PATRICK BELTON NOTES that we’ve entered a new era of peace: “Research from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute and the Canadian NGO Project Ploughshares indicates that the world has actually become a substantially safer place lately – at least measured in terms of major conflict. The number of people killed in battle has fallen to 20,000 per year, the lowest number in the post-Second World War period.”

That’s nice to hear.

UPDATED: More thoughts here.

SOXBLOG: “Since I love the rumor and fervently wish for its accuracy, it is my pleasure, nay my responsibility, to continue its irresponsible dissemination. Reading the tea-leaves, Kristol has concluded that McCain might be poised to replace Cheney on the ticket.”

I’d prefer Condi Rice, or Colin Powell, but this would be OK with me. And I admire Soxblog’s forthrightness!

IT PROBLEMS, HOTEL PROBLEMS, and Dan Rather’s keen nose for news: Ed Morrissey has started his convention-blogging.

UPDATE: Roger Simon has reports and photos, too.

ANOTHER UPDATE: More photoblogging at RedState.

STEPHEN GREEN points to this William Raspberry column, and wonders if the punditry is starting to distance itself from Kerry.

IF CONVENTION-POLITICS IS BORING YOU, check out this week’s Carnival of the Capitalists, where it’s all about business- and econo-blogging.

And there’s also the Carnival of the Dogs, though in some ways that’s more reminiscent of the political season. . . .

MY COUSIN-IN-LAW, Brad Rubinstein, has posted more photos from the RNC protests. He’s got commentary here, too.

I’ll try to do a big roundup of photoblogging later today, so if you’ve got some good photo links, send them along.

UPDATE: Meanwhile, David Adesnik writes that the big-media coverage of the protests is missing the story. “The big papers also fail to convey how the protest resembled a carnival of the absurd, with every obscure leftist faction in attendance. For example, there were hundreds of big red signs provided by a coven of conspiracy theorists who insist that Bush had advance warning of 9-11. If I had bigger pockets, I could’ve collected at least half-a-dozen different socialist and communist newspapers and newsletters. . . . If you read the NYT or the WaPo, you get the impression that the protest was filled with reasonable people who just don’t like George Bush. . . . So there you have it. The big papers managed to be unfair to both sides while failing to provide critical information. Let’s hope things get better from here.” Scroll down for more.

ARTHUR CHRENKOFF has posted his regular roundup of under-reported good news from Iraq, and once again it’s long, it’s link-filled, and it’s hosted by the Wall Street Journal folks.

IT’S BEEN A LIGHT-BLOGGING BIRTHDAY WEEKEND, and the email reading has been even lighter. That means I neglected to note that the Los Angeles Times has corrected its error in claiming that no one who served with Kerry appeared in the Swift Boat Vets ad. Congratulations to Patterico, who was on the ball as usual.

And speaking of birthdays, thanks to all the people who donated. If your donation involved an email address (you have to click a button on Amazon for that to happen) I’ve sent a thank-you. But thanks to everyone — it’s much appreciated.

DISSENT ON THE 9/11 COMMISSION REPORT: Jeff Jarvis rounds up some interesting stuff.

KERRY’S WORLDVIEW: Gred Djerejian looks at Kerry’s 1971 testimony and thinks about what it might mean about Kerry’s positions today.

UPDATE: Related item here: “The war-torn soul of John Kerry.”

RYAN SAGER has posted many new photos from the NYC convention protests.

You can also find more here.

Not all that many nice smiles to be had, though, overall.

MY NIGERIAN SISTER-IN-LAW VICTORIA, who’s now an American citizen, is always irritated when people tell her that she’s not an “African-American.” If I’m not one, she asks, who is?

Robert Tagorda has an interesting post on that debate.

I GUESS THESE ARE ANALOG BROWNSHIRTS, rather than the digital kind:

Nearly 40 protesters gathered Saturday at the home of the chief financial backer of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, whose ads criticize Democrat John Kerry’s military record.

Or something like that.

JOHN ROSENBERG looks at Joe Biden vs. John Kerry.

I actually defended Biden in The Appearance of Impropriety, the ethics book I coauthored with Peter Morgan. You can read that chapter online here.

JERALYN MERRITT OF TALKLEFT has a column on convention-blogging in the Denver Post.

EXIT INTERVIEW: Tbogg’s father has died, and he’s written a moving farewell. Please send him your condolences.

BETSY NEWMARK notes that Amazon.com has changed its comment policies where the SwiftBoat Vets book Unfit for Command is concerned.

AN AMUSING PRANK in Massachussetts.

SELF-INFLICTED WOUND: “Kerry can rail all he wants about the unfairness of criticism by the Swift boat veterans. But to see who is ultimately responsible for this controversy, Kerry should look in the mirror.”

CROSSWIRE is a new GOP-Convention blog set up by the Knoxville News-Sentinel. It features well-known Knoxville blogger SKBubba on the left, and new blogger WestKnoxMomma on the right. (Via Michael Silence).

THERE’S A TOUCH OF BLOGOSPHERE TRIUMPHALISM in the quotes at the end of this article. But under the circumstances, I think it’s warranted.

UPDATE: Read this, too.

INTERESTING GRAPHIC FROM THE DETROIT NEWS on the impact of Bush’s tax cuts.

I MISSED MAUREEN DOWD’S LETTERMAN APPEARANCE, but Ann Althouse didn’t, and notes that Dowd was (repeatedly) dismissing Kerry as “lame.” It makes me think that Ed Morrissey was right when he wrote that Kerry’s media honeymoon is over.

UPDATE: Althouse has more thoughts here on the media and Kerry: “The media are looking ahead and imagining how the history of the 2004 presidential campaign will read and how their performance will measure up.”

Meanwhile, reader Rick Lee emails:

haven’t seen anybody mention what I thought was the best line of the Dowd/Letterman interview… he asked her if she was backing Kerry (or something like that) and she answered that (roughly quoting from memory) “NY Times columnists aren’t permitted to endorse candidates… [sotto voce] although apparently Paul Krugman is ignoring that”. At this point Dave made a joke about this answer going over his head.

Heh. Wish they posted transcripts.

SPOONS MAKES the conservative argument against Bush. He’s actually been doing that for a while. Bush’s dumb position on Campaign Finance “Reform” plays a major role.

TOM MAGUIRE IS QUESTIONING THE TIMING of leaks concerning an espionage investigation in the Defense Department. I don’t know what to make of this, but if The New York Times is downplaying the importance of the suspect, saying that he wasn’t in a position to influence policy, then it’s probably not a big deal given the potential for embarrassing the Bush Administration, and the NYT’s willingness to stretch things to do so. Needless to say, if the guy’s guilty, he should get slammed. Moles, even for friendly powers, can’t be tolerated.

UPDATE: Hmm. I’m not sure if this is comforting or not:

“From everything I’ve seen, the guy’s not a spy,” the official said. “The guy’s an idiot.”

On the other hand, this definitely isn’t comforting:

An FBI probe into the handling of highly classified material by Pentagon civilians is broader than previously reported, and goes well beyond allegations that a single midlevel analyst gave a top-secret Iran policy document to Israel, three sources familiar with the investigation said Saturday.

The frightening thought is that Sandy Berger’s behavior might have just been par for the course in the national security establishment. Sheesh. Roger Simon has related thoughts.