CAYMAN DIVE STUFF: Various readers have emailed asking for scuba video and reports, so here’s a bit. I did a test of the Spare Air emergency ascent system for Popular Mechanics, and that video (with considerably higher production values than the one below) will be up on the PM website later. But here’s some video shot in a tarpon cave on Cheeseburger Reef (formerly known as Soto’s Reef) in Grand Cayman. Because this is one of the first reefs to be regularly dived in Grand Cayman, and because it’s right next — and I mean right next — to the main harbor where all the cruise ships and freighters dock, I thought it was in surprisingly good shape. There’s some evidence of overdiving, but the reef was really pretty good and there were lots of fish, including the tarpon you see swimming here.

This trip we did a lot of diving on the West side — the most heavily trafficked — instead of the usual North and East, and we all agreed that the reef looked better than it has in several years. There’s more new growth, more soft coral, and things just generally look quite healthy. I’ve written before about Cayman’s overdevelopment, and there’s no question in my mind that they’re overbuilding on land. Thanks to the rush of post-Hurricane Ivan insurance money, and the destruction of a lot of old businesses whose owners chose to sell out rather than rebuild, there’s massive new construction everywhere. A lot of the locals (at least, those not personally profiting) seem unhappy about it. Doug Weinstein and I wound up accidentally crashing a private party for a bunch of Caymanian police at My Bar and a number of them complained about the change in atmosphere that all the development is bringing. I think they’re probably right. I’m not one to demand that places stay quaintly poor for the delectation of tourists, but that’s not the question here. Cayman is already rich, but this is a case of too much, too fast. There’s also considerable worry among the locals that Cayman is pricing itself out of the tourist market, and it has become considerably more expensive than many other Caribbean destinations. Cozumel, for example, seems to cost about 2/3 as much as Cayman for comparable diving trips.

On the other hand, the number of cruise ships — which I’ve noted before as skyrocketing — was way down this time. I don’t know if it’s a seasonal thing, a recession indicator, the result of government policy or what, but there were far fewer ships in port, and none at all on several days. The schedule for March looks slower than last year, and much slower than the year before.

The big news story while I was there involved investigators from the Government Accounting Office coming to look into tax evasion by Americans using Cayman financial institutions and corporations. This is a recurring theme — on my very first trip there in 1986 they were debating an agreement with the United States to limit this sort of thing, and the U.S. periodically asks them for more, causing them to grumble and, usually, to give in. I’m actually surprised that there’s so little Cayman coverage in U.S. media, as there’s a lot of important stuff going on there despite its small size. With little press coverage and misleading movie portrayals like the Orlando Bloom vehicle Haven, which rather drastically overstates the amount of gangsterish crime (to the disgust of many Caymanians, who have told me that they were very unhappy with the portrayal), very few people get a realistic idea of what the place is like.

But the diving remains great; this brief video clip below gives you just the barest hint. Here’s an older video with more.

UPDATE: Oh, and here’s another video from a while back.

IN CHICAGO: The highest sales tax in America, according to TaxProf.

DON SURBER: Hillary must apologize for Gloria Steinem’s remarks.

UPDATE: More thoughts from Jules Crittenden. “It would be cruelly ironic if the iconic feminist put the last nail in the coffin of the first viable woman’s candidacy.”

TAX RATES BY INCOME QUINTILE, since 1979. “As repeatedly noted, the [Bush tax] cuts cut a greater percentage for the bottom quintile than for the top. (32.8% vs. 8.9%) Even more interesting is the total effective federal tax rate for households with children.” (Via Greg Mankiw).

I’M SO GLAD TO HAVE YOU, and it’s getting worse.

PRAISE FOR OBAMA from Professor Bainbridge. But is the Robert McNamara analogy a positive?

JOHN MCCAIN’S CATCH-22.

ERIC MULLER’S MOTHER HAS DIED, and he posts a musical tribute. Please send him your condolences.

A LITTLE RESPECT FOR Lamar Alexander, please.

SEBASTIAN MALLABY, Democrats, Off Course On Trade. “It’s one thing for Democrats to call for a timeout on negotiating new trade treaties and another to threaten violence to existing ones. . . . The pity is that the Democrats didn’t have to go this way.”

A DAWNING REALIZATION regarding the impact of the trollosphere.

CHARLES MARTIN ON THE SEDUCTIONS OF FASCISM.

Jonah Goldberg’s book — the subject of Martin’s piece — must be seductive, too, as it’s currently number one.

OBAMA AND THE JEWS.

NO CLEAR ANSWERS ON PROSTATE CANCER TREATMENT, and a serious imbalance in research:

Prostate cancer is the single most common cancer in the United States and the second most lethal among men after lung cancer. In 2008, the American Cancer Society estimates, 186,320 men will learn that they have it and 28,660 will die from it. The estimates for breast cancer are 182,460 and 40,480. . . .

The dismal state of prostate cancer research and advocacy pales in comparison to the campaign against breast cancer.

“We’re at least a decade behind where breast cancer awareness is,” Thomas Kirk, president of Us Too, said. “We need to catch up. The lessons learned by breast cancer are the ones we’re trying to apply to prostate cancer.”

Prostate cancer groups have tried to replicate the success of the pink ribbon campaign with their own blue ribbon, but it has yet to gain widespread acceptance. A group advocating the development of imaging technology for prostate screening created a mascot, Prosty the Spokesgland, complete with a theme song, to the tune of “Frosty the Snowman.” Not surprisingly, it has not caught on, either.

No, not surprising. But government funding lags, too. I suspect there’s a bit of gender politics involved in this differential.

DAVID HARSANYI: Where have all the superheroes gone? Away, along with the patriotism of the commercial creative classes.

ASSOCIATED PRESS SENDS THE LAWYERS after a blogger who’s criticized them for photo-fakery. (Bumped).

WHY ARE U.S. TROOPS so hard to kill?

HERE’S LOTS OF GOOD DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY ADVICE: Just keep scrolling.

CHARLOTTE ALLEN on the politics of swooning women. Seems a bit harsh.

TAKE MY WIVES, PLEASE.

PHOTO GALLERY: Earth as you’ve never seen it.

VIDEO: Hillary on Saturday Night Live.

IN THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, Lynn Sweet looks at Obama’s hometown vulnerabilities.

HMM: Clinton Campaign Calls on Sen. Obama to Release Records and Correspondence Relating to Tony Rezko. Yep. Wouldn’t want a nominee with a shady financial history.

HOW TO GROW YOUR OWN VEGETABLES despite limited space.

This is cool for apartment-dwellers, people with small yards, and the disaster-preparedness crowd.

THE INSTAWIFE’S SHOW ON FUSE TV airs today at 2 p.m. Eastern. Check it out if you’re around. Or set your TiVo. Video clips at the link, or here.

DON SURBER COMPARES Barack Obama and JFK.

UPDATE: Comparing Michelle Obama and Jackie.

JOHN TIERNEY:

If only the masses could understand the science of global warming, they’d be alarmed, right? Wrong, according to the surprising results of a survey of Americans published in the journal Risk Analysis by researchers at Texas A&M University.

After asking a national sample of more than 1,000 Americans how much they knew about global warming and how they felt about it, the researchers report that respondents who are better-informed about global warming “both feel less personally responsible for global warming, and also show less concern for global warming.” Another unexpected result: “Respondents who showed a great deal of confidence that scientists understand global warming and climate change showed significantly less concern for the risks of global warming than did those who have lower trust in scientists.”

Go figure. Plus, the current cold spell is just weather, not climate. Sure, but will they remember that distinction in July? . . . .

FRIDAY WITH Ambassador Crocker.

U.C. BERKELEY CUTS A DEAL WITH THE SAUDIS: “Some faculty members at Berkeley are upset about the pending deal, concerned that the $10-billion university will discriminate against women and others and limit academic freedom.” Gee, do you think?

JACOB SULLUM ON OBAMA AND THE SECOND AMENDMENT:

The D.C. gun law, passed in 1975, isn’t really about gangbangers, which it has not exactly disarmed, or random shootings on the street, which it has not noticeably curbed. In effect if not intent, it is about disarming law-abiding residents who might want to protect themselves from gangbangers and other violent criminals.

It’s not surprising that Obama sees nothing unconstitutional about this situation, since he does not acknowledge that the Second Amendment has anything to do with self-defense. “As a former constitutional law professor, Barack Obama understands and believes in the constitutional right of Americans to bear arms,” his website claims. “He will protect the rights of hunters and other law-abiding Americans to purchase, own, transport, and use guns for the purposes of hunting and target shooting” (emphasis added).

This is the only substantive discussion of the Second Amendment on Obama’s website. It’s part of a document that lists “Protecting Gun Rights” as a subcategory of “Supporting the Rights and Traditions of Sportsmen,” which is like listing “Protecting Freedom of Speech” as a subcategory of “Supporting the Rights and Traditions of Auctioneers.”

On the other hand, Tim Cavanaugh thinks that Obama is better on guns than Hillary — though that’s damning with faint praise, I suppose. . . .

LIVEBLOGGING THE RUSSIAN ELECTION at Siberian Light. Not that the outcome is much in doubt.

GOING DAFTA OVER NAFTA: “Yeah, yeah…we know. But sometimes you just hafta.” And a Canadian take, from Kalim Kassam.

GOOD NEWS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT: “Thirty-one reactors, representing 17 power companies and consortia, are somewhere in the application process—though NEI predicts only four to eight of those will be in commercial operation by 2016. By that time, pressure for an affordable, clean source of energy could inspire a second wave of applications. . . . The latest designs for proposed plants are smaller, cheaper and more efficient than reactors of the past.” Read the whole thing.

SLEEPLESS IN SDEROT: “As rockets from Gaza rain down on her neighborhood, Laura Bialis wonders how the western media still manages to portray Israel as the aggressors in this weekend’s bloody conflict.”

RETURN OF THE LIZARD MAN.

THE AUDI Q7 SUV with a V12 TDI engine. “Even in this large, high-riding SUV, that should be enough to reach 62 mph in 5.5 seconds while going nearly 20 miles on each U.S.-sized gallon of diesel.”

MICKEY KAUS: Running on Blade Runner.

MORE ON THE BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA KERFUFFLE, from TigerHawk:

Does anybody doubt that if a Republican politician’s middle name were “Hitler,” “Franco,” “Mussolini,” or even just “Benito” it would come up constantly on Bill Maher’s program or “The Daily Show”? Of course it would. Well, what’s the difference? Barack Obama is unfortunate insofar as his middle name evokes one of the most revolting, brutal, disgusting sub-human creatures to walk the earth in the late 20th century. Chalk it up to yet another imperfection — however tiny and trivial — in the Imperfect Vessel.

Well, nobody’s perfect. Meanwhile, Don Surber invites readers to pick a new middle name for Obama. I don’t think Milhous will make it, though it might appeal to Simpsons fans . . . .

UPDATE: John Wayne beats John Wilkes.

I’M WATCHING SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, and they’re running an amusing parody of the Hillary/Obama debate, absurdly slanted toward Obama. I think this means the Obama wave has broken.

UPDATE: Followed up by the real Hillary. To applause! “Do I really laugh like that?” They must have been listening to Randy Neal. But doesn’t everyone?

ANOTHER UPDATE: “You’re using the word ‘blog’ entirely too much.”

MORE: Now a cartoon — The Obama Files — that’s also not especially Obama-friendly. I’m sensing a pattern here. I do like Al Sharpton in the dog-training collar, though. But Bill Clinton as a secret Obama agent?

RANDY NEAL thinks Hillary Clinton deserves more respect. And note the class-condescension from Obama supporters:

Finally, it’s frustrating how the news media, liberal talk radio pundits, and Obama bloggers continuously refer to Clinton supporters as “uneducated” (or “hillbillies,” “knuckledraggers,” etc.).

Must be more of that outreach effort . . . .

CHUTZPAH AT DUKE: “After tarring and feathering and discriminating against the Duke lacrosse members at a critical juncture in their college careers and lives, the Duke Administration has gone to court trying to shut down the players’ website, which contains the pleadings in their recently filed case against the university and a compendium of press coverage about the case.”

This is consistent with Duke’s demonstrated commitment to fairness, openness, and freedom of expression.

DISSECTING THE 60 MINUTES SCANDAL.

HEARTBREAK ON THE LEFT: Rumors of a FISA deal in the House.

THE PAJAMA GAME: Patterico and Tom Maguire comment on that Hillary ad.

THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE, and other nonfiction World War II books for kids.

RECESSION WATCH: No downturn in evidence at West Town Mall today. It was packed, and looked like Christmas. Not sure why — there were a lot of spring sales, and the new Sephora had opened, but none of that should have accounted for the crowds. Go figure.

UPDATE: Reader Michael Smith emails:

Q. “Not sure why — there were a lot of spring sales, and the new Sephora had opened, but none of that should have accounted for the crowds. Go figure.”

A. Debit cards and the direct deposit of federal tax return refunds.

After the last of the 1099′s and W-2′s showed up, people finally got around to filing their tax returns and based on this chart, Friday was a direct deposit day (and the paper checks from the previous week had just arrived to be cashed.).

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p2043.pdf

I know, my deposit came in on 2/22 and I spent last Saturday paying off some credit card balances.. When a ‘stimulus’ check/deposit happens, I’ll pay down some more…

So it’s just a little dose of Keynesian stimulus. Certainly made it hard to find a parking place.

SHORENSTEIN DECRIES MEDIA BIAS in campaign coverage.

YOUNG STALIN: More support for this theory on murderous dictators as failed artists.

Art kills!

“COWBOY DIPLOMACY” on NAFTA.

THE REAL SPACE RACE.

IT’S PROBABLY FRAME-DRAGGING: “Mysteriously, five spacecraft that flew past the Earth have each displayed unexpected anomalies in their motions.” But the story doesn’t mention that, which seems odd.

UPDATE: Oh, right: Here’s some background on frame-dragging. I’m just guessing, really, but the fact that these are open orbits is suggestive.

REMEMBERING THE HONDA CRX: “Before the CRX eventually morphed into the soft, poseur Del Sol, the CRX was, depending on your viewpoint, either the ultimate economy car or a pocket Lotus.” But a twin-engine CRX?

OUT-CLINTONING the Clintons?

OBAMA STARTS TALKING ABOUT NATO AND EUROPE.

UPDATE: From TigerHawk, praise for Obama: “At a time when ‘traditional allies’ has become almost synonymous with ‘free riders,’ this is welcome from the candidate of the left.” Plus a suggestion that the Obama campaign might actually welcome: “Now we need some principles to build upon. How about this one: We will consult extensively on collective security matters with any power that spends on defense at least 2% of GDP — half the level of the United States — and has the lift capacity to deliver at least some fully-equipped and combat ready soldiers anywhere in the world.”

INDIA SENDS ENFORCERS to Russia.

LIVEBLOGGING Israel in Gaza.

DREW CAREY: An education revolt in Watts.

UPDATE: Reader Jim Yeomans emails:

Just viewed the Drew Carey Watts School video that you posted. Decided to go full screen with it on my Samsung 24” monitor.

If I were the head of a TV or cable network right now, I would be horrified. If I step back about 5 feet, the clarity of this stinky little streaming video, fed off of your site, is better than I get with my high def cable service.

Progress!

Indeed.

A SETTLEMENT, in the wake of a fatal SWAT raid gone wrong:

The handwritten settlement reached this week that resolved the fallout over the shooting death of 18-year-old Peyton Strickland included just three main points, officials say.

They were: $2.45 million, headed to a scholarship fund; an apology, issued Wednesday; and an audit of the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office’s Emergency Response Team. On Thursday, county officials said plans for the review aren’t set but they are open to outside advice. . . . Attention turned to the office’s Emergency Response Team on Dec. 1, 2006, when Cpl. Christopher M. Long mistook the sound of a battering ram for gunfire during a raid. He fired through a door, killing Strickland, a student at Cape Fear Community College, who was wanted in connection with the robbery of video game equipment. Strickland wasn’t armed.”

That was wrong, but the real problem was that the circumstances didn’t call for door-busting to begin with.

WHY DOES IT BOTHER OTHER PEOPLE when you quit your job? Plus, lessons on self-employment and living below your means.

CHRYSLER CHIEF: All cars will be hybrids.

IN THE MAIL: Superbad, on Blu-Ray. I never saw the movie, but I expect I’ll be McLovin’ it!

ABC NEWS:

With the corruption trial of one of Sen. Barack Obama’s longtime friends and supporters set to begin Monday in Chicago, Ill., reform watchdogs say it will reveal the “cesspool” of Illinois politics in which Obama came of age and has said little about in his campaign for president.

“We have a sick political culture,” said Jay Stewart, the executive director of the Chicago Better Government Association, “and that’s the environment that Barack Obama came from.”

Stewart says he does not understand why Obama has lectured others about corruption in Washington and Kenya but “been noticeably silent on the issue of corruption here in his home state, including at this point, mostly Democratic politicians.”

There was no immediate comment from the Obama campaign.

(Via NewsAlert).

HEH: “He Who Must Not Be Middle-Named”.

ROGER VON OECH (yes, the Ball of Whacks guy) is photoblogging from North Vietnam, at the places where John McCain was shot down and imprisoned.

FILM PHOTOGRAPHY? I remember that!

Of course, I also remember Thriller.

BATTERYLESS HYBRID CARS, with nano-enhanced ultracapacitors.

MEGAN MCARDLE ON OBAMA ON TRADE: “Well, I certainly hope he’s lying, because I think he’s going to be the next president of the United States. But of course, as I’ve said before, I do not like it that politicians seem to feel the need to lie shamelessly to the electorate.” Generally, you have to hope that most of what most candidates say is a lie. Fortunately, it usually is . . . .

UPDATE: “Change you can disavow.“

FLAMMABLE PAJAMAS. Or subliminal advertising from Hillary? The “G” doesn’t really appear, though.

A ROUNDUP OF Apple computer news. “Even more worrying is the rumor circulating from iLounge that Apple will be exerting tight controls over what can be downloaded to your iPhone.”

AIRBUS GETS A BIG U.S. AIR FORCE CONTRACT, over Boeing. Abu Muqawama thinks this represents a promising defeat for a big domestic interest. Possibly. I suspect it represents a U.S. payoff to France for . . . well, we’ll see.

NOW THAT HE’S HOME, British Islamists threaten Prince Harry. Not long ago, people like that would have been afraid of being lynched for making such a threat.

A.C. KLEINHEIDER: “Could the risk of an ugly convention and the fact that the superdelegates may decide the contest lead Al Gore to step up as a candidate for President at the convention and then choose Barack Obama as his runningmate?”

MARIE REILLY: Commerce is not a cuss word.

JOHN BIRMINGHAM: “Sometimes, even blowing stuff up gets a bit wearying, I guess, and you just have to go home for a bit.”

JOLIE 1, OBAMA 0.

SOMETHING YOU CAN’T SAY ABOUT CUBA: “Our worst critics prefer to stay.” Heh.

THE CANADA/NAFTA STORY continues. I predict, however, that the term “Goolsbee Gate” won’t catch on.

MORE THOUGHTS HERE. And a reader suggests “Naftaquiddick” in place of “Goolsbee Gate.” Er, no.

THE INSTAWIFE HAS A SHOW ON FUSE TV, with and about Motley Crue’s Nikki Sixx. It will air again on Sunday at 2 pm. There’s a bit of video at the link, too.

VOTING WITH THEIR FEET RAISED RIGHT HANDS: Army recruiting exceeds goals again.

JOHN SCALZI released Old Man’s War as a free eBook, and it turns out to have boosted his sales substantially.

JOURNEY TO the bottom of the Moon.

Plus, lunar off-roading.

OBAMA’S shifting positions on gun rights. Boy, I predicted a while back that his positions would get more scrutiny, and they certainly are.

AHEAD OF the opposition.

THE IPHONE GOES TO WAR.

ANN ALTHOUSE: The crafty Obama finds a way to look magnanimous while actually casting aspersions on McCain. She continues: “Actually, Obama found the only possible low ground and made it look like high ground.”

A LOOK AT THE all-important white male swing vote.

JOSH LEVIN: I’m the idiot who bought an HD-DVD player.

THOUGHTS ON life extension and the longevity dividend.

MORE ON THAT LAS VEGAS RICIN STORY, from Popular Science.

UPDATE: National Guard team activated. (Thanks to Chuck Simmins for the link).

MICHAEL TOTTEN on the Muslim world’s moderate supermajority.

DUMB: Air Force blocking blogs.

DO WE WANT A FULL-IMMUNITY PRESIDENT?

“DON’T GO INTO CORPORATE AMERICA:” Well, the nonprofit world does pay pretty well too, these days.

SO THEY’RE BATTING .500: Sex Toys Still Illegal in Texas and Alabama; Guns OK.

Here in Tennessee, they’re both legal: we don’t care how you choose to fill your hand. There was an effort to ban dildos and vibrators about ten years ago, but it was laughed out of existence following a campaign by a group called “Well Endowed Tennesseans” who accused the legislator sponsoring the bill of phallic insecurity.

CAR LUST: Loving the Dodge Magnum SRT-8. Everybody I know who has one loves it — especially the Hemi — though with higher gas prices that may change . . . . Video at the link.

PERRY DEHAVILLAND: Not Matt Drudge’s finest hour.

APPARENTLY, THERE ARE RACIAL QUOTAS FOR COMEDY, with some roles off-limits based on race.

Related thoughts here.

THE NEW YORK TIMES GOES LOOKING FOR MEDIA BIAS.

MORE THOUGHTS on that new Hillary commercial.

UPDATE: An amusing response from the Obama camp.

ANOTHER UPDATE: John Dickerson: “The Bush campaign never ran an ad like this when it was accused of scare-mongering during the 2004 campaign.”