March 29, 2008

EXTREME MACHINES: Wild Wheels.

ATTACKING EPILEPSY PATIENTS via computer exploits?

The incident, possibly the first computer attack to inflict physical harm on the victims, began Saturday, March 22, when attackers used a script to post hundreds of messages embedded with flashing animated gifs.

The attackers turned to a more effective tactic on Sunday, injecting JavaScript into some posts that redirected users' browsers to a page with a more complex image designed to trigger seizures in both photosensitive and pattern-sensitive epileptics.

Good grief. That's just tacky.

A CTHULHU SIGHTING in Knoxville?

BEER YOU CAN LISTEN TO! Er, or something like that. It's Craft Beer Radio.

MORE RESVERATROL NEWS: "Mounting evidence shows red wine antioxidant kills cancer."

Drink up!

NORM GERAS ON Zimbabwe's "elections."

ANGELA MERKEL will boycott the Chinese Olympics.

OBAMA'S LATEST CAMPAIGN AD. Plus, James Pethokoukis on Obama and the budget.

THADDEUS TREMAYNE RAGES AGAINST the dying of the light. From the comments: "GOOGLE was black today, in honour of the Coming Dark Age."

But resistance, apparently, is not futile.

A BUNCH OF INTERESTING PODCASTS, at Loquitur.

BETWEEN EAST AND WEST: Michael Totten in The New York Times.

WAS OBAMA A "REAL" LAW PROFESSOR? I don't think that this dispute will swing many votes even within the legal academy. . . .

JAMES CARVILLE: Yeah, I called that Benedict Arnold a Judas! And he is! "Heck, I give myself some credit for managing to get the Clinton and Obama campaigns to agree on something -- that neither wanted to be associated with my remarks. . . . If Richardson was going to turn on the Clintons the way he did, I see no problem in saying what I said. Because if loyalty is one virtue, another is straight talk. And if Democrats can't handle that, they're going to have a hard time handling a Republican nominee who is seeking the presidency with that as his slogan."

DEAN BARNETT on action vs. words.

THE NANNY STATE comes to Texas.

Next they'll be cracking down on barbershop beers.

CALLING FOR A Murtha ethics investigation.

THE CLINTON/OBAMA WARS spread to Wikipedia. More here.

STOP-LOSS IS D.O.A.: "I'm told #7 Stop-Loss opened to only $1.6 million Friday from just 1,291 plays and should eke out $4+M. Although the drama from MTV Films was the best-reviewed movie opening this weekend, Paramount wasn't expecting much because no Iraq war-themed movie has yet to perform at the box office." And yet they keep churning out these antiwar bombs.

Related item here.

UPDATE: Reader Dave McCune suggests "an X-Prize for an Iraq war movie that doesn't suck:"

Proposed ground rules:

1) US armed forces, allies, and their supporting families are the good guys

2) Jihadis are the bad guys

3) Freedom-seeking civilians are caught in the middle

4) #1 defeats #2 to liberate #3.

How hard can that be? It’d be entertaining, closer to the truth, and would probably make a ton of money.

I know I’d both donate to a prize fund and go see the product.

I suspect a lot of people would.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Don Wolff says it doesn't matter, as Hollywood will soon be replaced by videogame-based platforms for moviemaking anyway. "One or two more generations in tech development, who'll need Hollywood to make movies?"

Meanwhile, here's a less-than-positive review of Stop-Loss: "What is possibly left to say about a poorly produced, poorly acted, poorly directed, and very poorly written anti-war film that defames our troops…? What’s left to say that hasn’t been said about the dozen or so that came before? The only new angle here is that we’re told Stop-Loss is co-written by a conservative. Either this poor guy was steamrolled flat in story meetings or it’s true that Hollywood’s idea of a conservative is someone who only kinda hates President Bush."

And Tom Brosz emails:

Dave McCune says "I know I’d both donate to a prize fund and go see the product."

I noticed on your link to Outside the Wire that they are trying to sell 2,900 DVDs to make their point. Maybe you need to plug that a little harder.

Consider it done!

MORE: McCune emails back:

Thanks for the tip about Outside The Wire. I’m going to buy one and then donate it to my local library. Lord knows they already have enough copies of Bowling for Columbine. If any of your readers inquire seriously about starting a prize, feel free to forward them.

Good idea.

STILL MORE: Reader Pete Jernakoff emails:

I'd love to see a movie made from David Bellavia and John Brunning's book entitled 'House To House' which chronicles the US Army's advance into Fallujah in November, 2004. It is absolutely riveting. And the US Army are the good guys! I cast my vote for Bruce Willis as Staff Sargent David Bellavia.

That would be cool.

ADVICE FOR BLOGGERS AND HOME-BASED WORKERS who don't get out enough. "Home-based? Feeling like your work-in-pajamas lifestyle has gone a little too far. Forgetting social formalities? Not brushing your teeth until early afternoon? Forgetting to shave? All signs that you may be suffering from homepreneuritosis."

I'VE NEVER BEEN PERSUADED by the periodic calls for a "Science Court" to decide contested scientific disputes. (Though it does have a certain appealing Planet-Krypton ring to it.) But if ever there were a case for such a court it would be this one over potential dangers posed by the Large Hadron Collider. I suspect, however, that it will be disposed of on mundane grounds of standing and jurisdiction.

STILL MORE ON THE VACCINE-AUTISM CLAIM: And John McCain still needs to address this, and stop getting his health-policy advice from Don Imus.

Michael Yon Phones Home

Michael Yon called on his satellite phone to talk about what's going on in Iraq. I recorded it and it's up here for your listening pleasure -- nothing fancy, just a quick recording posted less than 20 minutes after it happened. Click here to listen.

A few key points: (1) It's likely to get worse before it's better; (2) No one seems to doubt Iranian backing for the violence; (3) This isn't about religion, it's about money and power; and (4) Unlike Al Qaeda in the north, this isn't so much a fight to the finish as violence as a negotiating tactic. It's not a civil war. Take a listen, and then take a moment to marvel at today's technology, which lets me do this stuff from my basement at the spur of the moment.

Meanwhile, Michael has a book coming out, Moment of Truth in Iraq. If you buy it through his site, you can get an advance copy shipping Monday. Otherwise it'll be out in a few weeks. (Bumped to top, since a lot of people may have missed it last night).

UPDATE: A reader who asks for anonymity emails:

Michael Yon is the same man who said that the sectarian strife after the 2003 invasion and before the 2007 surge was actually a civil war between Sunni and Shiite groups (I didn't entirely agree with him, but I wasn't over there as he was and is now), so for him to say that the current conflict in the south is not a civil war is a pretty big deal in my opinion.

Yeah, I assumed everyone knew that but I suppose it's worth pointing out.

Also, partial transcript here.

HEATING UP: "Sen. Hillary Clinton's most prominent African-American supporter in Pennsylvania says that had he been a member of Sen. Barack Obama's church, he would have left because of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's fiery and controversial sermons." He'll be on World News Tonight talking about it.

AZIZ POONAWALLA is hosting Fitna on his site, even though he's not a fan.

THE AFGHAN VERSION of American Idol: "The show has its own Ryan Seacrest — a hip medical student at Kabul University named Daoud Sedidi. The panel of judges is two men and a woman — Monesa Sherzad Hassan, a professor at Kabul University — who sits between the guys, just as Paula Abdul does, interjecting when she can’t take any more of the bad singers and praising the good ones." Does Ann Althouse know about this?

MICKEY KAUS: "McCain may or may not be blocking Heath Shuler's immigration-enforcement bill--Shuler says yes, Brian Faughnan argues no, and McCain's camp denies it. But shouldn't McCain at least have to take a position on the bill, if he's such a secure-the-borders-first man? . . . The dirty secret, of course, is that the Dem leadership isn't blocking the bill because its unpopular with House Democrats. They're blocking it because it's popular with House Democrats, who'd love to have a tough-on-illegals bill to vote for before the 2008 election. "

DIRTY TRICKS: "The Texas Democratic Party on Friday urged delegates to today's senatorial district and county conventions to ignore e-mails and robotic phone calls telling them that the conventions have either been canceled or had their times changed."

IT'S LIKE SOME MUTANT OFFSPRING of the DIY Channel and Jewelry Television: Make your own engagement ring. Readers: Would you do this?

UPDATE: Reader Nancy Revy emails:

As someone in the diamond business I have to tell you that I actually think this is pretty cool. Buying a basic diamond for an engagement ring shouldn't be a intimidating experience. This Amazon page gives the basic client the ability to see what you can get in different cuts and clarity if you hold the price steady. With this information a buyer can go to his local jeweler and see if they can beat the price, given the same criteria for the stone. The key on all of this is the GIA certification, that way you can compare apples to apples, so to speak.

Diamond dealers have a couple of online sources similar to this Amazon page where they can input their criteria, size, color, cut etc. and get a list of available stones that fit their needs. They then make purchasing decisions based on the price versus the price on the weekly RAP sheet. As wholesale dealers we try to buy at 20% off the RAP price and sell to the client at 10% off RAP. A retail store like Tiffany will typically sell a diamond at the RAP price plus 30% percent or more.

For smallish diamonds there is no mystique. They are a commodity and their prices depend on supply and speculation...like other commodities. It's only when you are working with rare large white and colored diamonds, that the pricing issue becomes murky.

Yesterday at my office I was messing about with a 29 carat diamond. It was so big that I thought it was fake! Someone had to tell me to put down the giant rock!

But Glenn seriously, I know how much you love Amazon, but when you get around to buying the beautiful Dr. Helen a nice little rock for your anniversary, give me a call.

The Insta-Wife isn't that much into jewelry, but I did buy her some diamond earrings on Valentine's day. They were not 29 carat, however. Good lord.

Meanwhile, reader Matthias Shapiro writes:

recently purchased an engagement ring and I actually used that very same diamond finder to get an idea of what good diamond prices should be given the cut, clarity and size that I (she) wanted. It was an invaluable tool for establishing some base values so I didn't get ripped off, which I found was dangerously common. And the lack of sales pressure while I get some understanding of diamonds was really nice.

While I might purchase a diamond that way, I would never use it to select a complete ring, largely because (Amazon techies take note) there is only one view of the ring and it is really hard to get a good perspective on it. Plus theres a lot to be said for seeing it on her hand which is, of course, the ultimate goal.

Yes, this will impose some price discipline even if it never gets a big share of the market. And reader Ananth Sarathy emails:

Recently got engaged, and most people I know and talked to already did something like this, shopping for the stone and then picking a setting. Anyone who makes rings can find the diamond you want based on the certificate number...

Sure everyone knows about color, carat and clarity, but the big secret it looking at the cut angles to get the mathematical idea of how much light will be reflected out (Sorry I am an engineer, so science helps me deal with spending that kind of money on a rock):

http://www.pricescope.com/cutadviser.asp

You plug in the angle information, and it gives a very good idea about the *sparkle* factor of the diamond, which I find, woman are much more concerned about than they originally realize.

Indeed.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Myron Ledford writes: "I did it this past January...I got hooked on Amazon Prime (thanks/curse you) so I decided to look at engagement rings that Amazon had to offer and saw the design your own ring tool. I used it to design a ring for my fiancee that we both love and saved about $200. We did have a problem with the band, it broke about a month after we got it but it needed to be resized anyway. One thing I enjoyed was there was no salesperson to let out slight sighs and tut-tuts as I moved the slider closer to the $100 diamonds than the $125K ones..." Yes, the absence of personal attention can be a minus, or a plus . . . .

MORE: Reader Paxton Helms writes:

Blue Nile has been doing the same thing with diamonds for a whole lot longer than Amazon. I have been 100% satisfied with them. Just a great company and a very smooth diamond purchasing interface. Would hate to see a great site not get mentioned as long as you are talking about Amazon.

And, no, I’m not an employee or PR flack for Blue Nile!!

News to me, but I haven't been in the engagement-ring interest zone for a while, and hopefully won't be again.

SILLY JAKE: Of course John Kerry's medals mattered. He was a Democrat. And of course John McCain's service doesn't mean anything positive. He's a Republican. It's as simple as that, in DeanWorld.

And as stupid, since Dean's dumb remarks will bring more positive publicity to McCain, and play up the contrast in this department with Hillary and Obama.

THE TEN BEST PROPHETIC SCIENCE FICTION MOVIES, ever. But I agree with the commenter who says that Demolition Man deserves more respect. "President Schwarzenegger" isn't quite so much a laugh-line, anymore.

THIS SEEMS RIGHT, to me: "I have no doubt now that the biggest obstacle to Obama's being able to unify the Democratic Party is likely to be the behavior of Obama blogs, Obama radio talk show hosts, the Obama network (NBC), Obama supporters and the Obama campaign itself." As with Ron Paul, Obama's online supporters are doing a lot to put off people who might otherwise be persuadable.

Meanwhile, Taylor Marsh writes: "If the elite DC Dems keep trying to push Clinton from this race, Hillary's supporters will sit the November election out or worse, protest the party's actions by voting for John McCain." See the item just below.

UPDATE: Panic.

THE WAGES OF IDENTITY POLITICS: Clinton's women supporters fear her bid has unleashed a sexist backlash:

Just as Barack Obama's campaign has been empowering for African-Americans, Sen. Clinton's run has inspired women across the country, drawing millions to the polls and putting her in a neck-and-neck battle for the nomination. She has already gone farther than any woman before her -- a source of great pride for her women supporters.

But her campaign has also prompted slurs and inflammatory language that many women thought had been banished from public discourse. Some women worry that regardless of how the election turns out, the resistance to Sen. Clinton may embolden some men to resist women's efforts to share power with them in business, politics and elsewhere.

Read the whole thing. Meanwhile, Victor Davis Hanson worries that the Obama/Wright flap has brought about "disastrous regression in race relations."

LIVIN' ON TUZLA TIME: If you missed it on XM Satellite Radio, you can now hear this week's PJM Political online. Now with extra monkeyfishing!

JONATHAN RAUCH: A new politics? Or a new pandering?

GAY CRACKPOTS JOIN WAR ON SEX. Well, once you've lined up all the non-gay crackpots, you have to expand your recruiting, I guess . . .

And Amy Alkon piles on.

UPDATE: Further thoughts at Gay Patriot.

THOUGHTS ON THOSE CANADIAN TAR SANDS:

At a time when saying anything good about fossil fuels is like declaring war on the environment, it may seem like wishful thinking to press for an expansion of U.S. oil refining capacity.

Yet it is precisely this sort of thinking that is necessary if we are to make use of a vast, secure and reliable supply of fuel from Canada's oil sands.

The tar sands hold an estimated 174 billion barrels of crude oil, making Canada's oil-sands deposits second only to Saudi Arabia in global reserves. The U.S. currently obtains 1 million barrels a day from Canada's tar sands, but with planned investments the daily supply could exceed 3 million barrels by 2015.

Seems like we should be making those. Then there are reports -- which I still regard as iffy, though much of the blogosphere seems excited about them -- regarding a potentially just-as-big discovery in the Bakken oil formation of North Dakota. I certainly hope they're true, and we'll see. There's also lots of oil shale in Colorado.

IN THE AGE OF THE PHARAOHS, life basically sucked:

Studies on the remains of ordinary ancient Egyptians in a cemetery in Tell el-Amarna showed that many of them suffered from anemia, fractured bones, stunted growth and high juvenile mortality rates, according to professors Barry Kemp and Gerome Rose, who led the research. . . . The study showed that anemia ran at 74 percent among children and teenagers, and at 44 percent among adults, Rose said. The average height of men was 159 cm (5 feet 2 inches) and 153 cm among women.

"Adult heights are used as a proxy for overall standard of living," he said. "Short statures reflect a diet deficient in protein. ... People were not growing to their full potential."

As Robert Fogel has noted, we take for granted today conditions that are a huge departure from basically all of human history.

WHY BLOG? Reason No. 92: Book Deal! As I can attest, those can be sweet.

MORE THOUGHTS on the problem of PC-induced starvation.

ANOTHER FREE ONLINE PHOTO EDITOR: Earlier, I mentioned Photoshop Express, but a reader recommended Picnik.com and I gave it a try. It's quick, free online basic photo editing package. Not a lot of fancy features, but not bad at all and easy to use. And free!

ROBOSEXUALITY: Not that there's anything wrong with that. Not everything's perfect, though: "I'm limited to what games I can play because I have Vista."

March 28, 2008

THE WAR MOVIE THAT NOBODY'S MAKING: But actually, I just got the latest installment of J.D. Johannes' Outside the Wire project, and, well, somebody is making it.

And here are some thoughts from J.D. Johannes on what Hollywood has done wrong. And what you can do to help show them.

YOU GET SOME AMUSING JUXTAPOSITIONS ON TECHNORATI, SOMETIMES.

MAKING PROFESSORS PAY for late grades:

Florida State is what she believes to be the only institution in the country that fines its professors when they turn grades in late at semester’s end. The tab: $10 per grade.

“We charge for every grade for every student that is not turned in by our deadline,” Barber said, adding, slowly for emphasis: “I’ll say that again: Every grade for every student that is not turned in by our deadline.”

Here at UT, fear of the registrar's wrath provides sufficient discipline.

THE JOY OF DESPAIR: I had a column on this phenomenon a while back.

OKAY, IF IT WEREN'T FOR GLORIA ALLRED, this Hugo Chavez pic would be the picture of the day.

FORCING OBAMA TO take a stand on affirmative action.

SO I MET JARED AT THE MALL TODAY: Nice guy, but came across as kinda two-dimensional. I imagine his "ridiculously hot girlfriend" is, um, more well-rounded.

MORE ON THE IRAQI ARMY VS. THE MAHDI MILITIA from Bill Roggio. Just got a voice mail from Michael Yon, too -- hoping to get a report from him soon.

UPDATE: Further thoughts here.

ANOTHER UPDATE: More here: "One thing to keep in mind is Muqtada al Sadr, the leader of the Mahdi Army, is pressing for an end to the fighting. If Sadr's Mahdi Army was doing so well, why would he call for an end to the fighting?"

OUCH: "According to new data released by the Newspaper Association of America, total print advertising revenue in 2007 plunged 9.4% to $42 billion compared to 2006 -- the most severe percent decline since the association started measuring advertising expenditures in 1950. "

UPDATE: Reader Johann Erickson emails: "Last time I put a 'help wanted' ad in my local paper, it cost me about $500. I got 6 faxes, 5 were unqualified for the job. I put an ad on Craigslist for free and got about 40 resumes. About 10 qualified for the job. Why would I ever use a newspaper again? Classified ads were the biggest drop, 16.5% or so. Just another dinosaur dying." As I said, ouch.

MORE: Jeff Jarvis: "The situation is desperate."

Plus, a recovery plan: "Hire more lefties to report anti-American stories, and whenever possible, betray national security secrets. . . . Avoid at all costs running columns by Mark Steyn and others with dedicated followings." That'll work!

KERRY HOWLEY: How Fear of Life-Saving Technology Swept Through Africa.

In May 2002, in the midst of a severe food shortage in sub-Saharan Africa, the government of Zimbabwe turned away 10,000 tons of corn from the World Food Program (WFP). The WFP then diverted the food to other countries, including Zambia, where 2.5 million people were in need. The Zambian government locked away the corn, banned its distribution, and stopped another shipment on its way to the country. “Simply because my people are hungry,” President Levy Mwanawasa later said, “is no justification to give them poison.”

The corn came from farms in the United States, where most corn produced—and consumed—comes from seeds that have been engineered to resist some pests, and thus qualifies as genetically modified.

Death before political incorrectness.

DEADLINE CONFUSION.

MORE thuggish behavior from Duke University.

LESSON: If you don't like a film, threaten violence. Then people will take it down. Is this really the message folks like LiveLeak want to send? Because it's the message they're sending, over and over again. "Share and enjoy."

UPDATE: Now the Poligazette link above is down -- "Account Suspended." Don't know why. But you can still see Fitna on Google Video.

Meanwhile, here's more on the film:

Speaking to various media about this today, it's interesting that the first sense of shock is that the footage which Wilders includes is so bloody. Of course Wilders didn't create this footage - the jihadis did. But it raises an interesting question about the mainstream media. In the last seven years the MSM has gone out of its way to spare the public from seeing the most barbarous acts of our enemies. As we discovered when the BBC infamously pixellated the cartoons two years ago, even Danish drawings have been deemed too upsetting to broadcast of late. The footage in Wilders' film of the victims of jihad is therefore especially sobering. It isn't pleasant viewing, but then jihad isn't pleasant viewing, and if this is what it takes to alert people to the savagery of the threat we all face, Muslims included, then there it is.

I hope as many non-Islamists as possible see the film and consider its implications. But I also hope that the Islamists themselves are not so stupid as to fall into the oldest idiocy of theirs: that is the one which says "Say my religion is peaceful or I will kill you."

Oops. Too late. And in LiveLeak's defense, I guess their pulling the film just proves Wilders' point.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Allah:

Don’t worry, the film’s still around. Google Video has it for the moment and I hear that it’s up and down on YouTube too. When all else fails, just search for “fitna” and “torrent” and all should be well. They don’t call it “viral video” for nothing: Once it’s released into the population, you can never quite stamp it out. LiveLeak did its job for as long as it needed to.

I'd like to see the threateners more scared than LiveLeak, though.

MORE: Pat Dollard has posted Fitna and says he won't be taking it down in response to threats.

And here's a YouTube link that's working at the moment.

FINALLY: Poligazette is back online. They were down for 3 hours, and don't know why their hosting service suspended them. And more thoughts and discussion here.

CAN OBAMA DISOWN WRIGHT? Yes he can!

VIDEO: A trailer for the forthcoming new version of Grand Theft Auto.

CLARITY AND GUESSING: More on the Texas Democratic Caucus confusion.

STANLEY KURTZ: "After listening to these autobiographical excerpts from Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father, read out loud by Obama himself, I’m left with the conviction that, in the 2008 election we are facing the mother of all cultural battles." Oh, goody.

AMERICAN ANCHOR QUITS AL JAZEERA: "The English-language channel started to more closely resemble its larger sibling, the prominent Arabic-language channel Al Jazeera, he said."

A FREE ONLINE VERSION OF PHOTOSHOP that's accessible from your web browser. That's cool. Anybody tried it yet?

UPDATE: Christopher Johnson emails: "I took it out for a spin last evening. It's okay. It's limited and it's not going to replace the real one but if you need to do some really basic photo editing, it's pretty good for the price." On the other hand, the terms of service seem rather grabby. However, the license appears only to apply to stuff you voluntarily make public on their site. It could be better drafted, though.

ANOTHER UPDATE: A reader recommends Picnik.com and I tried it out. Works fine!

ANNIE JACOBSEN ON Harvard's segregated gym.

HMM: "2008 marks the end of liberalism as a governing force in the same way that 1968 marked the end of liberalism as a political doctrine." I'm not so sure.

ANOTHER MOVE TOWARD SHOWING speed traps on GPS.

But what's much, much cooler is this two-way, internet-connected GPS. This is the start of something big, though some people may find the networking aspect a bit creepy.

IN THE MAIL: Securing Democracy: Why We Have An Electoral College. Worthwhile reading in light of all the popular-vote enthusiasm we're likely to face over the next few months.

SADR AT BAY: Mohammed Fadhil reports from Iraq.

UPDATE: Questions about CNN's analysis from The Belmont Club.

CUPCAKE CUTTHROATS: From BoingBoing TV, a cakesploitation film.

Thanks to Lady Buttercream, whose transfats run free. She promised the most ridiculous thing I'd see all week and -- well, you can decide if she delivered, but I think it beats even the unexpected competition from Gloria Allred, below.

UPDATE: Reader Will Cate emails: "This week? Hell, Glenn, that's the silliest thing I've seen so far this year!" Glad to be of service.

THOUGHTS ON A MCCAIN-ROMNEY TICKET: "I think they look great together. They seem to loosen each other up. They're sort of a cute odd couple."

OOPS: "Barack Obama faced fresh controversy yesterday over the anti-Israel views propagated by his former pastor even as he was being welcomed to New York by Michael Bloomberg, the city's Jewish Mayor." Funny that some of the hardest-hitting Obama reporting is coming from the London Times.

THE AL GORE JUGGERNAUT is picking up speed.

IS IT JUST ME, or is this photo of Gloria Allred kind of disturbing?

I think it's the expression, coupled with the pliers, that does it.

INSTAPUNDIT'S IRAQ CORRESPONDENT, Major John Tammes, emails:

Things have been really busy lately - as you know, events rush onward here. However, I did want to pass along to you what I have learned from the best ambassadors Australia has ever sent abroad. I don't mean her Foreign Service, but her Army.

What I have learned so far about Australians, from her Army: they are an awful friendly bunch and always seem to be helping someone; they make friends with Americans quite easily; and they are very professional, yet not uptight about things ("no worries" is a favorite expression of theirs, and it seems to be catching on with some of the American contingent).

Oh, and one more thing - they have really cool vehicles, I attached a picture of one of their Bushmasters. For those of us old enough to remember cramming into M-113s, the Bushmaster is a dream ride.

Who wouldn't want one?

SADDAM'S AGENT, at work in America.

ROSS DOUTHAT ON HOLLYWOOD: The Return of the Paranoid Style. "We expected John Wayne; we got Jason Bourne instead. . . . Even in films that aren’t taking thinly veiled jabs at the Bush administration, terrorist baddies turn out to be Eurotrash arms dealers (2006’s Casino Royale), disgruntled hackers (2007’s Live Free or Die Hard), a sinister air marshal (2005’s Flightplan), or the handsome white guy sitting next to you in the airport lounge (2005’s Red Eye). Anyone and anybody, in other words, except the sort of people who actually attacked the United States on 9/11."

DEFAMING A hometown hero. More here.

UPDATE: More from The Mudville Gazette, including a question about when, exactly, desiring victory became a Republican characteristic: "I'm not saying it is - but there are certainly a lot of non-Republicans out there who believe it without question or hesitation."

BARACK OBAMA SAYS REV. WRIGHT HAS APOLOGIZED for his racist sermons. Tom Maguire wonders how he missed it. Maguire's post will not make comforting reading for the Obama campaign. "So, when did Wright acknowledge that what he had said was deeply offensive and inappropriate? The AP story recounts some of Wright's controversial comments but oddly omits to mention his apology, as does all other news coverage with which I am familiar. And I am strangely certain that a Wright apology would have made the news."

And Don Surber comments: "This is hilarious. . . . When it came time to leave the church, Obama voted present."

UPDATE: In an update, Tom Maguire notes that Obama's people are saying that the apology was hypothetical, or something. Read it and see for yourself.

HOW TO ATTRACT MORE TALENT into teaching!

March 27, 2008

MEGAN MCARDLE ON body-counting and dubious numbers.

SKIN IN THE GAME: Obama is not part of the investor class. Except for real estate, of course.

THERE'S NO HYPOCRISY: This isn't "middle classism," it's upper classism.

MORE ON THE Puerto Rico primary.

GEERT WILDERS' FILM, FITNA IS NOW ONLINE, and Eugene Volokh posts a rather positive review. "Wilders is arguing against an important and dangerous ideological movement; my sense is that his approach is well within bounds of legitimate criticism. So I think this is a significant contribution to the ideological debate, and it seems to me that we -- and especially Wilders' fellow Dutch, to whom he is speaking most specifically -- should take it seriously, naturally together with whatever responses might come out." Plus, further thoughts from Michael van der Galien. The film itself is here.

SOME PEOPLE ARE MAKING A LOT OUT OF THIS MICHELLE OBAMA VIDEO, but this time I don't really see it. Yeah, she talks about ignorance and comfort zones in America, but she's talking to what appears to be a largely black audience, and I think she's challenging them to get out of their comfort zone. So I'm just not seeing this clip as anti-American, anti-white, or whatever. I think she's trying to get people together.

OLD LINE: Left-leaning faculty are a right-wing myth. New line: Faculty Are Liberal — Who Cares?

UPDATE: Reader Mack Mariani emails:

The faculty are liberal, who cares? I do, and I co-wrote the study! I co-authored the study mentioned in the Inside Higher Ed piece with my former colleague, Gordon Hewitt at Hamilton College. I'm at Xavier now, celebrating the Musketeers big win by, er, doing work.

The main point of the study is not to dismiss all concerns about the left wing orientation of the faculty. Rather, our goal was simply to assess the impact that faculty ideology has on the political views of the students they teach. We have two main findings:

First, that faculty are significantly farther to the left than the population (I know, the sky is blue, stop the presses!).

The other finding, which is more newsworthy, is that faculty ideology appears to have little impact on student ideology. Speaking for myself as a conservative college professor, I think this second finding is good news. We take pains in the study to emphasize that we are not addressing what goes on in the classroom - that isn't the nature of the data we used. In fact, we say outright that our findings do not preclude the possibility that faculty members are trying to indoctrinate students but failing miserably at it! Our study looks at one part of the debate and looks at the evidence. We think our approach, which focuses on changes in student orientation, is preferable to "snapshot" studies which look at student ideology at a single point in time. Others will look at this question in a different (and hopefully better) way.

While I think it is good news that students are (apparently) not putty in the hands of their left-leaning professors, there are plenty of other good reasons to be concerned about the lack of intellectual diversity on many college campuses.

Excellent point. If the beliefs and attitudes of faculty don't matter, even if they're pretty much a monoculture, then the argument for "diversity" in general would seem to evaporate.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Edward Sisson emails: "isn't the fundamental premise of the study -- that liberal indoctrination only matters if we see a change in student attitudes -- fundamentally false? No one would say that the structural walls of a building are insignificant because we observe no movement in the building. The walls counteract the force of gravity that otherwise would cause movement -- namely, cause the building to collapse. If, in the absence of the indoctrination, we would see a conservative trend in the student body, then the indoctrination is significant. All this study shows is that the collegiate-level indoctrination preserves whatever attitudes the students have gotten during their high school years."

MORE: See this post by TigerHawk from last fall, too.

STILL MORE: James Joyner has thoughts, and comments: "The changes here strike me as more than 'slight shifts.' The number of students self-identifying as 'far left' more than doubles while the 'far right' cohort drops nearly a third. There’s a ten percent drop in conservatives and a 25 percent jump in liberals. That’s hardly insignificant."

EVADING THE OBVIOUS?

SUPERDELEGATES dropping like flies.

AT THINKPROGRESS, getting their plagiarism scandal backward:

UPDATE: It appears that Ziemer’s speech may have been plagiarized from McCain. According to the McCain campaign, the senator used these lines before Ziemer — in 1995. We regret the error.

They still haven't fixed their "Blackwater Fever" error, though.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Now they have.

BILL ROGGIO REPORTS FROM IRAQ: Iraqi security forces battle the Mahdi Army.

UPDATE: Here's more from Dave Price, including a report from Major John Tammes.

STILL MORE on the Texas county convention maneuvering.

DAVE PRICE EMAILS: "Thanks for the Crimson Kings link. What a great read. Stirling has created a very convincing alien civilization, maybe the most believable and well-thought-out I've ever seen in print."

I enjoyed the book. It's old-fashioned science fiction as it should have been.

FROM PROFESSOR BAINBRIDGE: Parsing Obama’s Financial Regulation Speech. I love this: "bursting of bubbles inevitably leads to 'a kind of speculative frenzy in regulation.'"

MEGAN MCARDLE: "Can I just reiterate how completely insane it is that an attempt to prevent Americans from consuming Bolivian Marching Powder has now become the single largest determinant of our foreign policy in Latin America and much of the Caribbean?"

HMM. Marc Ambinder has seemed to lean kinda pro-Obama to me. But maybe not, with this headline: Obama Superdelegate Indicted.

LIVE LONG AND PROSPER: Advice on how from Jack LaLanne, who's certainly managed to do both.

IF TRUE, THIS COULD HURT MCCAIN: "Rep. Heath Shuler, D-NC, sponsor of the bipartisan immigration-enforcement bill known as the Save Act (H.R.4088), said this week that Sen. McCain was calling Republican House members in an attempt to block discharge petition that would force a vote on the bill on the House floor."

UPDATE: Reasons to doubt Shuler.

MICHAEL MOYNIHAN ON GEERT WILDERS: Everyone deserves the freedom to offend.

WHY MICROCARS will come to America. Those look nice, but I'd rather have an Aptera.

HIGH-ISO PHOTOGRAPHY: I often take pictures at conferences, etc., where the light's not so great, and often that's a real limiting factor. I ran a link a while back on the high sensitivity of the new Nikon D300, and plan to try one of those out sometime soon. But for conference-photography, something smaller, and cheaper, is better.

I ordered this relatively cheap Kodak camera and it came yesterday -- actually, a couple of weeks before it was supposed to ship. It has a "High ISO mode" that goes up to an amazing ISO 12,800, comparing to the ISO 400-1000 that's the typical maximum for compact cameras. (Image size drops to 3 megapixels, but since I'm usually shooting for the Web that's no big deal.) Fooled around with it last night and it appears to work well, even in very low light. Weirdly, however, Kodak included a rechargeable battery, but no charger. It runs on lithium AAs too, though.

And it's supposed to shoot HD video. I'll report on all of that, later.

IN BOSTON: Old Politics 3, Hope and Change 0. Plus a contrast with . . . Newark?

A FOLLOWUP ON THE Frankie Housley story. "In all, there are, alive today, six children, eight grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren in the Chesapeake Bay area who wouldn’t be here today if not for the young stewardess who died trying to save one more." (Name error fixed).

YOU DON'T SAY: McCain's Senate record not always conservative.

TAXPROF: Why didn't Obama save for retirement?

WELL, IT'S A GOOD THING: Jim McDermott: "We Don't Mind Being Used" by Saddam Hussein.

MORE ON SPACE TOURISM: Facing Competition, SpaceShipTwo Gets Set. Some cool photos of the spaceship under construction.

THE DEMOCRATIC CONTEST: Counting the ways of counting the votes.

IN TENNESSEE: Shortening yellow lights to "enhance" red-light camera revenues. But it's all about safety, really!

A HOME-GROWN TORONTO TERROR PLOT. "Details of the alleged plot, which also included storming Parliament Hill and beheading politicians, emerged in a factum filed by the Crown that described the case against the accused as 'shocking and sensational.'" More thoughts from Mark Steyn, who thinks that this undercuts some of John McCain's positions.

ANOTHER Eliot Spitzer call-girl story? Is there something in the water up there?

TOYOTA PRIUS OFFERS DISAPPOINTING MILEAGE compared to a BMW 520 diesel.

"LIKE A KENDALL IN THE WIND:" Hillary's Elton John Problem. The biggest problem may be the puns it's inspired. Beignet and the Jets?

SOUNDS RECORDED BEFORE EDISON, but not played back until now. That's cool. (Via the Cutlass).

HEH: "Perhaps I’ll sing a little song instead…” I'm not sure of the provenance of this transcript, but it's funny.

TEXAS CAUCUS ELECTION FRAUD? Well, something seems amiss. "You ended up being coded as BOTH a Hillary Clinton and a Barack Obama delegate."

IN THE MAIL: Peter F. Hamilton's The Dreaming Void. I've liked his other books.

SADR TIDINGS: Jules Crittenden on what's happening in Iraq.

PUERTO RICO'S GOVERNOR INDICTED:

Puerto Rico's governor and four Philadelphians, including prominent fund-raiser Robert M. Feldman, were charged this morning in San Juan with federal campaign-finance related crimes.

The investigation of Gov. Anibal Acevedo-Vila, a Democrat who faces re-election this year, was triggered by the FBI's Philadelphia City Hall corruption probe in 2003.

Feldman, who raised more than $1 million for Democrats, including U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. and Gov. Rendell, was a former business partner of Ronald A. White, the late power-broker who was the lead defendant in the Philadelphia corruption case. . . . The case could have political ramifications beyond Philadelphia and San Juan. Acevedo-Vila has endorsed Sen. Barack Obama in the Puerto Rico primary, which holds the nation's last primary on June 6.

I thought it was the 7th.

UPDATE: Oops. According to this report, Puerto Rico has been moved up to June 1. This has startling implications, according to some . . . .

MORE WAYS that fat is bad for you. The fat in your belly, that is.

UH OH: I-64 closed for six hours after sniper hits four cars.

MICHAEL BARONE LOOKS AT THE POLLS, and notices Barack Obama's rising unfavorables. He's into Hillary territory now, and I agree that this is probably a result of the Wright revelations.

CLINTONS: "GET OUT OF OUR WAY."

BETTER ALL THE TIME: The Speculist's roundup of good news (mostly) from the world of science and technology.

JOURNALISTIC STANDARDS: Fake documents at the L.A. Times. Can you imagine what they'd be saying if a blogger had done this . . . .?

UPDATE: L.A. Times apologizes for rapper story.

MICKEY KAUS on the first Jeremiah Wright sermon Obama ever heard. In Obama's words.

OKAY, I LINKED THE REPORT YESTERDAY, but this bit on McCain's appearance in L.A. is worth stressing:

Speaking of In the Line of Fire, although there was a presence of secret service, security at the well attended event was surprisingly lax. Although the news media desk knew Pajamas Media by name, they never checked our IDs or our equipment bags. Worrisome.

We've heard reports of lax security at Obama appearances; apparently, it's not just him.

UPDATE: Reader Pierce Wetter points out something I didn't know -- McCain has declined Secret Service protection.

JAMES LILEKS ON the light bulb wars.

A.C. KLEINHEIDER is back. I'm not surprised. (Via Bill Hobbs).

HEH: Bloggers File Fundraising Complaint Against John McCain. Chickens, meet roost.

GALLUP SECOND AMENDMENT POLL: "A solid majority of the U.S. public, 73%, believes the Second Amendment to the Constitution guarantees the rights of Americans to own guns."

UPDATE: Here's one cautionary note. Just about everyone who saw the Heller oral argument thinks it'll produce some sort of victory for Heller by at least 5-4. I certainly hope that's right, but I've always regarded vote-counting based on oral argument as a highly risky endeavor. Don't count your chickens before their hatched.

TOM SMITH says Hillary is being smeared with religion:

So there's a Bible study group she belonged to in the White House and another in the Senate, which is sponsored by The Family. So what. A Bible study group, as probably no one at the Nation knows, it not like a secret society. You sit around and discuss the Bible and pray some. No animals are sacrificed or blood oaths taken. No coded messages exchanged. Perhaps we can put this in terms the Nation might understand. Imagine there is a reading group that gets together to read Gramsci's Prison Notebooks and debate whether it is heretical or not. The shabby bookstore they meet in, several members of the group, and who knows what else, is probably one degree of separation or two from the Red Army Faction and the FARC. It's a small world. This doesn't mean everybody in the reading group is a Red.

Excellent translation.

NO MARRIAGE, PLEASE, We're British: "The number of Britons tying the knot has collapsed to a record low, it has emerged. The proportion of men and women getting married is below any level found since figures were first kept nearly 150 years ago. . . . The evidence that marriage is withering away at an increasing pace was met with a furious response from critics of Labour's benefits system, which disregards the status of husbands and wives and pays parents extra to stay single." Well, that's certainly going to produce the ideal society.

March 26, 2008

TALKLEFT on negative campaigning.

OH, JESUS, THIS IS PATHETIC:

Iraqi doctors in al-Anbar province warn of a new disease they call “Blackwater” that threatens the lives of thousands. The disease is named after Blackwater Worldwide, the U.S. mercenary company operating in Iraq.

No, actually that's just a kind of malaria that's gone by that name since the 19th Century, as Jules Crittenden points out. Ali al-Fadhily and Dahr Jamail, who reported this story, are either idiots or liars; the news service (IPS) that ran it is likewise. Are they that stupid -- or do they think that you are?

UPDATE: More here.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Heh: "This is just lame. Next time make up some fake documents or something."

But hey, it's not a complete failure of propaganda -- some lefties have fallen for it.

HMM: Uranium Cache Linked to FARC Rebels. Stay tuned, and let's see if this amounts to anything.

UPDATE: Hmm, the Miami Herald link above has gone bad. Here's another. And here's a report from Reuters.

MORE: A new Miami Herald link here. This story says the uranium isn't bomb-grade. It may just be depleted uranium, though if the reports of what it was selling for are true then somebody was getting scammed . . . .

PROFESSOR BAINBRIDGE on buying wine in Tennessee.

IRAQ WAR VETERANS -- "TOO CONTROVERSIAL." Ward Churchill: Educational!

SAVE SOCIAL SECURITY: Let's Fleece the Illegals!

PHIL BREDESEN WARNS DEMOCRATS that disaster looms. Heck, they should've nominated Bredesen while they had the chance. Hey, it's not too late!

BRAIN REPAIR IN MICE, using stem cells: "Some see rejuvenation therapies as distant prospects. But I do not see why stem cell therapies lie only in the distant science fiction future. A therapy that works for mice today is going to work for humans within a timespan quick enough for many of us alive today." Bring it on.

UPDATE: More on replaceable parts.

A BLAST FROM THE PAST: Saddam paid for lawmakers' Iraq trip:

Saddam Hussein's intelligence agency secretly financed a trip to Iraq for three U.S. lawmakers during the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

An indictment unsealed in Detroit accuses Muthanna Al-Hanooti, a member of a Michigan nonprofit group, of arranging for three members of Congress to travel to Iraq in October 2002 at the behest of Saddam's regime. Prosecutors say Iraqi intelligence officials paid for the trip through an intermediary.

At the time, the Bush administration was trying to persuade Congress to authorize military action against Iraq.

The lawmakers are not named in the indictment but the dates correspond to a trip by Democratic Reps. Jim McDermott of Washington, David Bonior of Michigan and Mike Thompson of California. There was no indication the three lawmakers knew the trip was underwritten by Saddam.

I wonder where else Saddam's money wound up? Plus, what George Stephanopoulos said.

UPDATE: Saddam's Three Stooges. Which one's Moe?

SPACE TOURISM UPDATE: A report on the XCOR Lynx.

There's lots more over at Space Transport News -- just keep scrolling. And Jeff Foust has items here and here. $100K tickets to space? Cool. (Via Rand Simberg).

RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION, Harvard style.

STEPHEN BAINBRIDGE: Seriously, how do you flip from Romney to Obama?

MORE ON NETWORK SOLUTIONS' CENSORSHIP POLICY, from Eugene Volokh. Which domain registrars and webhosts are most protective of controversial speech? Any?

MCCAIN AT THE BONAVENTURE: Roger Simon reports.

I'D LIKE TO ARGUE WITH THIS HEADLINE, but . . . well, no I wouldn't. I have to admit that it's been amusing to watch Greenwald try to dig his way out of the hole he dug for himself with his ridiculous overplaying of the race card. And yes, that's a mixed metaphor, but remember who we're talking about here . . . .

GALLUP: If McCain vs. Obama, 28% of Clinton Backers Go for McCain.

UPDATE: Suddenly, they're talking about Vice President Condi Rice.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Tom Maguire on Condi Rice: "For my money, McCain could do better." Yet just by floating her name, Hillary and Obama's comparatively light experience gets some attention.

GADGET ADVICE: Buy the cheap cables. "For the record: Pricey, so-called high-end cables and wiring—speaker, HDMI, DVI, Firewire, RCA, USB, you name it—no matter what, are an out-and-out scam."

PETER THIEL ON GLOBALIZATION. "The narrative of the past four centuries has not been one of continuous progress, but strewn beneath the stories of cupidity and strife there lies the story of the powerful impulse toward globalization and of the transformational effects of technology. In this context, a near-term backlash against globalization should not be confused with the end of the world, though a wholesale rollback could represent the ultimate catastrophe."

VIDEO: Bloggers making history.

UPDATE: Bill Hobbs was there, too.

OOPS: "Elite colleges have been undermining their own efforts to diversify by giving much more weight to high SAT scores than they did before, according to an analysis of College Board data presented this morning at the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association."

JAMES LILEKS on beauty and memory, and truth and fiction. All of that, from this.

ANNOUNCING THE FINALISTS FOR THE PROMETHEUS AWARD, for the year's best libertarian-themed science fiction. Nice to see Toby Buckell's Ragamuffin, which I liked, doing so well. Last time I noticed, he was also in contention for a Nebula.

OBAMA PULLS A HILLARY: "Barack Obama has promised a new kind of politics. Unfortunately, he has the same problems with calculating birth dates as Hillary does. In his speech commemorating the 42nd anniversary of the march on Selma, Alabama, he credited the march with his existence — even though he was almost 4 years old at the time."

OUCH: "At Bowdoin College, about half of the computers are Macs, and half are PCs. When Apple released the latest version of OS X in October, professors with Macs immediately swamped the IT department asking about the long-awaited Leopard. But after Windows Vista, the latest version of Microsoft’s operating system, came out over a year ago, there were no such requests."

ERIC SCHEIE VS. THE FBI: "When link clicking is criminalized, we are all at risk."

Indeed.

IN THE MAIL: Grover Norquist's Leave Us Alone: Getting the Government's Hands Off Our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives.

RASMUSSEN: 22% of Democrats Want Clinton to Drop Out; 22% Say Obama Should Withdraw. I think the momentum started here. And an I-told-you-so here.

NOW JEREMIAH WRIGHT IS DISSING THE ITALIANS?

HOLLOW DOCTRINE: Noah Pollak on Spencer Ackerman on Obama's foreign policy.

HUGO CHAVEZ: Anybody but McCain.

RADLEY BALKO on professional protectionism.

JAY AMBROSE: Free Tibet, like Hong Kong. "In Hong Kong, your motive for granting a high degree of autonomy was making money. In Tibet, the motive would be decency."

MORE ON the housing market: "Oddly enough, the objectively reasonable price is always above what the buyers paid for it, after commissions."

VETERANS FOR FREEDOM, in Minnesota.

AGREEMENT/DISAGREEMENT WITH KOS, at TalkLeft.

LOU MINATTI: How we wound up with Bush.

MATT WELCH MAKES A LIBERTARIAN CASE AGAINST MCCAIN, in The New York Times. "McCain is often mischaracterized as a politician without any identifiable ideology. But all of his actions can be seen as an attempt to use the federal government to restore your faith in ... the federal government. Once we all put our shoulder on the same wheel, there’s nothing this country can’t do."

UPDATE: Reader Charles Martin emails:

I can see a libertarian case against McCain, but you go to an election with the candidates you've got. Does Matt really think McCain would be *more* of a libertarian disaster than "It takes a village"/"We're doing it for your own good" Clinton or the "it would be a mandate, but it's a *voluntary* mandate" Messiah of Change?

Yeah, it's easier to make a libertarian case against McCain than to make a libertarian case for Clinton and Obama.

Of course, to be fair, the McCain angle is a natural for Matt.

THOUGHTS ON improving the U.S. News law school rankings.

WHEN FIGURE-SKATING METAPHORS GO TOO FAR: "In this metaphor, presumably, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., would be Oksana Baiul."

AN OIL FOR STOOGES DEAL? Heh. It certainly suggests that members of Congress shouldn't be accepting "charity"-funded trips to the lands of our enemies. And someone should be asking Bonior, McDermott, and Thompson -- and Hillary and Obama -- some questions.

OBAMA IN TEXAS: In Texas, the Obama campaign tries to win over Clinton's county convention delegates. I think this may be something of a blog-scoop.

PUNDITS WHO GET THINGS WRONG: "Paul Krugman has been predicting imminent recession with . . . er . . . depressing regularity since George Bush got elected; I doubt he thinks he should have had his column pulled the first time his prediction didn't pan out."

OH NO: Linking with approval!

BLOG WISDOM FROM BILL QUICK: "Folks, I’m going to take a week’s vacation. I’m starting to take this whole blog thing way too seriously."

It's the wisdom of Justin Sodano.

But such promises usually work out like this: "I said I would blog less last week, and I didn’t do that well. I’ll try harder this week."

IS SOCIAL SECURITY gettting less broke? That seems too good to be true, but I certainly hope that it is true.

HEH: Now, it turns out, Obama’s related to Brad Pitt, and Hillary’s related to Angelina Jolie. So Brad Pitt is also related to Dick Cheney?

TELEGRAPH: Study: Modern Men Feel Emasculated. I believe the survey involved British men, but Britblogger Cat is unhappy.

March 25, 2008

HARDBALL, INDEED: McCain Asks When Hillary Clinton Will Apologize to Gen. Petraeus. Video at the link. (Via John Stephenson).

MICKEY KAUS: "In North Carolina, Obama doesn't seem to be losing ground."

FAST FRIENDS: Hillary Clinton and . . . Richard Mellon Scaife?

FROM ILYA SOMIN, more on Medellin v. Texas.

ANNE APPLEBAUM:

"The Olympic Games are not the place for demonstrations." Aren't they? Actually, the Olympics seem an ideal place for demonstrations. . . . No one involved in the preparations for this year's Olympics really believes that this is "only about the athletes," or that the Beijing Games will be an innocent display of sporting prowess, or that they bear no relation to Chinese politics. I don't see why the rest of us should believe those things, either.

That's what the Chinese are afraid of.

I DON'T THINK MCPEAK IS AN ASSET: Obama advisor: US Jews hinder peace.

HILLARY - OBAMA: Sucking all the cash out of the Democrats?

MEDIA SLANT, TERRORISTS, AND the emboldenment effect. "Researchers at Harvard say that publicly voiced doubts about the U.S. occupation of Iraq have a measurable 'emboldenment effect' on insurgents there."

HOW REAL ARE videogame weapons? The tradeoff between accuracy and playability.

FREEDOM NEVER CRIES: Watch this cool video and John Ondrasik's charity will raise money for Operation Homefront, which supports troops' families. (Bumped, because it's important.)

TOM MAGUIRE SAYS THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN needs a subscription to Google. Or at least, they've been reading the wrong blogs; maybe they should branch out from Kosworld.

MAKING A manly diaper bag.

UPDATE: Reader Betsy Gorisch emails: "Right. Because nothing else says 'man' quite like a skull and crossbones."

Arrh!

A LAWYER'S THREATENING LETTER AS EXTORTION? I've mentioned before that we're overdue for backlash on some of the stuff that lawyers send out to nonlawyers. This may indicate that such a backlash is beginning.

UPDATE: Related thoughts from Professor Bainbridge.

THE STORY HEATS UP: Clinton: Wright 'would not have been my pastor'.

OUCH:

In comments to yesterday's post, RobK asked how come we weren't being told how many enemy KIA we had inflicted.

Well, see, because that would be a "body count", and it would be ghoulish and wrong. It's only decorous and proper to trumpet your own death totals on the front page.

(Via Michael Silence).

RON BAILEY ON the Vatican's confused relationship to biotechnology.

GETTING BEYOND RACISM: The national conversation continues.

MICHAEL TOTTEN MAKES A DIFFERENCE IN IRAQ. Who says bloggers don't do real reporting?

The U.S. military says it is taking steps to alleviate conditions at the Fallujah city jail in Iraq after recent visitors found a filthy, overcrowded facility. . . . Kelly's visit followed a report on conditions at the jail by independent journalist Michael Totten. Totten found a facility built to hold 120 prisoners housing 900 without even minimal provision for sanitation or hygiene.

Read the whole thing.

LIFE AS A tall girl.

REVIEWING THE REVIEWERS: A roundup of this weekend's book reviews.

THOMAS SOWELL ON BARACK OBAMA and choosing your friends. (Via Ann Althouse).

GOOD QUESTION: Why Do Palestinians Get Much More Attention than Tibetans?

MICHAEL YON EMAILS: "It's important to contextualize the fighting in Basra. That the Iraqi Army apparently is fighting JAM is important; a largely Shia Government of Iraq is in command of the Iraqi Army. The Iraqi Army is fighting Shia militia. This is not bad news."

MEGAN MCARDLE: "If they wanted to live in the New York that I liked--the one with the Dominicans hanging out on the street corner, the little hole-in-the-wall pizza joints and the improbable shops with ancient leases that sold scavenged junk alongside ticky-tack imports--well then, I could understand their celebration. But they want to live in the New York that the bankers created without the bankers. This is like wanting to go to heaven, but not wanting to die."

THE BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC of Massachusetts?

HARD TO ARGUE WITH THIS: "While the Republicans warm up their veepstakes, the greatest show in town is still the Democratic primary race." But is that sucking all the oxygen out of McCain's campaign? I'd say not yet, but . . . .

SOUNDS LIKE HATE SPEECH TO ME: Ezra Levant reports on email from an admirer.

TEXAS BEATS BUSH in the Medellin decision just handed down by the Supreme Court. That should make some people happy, though the fact that international law loses along with Bush may make some people less happy. "The decision, aside from its rebuff of presidential power, also treats the World Court ruling itself as not binding on U.S. states, when it contradicts those states’ criminal procedure rules. The international treaty at issue in this dispute — the Vienna Convention that gives foreign nationals accused of crime a right to meet with diplomats from their home country — is not enforceable as a matter of U.S. law, the Roberts opinion said. " Those worried about international law sneaking into U.S. law will be relieved, however.

FROM THE EXAMINER, an editorial on those half-cocked D.C. gun searches:

If the U.S. Supreme Court seemed on the verge of finding the D.C. government guilty of violating its citizens’ First Amendment rights, would the D.C. police be going door to door looking for printing presses to confiscate? Of course not. It would be unthinkable. Civil libertarians would be — to use an apt phrase (figuratively speaking) — up in arms. But when the civil liberty at issue is the right to bear those arms, as protected by the Second Amendment rather than the First, District officials seem determined to leave no gun unturned in. . . .

The program has drawn criticism not just from gun-rights lobbies such as the National Rifle Association but also from the National Black Police Association and the American Civil Liberties Union. No matter how much respect and support police officers deserve, there is still an intimidation factor involved any time an officer is on one’s doorstep, such that the “permission” may not seem as voluntary as police mean it to be. So where does this end? How long before Lanier sends police into selected neighborhoods — selected by whom and on what basis? — asking to search homes for marijuana, terrorist literature, evidence of intent to commit a crime, fireworks or Cuban cigars? Lanier is establishing a precedent that would have horrified the founders of this republic.

They would have responded with tar and feathers.

OBAMA RELEASES HIS TAX RETURNS: TaxProf has 'em, and some thoughts.

A MAJOR NANOTECHNOLOGY MILESTONE: Protein catalysts designed for non-natural chemical reactions.

GEORGE SHULTZ ON NUKES, at Uncommon Knowledge.

"DIGNITY PROMOTION" as foreign policy. I guess that would make the U.N. a kind of self-esteem camp -- which, come to think of it, makes sense . . . .

MICKEY KAUS: "Alter has presented the most compelling case for Al Gore I've read."

DEMS TARGET MCCAIN'S "100 YEARS" REMARK, get slapped by same remark from Obama's military adviser, Merrill McPeak.

CONGRESS AND THE Colombia Free Trade Agreement. If true, this is pretty ugly.

The Glenn and Helen Show: Retiring Rich Despite Economic Turmoil

Tax Day is approaching, the markets are turbulent, and people are wondering how to move financially. So we talked with Jim Schlagheck, producer of public TV's Retirement Revolution and author of The Cash-Rich Retirement: Use the Investing Techniques of the Mega-Wealthy to Secure Your Retirement Future. The book is interesting, action-oriented, and -- in my opinion -- more conservative and realistic than a lot that I've read. Our discussion includes what to do financially, how the housing bubble and the "coming demographic storm" of Baby-Boomer retirements are likely to affect investments, and what economic problems will confront the next President.

You can listen directly -- no downloads 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 dialup, cellphones, etc. by going here and selecting the lo-fi option. And of course, you can get a free subscription via iTunes -- and it's free.

Music is by Mobius Dick. Show archives are at GlennandHelenShow.com. As always, comments and discussion are hosted at my lovely and talented cohost's place.

A SPIRITED DEFENSE OF HILLARY CLINTON: "Hillary told the truth, and all the dishonest hacks and hate-filled liars and Caesarist bootlickers saying otherwise can go hang. . . . Her Story's Still Changing: But so what, Right Wing Haters? It's just getting better, more truthful, and more filled with pulse-pounding action-adventure and executive experience with each retelling." Well, I'm convinced.

FROM LIONEL CHETWYND, an open letter to Senator Obama.

THERAPY AS A substitute for punishment?

F.I.R.E. IS HAVING problems with bias at Wikipedia.

BUT I THOUGHT THE COMMUNITY DEMANDED IT: D.C. Gun Crackdown Meets Community Resistance. I guess the D.C. government fears it will lose in Heller and wants one last power-trip before it's too late. But if the gun-control had worked, why would they need to be confiscating them now?

Plus, more resistance from "the community" in Boston. When you can't even sell gun control in big urban areas like these, I think it means sentiments have shifted.

JAMES JOYNER: How Hillary Clinton could win.

CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS DOESN'T LIKE OBAMA:

You often hear it said, of some political or other opportunist, that he would sell his own grandmother if it would suit his interests. But you seldom, if ever, see this notorious transaction actually being performed, which is why I am slightly surprised that Obama got away with it so easily. . . . To have accepted Obama's smooth apologetics is to have lowered one's own pre-existing standards for what might constitute a post-racial or a post-racist future. It is to have put that quite sober and realistic hope, meanwhile, into untrustworthy and unscrupulous hands. And it is to have done this, furthermore, in the service of blind faith. Mark my words: This disappointment is only the first of many that are still to come.

Ouch. But read the whole thing.

UPDATE: Reader Steve Fisher notes that Hitchens doesn't much like Hillary, either. And I'll bet he's not crazy about McCain . . . .

JEREMIAH WRIGHT, child of oppression privilege. "In short, Rev. Wright had a comfortable upper-middle class upbringing. It was hardly the scene of poverty and indignity suggested by Senator Obama to explain what he calls Wright's anger and what I describe as his hatred." White or black, it's the ones with the most advantages who turn most anti-American, it sometimes seems.

HOUSING SALES: My earlier post on rising home sales and price cuts produced this email from reader James Meigs:

About those rising home sales:

Like many in the media, the author of the Bloomberg story you linked to seemed a bit mystified about what's going on here. ("Sales of existing homes in the U.S. unexpectedly rose in February for the first time in seven months, easing concern credit restrictions and falling prices would hurt demand." )

Prices have been falling for months, yet some people have strangely decided to start buying houses? Who in the world could possibly explain this bizarre phenomenon?

Heh. Indeed. Meanwhile, reader Robert Talbert emails:

Regarding your article on the housing market and the need to price houses appropriately: Here in Indianapolis, often ranked as the most affordable housing market in the country, I've been seeing the same thing you mentioned happening -- houses that stay on the market for months or even years, because they are priced ridiculously high, which suddenly sell once the owners acquire a modicum of common sense. For example: We built our house new for $220K two years ago in a suburban subdivision. A newer home up the street from us, with less square footage than ours and with fewer upgrades, was put up for sale a few months ago for $245K. As far as we know, there were no major upgrades to the house that would justify the jacked-up price. Unsurprisingly, it didn't sell, not because it was competing with cheaper pre-existing homes in the same neighborhood, but mainly because the subdivision is still being built out, and you can build a nicer home with more square footage and more upgrades for $30K less, within 50 yards of that house. (So long as you're willing to wait 6 months for it to be built.)

I seriously believe the glut of real estate-oriented shows on HGTV and TLC is partially to blame. Those networks run endless programs about young couples who build or buy houses, do a few basic upgrades, and then turn around and sell them for unbelievable profits in just a year or two. I think people watch these shows and truly project themselves into them, believing that anybody can make money off any house, at any time and in any housing market. There have been many times where I've seen a house priced way above market value and thought, "That person's seen one too many episodes of 'My House is Worth WHAT?'."

I hate to dis HGTV, which is a Knoxville operation, but yeah. And reader Justin Lipner thinks things are picking up:

After buying a new condo in St Louis in August, I eagerly awaited the sale of the rest of the new units, because until that happened, I couldn't hope to sell my unit. In the last month following 4 months of nearly no sales, they sold 3 units quickly. Their asking price has not dropped for the remaining units, and it looks like they will have sold the rest of the units in the next couple months.

Anecdotally, I see the American home buyer adjusting to the new reality of prices being constant at least, and moving from one place to another, not expecting a value rise that they should wait for. It's good news for everyone who doesn't sell bad news.

We'll see.

UPDATE: How counterproductive is Realtor Association spin?

BILL ROGGIO reports from Mosul.

March 24, 2008

JAMES PETHOKOUKIS: Should Bernanke apologize for saving the market?

NEW YORK SOAP OPERA CONTINUES: Paterson Admits Past Cocaine Use. What is it with these guys?

MISSPOKE: "What, are you going to say she lied?"

UPDATE: "It lacked the added advantage of being true."

I SUPPOSE A CHICAGO BRIBE OFFENDER REGISTRY is out of the question.

TALKLEFT: Memo to SuperDelegates: There is No Frontrunner, the Race is Open.

MICHELLE MALKIN DISAGREES WITH ME ON VACCINES: "Is there junk science on the anti-vaccine side? Absolutely. But you can’t address this issue without also addressing the problem with physicians who are unwilling to discuss the full risks of vaccines as well as the benefits." Read the whole thing.

UPDATE: Steven Den Beste emails:

Vaccination refusal is an example of the free rider problem. That's because of herd immunity. If everyone except Bridget vaccinates their kids, Bridget's kids benefit from not ever being exposed to the diseases, but they don't share the (small but nonzero) risk of being vaccinated.

The problem is that like all cases of free riding, too much of it destroys the system. When a large percentage of the population refuses to vaccinate, then herd immunity no longer functions and the diseases return.

And that can negatively affect those who did vaccinate, too, because vaccination doesn't always work. People who vaccinated their kids, and thus accepted their share of the risk, might still have their kids become sick.

If no one free rides, the failure rate isn't high enough to be a problem. Herd immunity protects even the kids for whom vaccination failed.

I'm a big fan myself; I've gotten lots of non-mandatory vaccinations.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Dr. William Schmidt emails:

I'm an emergency physician. In the past week I treated two kids who weren't vaccinated at all (2 and 4 years old). The first child's parents seemed marginally educated and not well-off (living in a trailer park, on an extended vacation). The second child was from California, had very long hair, and his parents seemed like they came right right from the "stuff white people like" blog. They were young, likely very well-educated, wore trendy expensive clothes, and were uncomfortable when I inquired as to his vaccination status. Somewhat amusingly, he had some cold symptoms and they were worried he might be ill because of the lack of previous vaccinations (they were apparently deathly afraid of the pertussis vaccine).

I agree with the criticism of the "free rider" theory. I don't know anyone in the medical profession personally who disbelieves in vaccinations (unlike claims made on certain websites). And, in response to Michelle Malkin, many pediatricians don't have time to waste in their very busy day discussing the "risks" of vaccinating one's children. From personal experience, many parents, especially in the Google age, have just enough knowledge to turn this into a 5-10' conversation and will often continue to disagree with you afterwards. Ten minutes may not seem like much to the soccer mom who thinks that noted autism researcher Robert Kennedy is infallible, but it is to the pediatrician who would rather spend that time doing something more useful (like seeing another patient).

I'm hearing this kind of thing a lot from my physician readers. And Chuck Simmins emails:

Glenn, as an EMT and highly interested in not dying, I favor vaccination in general. I got the Hep vaccine, for example, since I am exposed to blood borne pathogens. I got the pneumonia vaccine because I had pneumonia shortly before I did it, and pneumonia is the number one killer in a flu epidemic. I got the mumps vaccine because I never had it as a child and I love my parts that could be affected.

The whooping cough vaccine is about 70% effective. Other vaccines also vary in effectiveness.

That said, several years ago we say a world-wide polio outbreak that was traced to Nigeria. Muslim teachers told their people to refuse the vaccine. One or more of them went to Mecca, and suddenly we saw outbreaks throughout the Moslem world including countries that had been polio free for a decade or more.

Parents, like Michelle, in the West do not have two choices, i.e. take the vaccine or risk the illness. By and large the risk of contracting most of the diseases we vaccinate against in the West is non-existent. So, Michelle's choice is to risk her child having a reaction, a small but clearly definable risk, or to do without. I understand that thought process.

Medical doctors do a lousy job of explaining risks. For the most part, I suspect, it's because they don't have a clear understanding themselves. The companies that make and sell vaccines do as little as required. So, Michelle and other parents are trying to do their best in a world where information either comes from kooks or from experts who aren't really expert.

I have no answers. When asked, I generally point out that there are loads of people we see every day in urban America who may not have the best health because they are poor or immigrants. Unless your child is never around anyone who could have been exposed to a given disease, you should give serious consideration to vaccination. As witness, this post on leprosy and TB in a small community in Arkansas.

Indeed.

MORE: Dr. Kevin Fleming emails:

I am a physician and I very much doubt any connection between autism and vaccines. However.

Medicine is famous for being dogmatic about things that turn out to be wrong later. For example, the “globus” phenomenon, the sensation you have something in your throat, used to be called “globus hystericus” because it was felt to be anxiety or hysteria. Now it’s often thought to be sign of esophageal reflux, to be treated with Prilosec.

Not too long ago, medicine used to believe in frontal lobotomies for the mentally ill. Since I have been in practice, estrogen therapy has been in then out then in then out of favor as a treatment after menopause. But never was there any doubt expressed at the time.

Bruno Bettelheim, the University of Chicago child psychologist favored the now-discredited “refrigerator mother” theory of autism, which blamed autism on mothers who did not want their children to live. Around 1967, he told my mother that she had rejected my autistic older brother “in the womb” and that was why he was autistic. My folks followed his advice and left him on a farm in Illinois. He almost starved to death there. (My dad rescued him as we left the state, but that’s another story).

The point is, medicine is often dogmatic about things which are as yet unproven or unknown. Do vaccines cause autism? Probably not, for there is very little evidence to support that theory of origin. On the other hand, the market speaks, and many consumers are rejecting vaccines. Are they all wrong? Probably, but the perceived relationship may be a clue. Medicine cannot fully reject the theory when there is no real idea what causes autism in the first place. (Prenatal ultrasounds, mercury exposure from eating fish, and genetics are also blamed.) Are answering “almost certainly not” and “there is no evidence” sufficient for parents wishing to avoid a devastating developmental disorder?

My own kids got their vaccines. What would a libertarian do?

In my case, let people do what they want -- but shame them a bit for free-riding based on no actual science. Megan McArdle would be . . . a bit less laissez faire. And I still think McCain needs to take back his dumb remarks on the subject. You don't want to be making health policy based on Don Imus.

STILL MORE: A followup email from Dr. George Milonas:

For all those people who claim they have no risk factors for HPV (Gardasil) which causes cervical cancer or Hepatitis B which causes liver problems (and more), I have had plenty of moms in my office who have told me that their virgin husbands gave them these diseases on their wedding nights. Here’s a truth for all women: men lie, some men lie all the time. It is far better to protect your innocent daughters from preventable diseases than to blindly trust men.

Here are two links that I think are very useful in the vaccine/autism debate. Please note there is little disagreement amongst clinicians or researchers. The debate involves lay people.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15364187?dopt=Abstract

http://practice.aap.org/content.aspx?aid=106

I'll just note that women have been known to lie about these things too.

AND MORE: Further thoughts from Megan McArdle and Katie Granju.

CHARGES OF airbrushing at the BBC. It wouldn't be the first time.

A BAD REVIEW FOR FRONTLINE, from Jules Crittenden.

ACTUALLY, I JUST ENJOY WASTING THE TIME of people who struggle to read my mind.

UPDATE: Reader James Wink emails:

Interesting logic….if you link to a blog you agree to everything published in it (whether consciously or unconsciously) according to Glenn Greenwald. This is from a guy who links to Daily Kos whose infamous post regarding contractors in Iraq….so I guess Glenn Greenwald is consciously or unconsciously in favor of U.S. citizens being killed in Iraq. Some how I doubt he would agree with the logic….

And since I link to Greenwald, I must agree with it too. I'm a bad American! And don't even get started on my blogrolling of Oliver Willis . . . .

PROGRESS IN REGENERATION? Though fingertip regrowth isn't unheard of.

HE SAID "JUDAS," AND HE MEANT "JUDAS:"

James Carville, a political adviser to the Clintons, said this afternoon that he stood by his comment last Friday – Good Friday, to Christians – comparing Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico to Judas, even though a Clinton campaign aide said today that, if he were Mr. Carville, he would apologize for the remark.

“I was quoted accurately and in context, and I was glad to give the quote and I was glad I gave it,” Mr. Carville said. “I’m not apologizing, I’m not resigning, I’m not doing anything.”

I don't think that Bill Richardson is Judas. Of course, I don't think that Hillary is Jesus, either.

THE SUPREME COURT GRANTS CERT. IN U.S. V. HAYES, and Doug Berman wonders if it's a Heller tea leaf.

ROAD TEST: Range Rover vs. Challenger tank.

THIS IS INTERESTING:

In the race for the most popular votes in the Democratic Party's presidential primary contests, Sen. Barack Obama's lead over Sen. Hillary Clinton is about 711,000 votes -- not including Florida or Michigan -- according to Real Clear Politics.

Of Sen. Obama's 711,000 popular-vote lead, 650,000 -- or more than 90% of the total margin -- comes from Sen. Obama's home state of Illinois, with 429,000 of that lead coming from his home base of Cook County.

That margin in Cook County represents almost 60% of Obama's total lead nationwide.

It's good to have Cook County on your side, I guess.

HERE'S HOW YOU CAN GET A FREE ELECTRONIC COPY of Toby Buckell's Crystal Rain. I liked it.

IRAQ AND TERRORISM: More on that story here.

"WHAT IS Keith Olbermann?" No, it's not Jeopardy. "So essentially, on March 20, the General Electric Company underwrote an hour long infomercial for Barack Obama and the Democratic Party."

BENEDICT XVI VS. OSAMA BIN LADEN: It occurs to me that the Catholic Church has some experience playing this whole "martyr" game, too.

IN THE MAIL: Steven Goldberg's new book, Bleached Faith: The Tragic Cost When Religion Is Forced into the Public Square. I'm a big fan of Goldberg's work, and I think he's entirely right to suggest that efforts to slide government religious expression past the Establishment Clause do more harm than good to religion. I hope that this book gets the attention it deserves. (Bumped, because it's important).

PETRAEUS: Iran behind Green Zone attack.

ANTIWAR PROTESTERS WHO ASSAULTED A CONGREGATION AT EASTER MASS have had their bond set at $25,000 to $35,000. They're facing felony charges.

SHAUN MULLEN: Why Hillary Must Come Clean About Bill.

A STAKE THROUGH THEIR HEARTS: Michael Yon reports on Killing Al Qaeda in Nineveh Province.

"THE OSCARS OF THE FOOD WORLD:" The James Beard Foundation Award Finalists.

DOG BITES MAN: Spitzer Pushed Staff’s Effort to Smear Bruno.

TAKING "A LITTLE EXTRA CREDIT:" Both Obama And Clinton Embellish Their Roles. But they're not lying. Only Republicans do that.

X MARKS THE SPOT: Bill Bradley on Obama's Wright Stuff. "The week ahead in presidential politics, as may be the case with much of the next seven-odd months, is dominated by the racial politics swirling around Barack Obama. And by the questions yet unanswered by his speech last Tuesday in Philadelphia. These questions are at least as much about patriotism as they are about race. . . . I think that Obama is not going to become president unless he can explain Malcolm X (Wright’s most outrageous statements are a stand-in for what he represented), the anger that produced him, and the preposterous statements that not infrequently emanate from the black church. He can’t simply float as the easy post-racial figure, a man Americans can vote for as a salve for the issue of race in America. "

WE'RE NUMBER ONE! U.S. States Lead the World in High Corporate Taxes.

CHINESE POLICE open fire on monks and nuns.

MORE ON PARENTS WHO WON'T VACCINATE THEIR KIDS. I still think that McCain should come out and redress his dumb remarks of a couple of weeks ago. I wouldn't go so far as Megan's rant suggests -- but I do think we should make clear that parents who, with no genuine medical reason, forego vaccinating their kids are bad parents, and bad citizens. That kind of social pressure seems to get people to do all sorts of less important and more intrusive things -- like recycle -- so it should be enough.

I have some related thoughts here.

UPDATE: Dr. George Milonas emails:

In my office, it’s only the marginally educated white yuppies that are refusing vaccines. This is a trend seen across the country. They go on ridiculous websites where they are absolutely convinced that thimerosol or that vaccines cause autism. This, despite the fact that thimerosol has been removed for years without a drop in Autism rates and tens of million of dollars in research utterly refuting a link. I offer them packets of scientifically respectable information on vaccines, but they still refuse out of fear that their perfectly normal children will regress to the level of an autistic child. They prefer the hype of the medical garbage spread throughout the internet. I’ve had 14-16 year olds’ parents refuse vaccines for the same reason (despite the fact that there has never been a documented case of this).

What I’m truly surprised at is the fact that our illustrious legal community hasn’t begun a class action lawsuit against these parents and ‘autism’ advocates who are responsible for the fact that these eliminated diseases are making a comeback. If I were a parent whose child contracted an infectious disease from one of the unvaccinated children, I’d be out for blood. Why exactly hasn’t anybody sued Robert Kennedy and his minions for convincing parents not to vaccinate their children? To me, it’s the equivalent of yelling fire in a crowded theater.

I mentioned in my column that if drug companies peddled a product as defective and dangerous as what the anti-vaccine hysterics are peddling, they'd be sued out of existence. I doubt, however, that we'll see any similar accountability on the part of the activists.

RASMUSSEN: "Looking ahead to the General Election in November, John McCain continues to lead both potential Democratic opponents. McCain leads Barack Obama 50% to 41% and Hillary Clinton 49% to 42%." Polls don't mean much at this point, but this can't make Dems happy. It might make McCain complacent, though.

FREE SPEECH AND the "Violence Veto." Won't that just encourage people to be violent?

A STREET IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD HAS HAD FOUR HOUSES FOR SALE for a long time. Last week they all sold. Hardly evidence of a trend by itself, but there is this report: "Sales of existing homes in the U.S. unexpectedly rose in February for the first time in seven months, easing concern credit restrictions and falling prices would hurt demand." Most of the houses in my neighborhood dropped their price. My sense overall is that homeowners are much too slow to drop their prices in a bad market -- people can accept that a stock might be worth less than last year, or worth less than when you bought it, but they seem to have a hard time mustering the same acceptance where a house is concerned. But drop the price, and it's more likely to sell. And that's what people will have to do, I think. Perhaps they're catching on.

UPDATE: Reader Scott Claunch emails: "want to concur with what you've posted about appropriate pricing to sell a home in the current market. My wife and I recently sold our home in Minneapolis, for our asking price, in two days. Besides it being a great home it was staged meticulously, very clean, fresh paint, and - most importantly - priced for the existing market, not the market in 2006. I realize this is merely anecdotal, but it supports your larger theme. Thanks for a timely post!" Yes, I see houses that are three years old priced as if they should have appreciated 30% since they were built. That's ridiculous, and not surprisingly they're not selling.

ANOTHER CHANCE TO PLAY Name That Party! "If only the AP had been similarly reticent about Mark Foley!" Fat chance.

UPDATE: Reuters does better: "Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was charged with perjury, obstruction of justice and official misconduct on Monday stemming from a sex scandal and the prominent Democrat's handling of an $8.4 million settlement of a whistle-blower lawsuit against the city."

AN IMPORTANT SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY: "The five worst ornithologists in the Czech Republic drank a lot of beer."

THE LIBERATION OF KARMAH: Michael Totten posts another dispatch from Iraq.

NOAM SCHEIBER on Clinton vs. Obama and Carter vs. Kennedy. "Hillary's only path to the nomination, barring a meltdown by Obama, is to destroy his electability. But harsh attacks on Obama will inevitably discourage African Americans from voting in the fall, and Hillary can't beat McCain without strong black turnout in places like Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia. Conversely, any attack on Hillary that alienated moderate Republican women could cripple Obama's chances." And not just black voters, but all the Obama faithful. Yes, I mentioned this a while back, and now it's become conventional wisdom.

Meanwhile, Obama can't seem to shake the Jeremiah Wright problem. He's got a similar double bind -- alienate black supporters, or push away white supporters. The willingness of some of his current supporters to label every criticism racist only intensifies that dilemma, of course, and undercuts his original "transformative" appeal further.

UPDATE: More here: "In rejecting the racist views of his longtime spiritual mentor but not disowning him, Obama has unwittingly enhanced his image as the African American candidate -- as opposed to being just a remarkable candidate who happens to be black. That poses a dilemma for unelected superdelegates, who as professional politicians will settle the contest because neither Obama nor Clinton can win enough elected delegates to be nominated."

ANOTHER UPDATE: Related thoughts from Walter Shapiro at Salon. "Democrats are being barraged with new information about the candidates long after most of them have made a binding decision on a nominee. It is akin to being given a subscription to Consumer Reports the day after you bought a new car."

MORE: "Obama Won Over His Base...the American Media."

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, FAIR USE, THEFT, and The Associated Press.

A LONE BLOGGER VS. the United Nations.

TALKLEFT: Obama, Emil Jones, and earmarks.

SWIFTBOATING, revisited.

HILLARY CLINTON: Secret fundamentalist? Color me skeptical, and I'm someone who's written about Hillary's religious streak in the past.

A BUNCH OF NICE NEW PHOTOS FROM LISA SCHEER. I like her eye.

IF IT'S INTENTIONAL, is it malpractice?

MICKEY KAUS on Obama's honesty: "Obama's honesty is bracing. But he honestly doesn't seem to be the sort of neoliberal politician who wins national elections."

SO, IS THIS GOOD NEWS? Pakistan Now Tops Iraq and Afghanistan in Suicide Bombings.

A BIG DVD SALE at Amazon. (Via TigerHawk). By the way, my friend Doug Weinstein picked up an HD-DVD player at Wal-Mart for $75 and reports that the real reason to have it is that it upscales standard DVDs to quasi-HD much better than other players. He says this is a characteristic of the HD-DVD players in general. That's news to me, but if I see one for that cheap I might pick it up for that reason alone -- there are still a lot of regular DVDs out there.

RICHARD LANDES on Obama and Wright and the "prophetic tradition." Plus video.

A PRESS CRACKDOWN IN TURKEY: "For all the talk within the State Department of Prime Minister Erdogan and his Islamist-leaning party as representing democracy, he has now sued or jailed more journalists than any other government in Turkey. Most of those taken to court committed offenses such as depicting Erdogan unfavorably in political cartoons or editorializing against Mr. Erdogan's efforts to purge judges and financial officials who questioned his policies."

CHRIS NOLAN SENDS A LINK TO THIS WEDDING ANNOUNCEMENT from The New York Times and notes the first paragraph:

WHEN an armed band of American Muslim militants invaded several buildings in Washington on March 9, 1977, Diane Cole, then 24, became one of more than 100 hostages. The gunmen threatened to decapitate captives before she and the others were released 39 hours later.

Okay, I was in high school then, but I have absolutely no memory of this. Did it get much attention?

UPDATE: Courtesy of reader Thad Puckett, here's a WaPo retrospective.

March 23, 2008

IN PENNSYLVANIA, the Democrats' racial divide.

AN ANTI-WAR EASTER ASSAULT on the congregation at a Chicago church. Photos and video at the link. If people did this kind of thing at a mosque it would be international news, and evidence of irredeemable hatred and bigotry . . . .

BIPARTISAN CORRUPTION in Illinois.

MIDDLE-AGED PEOPLE moving back in with Mom and Dad?

UPDATE: A different perspective on the same story.

I'M SIDING WITH NANCY ON THIS ONE: China attacks Speaker Pelosi.

A NEW EDUCATIONAL INNOVATION: "Kinder, gentler euphemisms for failure."

PATHOLOGIZING hobbits. "Skepticism, of course, is the muscle of scientific inquiry. But one wonders if the scenario of stunted, hirsute, potbellied misfits banished to a cave is too compelling to ignore, even when the bulk of the emerging evidence suggests that evolution alone—albeit a more complex version than we are now comfortable with—could have produced them."

SO I TOOK JOHN VARLEY'S STEEL BEACH with me for, um, beach reading as part of my reread-old-John Varley project, and I was struck by this passage, which I had forgotten:

"There's something else," he went on. "We know there are aliens out there. We know interstellar travel is possible. The next time we meet aliens they could be even worse than the Invaders. They might want to exterminate us, rather than just evict us. I think we ought to keep some fighting skills alive in case we meet some disagreeable critters we can fight."

Brenda sat up, wide-eyed. "You're a Heinleiner!" she said.

It was MacDonald's turn to shrug. "I don't attend services, but I agree with a lot of what they say."

Heh.

UPDATE: Yeah, it's not in print -- I had to buy a used one. Hope they reissue it soon. It's good. Meanwhile, reader Robert Evans asks if I'm a Heinleiner. Well, you know, I don't attend services, but . . . .

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Ted Rathkopf writes: "Is there a fish we Heinleiners can get to put on the back of our cars?"

RECRUITING PROBLEMS: For Al Qaeda: "The sharp drop in suicide bombings in Iraq is partly due to the decline in foreign al Qaeda volunteers coming into Iraq. The recruiting, mostly in Saudi Arabia and North Africa, preys on the unique social conditions in those areas. . . . The main reason for this is bad news, and some survivors, coming back from Iraq. Not many of these losers make it back, but the word gets on to the Internet, and this has caused quite a commotion on pro-terrorist web sites and message boards. There's also been a sharp drop in pro-terrorist combat videos coming out of Iraq. This is largely due to the death or capture of the people responsible for getting those videos onto the Internet. . . . For most of the last four years, the al Qaeda volunteers would go to Iraq and 'die a glorious death.' Now the trip tends to end in despair and humiliation. The word is getting around, and the recruiters don't like it."

Of course, they did manage some attacks today. Is this the start of the Terrorist Tet that some people have been predicting?

THE AIR FORCE IS PUSHING coal-to-oil plans. Do they know something we don't?

NETWORK SOLUTIONS SHUTS DOWN A WEBSITE under Islamist pressure. I'm guessing they wouldn't respond to complaints from Baptists quite so readily.

UPDATE: Reader Antoinette Aubert emails: "Baptists don't blow people up for disagreeing with them. Heck Baptists don't even sue you for disagreeing with them. Thus does multi-culturalism make cowards of us all." Or encourage violence and litigation.

NEWS WITHOUT REPORTERS?

OBAMA'S MILITARY ADVISER ON IRAQ, FROM 2003: "There's no reason why this shouldn't be a walkover." Well, it was, in the beginning. But Tom Maguire observes: "McPeak is a part of the American story; Barack can no more disown him than he can disown his own grandmother, who made comments about the war effort against the Japanese that made Barack cringe."

Of course, one of Hillary's advisers said it would be a "cakewalk." And the invasion part pretty much was. Nobody -- in or out of the Bush Administration -- worried enough about the reconstruction phase.

ROMNEY BACKER DOUG KMIEC endorses Obama: "I believe him to be a person of integrity, intelligence and genuine good will. I take him at his word that he wants to move the nation beyond its religious and racial divides and to return United States to that company of nations committed to human rights. "

THANKS, Skippy. Though I've been holding up pretty well under the strain.

THREE SIMPLE RULES for a sex scandal.

REMEMBERING THE 1970 Pontiac Grand Prix 455. When we were in high school, Doug Weinstein had a 1973 model that he had bought used from Ernie Grunfeld. It wasn't a bad car -- we drove it to the Keys one year for spring break and it was fast, smooth, and comfy -- but it was a gas hog.

Plus, the joys of the once-ubiquitous Volvo 240DL. "The car made up for that lapse of refinement with an almost utter lack of power. Brand-new, the four-cylinder engine pumped out 114 horsepower. After more than 300,000 miles of abuse, I'd be surprised if it generated anything close to that lofty figure. This, when powering a two-ton steel safety cage, resulted in a car able to drive out of a paper bag only if that bag is properly moistened." It was a popular car for daughters for this reason -- safe in a crash, and unable to muster enough zip to encourage dangerous driving . . . .

PANDEMIC PLANNING: Still not ready:

WHEN an outbreak of the Spanish flu spread worldwide in 1918, a doctor in Newark advised his patients that they could cure their illness with red onions and coffee. In Atlantic City, the authorities closed amusement parks and theaters indefinitely. And in upstate New York, public health officials distributed a poster warning people against “careless spitting, coughing, sneezing.” Those precautions had mixed results, and an estimated 675,000 Americans died during that outbreak, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Today, New Jersey, Connecticut and New York are much more prepared than they were 90 years ago in the event that an influenza outbreak turns into a pandemic. But five years after an avian flu outbreak in Asia made pandemic flu planning a priority, some experts are concerned that states have not been equally vigilant about preparing, and as attention and federal financing begin to decrease, they fear that preparedness efforts will slacken.

Sooner or later, something will come along. It's best to be prepared.

ROGER SIMON: Bill Clinton is no McCarthyite.

And Bill Richardson is no Judas. Notwithstanding the beard.

SURPRISE:

Attorney General Michael Mukasey has been taken aback by the scope and variety of potential terrorism threats facing the United States, he told reporters Friday at an informal meeting in his office. "I'm surprised by how surprised I am," said Mukasey, who as a federal judge presided over terrorism-related trials in New York.

"It's surprising how varied [the threat] is, how many directions it comes from, how geographically spread out it is," he said.

I'm surprised by how surprised he is, too.

EASTER THOUGHTS FROM The Anchoress and from Roger Kimball.

A NEW, HIGHLY-EFFICIENT LIGHTBULB that's neither an LED nor a CFL. (Via Slashdot.)

BARNEY FRANK: Feds should decriminalize marijuana. Yep. But don't count on any support from Obama, Clinton, or McCain.

UPDATE: Thoughts from TalkLeft.

THE LONDON TIMES: Barack Obama: toxic mentors start to corrode pristine campaign.

TIBET UPDATE: "US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday gave a strong message to the world from the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile, asking it to raise its voice against 'Chinese oppression' in Tibet." Good for her.

THE BATTLESTAR GALACTICA CAST ON LETTERMAN, giving the Top Ten Reasons to watch the next season. Video at the link.

COLOMBIA: How to beat an insurgency.

"YOU'RE FREE TO GO -- No, wait!"

RAND SIMBERG: War Critics Decry Interminable And Unwinnable Conflict.

THE CARNIVAL OF CARS is up!

WHO'S ON THE DNC CREDENTIALS COMMITTEE? "The three co-chairs have old ties to Bill Clinton."

BUT THEY SUPPORT THE TROOPS: Portland "peace" protesters call for fragging.

They're not antiwar. They're just on the other side.

UPDATE: In Berkeley, a pro-Marine protest.

TIGERHAWK: Actualizing religious freedom.

GUN RIGHTS and reconstruction.

Those unaware of the importance attached to ensuring that black freedmen could have guns for their own protection against revanchist Southern whites should read this article by Robert Cottrol and Ray Diamond. And those doubting the deliberate effort to disarm black people via gun control laws should read this one.

EASTER THOUGHTS, from InstaPunk.

UPDATE: Jeez, get a clue, Greenwald. I don't know why you felt you had to bring me into this -- well, actually, I think I do -- but the post you're bitching about is by a different blogger than the post linked above. I know it's hard to get your mind around the idea that multiple pseudonymous writers might actually be different people, but . . . .

MORE: Dan Collins -- one of several bloggers at Protein Wisdom, just in case Greenwald doesn't know that -- weighs in.

I hadn't actually read the post in question until Greenwald started yammering about it -- I thought I was just linking a nice Easter item -- but Collins is right that it's kind of "ugly." However, I suspect that it accurately reflects how a lot of Pennsylvania Democratic primary voters are responding to the Obama/Wright scandal, which is probably what's really got Greenwald upset.

STILL MORE: How many punks does it take to embarrass Glenn Greenwald? Heh. "Despite three Updates, Greenwald has yet to mention explicitly the little problem with this creative attack."

And from the comments: "Apparently, in Greenwald's world Reynold's association (?) with this blog is important and must be noted but Obama's association with a black radical nationalist church for 20 years is meaningless. In some world somewhere that makes sense; but not this one."

I'm used to Greenwald misrepresenting me wholesale, but being savaged for a post I didn't link to is a new one.

MORE STILL: In the comment section to the InstaPunk post that I actually did link to, someone else is posting comments under my name. Phony-name sockpuppetry -- Say, you don't think . . . ?

AND EVEN MORE: This is just the gift that keeps on giving. Thanks, Glenn! Reader Howard Deutsch emails:

In reference to the latest Greenwald stupidity, I love Andrew Sullivan's characterization:

"Glenn Greenwald wonders why Barack Obama has been routinely forced to answer for extremist statements by people he has absolutely nothing to do with - solely because he's, er, black. You think this would happen to white people? On those grounds alone?"

Given that you're being called to answer for the statements of a blogger to whom you did not link, I can only assume that the photographs do indeed lie and that you are not actually white.

Bill Clinton was the first black President. And I, apparently, was the first black blogger! It's just the photographs that make me look so extremely white.

FINALLY: Mark Kleiman comments:

But when Reynolds sends an item link to a posting of the Easter poem "Dulce lignem dulce clavo" by InstaPunk contributor "Chain Gang," I don't see where Glenn Greenwald is justified in tying Reynolds to the racist rant posted on the same site by a different contributor, "Old Punk."

Neither do I. But my expectations are low where Greenwald is concerned. Plus, "Is it just me or does the Blogosphere just need a big fat group hug or something?"

Skippy seems to agree, but hey, who's more huggable than a kangaroo?

And Dean Barnett emails: "I missed the part where you spent twenty years using that secondary Instapunk guy as your spiritual mentor. I must have also missed the part where you declared your candidacy for president. Good luck! but for the record, my standing as a member of the media means I don't make contributions. Sorry." If nominated I will not run, if elected I will not serve, and fortunately -- for me, and even more for America -- there's no likelihood of either.

The "Old Punk" post was pretty bad. I wouldn't have linked to it if I'd read it, but I didn't read it -- or, for that matter, link it. Meanwhile, I suppose I could start looking closely at the stuff Greenwald links to, but that would require me to slog through his posts. . . .

And, in an update, Tom Maguire asks: "Can we count on Dave Neiwert to just make stuff up that suits his narrative? Yes We Can!" Don't these people even read each other's posts? But then, bogus charges of racism are a Neiwert standby.

OKAY, REALLY FINALLY: "Old Punk" responds to his critics.

ARTHUR C. CLARKE, laid to rest.

HERE COMES Peter Cottontail.