PUTTING PELOSI ON THE SPOT:

Republicans plan to force a floor vote on Rep. William Jefferson’s move to the Homeland Security Committee in an unprecedented maneuver to force Democrats to go on the record supporting their embattled colleague who is the target of a federal bribery investigation.

House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) pledged to call for a recorded vote on the House floor when Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) introduces a resolution to make the Jefferson move official.

Pelosi removed Jefferson from the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee in response to Justice Department allegations that the Louisiana Democrat had accepted $100,000 in bribes and stored $90,000 of them in his freezer. The speaker then gave Jefferson a seat on the Homeland Security, and Democrats agreed to the change in a closed-door caucus in February.

“The idea that Homeland Security is less important than the tax-writing committee is ludicrous,” Blunt said Wednesday.

You could see this one coming.

A MESSAGE FROM General Petraeus.

IN THE MAIL: Daniel Drezner’s new book, All Politics is Global, on international politics and regulation. Looks interesting — though the type’s a bit small — and it’s certainly well-blurbed.

A LOOK AT “GREEN” OSCAR GIFT BAGS, and the tax code.

MORE GLOBAL WARMING HYPOCRISY:

Sen. Dianne Feinstein offers plenty of tips on how California households can combat global warming, such as carpooling and running only a full dishwasher.

But one bit of information Feinstein declines to share is the number of times that she flew last year on her husband’s Gulfstream jet, which burns much more fuel per passenger-mile than commercial airliners.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger also has asked constituents to do their part to conserve energy — including cutting summertime power consumption — even though he takes to the skies on leased executive jets.

Aides say there is nothing contradictory between the pro-green pronouncements and the flying habits of the Democratic senator and Republican governor.

Some environmentalists aren’t so sure. “There appears to be a discrepancy between calling on people to make personal reductions and using a private jet that exacerbates the problem,” Clean Air Watch President Frank O’Donnell said.

Gee, you think?

MICKEY KAUS looks at bipartisan wishful thinking on Iraq.

LAST MONTH AT THE CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW, I REPORTED on Sony’s new Internet HDTV plans. Now Sony is introducing the TVs that go with the plan.

ILYA SOMIN HAS THOUGHTS on the new Iraq oil deal.

HATEFUL BLOG COMMENTS DON’T MATTER: Except when they do.

A FAREWELL TO BLOGGING, at Seixon.

MORE ON CARBON OFFSETS, at The Economist: “I find it hard to believe that Mr Gore has actually reduced his carbon output ‘as much as possible’—and if Mr Gore so believes, I invite him to take a train up to New York, where I will show him what a more carbon efficient lifestyle looks like. The carbon offsets, on the other hand, sound like a very reasonable plan. That is, they did until I began thinking about them. . . . Obviously, the same is true of individual conservation efforts. Thats why any attempt to abate global warming has to be massive. Huge numbers of people in the rich world have to fly less, drive less, consume less, and live in smaller houses. If Mr Gore really wants to encourage this (as I do), then he should try leading by example. ”

Read the whole thing.

UH OH: “Stock markets around the Asia-Pacific region opened sharply lower Wednesday after a dizzying sell-off in China sent global markets into a tailspin.”

Let’s hope things settle down soon.

ADVICE TO AL GORE DEFENDERS: Start here!

UPDATE: No, really, that’s a better approach than the one you’ve been taking.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Whatever you do, don’t listen to Jim Treacher though.

WHY IS DONALD RUMSFELD LAUGHING?

JOHN MCCAIN’S PROBLEM:

Two words:

McCain-Feingold.

The fundamental difference between McCain 2000 and McCain 2008 is that he put his name on a law that forbids people from speaking out against their congressman within 60 days of an election.

Wrong on abortion? That has not stopped Rudy or Mitt.

Wrong on gay marriage? Rudy lived with a gay couple after his second wife kicked him out of the house.

Gun control? It has not stopped Rudy or Mitt.

McCain-Feingold.

That is a show-stopper. Ever step in fresh dog-doo? The smell sticks to the shoe all day. That is what McCain-Feingold is to the senator from Arizona.

He is no longer John McCain. He is McCain-Feingold. . . . Americans do not like to be told to shut up.

McCain-Feingold told Americans to shut up.

Even Feingold could not run with it. He should be Obama. Instead, he is stuck on the sidelines because of McCain-Feingold.

I think that’s right.

DUKE (NON) RAPE UPDATE:

Defense attorneys have continued to scrutinize Meehan’s data, however, and today’s motion reveals that they have uncovered even more DNA—from additional unidentified males—that Meehan’s amended report failed to include. . . .

Mike Nifong obtained the indictments of three people on a charge of rape, in which the accuser’s then-present version (her April 6 statement) claimed that the crime had included anal rape. Even if North Carolina did not possess an Open Discovery law (which required turning over of all material to the defense), and even if North Carolina law did not require turning over of all test results obtained from a non-testimonial order to the defense, how would it not be exculpatory to have “discovered the DNA of at least two males in the accuser’s rectum that did not match the Defendants, their lacrosse teammates, or anyone else who provided a reference DNA sample”?

After all, this is the same Mike Nifong who in a 2000 case dismissed an indictment on rape because “results of DNA testing exclude the defendant as the perpetrator of this crime.”

The politics were different then. But it’s starting to look as if Nifong should wind up in jail himself. This goes way beyond simply prosecuting a weak case.

EXPUNGING COMMENTS ABOUT DICK CHENEY, at the Huffington Post. Finally, an assassination strategy that some people can get behind . . . .

WOW, lots of lefty email about the Al Gore story, charging lies, “swiftboating,” and smears. Hmm. Is the story a lie? Well, there’s this:

Kalee Kreider, a spokesperson for the Gores, did not dispute the Center’s figures, taken as they were from public records.

“Swiftboating” seems to mean the disclosure of truths that are, er, inconvenient for Democrats. Likewise “smears.” And, actually, in lefty blogland parlance these days, “lies” pretty much come out the same way. All definitions are permitted the definer, so long as they are clear, but don’t expect me to be impressed with this batch.

UPDATE: But he’s got Richard Cohen.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Bill Hobbs notes that the “smears” seem to be flowing the other way. That’s not unusual.

Plus, perspective from Les Jones: “Our electric and water bill was $79.68 and our natural gas bill was $75.72. Gore is using roughly 2000% of the energy of our family of four in a house that’s roughly 600% bigger, so basically three times as much energy even after adjusting for square footage. Does he have a 24 hour disco or something?”

MORE: This WSJ item says that the figures from TCPR overstated Gore’s energy consumption somewhat, though the difference isn’t huge. He’s still using a lot.

CARL LEVIN SOUNDING TOUGH: “I think we ought to take action on all fronts including Syria.” Go figure.

UPDATE: Video posted now.