant on a TON of factors other than storyline. Now, if one was to look at the storylines in general for some of the relevant top games, there IS a trend there.

Halo 3 (marine saves humanity… watch the live action shorts they were using to advertise it, lefties were complaining about them being too fascist like)

Splinter Cell series (4 games) … American spy saves the world, constantly.

Call of Duty series (TONS of games, well over 4 counting expansions)… go America all the way

Medal of Honor games…

I could go on, I’ll spare you…

… I’m trying to think of ones that go the other way and are successful… and I can’t.

Yeah, the distinctive feature seems to be the notion of good vs. evil, and without the Hollywood assumption that America is the evil.

MICHAEL BARONE: "The world looks safer, friendlier, more hopeful than it did as we approached Christmastime last year."

A MASS in Baghdad.

A LIVE-ACTION VERSION OF Speed Racer. Trailer at the link.

VIRGINIA POSTREL is back!

December 09, 2007

SOMETHING ON THE COLORADO SHOOTINGS that I hadn't heard. The gunman was stopped by an armed woman.

Remember: People don't stop killers. People with guns do.

BLU-RAY PRICES start to plummet.

But of course!

CAUGHT YOUTHENING: Maureen Dowd's latest column begins:

When I was a kid, we used to drive on the Beltway past the big Mormon temple outside Washington. The spires rose up like a white Oz, and some wag had spray-painted the message on a bridge beneath: “Surrender Dorothy!”

But if you're imagining Dowd as a pigtailed six-year-old in the back of the family station wagon, think again. The temple was finished in 1974. Maureen Dowd was born in 1952. So she was a "kid" who was old enough to vote and drink. (According to this source, the graffiti first appeared in 1973, when Dowd would have been 21.) Thanks to reader Conrad Kiechel for the tip. I remember the graffiti, too, though, which was still there in the 1980s when I was a "kid" practicing law in Washington. By then Dowd was pushing 40.

UPDATE: Patrick Carroll emails:

Oh, I don't know. In some circles our troops in Iraq are called "children".

Besides, is there anything in her writing that suggests she ever grew up? All I ever see is teenage condescension and snark.

Good point.

ANOTHER UPDATE: A very weak defense of Dowd. Yes, the Temple was started in 1968. The graffiti wasn't there until 1973. Then again, factchecking isn't the strongpoint of this blogger, who can't even spell my name right: It's "Glenn," not "Glen." It's right there next to every post . . . .

I GUESS THEY DO CARRY PRETTY MUCH EVERYTHING: Reader Paul Music sends a link to Amazon's page listing Bestselling Items in Game and Exotic Meat. The wild boar tenderloin looks pretty tasty.

I'M BLOGGING from the Nokia 810 that I mentioned the other day. Not bad.

CRASHING THE GATES: Iranian students demonstrate for freedom. Catchy slogan: "Live free or die!"

YOU CAN SUPPORT NANOTECHNOLOGY PROGRESS and have your donation matched through the Foresight Institute challenge grant. I'm not on their Board of Directors any more, but they're still an excellent organization. Maybe better, now that I'm not on their Board of Directors any more . . . .

REMEMBERING Evel Knievel.

BIOSHOCK takes the Game of the Year award at the Video Game Awards. Full report at the link. What's not to love about a game that lets you "Biologically mod your body with plasmids - genetic augmentations that empower you with dozens of fantastic abilities."

IS THE N.I.E. ACTUALLY A BUSH GAMBIT? I don't think the Administration is that smart. But maybe that's what they want me to think . . . .

MORE PROBLEMS FOR THE BBC: Nobody seems to know what "findability" means, but a reader suggests that it probably has something to do with paintballing . . . .

HOW TO SUPPORT MARK STEYN vs. the Canadian censors.

HERE'S MORE on the disappointing box office performance of The Golden Compass, but what's really interesting is this:

Finally, another Iraq War-themed movie has crashed and burned. Grace is Gone (MGM/Weinstein) starring John Cusack, with an original score by Clint Eastwood, mustered only a $1,089 PTA on Friday at four locations with a projected weekend PTA of $3,594. It will be very difficult for the Weinsteins to pick this film up from the mat, and that will make an Eastwood Oscar nomination for Best Original Score an uphill climb.

I hadn't even heard of this one, but it seems not to have impressed the reviewers. Reader Jacob Allen, who sent the link, adds: "That's a cumulative total of $14,000 over the weekend. At $9 a pop, that means a total national audience of 1,550 or thereabouts. In NY and LA. Put it this way, 'Grace is Gone' may have thrown under New Line's 'Rendition' at the box office. And that's saying something. "

SOME RECOMMENDED gifts for Dads.

Plus, the perfect stocking stuffer! (Via Dave Price.)

ROAD-TEST IMPRESSIONS re Honda's new fuel-cell car, from reader Shawn Church. And he emails some further thoughts -- click "read more" to read them.

Read More ?

SUBURBAN SEX PARTIES DRAW COMPLAINTS: Two thoughts. (1) If my neighbors were bringing in over 100 people for canasta on a weekly basis I'd probably mind the traffic and noise; and (2) Who says middle America is stodgy?

MORE ON HIGHER EDUCATION'S DIVERSITY PROBLEM:

At a Harvard symposium in October, former Harvard president and Clinton Treasury secretary Larry Summers argued that among liberal arts and social science professors at elite graduate universities, Republicans are "the third group," far behind Democrats and even Ralph Nader supporters. Summers mused that in Washington he was "the right half of the left," while at Harvard he found himself "on the right half of the right."

I know how he feels. I spent four years in the 1990s working at the centrist Brookings Institution and for the Clinton administration and felt right at home ideologically. Yet during much of my two decades in academia, I've been on the "far right" as one who thinks that welfare reform helped the poor, that the United States was right to fight and win the Cold War, and that environmental regulations should be balanced against property rights.

All these views -- commonplace in American society and among the political class -- are practically verboten in much of academia. At many of the colleges I've taught at or consulted for, a perusal of the speakers list and the required readings in the campus bookstore convinced me that a student could probably go through four years without ever encountering a right-of-center view portrayed in a positive light.

A sociologist I know recalls that his decision to become a registered Republican caused "a sensation" at his university. "It was as if I had become a child molester," he said. He eventually quit academia to join a think tank because "you don't want to be in a department where everyone hates your guts."

Follow the link for some hard data. (Via NewsAlert.)

UPDATE: Related thoughts here.

BEWARE OF FLIRTING ROBOTS: "A program that can mimic online flirtation and then extract personal information from its unsuspecting conversation partners is making the rounds in Russian chat forums, according to security software firm PC Tools. The artificial intelligence of CyberLover's automated chats is good enough that victims have a tough time distinguishing the 'bot' from a real potential suitor, PC Tools said. The software can work quickly too, establishing up to 10 relationships in 30 minutes, PC Tools said. It compiles a report on every person it meets complete with name, contact information, and photos." More and more, we're living in a William Gibson world.

UPDATE: Reader John Baker emails: "Professor: as much as I enjoy Gibson, ever heard of the Turing Test?"

Yeah, and it sounds like these robots are passing it in the real world on a regular basis. Though to be fair, I doubt Alan Turing envisioned administering the test with an audience of drunk, horny Russian guys.

ED DRISCOLL HAS VIDEO from the Arlington Guitar Show.

BRENDAN LOY REVIEWS The Golden Compass. Okay, but not great. "In any event, it's not a bad movie -- I mean, it's no Eragon, certainly -- but I don't think it's terribly good, either"

IN THE MAIL: Murdered by Mumia: A Life Sentence of Loss, Pain, and Injustice. By Maureen Faulkner, the widow of the cop Mumia Abu-Jamal killed, with Michael Smerconish.

NBC UPDATE: "NBC reversed course Saturday and decided to air a conservative group's television ad thanking U.S. troops."

For NBC, a PR disaster. For Freedom's Watch, a PR coup, getting far more publicity than they would have gotten if NBC had just aired the -- rather innocuous -- ads.

WOULD SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN THE INTERNET to A.P. reporter Naoki Schwartz? Because this headline -- Blogger Threatens LA Campus Shooting -- is misleading. The site in question, JuicyCampus.com, is a chatboard, not a blog. It's almost as if somebody wanted to make bloggers look bad, though it's probably just the result of appalling ignorance.

UPDATE: Give 'em credit for swift corrections -- reader Anthony Sanchez emails to note that the headline has been changed to read "Student Threatens LA Campus Shooting." And a note at the end of the story points out: "This version CORRECTS description of Web site as chat board instead of blog."

Nice job.

CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS' flip-flop on waterboarding:

In September 2002, four members of Congress met in secret for a first look at a unique CIA program designed to wring vital information from reticent terrorism suspects in U.S. custody. For more than an hour, the bipartisan group, which included current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), was given a virtual tour of the CIA's overseas detention sites and the harsh techniques interrogators had devised to try to make their prisoners talk.

Among the techniques described, said two officials present, was waterboarding, a practice that years later would be condemned as torture by Democrats and some Republicans on Capitol Hill. But on that day, no objections were raised. Instead, at least two lawmakers in the room asked the CIA to push harder, two U.S. officials said. . . .

"In fairness, the environment was different then because we were closer to Sept. 11 and people were still in a panic," said one U.S. official present during the early briefings. "But there was no objecting, no hand-wringing. The attitude was, 'We don't care what you do to those guys as long as you get the information you need to protect the American people.' "

Lots of people who were talking tough back then subsequently changed their tunes -- out of either a sudden flowering of scruples or an unprincipled desire to go after the Bush Administration with any weapon that came to hand. But, you know, if you're going to say "it was different back then," it really has to be more than just an all-purpose excuse for politicians. It's also a reason not to hang people out to dry for doing what politicians, and the public, wanted back then, when things were so "different." Your call, but Jules Crittenden notes: "Next thing you know, someone’s going to say the Clinton co-presidency thought Saddam had a nuclear program and backed regime change."

Yeah, and start showing videos like this. Unfair!

UPDATE: Reader Joseph Beaulieu has a difficult question for Pelosi, et al., on waterboarding: "If it was an acceptable practice five years ago, when the world was a more dangerous place, then what has happened in the past five years to make the world a less dangerous place where such harsh methods are no longer necessary?"

MORE: Dean Esmay: "Not a word of this surprises me."

KEYSTONE KOPS IN INDONESIA: "Indonesian police mistakenly fire on Australian anti-terror chief in ambush mix up." Er, or something worse.

(Via Rantburg.)

UPDATE: The Jakarta Post link above keeps changing. But this link to a report in the International Herald Tribune should be stable. Thanks to reader Hector Owen for the tip.

HYDROGEN CARS, YES: Hydrogen economy, not so much.

IT'S A DANGEROUS WORLD out there.

LOOKING AT HUMAN ENDOGENOUS RETROVIRUSES: These played the key role in Greg Bear's rather good science fiction chiller, Darwin's Radio. In this context, things are more benign.

"PUSH PRESENTS?" Er, okaaay.