Which of the Seven Deadly Sins Are You?

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CAN’T SAY that it’s a surprise.

PAKISTAN’S INSURGENCY: Much worse than Iraq’s.

ANOTHER DISAPPOINTMENT for Hitler. First the Cowboys, now no chance to see the Patriots go undefeated. And I guess Der Fuehrer’s opinion of Eli Manning was mistaken, too . . . .

UPDATE: It’s not just Hitler who’s had his hopes dashed. Heh. (Via Rand Simberg).

HEH: “I did just hear Arlen Specter on C-Span radio talking about how Congress ought to investigate that cheating team because football is so important to America. My tax money is supposed to go into making sure some people playing a game don’t cheat? Why doesn’t he check out whether people playing Scrabulous on Facebook are using Scrabble Helper? God forbid he should confirm some judges or something more tediously congressional.”

PORKBUSTING goes prime-time.

We’ve already done our big get-to-know-you interview with Mitt Romney, but with Super Tuesday coming up in a couple of days and the race tight, we thought we’d catch up with him again. We asked him about gun control — he says he’ll veto any gun control bills that cross his desk as President, including a renewal of the “assault weapon” ban, which is more than George W. Bush ever promised — about the economy (and the Zubrin flexfuel plan), and about John McCain, and Ann Coulter’s promise to campaign for Hillary if McCain is nominated. Plus, whether Romney is mean enough for politics. Can he pull off a Turnaround?

You can listen directly — no downloads needed — by going here and clicking on the gray Flash Player. You can download the file directly and listen at your leisure by clicking right here. And you can get a lo-fi version, suitable for cellphones, Treos, etc., by going here and selecting “lo fi.” You can also get a free subscription via iTunes and make sure you never miss an episode. Show archives are at GlennandHelenShow.com.

Music is “Superluminal” by Mobius Dick. As always, my lovely and talented cohost is taking comments. (Bumped to top).

UPDATE: Romney charged with flip-flopping on guns, but his team responds with this. You decide.

ANOTHER UPDATE: More here. I’m beginning to question his sincerity.

REMEMBERING Blogroll Amnesty Day.

ACCUSED RED LIGHT SHOOTER SPEAKS OUT: “I think the public is really tired of the cameras, and they want someone to rise up and strike the cameras down, and I’ve filled that role vicariously for them, but they’re going to be disappointed when I’m found not guilty.”

MARIA SHRIVER endorses Obama.

IT’S ANOTHER WEEK AS A TOP-TEN BESTSELLER on the New York Times list for Jonah Goldberg’s Liberal Fascism.

BILL QUICK: “Why I won’t be voting for John McCain.”

ROMNEY 2012?

AT THE NEW YORK TIMES, A COMPLAINT ABOUT THE INSTANET: Apparently, blogs are quick to pass on misleading quotes.

What’s funny, of course, is the New York Times is the source of the blog-term Dowdification which refers to just such behavior on the part of one of its star columnists. Pot, meet kettle.

INCENTIVIZING POLYGAMY in Britain.

HEH: “How are we going to manage to lose this time?”

THIS IS INTERESTING: ABA to Impose 75% Bar Passage Requirement as Law School Accreditation Standard. This doesn’t seem unfair, but it will undoubtedly impact affirmative action programs. Bar passage is closely correlated with undergraduate grades and LSAT scores (no big surprise there, it’s all about test-taking) and affirmative action, pretty much by definition, means reaching down into the pool and taking people with lower grades and LSAT scores, and hence a lower prospect of passing the bar.

THE RIAA’S war against college students.

MORE ON GERMANY VS. NOKIA, at Transatlantic Politics.

THOUGHTS ON “SILENCING” in academia.

JOHN MCCAIN ON THE STUMP in Nashville.

NASA AND INDIA sign deal on space cooperation.

HILLARY’S LAST HURRAH?

Q-SHIP: Remembering the original Infiniti Q45. Too pricey for me back then, but everyone I knew who had one loved it.

UPDATE: Reader Sam Kennard emails: “I had a 1994 Q45 and still think it was the best of the Q years. I drove all of the ones after it and they never had the feel of the ‘94.”

THAT AL GORE SURE GETS AROUND: Rare Tokyo snow strands 10,000 at Narita airport.

UPDATE: Oops. This story is old — somebody sent me the link and I didn’t notice the date. So was Al there then? . . . .

Here’s the Tokyo snow story from today, courtesy of Michael Ubaldi.

PULITZER PRIZE NOMINEE JONAH GOLDBERG. Actually, I believe he really has been nominated for a Pulitzer. That’s got to be bugging some people.

BUSH DOESN’T LIKE ROMNEY, because of immigration.

ANN COULTER: No, I’m not kidding about backing Hillary.

A LIBERTARIAN PERSPECTIVE on the Berkeley vs. The Marines showdown.

STRATEGYPAGE: “NATO members are becoming less diplomatic about disagreements over who should do what in Afghanistan. . . . The U.S. is also complaining that NATO members come unequipped for war. There is a need for more air reconnaissance, for example, but few NATO countries have UAVs or recon aircraft. In Europe, getting soldiers killed in Afghanistan, and spending money to send them there, is not popular. Even less popular is the expense of training and equipping troops for these kinds of operations. Many NATO nations, like Germany, do as little as they can get away with in Afghanistan, and that is irritating to the countries that have troops in combat (like Britain, Canada, Australia and the U.S.). . . . On the plus side, the Taliban 2007 offensive was a failure, and growing anti-Taliban violence in Pakistan has diminished the power of the Afghan Taliban.” Let’s hear it for anti-Taliban violence!

THOUGHTS ON Hate Speech.

WHY DOES IT STILL TAKE SO LONG to publish a book? “Technology may be speeding up the news cycle, but in publishing, things actually seem to be slowing down.” Blame the marketers. Though as many authors can attest, despite all that time and attention to marketing, the publisher often fails to have enough books at Amazon and other locations when the book actually comes out.

MO-MITT-UM? An easy win for Romney in Maine, amid high turnout. “Mitt Romney won 53% of the vote, followed not at all closely by John McCain, who won 21% and Ron Paul, who won 19%.” Plus, he’s up 9 in the polls in Missouri. I wonder: Is McCain’s poor showing in the last debate actually making a difference?

LOTS OF STUFF, INCLUDING VIDEO, on the new Macbook Air. I looked at one when I was at the mall yesterday. It’s very cool — jewel-like, thin, and with a great display. I think I’d rather the screen be a bit smaller, and the computer a bit thicker, but it did look nice, and the Insta-Wife liked it.

INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY EDITORIALIZES: “Is it just us, or is there something off about ex-president Bill Clinton using his influence overseas to enrich a pal and then accepting the pal’s big donation to his foundation? This looks like a bribery racket.”

MICROSOFT LIVES UP TO THE STEREOTYPE: To open the Vista box you need instructions?

IS THE ANGRY LEFT DYING? Or do they just smell funny?

ANTI-AGING RESEARCH, SPACE, AND SUPERBOWL TECHNOLOGY — all on this week’s Popular Mechanics podcast. Plus, don’t be a wimp — change your own oil!

NOKIA AND German economic isolationism.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: “Three unexpected developments have given Republicans a shot this year at winning — once thought impossible, given the normal desire of the electorate for a fresh party after eight years, and worries about Iraq and the economy. All can change, but for now they have a real shot.”

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: “Three unexpected developments have given Republicans a shot this year at winning — once thought impossible, given the normal desire of the electorate for a fresh party after eight years, and worries about Iraq and the economy. All can change, but for now they have a real shot.”

A REAL SOLAR INDUSTRY RISES IN CALIFORNIA. I talked to the folks at Elon Musk’s (he’s the founder of PayPal and SpaceX, and the Tesla Roadster financier) Solar City and they told me they’d have their turnkey solar systems in my area within the year. I just might buy one.

MORE ON THAT NAVY RAILGUN TEST: There’s video here. But what’s all the flame? Plasma generated by the electrical discharge?

CIVIL RIGHTS PROGRESS IN SOUTH DAKOTA:

A bill passed this week by a House committee would guarantee people the right to carry or possess firearms on the campuses of South Dakota’s public universities.

HB1261 would also prevent schools from expelling students or firing employees for having a gun on campus.

I hope that more states — including mine — follow suit. If it saves just one life, it’s worth it.

DEMOCRATS ARE LOOKING AT A SHIFT IN STRATEGY ON IRAQ. Or, to be more accurate, on the politics of Iraq.

OVER AT THE NRO PLANET GORE BLOG, they’ve been debating Bob Zubrin’s flexfuel plan. Here’s Zubrin’s response to some criticisms, and here’s more commentary from Anne Korin of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security.

I MENTIONED THE CANNED CHEESEBURGER the other day. Now here’s a guy who was actually brave enough to eat it. With pictures.

HILLARY CLINTON: A guilty pleasure?

MORE “HELP” FOR HILLARY FROM BILL: “Once again, former President Bill Clinton seems poised to be pitchforked into the headlines right on the eve of a crucial primary vote amid a report that he’s going to ‘repent’ by going to some black churches.”

PAUL VOLCKER ENDORSES OBAMA: After watching Obama shoot down Hillary’s absurd mortgage-freeze idea, I can see why. Then there’s the Austan Goolsbee factor.

UPDATE: Steve Forbes endorses McCain. McCain will need Forbes’ help, as his own instincts aren’t good.

FREE SPEECH IN CANADA? It’s about time.

LIKE AN IPHONE, BUT WITH FANCY GPS: The Garmin Nuviphone actually sounds pretty cool. I’m looking at a cellphone upgrade sometime soon, so maybe I’ll consider this. Though I kind of like it that my current cellphone is basically, you know, a phone.

PROF. ADAM WINKLER ON THE D.C. GUN-BAN CASE AND STANDARDS OF REVIEW.

As I note in this piece, though — final version now posted, in print soon — I think that Winkler omits the most important of the state cases on the right to bear arms.

SARKOZY AND CARLA BRUNI marry.

WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: Patient in Finland gets a new jaw made from his own stem cells. More like this, please.

THE DAYS ARE LONG, but the years are short. A lovely one-minute film by Gretchen Craft Rubin. (Via David Lat).

BOB KRUMM WONDERS if any media folks will ask Hillary and Obama for an opinion on Berkeley’s stance against the U.S. Marines?

UPDATE: Reader Richard Riley emails: “It would be fine to ask the Democratic candidates what they think about the Berkeley City Council’s dissing the Marines, but if Bob Krumm thinks this would generate some antimilitary waffling I think he’s wrong. Clinton and Obama have already stated they’ll enforce the Solomon Amendment.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Related thoughts here: “This is more of an indictment of the media than it is of the Senators in question.”

BREAKING SPEED RECORDS, with railguns and more.

ZOMBIES!

KARL ROVE’S AGENTS IN BERKELEY continue to do their jobs.

THOUGHTS ON JUNO and gender relations.

AFRICAN-AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER: Romney faces more prejudice than Obama.

HOW TO KEEP HEALTH COSTS DOWN.

“ARE YOU ONE OF THOSE ‘INSIDE JOB’ GUYS?” Hurrah for Bill Clinton.

THOUGHTS ON Jimmy Carter and morality.

RACHEL LUCAS ON JOHN MCCAIN:

I know some say that they’d rather ‘have the country ruined’ by a real liberal than by a RINO. You know what that sounds like? Something you’d read on DailyKos.” . . .

Don’t get excited. I don’t like a lot of his record, particularly a long list of quotes he’s given about class warfare and taxes. I think he’s nuts to want the Gitmo population put into American prisons. YEAH RIGHT. I think he’s an asshole for things he’s said and supported about gun shows.

And I don’t even have enough curse words in my brain to communicate my opinions about McCain-Feingold. Jesus on a muffin, that is some bad, bad stuff.

BUT.

Seriously, people. Seriously. You’d rather have Hillary? You’d rather have Obama?

I don’t even know you.

Read the whole thing, which is all expressed in Rachel’s own inimitable fashion. . . .

PUBLIC SAFETY AND THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS: An article by Bob Cottrol and Ray Diamond. I haven’t read it yet, but given their past work I’m sure it’s worth your time if you’re interested in the topic.

MICHAEL YON POSTS a new dispatch from Iraq.

GREG LUKIANOFF OF F.I.R.E. ON THE HINDLEY DEBACLE AT BRANDEIS:

Does something seem oddly familiar about the case of Donald Hindley at Brandeis? As Torch readers well know, Donald Hindley is a professor who has served Brandeis for over 46 years and was found guilty of “racial harassment,” apparently for criticizing and explaining use of the word “wetback” to deride Mexicans and other immigrants. I say “apparently” because, as Eugene Volokh so effectively has pointed out, Brandeis has not even been clear with Hindley what words got him in trouble. Still, all signs point to the use of the word “wetback,” which a single student apparently found so offensive that he or she filed a complaint, regardless of the context in which the term was used.

If the case seems to ring a bell, it should. Such tales of PC run wild have been with us in fiction for decades. The Hindley case reminds me of Philip Roth’s The Human Stain, in which a professor’s career is turned upside down after he refers to two students who did not show up for class as “spooks.” The professor, of course, meant “ghosts,” but when the two missing students turn out to be black, the incident ignites a firestorm of identity and personal politics. (The professor, it turns out, is actually a light-skinned black man himself who has hidden his race all of his life, adding a nice Rothian touch.)

As Wendy Kaminer has pointed out, punishing someone for using an epithet in order to decry its use is right out of an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, where Larry gets in trouble for using the n-word even though his point was that the n-word should not be used. Volokh also points out another similar situation, the famous moment in Monty Python’s Life of Brian when a crowd stones anyone who uses the word Jehovah even when they are trying to use the word to make the point that it shouldn’t be said! Such nightmarish due process violations and abuse of language always bring to mind Kafka and Orwell, and for me, of course, Lenny Bruce and George Carlin.

Read the whole thing. And you might want to peruse the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education website, and maybe even consider making a donation. They do good work.

SLASHDOT: ANOTHER WAYWARD ANCHOR, ANOTHER CUT CABLE, and now Iran has lost Internet connectivity. Seems like an odd constellation of events.

UPDATE: In the Slashdot comments, there’s some dispute as to whether Iran is really cut off. Meanwhile, Richard Fernandez at The Belmont Club has thoughts on undersea cables.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Clint Hutchison writes:

Regarding your recent post about Iran being cut off from the net, if you browse to http://router1.iust.ac.ir/, the node used for a benchmark at http://www.internettrafficreport.com/asia.htm, you get asked for a username and password to connect.

Perhaps Iran isn’t cut off, but is battening down the hatches.

For what, I wonder?

ANDY MCCARTHY endorses Romney.

MORE ON PROBLEMS IN AFGHANISTAN, from Abu Muqawama. Michael Yon has been warning about this for months, but it doesn’t seem to have gotten enough attention.

RAND SIMBERG: 50 years of triumph and tragedy in space.

Plus, lessons from the Columbia disaster. And here’s my initial post on the disaster from five years ago.

BRATTLEBORO digs in.

MICHAEL JENNINGS HAS THOUGHTS on India’s Internet outage.

AN “AIR SURGE” IN IRAQ.

I’M YALIE OF THE WEEK.

UPDATE: I’m the very first one, according to this followup email:

As I think Jackie Nelson has already told you, you are the first-ever Yalie of the Week on our website. (I do hope you view this as a blessing rather than a curse.) We’ve admired your work, and have had you on our copious list for the print magazine, for quite some time. We’re bound to come to you for the print magazine one day soon, but meanwhile, this seemed a good way to start.

That’s awfully nice. Though not nice enough to make up for the news that the Yankee Doodle Diner has closed!

ANOTHER UPDATE: Prof. Kenneth Mayer is one of many who’s sad to hear about the Doodle:

Glenn: I was in grad school at Yale in the 80s, and frequented the Doodle. It was cheap, fast, and good: two eggs over easy, hash browns, a muffin, probably $3. The guy who ran it was fast, and I can still picture him scrambling a couple of eggs in a steel bowl using forks. He was old school. I’m sad to hear the news that it’s closing but it did bring up some fond memories.

Yeah, I stole his fork-scrambling technique, though I’ve never achieved his speed.

MORE: Lots more emails, including this from Cormac Kehoe:

In the fall of ’89 I was a broke student too proud to ask my (somewhat struggling) parents for money. At that time, Doodle regulars could occasionally “put it up,” i.e., run a tab. Lew, the owner, floated me at the Doodle for over a month, a tab that neared $200. Never once was I asked to pay up – they just trusted that I would. And I did, plus a big tip for the interest equivalent. I have never forgotten the kindness and never will. Great place, great people, great food. My favorites: ham and egg on a roll, cheeseburger with an egg on top, and the decadent fried doughnut with butter!

Nice story.

WHAT OTHER COUNTRIES CAN TEACH THE UNITED STATES about free-market reforms. “Every industrialised country in the world has launched free-market reforms during the past two to three decades. About a dozen of these countries have reformed substantially in a number of areas. The United States is one of these. But other countries have achieved more in areas where the US still has a lot do to. And the economic and social results from the reforms have often far exceeded expectations.”

BOB OWENS HAS THOUGHTS on today’s female suicide bombings in Baghdad:

Both bombs appear to have been remote detonated. These women probably did not know they were carrying explosives at all, and it would probably be fair to include them among the victims. . . . This tells us several things.

First, it tells us that al Qaeda in Iraq recognizes that attempts to use male suicide bombers and vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs), their preferred method of suicide attacks for those seeking martyrdom, are no longer effective. These attacks fail because the combination of coalition military forces, Iraqi security forces, and neighborhood militias, known as “concerned local citizens” (CLCs) creating a security system that increasingly works, and makes it very unlikely that these preferred attacks will succeed. There is also some speculation that the influx of would-be foreign suicide bombers into Iraq is drying up.

Today’s attacks also tell us that al Qaeda in Iraq is getting very desperate in seeking the high-casualty attacks that they so value. They were forced to scrape the bottom of the proverbial barrel, and use not only women (which they’d prefer to subjugate), but mentally disabled women at that, suggesting that finding willing volunteers is becoming ever more difficult.

Good suicide-bombers are hard to find, and retention is even tougher. Meanwhile, Michael Yon emails from Iraq:

All well in South Baghdad, but sounds like the suicide bombings were pretty bad. I did not hear them detonate so must have been far away. It’s the al Qaeda mode, though. Sounds like the women were mentally disabled.

And Austin Bay emails that this may be the start of the “Terrorist Tet” he’s been predicting. As Bob Owens notes, some people here at home are all-too-eager to help. Just like last time.

WHAT, BEER ISN’T ENOUGH? A Super Bowl drink recipe. Call me crazy, but I think that Super Bowls and Midori don’t mix. . . .

INSTAPUNDIT TRAFFIC HAS BEEN really good this year. Don’t know the reason for the increase, but hey –Thanks for visiting!

WHICH OF THESE MEN DID THE PHOTOGRAPHER THINK was a hero?

ANN COULTER endorses Hillary.

EXERCISE AND AGING:

Dr. Wright, a 40-year-old runner, decided to study people who kept training as they got older or began competing in middle age. She wanted to know what happens to them and at what age does performance start to decline.

Their results are surprising, even to many of the researchers themselves. The investigators find that while you will slow down as you age, you may be able to stave off more of the deterioration than you thought. Researchers also report that people can start later in life — one man took up running at 62 and ran his first marathon, a year later, in 3 hours 25 minutes.

It’s a testament to how adaptable the human body is, researchers said, that people can start serious training at an older age and become highly competitive. It also is testament to their findings that some physiological factors needed for a good performance are not much affected by age.

I don’t think this is especially surprising. In my observation, the main thing that slows people down when they’re older, assuming they keep exercising, is the cumulative effect of joint injury and wear. The rest of the body seems to hold up pretty well.

IN RESPONSE TO MY EARLIER POST on the Asus Eee PC, Dave Johnston emails:

What the reviewers have been missing – frustratingly, even Walt Mossberg made this mistake – is that while you CAN use the little WiFi icon and “Wireless Networks” feature to connect to hotspots, you should actually be setting up wireless using the “Network” option to create a frequent, known hotspot, such as your house or favorite coffee spots.

Click into “Network,” click “Create” a connection and follow the steps to make sure that your Eee remembers that connection. You can set it to remember the security key as well as tell it to auto connect, even “On Boot” if you choose.

I have set up my three most frequent networks, and it connects EVERY time, within 30 seconds or so after the super fast boot.

I’ll give it a try. Plus, in the comments over at PopMech, people say you can use the Verizon USB card without any software. I’ll have to give that a try sometime too.

SYMBOLISM BACKFIRES: You could see this coming. Well, you could. They apparently didn’t . . . .

MCCAIN AND ALCIBIADES? It’s a stretch, but the temper point is valid. Though one of my friends, disappointed in Bush’s measured approach to diplomacy, saw that as a feature, not a bug: “He just looks like he might get mad enough to nuke somebody.” It could be like Nixon’s crazy act!

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE: Microsoft to assimilate Yahoo!? Elsewhere, Michael Weiss calls it “a clear bid to outstrip Google of its market dominance.”

THOUGHTS ON the weakness of university trustees.

SEEMS LIKE A GOOD IDEA TO ME: “West Virginia is considering a bill to teach schoolchildren how to handle a gun and hunt safely.”

If it saves just one child’s life, it’s worth it. Who could be so cruel as to want our children to handle guns and hunt unsafely?

SHOUTING FIRE IN A CROWDED AIRPORT? “A lawyer for an MIT student held at gunpoint after she walked into Logan International Airport wearing what authorities believed was a bomb asked a judge to throw out the charges Friday, saying the device was a legitimate form of free speech.” People don’t seem to be buying it.

AN ARMY OF MAVERICKS?

YAY! Tennessee beats Vermont. On self-defense law, to the discomfiture of the Brady Campaign.

IN THE MAIL: Michael Sheuer’s Marching Toward Hell: America and Islam After Iraq. Quite a different assessment from, say, this one by Stratfor. Who’s right? We’ll find out, I guess.

UPDATE: Bill Quick isn’t impressed with Scheuer.

PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: Hillary Clinton and John McCain on earmarks:

In his State of the Union address Monday, reinvigorated public discussion of earmarks — lawmakers’ specific spending items inserted into appropriations bills. While fiscal conservatives in Washington are skeptical about Bush’s ability to do much on the issue, the president may be helping his party by bringing up this issue, which touched on fiscal conservatism, government transparency and political corruption.

Earmarks, and their use of tools of corruption, could play a large role in the 2008 presidential contest if the current front-runners succeed in grabbing their respective parties’ nominations. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is a leading opponent of pork and one of the only lawmakers to forswear earmarks, while Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., is Congress’ leading porker.

Clinton’s earmarking is not merely offensive to procedural purists who demand spending go through standard channels. It also is not merely a transgression against fiscal conservatism. Clinton’s earmarks often directly benefit specific corporations and businessmen, who, in turn, make large contributions to her campaign. This “pay-to-play” earmarking, as one left-leaning budget watchdog group put it, highlights the truly dirty side of earmarks.

Indeed.

HAPPY GRADUATION TO MAJOR JOHN TAMMES, who will celebrate by going to Disneyworld Iraq.

WASN’T JOHN EDWARDS SAYING THIS LAST WEEK? Huckabee: I Won’t Be Driven From Race.

A GALLERY OF armed robots. Plus, this reassurance:

“We’re not building Skynet” says Bart Everett, the technical director for robotics at SPAWAR.

Well, that’s a relief. I’d prefer Bolos. But that would require getting the ethics right, too.

IF YOU MISSED IT ON XM SATELLITE RADIO LAST NIGHT, you can listen to PJM Political online today.

HIGHER EDUCATION gets a warning from a friend in Congress.

Plus, questions about what students are learning.

I THOUGHT HE REPRESENTED A NEW KIND OF POLITICS, but Mickey Kaus accuses Obama of outrageous pandering. “This isn’t the language of a politician who wants to transcend partisan diference. This is the language of a politician who wants to wallow in partisan (and ideological) cant!” Nothing new about that . . . .