FIGHTING BACK AGAINST THE CRUSHING OF DISSENT:

A former presenter of One Man and His Dog has won £2,000 in compensation after being wrongly arrested on suspicion of stirring up racial hatred. . . .

Robin Page fought a five-year, one-man campaign to clear his name over remarks he made at a pro-hunting rally which led to him being held in a police cell.

Using the Data Protection Act, he obtained official documents which showed that there had been no grounds for prosecution before Gloucestershire Constabulary agreed the settlement for his wrongful detention.

“I believe I have scored a significant victory over the ludicrous and sinister politically-correct ‘hate crime’ culture that is currently doing so much to prevent free speech in this country,” he said.

His heinous remark? “If you are a black, vegetarian, Muslim, asylum-seeking, one-legged lesbian lorry driver, I want the same rights as you.” Seems admirably universalist to me.

PERRY DE HAVILLAND: “I just do not understand it. When Spain capitulated to attacks from Islamic fascists and elected a socialist government who promptly pulled its troops out of coalition operations… a policy we have been told by many that the USA and UK should follow in order to stop provoking the Islamists… that should have been the end of Spain’s non-Basque terrorist problems.” And yet . . ..

THE MAGIC 8 BALL said I’d be worth millions one day. I hope it wasn’t talking about this. It reminds me of Dan Aykroyd as Jimmy Carter delivering the good side of inflation.

COUNTERINSURGENCY and our NATO allies.

MORE UPROAR OVER ISLAMISM in the Netherlands.

BARACK OBAMA: Urging unity and attacking Bill Clinton.

TAKING ENERGY CONSERVATION TOO FAR:

California is proposing revisions to its housing code that would require all new or remodeled homes to have a “programmable communicating thermostat.” Equipped with special “nonremovable” FM radio receivers, these devices would allow state power authorities to set the temperature in your home as they see fit. Ostensibly to manage demand during “price events” and other “emergencies,” you would basically cede control of your home’s heating and air conditioning to the state (when and if state officials wanted to exercise it).

Taken by itself, this may not sound so scary. But then again, as Gulliver learned, one Lilliputian is an intriguing freak. Two are kind of cool. But 10,000 teeny-weeny folk tying you down?

Of course, tying Americans down, limiting their options, foreclosing on any path not acceptable to today’s social controllers of the right and the left is perhaps the defining spirit of our age.

Break those threads. And don’t worry too much about trampling a few of the Lilliputians underfoot.

UPDATE: Reader Charles Prael emails that this proposal had been withdrawn before the above ran. That’s what I get for relying on the L.A. Times!

THE NANNY STATE HAS NO RHYTHM:

(Via Ed Driscoll).

AMAZON SEEMS TO HAVE SOLD OUT OF JONAH GOLDBERG’S BOOK, and it seems to be out of stock at lots of other places — including Wal-Mart and book-wholesaler Baker & Taylor. So don’t give your local bookstore a hard time if they’re sold out now. . . .

VIDEO GAME saves a life:

A North Carolina man who saw an SUV flip and roll on a highway last November was able to provide medical aid to the victims with skills he learned from the America’s Army, say the videogame’s makers. . . .

Galvanek said he learned about controlling bleeding from playing section two of the “medic” class training in America’s Army, a game developed by the Army as a recruitment tool.

Violent videogames — if they save just one life, it’s worth it!

IS MORALITY important in a spouse?

UNHAPPY WITH THE STATE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, Bill Quick is interested in ideas for a new one.

SOME QUESTIONS FOR George Clooney.

MORE CRUSHING OF DISSENT, REVERSED:

Months after first reviewing the expulsion of a student activist from Valdosta State University, the Georgia Board of Regents agreed to allow T. Hayden Barnes — once dubbed a “clear and present danger” to the campus by its president, Ronald Zaccari — to return to his studies, reversing the university’s May decision to “administratively withdraw” him.

F.I.R.E. was involved.

“I DIDN’T KNOW SANTA wore blue.”

A WHILE BACK, I MENTIONED the Samsung duo Blu-Ray / HD-DVD player. I was too impatient to wait long enough, but now here’s a first-person review from Boots and Sabers.

A NEW HAMPSHIRE DATELINE, filed from Jerusalem?

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: “McCain is starting to show a certain attraction to many bedrock conservatives that must be based on his war record and service, and this trumps their worries about his less than conservative fides — or at least allows them to accept McCain’s won’t-make-that-mistake-again changed views on closing the border, tax cuts, etc. Privately many conservative voters have looked at the polls and know McCain does best against the Democrats.” But read the whole thing, which is less positive.

UPDATE: Mark Levin isn’t feeling the attraction.

Neither is Dan Riehl.

But read this.

FIGHTING COUNTERFEITING around the world.

THE PERFECT PUSHUP: So I’ve seen all the hoopla about these gadgets, and Amazon keeps emailing me recommendations, so I decided I’d order a set (they’re only $39.99) and try ‘em out. It’s basically two rotating handles, each on a broad base, that extend your range of motion and let you rotate your arms/shoulders as you do the pushup. (Follow the link for a picture if you haven’t seen one of the ubiquitous infomercials.)

Verdict: Not bad. I did a dozen pushups in regular position, and another dozen with my feet on a yoga ball. (What’s that? One of these). Does the handle-rotation make for a better workout? Possibly. It felt like it did. The range of motion is a bit better, too, because you’re elevated off the ground, making it more like a bench press — though you don’t quite get that much range of motion. It’s easier on my wrists because they’re straight instead of bent, though I felt a bit of a pinch in my palms — probably better with workout gloves, at least if you suffer from barely-under-control computer-related RSI like I do. (I usually do pushups karate-style, on my knuckles, to spare my wrists and palms). The insert promises that if you use these you’ll “get ripped,” which is undoubtedly true — if, while you use them, you follow a proper “getting ripped” diet at the same time, something that they downplay. If you drink beer and eat pizza, you can do “perfect pushups” all day and you won’t get ripped, you’ll just get better muscles underneath the beer-and-pizza fat. Not that there’s anything wrong with that!

I used to have a full home gym, but I got rid of that stuff years ago as I found that going out to the gym motivated me more. I do keep a bike and some dumbbells and a yoga ball around for when I have to work out at home for some reason. These gadgets aren’t a bad addition, and they don’t take up much space. But, contrary to the hype, they won’t work miracles — sadly, nothing does. You have to actually work out and eat right, alas. Meanwhile, the Amazon reviews are almost uniformly positive, almost suspiciously so. If I were reviewing it, I’d give it 3 stars — not bad. If it’s all you use, and you follow their workout plans, you’ll probably make good progress for 6-8 weeks, then level off because there’s not enough variety. I wouldn’t build a whole workout around these things, but they make a nice supplement. That’s about as much as you can expect from any single exercise gadget.

UPDATE: A couple of readers say you can get these at Wal-Mart for half the price. But of course!

THE PROBLEM WITH BOYS.

INDEED: “You fight an election with the politicians you have.”

UPDATE: Bill Quick emails: “No, you fight elections for the principles you have. When you are reduced to merely fighting an election with whatever politicians are available, you are conceding that you have no principles for which to fight, and are now merely concerned with a squabble over power.”

Hmm. I’m sympathetic to this in the abstract, but by the time we get to an election those principles are embodied — however imperfectly — by the politicians who are actually running.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Bill responds further on his blog. Ultimate problem — you don’t want the better to be the enemy of the good, but you don’t want the perhaps-barely-tolerable to be the enemy of making things better. Some more background on Bill’s rather sour take here. I’d certainly be the last to argue that the GOP hasn’t been blowing it for years.

In response to some of Bill’s commenters, let me note a couple of less-sour things. First, people have been predicting America’s imminent decline into fascism for my entire lifetime, and so far it hasn’t happened. Second, if you want to make things better, party politics is probably not your best focus. Politicians are weathervanes, and the winds they respond to come mostly from forces in the culture and the media. If you want to turn them around, work on that. Change the culture and the politics will follow. Leave the culture to Oprah, Olbermann, and worse, and you won’t accomplish much through politics over the long run.

My thoughts, anyway.

MORE: A troubling post from Philo of Alexandria includes this:

I do worry, however, about the short-term perspective that democracy encourages, especially when voters have little historical perspective. I’m starting to think there’s something to Arthur Schlesinger Jr.’s 30-year cycle theory, simply because each generation has to relearn the same hard lessons. I see echoes of the 1970s all around me, and so far it looks as if those who are succeeding in this campaign are those most likely to repeat its mistakes.

Ugh.

REVIEWING THE NEW Nissan Altima coupe. I saw one of these the other day, and it was pretty.

CLARK HOYT makes TigerHawk cranky.

NO LOVE FOR HUCKABEE among the Fredheads, according to Bob Krumm.

UPDATE: A personal message for Fred Thompson.

ANOTHER UPDATE: From McCain’s supporters: “Go, Fred, go!”

MORE: A McCain coalition?

MICKEY KAUS: “It’s going to get ugly in the South. By the time Hillary is through with Obama, voters will think his middle name is ‘Hussein’!”

Plus, Mickey generously offers “a way McCain could get right with GOP conservatives and virtually guarantee his nomination:”

A ROUNDUP OF REACTIONS to last night’s election news. And here’s more.

UPDATE: An NRO symposium on what’s going on.

ANOTHER UPDATE: From TigerHawk, a cheerful take:

Watching McCain’s victory speech, I agree with my co-blogger CardinalPark — the Republicans have a pretty good field. So far, I could support all of McCain, Romney, Giuliani, and Thompson in the general election. I would have a hard time forcing myself to the polls if Mike Huckabee were the Republican candidate (given our likely choices on the other side), but if he cannot win in South Carolina, where can he win?

Read the whole thing.

A LOOK AT MESSENGER’S photo-flyby of Mercury, which I meant to blog earlier this week. Better late than never — now there are more pictures, anyway.

A TURNTABLE THAT transfers tunes directly to an iPod without a PC.

FOX NEWS FADES?

JAMES LILEKS: “You can say this for winter: when it’s five below at one in the morning and the wind makes worried moans, it’s good to be inside with a fire and a toddy and similar boons of civilization.” Plus, a Jessica Rabbit reference.

FROM JACK BALKIN, A LOOK AT which American legal blogs are banned in China.

FOX, CNN, AND NBC HAVE CALLED IT FOR MCCAIN. Huckabee is second, and Fred Thompson still seems to be holding onto third. I think this is pretty big — If McCain can win South Carolina convincingly, he can win conservatives, and if Huckabee can’t win in South Carolina, where can he win? And a third-place finish is good enough to keep Thompson going, I think — especially when a lot of his votes come out of Huckabee’s hide, since Thompson clearly isn’t a Huckabee fan.

UPDATE: I’m watching Huckabee’s concession speech and all of a sudden he’s talking about the evils of big government.

ANOTHER UPDATE: We’re at my dad’s and he’s happy that Romney’s fourth, so he can’t claim “a bronze.” The Olympic analogies are getting old.

“DEAR THIRD WORLD FARMER:” Ouch.

HUCKABEE COMES IN FOURTH among non-evangelicals.

OOPS: “AMERICA’S favourite television presenter is paying a painful price for her intervention in the US presidential campaign last month. Oprah Winfrey has been dubbed a ‘traitor’ by some of her female fans for supporting Barack Obama instead of Hillary Clinton.”

AT THE MOMENT, THOMPSON IS IN THIRD PLACE, but it’s close with only 33% of the vote in. Here’s a report that it’s gloomy at Fred HQ. He gave a great speech, though. I don’t see why he’d quit the race before Super Tuesday, especially if he pulls 3rd in South Carolina.

UPDATE: 68% in now, but still about the same so far.

DUNCAN HUNTER IS QUITTING. Our podcast interview with Hunter is here.

STEPHEN GREEN is drunkblogging.

SUNDAYS WITH DAD, AND MORE: At The Line Is Here, an “Anti-Nanny-State collective.”

A RUBE GOLDBERG APPROACH to web design. Just watch for a few seconds after it loads. (Via Samizdata).

BASED ON EXIT POLLS, CNN says it’s a close race for #1 in South Carolina between McCain and Huckabee and for #3 between Thompson and Romney, but too close to call.

HOW THE WORLD views Obama. “The European right appears more enthusiastic about the liberal Obama than the left. . . . The Latin American left, sensing that the story of racial mobility implicit in Obama’s personal story is too good an ad for American society, has chosen to moderate its embrace of the black American senator. “

FOX HAS JUST CALLED NEVADA FOR HILLARY. Obama’s behind, but not all that close. A fairly big win for Hillary, I think — judging by how stressed she and Bill have seemed this week, they obviously thought a loss in Nevada would have been very damaging.

SOME MODEST PROGRESS FOR CIVIL RIGHTS IN TENNESSEE: “The state Senate voted 24-6 on Wednesday to authorize Tennesseans with pistol carry permits to take their weapons into establishments that sell alcohol, so long as they don’t drink themselves.”

I’M BEING SUPPRESSED: “Bill Clinton, speaking at a Vegas YMCA last night, made more charges against Obama and claimed to have, with Chelsea, personally witnessed voter suppression by the Culinary Workers.” Hey, some of them carry cleavers.

HDMI: THE FULL STORY: Here’s part one. And here’s part two.

WILL SUPER-DELEGATES sink the Democrats? I’ve made a similar point myself. Too much insider politics may turn off Democratic voters, particularly if Hillary is the beneficiary.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: “After reading most of the McCain animus on conservative blogs, I’m a little worried that some of it goes over the top. . . . McCain’s past support for the flawed immigration bill, McCain-Feingold, and opposition to tax cuts, as well as temper flare-ups at those who questioned his conservative fides are legitimate concerns. But many believe that the two key issues right now are winning, in conservative fashion, the war in all its theaters, and controlling out-of-control spending. He seems in the forefront there. Moreover it seems odd to fault him for telling the truth—however politically unwise—that all the jobs in the automotive industry simply aren’t coming back as before.”

STANLEY KURTZ: “The mainstream media is now the key to the battle against Canada’s so-called human rights commissions. Despite the sensation on the blogosphere, the Ezra Levant inquisition is being ignored by big media in Canada, and here.”

TAKING “PREPAREDNESS” TO THE NEXT LEVEL. Reader James Rummel writes:

I read the Popular Mechanics article that you linked to, the one that discusses the various Terminators that have been introduced over the years. Thank you kindly for brining it to my attention.

Speaking as an old shooting enthusiast, I noticed while watching the two available episodes of Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles that the various weaponry deployed against the kill-crazy deathbots wasn’t very effective. They are just too well armored, too well built. But I suppose a .50 sniper rifle would still make some holes since it was designed to defeat armor.

I have wondered why the anti-gun lobby wants to ban the .50′s, even though they have yet to be used in a crime. Maybe they have sold out to the enemy of all mankind in the hopes that they will be spared? It makes as much sense as any for their irrational hysteria against these weapons.

I also noticed that the Terminators in the TV show will shut down for a few minutes if they come in to contact with electric current, even current as mild as standard house current. Popular Mechanics back in October mentioned a new TASER device that could be fired from a standard shotgun. This increased the range from 15 feet to over 100. It might very well be the only hope for mankind!

You might be wondering why I am so interested in the subject, a TV show based off of a fictional war where a computer network named Skynet nukes most of humanity before trying to exterminate the survivors. But did you know that the British have already set up a military satellite communications system which is named Skynet?

Right about now I bet you’re thinking that adding a .50 Barrett and a few TASERS to your home defense arsenal might not be a bad idea.

“Adding?”

UPDATE: Reader Darren Duvall, MD emails:

Your correspondent Mr Rummel is incorrect that the .50 BMG has not been used in a crime. A police officer was killed in Colorado with one in 1995 or 1996.

I’m not anti-50 cal, but it does pay to be as accurate as possible when it comes to contentious issues. The VPC and their hoplophobic ilk are against .50 caliber rifles because they are a small segment of the firearms market that can be marginalized, period. It is entirely accurate to say that they are virtually never used to commit crimes.

My personal choice for an anti-Terminator weapon is an EFP. A molten copper slug at 5,000 fps beats the Taser. If the Terminators attack, it may turn out that the Iranian defense plants are our last, best hope. Weird world.

Heh.

ERROR CORRECTION UPDATE: The above contains an error:

This is absolutely untrue. The incident he refers to is the death of Deputy Sheriff Timothy Mossbrucker in Jefferson County, Colorado in April of 1995. Deputy Mossbrucker was killed by Albert Petrosky as the deputy responded to a “shot fired” call at a small shoping mall. The suspect had gone there to kill his wife and her boyfriend (her boss) after he found out they were having an affair.(he did kill both of them) He then waited in the parking lot for the cops to show up (I suspect so his death would be a suicide by cops). Deputy Mossbrucker was the first unit in. The suspect shot him three times through the windshield of his police unit killing him instantly with an 7.39 SKS rifle.

The problem was, Petrosky had thrown every gun he owned into the bed of his pickup to go have his 15 minutes of glory. Included in those firearms was a LAR Grizzley big bore 50 BMG. There were also 5 empty 50 caliber casings in the bed of the truck that probably were thrown into the bed the last time he had been out shooting the rifle. There is no evidence to indicate he fired the 50 BMG during his shootout with the cops.

The suspect was taken into custody a short time later but committed suicide in his jail cell before he was ever brought to trial.

The reason they claim he killed the deputy is the press was allowed access to the crime scene about an hour after the shooting and the photographer took a photo of the LAR Grizzley and the fifty cal ammo. He just created the headlines “Deputy Killed By 50 BMG” for the next day’s paper.

That’s from John Burtt of the Fifty Cal Institute, via Prof. Joseph Olson.

VOTING PROBLEMS in South Carolina?

UPDATE: Reader Sean Brittain sends this report:

I went out at about 1:00 to vote. There had been a total 220 voters at our polling station when we got there. The weather is getting worse, so I will be surprised if the number of voters at our polling station doubles by closing time. I’m a Fred supporter, so I’ve been happy to hear about his resurgence. However, I didn’t see any Thompson signs around the school where I voted. The only candidates represented along the road where McCain, Huckabee and Romney. I’m not sure what any of this means (if anything), but I thought I’d send it your way on the outside chance that it’s a useful data point.

Thanks. And here’s more on those voting machine problems.

SPARED GITMO, FOR NOTHING: Terror Informant for FBI Allegedly Targeted Agents.

REMEMBERING the original Mazda RX-7. “Like the Datsun 240Z a decade before, the RX-7 revolutionized the sports car market. With performance easily on a par with the Porsche 924 and close to that of the contemporary Chevrolet Corvette, but at a vastly lower price, the RX-7 became a legend. It was an immediate smash sales success, became the first sports car for a generation of young drivers, and quickly established itself as a force on the race track.” I had one of those — a 1980 model — and it was a great car, though with some rough spots. What I like about the RX-8 is that it recaptures the feel of the original RX-7, but without the rough spots.

DAVID BERNSTEIN on Ronald Reagan and “States’ Rights.”

THIS SEEMS LIKE BIG NEWS: “The CIA on Friday admitted that cyberattacks have caused at least one power outage affecting multiple cities outside the United States.” (Via Slashdot).

BILL BRADLEY is providing constantly updated coverage of the Nevada and S.C. contests.

Fox just called Nevada for Mitt Romney. Huckabee’s currently showing #5, behind McCain, Thompson, and Ron Paul, though only a small percentage of votes are actually in.

UPDATE: Bob Krumm is in South Carolina and says people care more about the snow that’s falling than about the primary now: “Snow-just the mention of snow- might make all turnout predictions worthless here.”

It’s also snowing in Atlanta. Not a flake here, so far.

ANOTHER UPDATE: A report from Nevada reader Charles Chase — click “read more” to read it.

YASSER ARAFAT’S FAKED BLOOD DONATION: What’s notable is the willing acquiescence of the press.

SARKOZY OF ARABIA: I see this as a positive development.

YOU WON’T CATCH ME IN ONE OF THESE: A 340 mph production motorcycle.

MICKEY KAUS: “Another country is complaining about an influx of Mexicans crossing its borders looking for work. That country is Mexico.”

LOTS OF SOUTH CAROLINA AND NEVADA UPDATES at Sister Toldjah’s place.

MORE CRUSHING OF DISSENT: “A Belarus court sentenced a newspaper editor Friday to three years in prison for reprinting a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad that sparked worldwide riots when it was initially published in a Danish newspaper.” When American celebrities complain about crushing of dissent in America, remind them that this is what it really looks like.

And if you don’t want your religion dissed, you might as well start blowing people up. Obviously, it works. Nice incentive structure, there.

AT AUTOBLOG, a gallery of photos from the Tokyo Auto Salon.

WHAT IRAN truly fears.

PHIL BOWERMASTER SAW CLOVERFIELD and liked it. “I’m pleased to report that Cloverfield does not disappoint on any level.”

JONAH GOLDBERG IS STILL #1 on Amazon. And I hear he’ll debut on the New York Times bestseller list next week. Nonetheless, I keep getting emails like this one:

I work at Barnes & Noble (in California) and we have not seen the book in our store. I checked and BN.com has it at #8 right now. I checked 4 – 5 zip codes on the BN.com web site for store availability and only one had it in the store.

This is really interesting because it is B & N’s stated policy to be politics neutral about the content of books. They sent a memo around to employees explaining the policy when the OJ Simpson book came out for example. And they do have any number of controversial books on all sorts of topics all the time.

So I am somewhat mystified.

Beats me. Perhaps they underestimated its popularity. But I’m sure it’s costing them sales to the Internet.

UPDATE: Reader Stephen Barron emails:

Piling on about B&N…

I live in CA but am in Wichita KS over weekend for business. I went looking for Jonah’s book in one of the local B&Ns and couldn’t find it. Heck, I saw Newt’s book, Colbert’s book, David Frum’s book, etc. There was a wide variety of political persuasions represented, although I think this particular store actually leaned a little to the right, but Jonah’s book was not to be seen.

And reader Todd Frehafer writes: “I wrote to Jonah about the same phenomenon in the Rt.9 Chestnut Hill, MA store. When I asked about the book, I was told it ‘wasn’t in stock and wasn’t on order.’”

They can’t stock everything, and for whatever reason didn’t stock this book. So people will order it off Amazon. And next time they shop, they may go straight to the Internet and not even venture down to the store to look.

MORE: Roger Kimball does some research.

BOW DOWN, CHRIS MATTHEWS! “You cannot be disrespectful to Hillary Clinton, the woman.”

BYRON YORK reports from South Carolina. Will Thompson pull off a surprise? Hey, the early returns are in his favor. . . .

COMPLAINTS OF VOTER INTIMIDATION IN NEVADA.

A PAPER AIRPLANE designed to reenter Earth’s atmosphere from space.

THE LANCET blows it again.

THE YEAR OF THE GUN: Brannon Denning and I have a piece on the Supreme Court and the Heller case, in See Also, the online edition of the Texas Law Review.

UPDATE: A somewhat prettier and easier to read version can be downloaded here. (Bumped to top).

HERE’S A ROUNDUP OF CAUCUS/PRIMARY NEWS FROM Nevada and South Carolina.

DON SURBER says Kos’s plans misfired.

A.P. REPORTER GLEN JOHNSON: “RUDE AND UGLY.” Hey, it’s only sheer good luck that he wasn’t outright murderous!

DO HOUSE REPUBLICANS “GET IT?” I hope so, but “hope” is the operative word.

CALIFORNIA BUDGET BLUES. “But lost in the furor is any self-reflection, such as why would UC Davis recently pay John Edwards, multimillionaire trial lawyer, $50,000 plus to give a brief lecture on poverty? Such questions are never answered, much less raised, since the problem is always framed as a matter of a shortage of income, never a surfeit of unnecessary expenditure. . . . At some point we Californians should ask ourselves, how we inherited a state with near perfect weather, the world’s richest agriculture, plentiful timber, minerals, and oil, two great ports at Los Angeles and Oakland, a natural tourist industry from Carmel to Yosemite, industries such as Silicon Valley, Hollywood, and aerospace—and serially managed to turn all of that into the nation’s largest penal system, periodic near bankruptcy, and sky-high taxes.”

SOMEHOW, I THINK THIS WAS OBAMA’S PLAN ALL ALONG: “John Edwards and Hillary Rodham Clinton criticized Barack Obama’s praise of the Republican Party and Ronald Reagan – an anathema for many Democrats, particularly union members considered crucial to winning Nevada’s Democratic caucuses Saturday.”

PAUL STARR WARNS DEMOCRATS THAT they can still blow the election. Luckily for them, they only have to run against the Republicans, or they’d really be in trouble. . . .

HOW TO write a novel in two months (while still blogging).

THOUGHTS ON men, women, and retirement.

UPDATE: Somehow, I’m reminded of this Maureen Dowd column from 2001.

TALIBAN WEBSITES hosted in the U.S.?

REWIRING YOUR BRAIN to support multitasking. I’m pretty sure I’ve done that . . . .

BUSH’S STIMULUS PLAN. Compare to Hillary’s.

Plus, criticism of “stimulus” plans from the Republican Study Committee. I’ll just note that there are worse things than recessions, and trying too hard to stop one may be worse than letting the business cycle run its course.

UPDATE: I’m reminded of these 2001 words of wisdom from Andrea See: “This story reads like the government’s trying to be comforting about the economic trough we’re in. Anyone with half a brain (and did a basic class in economics) would know economies move in cycles. We’ve had the high point, now it’s time for the low. Sucks as it does, it really needs to happen.”

FRED THOMPSON RESPONDS TO HUCKABEE on the Constitution.

UPDATE: Eugene Volokh defends Huckabee.

JAY GRODNER UPDATE: The anti-military lawyer who keyed a Marine’s car had his day in court and it wasn’t pretty. Blackfive has the story.

THOMAS EDSALL: Will the GOP blindside the Dems on national security?

Hmm. Blindside? How can it be blindsiding when, as Edsall says, “Republicans are making no secret of their intentions in the general election.” I guess if you take advantage of a national-security blind spot, you can still blindside, even without secrecy. None is so blind as he who will not see . . . .

UPDATE: Related thoughts here.

RON BAILEY: “I can remember in the 1980s when all the ‘smart’ folks were panicked about the Japanese buying up all the best real estate such as the Rockefeller Center. The American sellers laughed all the way to the bank in that deal. Sheesh!”

SOMEWHERE, T.M. LUTAS IS SAYING I TOLD YOU SO: “Iraq’s army and police could be ready to take over security in all 18 provinces by the end of this year as the U.S. military moves toward a less prominent role in the country, U.S. officials said on Thursday.”

Well, he’s got more reason than most.

“MAD COW” DISEASE: The 21st Century’s Swine Flu?

High numbers of future deaths in the UK from the human form of mad cow disease are unlikely, researchers have said.

The Imperial College team calculate there will be around 70 future deaths.

They say the worst case scenario could see another 600 deaths, but that this is unlikely.

(Via An Englishman’s Castle).

JONAH GOLDBERG IS CURRENTLY #1 on Amazon. I hope he sends a nice thank-you note to all the lefty bloggers who have been savaging him. I don’t think he could have done it without them!

BYLINES OF BRUTALITY: “As Casualties Mount, Some Question The Emotional Stability of Media Vets.”

MATTHEW YGLESIAS WRITES:

One thing that doesn’t get talked about enough is that people in Washington are pretty out of touch with the basic economic picture in the United States. Not in the usual, pat, pseudo-populist “oh you’re out of touch” sense but in a pretty literal one — the DC metro area is both quite affluent and economically unusual.

That’s right, notwithstanding the D.C. area housing bust. But the difference is even greater than Yglesias suggests. Bad news for the country is usually good news for the DC area, since it tends to promote more government programs and spending, meaning more jobs not so much for government workers as for lobbyists, contractors, and other hangers-on, And journalists and pundits!

In the comments, people talk about different parts of the country and how they’re doing. Around Knoxville, things aren’t too bad. Houses aren’t selling very fast, but in my opinion that’s partly because people are asking too much. In a development near me, people are trying to sell houses that they bought a couple of years ago for $300-350K for over $400K. They’re actually asking more, in some cases, than the developer is asking for brand-new houses in the neighborhood; the brand-new houses, meanwhile, seem to still be selling. Meanwhile, I see lots of help-wanted signs. Things may slow down, but at the moment it’s certainly not visible to the casual observer. In other places — Cleveland, for example, or Detroit — it certainly is.

EZRA LEVANT UPDATE: The suicide of reason in Canada.

AMY ALKON: “For people who are supposedly about seeing women ‘as people first,’ these feminists sure are all about pussy!”

RAND SIMBERG WRITES in defense of (Fred Thompson’s) laziness. “As an engineer, I’m extremely impressed with his efficiency. “

MORE ON why beer is good for you.

HOW CAN YOU TELL THE DIFFERENCE? “Max Sawicky’s old blog, now manned by new faces, is apparently no longer specializing in passionately and unapologetically left-wing heterodox economics. Now they just spout random nonsense.”

HOWARD KURTZ: “I just got back from Michigan and South Carolina, so I’m prepared to share my insights on how the Republican race is going. . . . Journalists are ticked off because the Republican race is defying our attempts to wrap it into a nice, neat narrative. This is what we do for a living. And if we can’t say what’s going on, who needs us? You could get just as good a take from your Uncle Harry.” Yep!