DID ARLEN SPECTER MEAN TO SAY that Clarence Thomas doesn’t count as a black person? Well, he wouldn’t be the first, if so.

Plus, Feminists Kick Anita Hill to the Curb.

FEDS ARE investigating the John Edwards campaign. (Via JWF).

SWINE FLU UPDATE: Flu, Mostly Mild, Has Spread Across U.S., Officials Say.

Plus, No Signs of Sustained Global Spread of Swine Flu. Let’s hope it’s a fizzle. But beware of flu-drug “hoarders.” See, this is why you want to stockpile emergency supplies well in advance. When you really need them, sales may be restricted.

YOUR HARD-HITTING, DEEP-DIGGING, WHITE HOUSE PRESS CORPS: Obamas take a walk, holding hands in the evening. Keep the revelations coming!

MICKEY KAUS: Obama’s First Debacle? “Maybe Steve Rattner has saved Chrysler the way he saved Blender.”

NASA: Still in need of an Administrator.

GENERAL MOTORS CREDITORS: You’re next! Plus: “Is it just me or does it seem like the Times gets off on the White House’s strong arm tactics?”

RAY NAGIN, MISERABLE FAILURE. And another chance to play Name That Party!

WASHINGTON POST: McAuliffe’s Background Could Prove A Liability: Va. Foes Capitalize On History of Mixing Politics and Business. “McAuliffe’s business pedigree is not so simple. He is a dealmaker who made millions from investments. And many of his biggest deals came in partnership with prominent donors and politicians, creating a portrait over the years of a Washington insider who got rich as he rose to power within the Democratic Party. ” There seem to be a lot of those about, lately. Hope and change!

HEH: Don’t Blame Me: I Voted For The Grumpy Old Guy.

SHOULD THE COURTS BE “where policy is made?”

ROGER KIMBALL: The White House Needs a Court Jester. I thought that was why we had Joe Biden.

WHAT WOULD an activist do?

SWINE FLU UPDATE: New swine flu cases in Europe, US, Latin America. It’s looking like a pretty ordinary flu, though, so far.

HOW TO BUILD A FLAGSTONE PATIO in a weekend.

REPORT ON THE EDGAR AWARDS: The Edgar Winner Group. Great headline.

A CLARION CALL: Bill Whittle for President! Hey, we could do worse — and almost certainly will!

PUBLIC PENSION UPDATE: Cost of retired state worker health, dental care puts California at risk.

And, in West Virginia:

FOR a quarter of a century, state and public school employees in West Virginia were told that they could trade unused sick leave for health insurance premiums once they retired. Legislators past didn’t bother to calculate what that would cost.

Now a change in federal accounting rules is forcing state agencies and the 55 county school boards to face up to the expense of what are called Other Post-Employment Benefits.

Wood County School Superintendent Bill Niday said his county will have to set aside $12 million for these benefits by the end of 2010.

“What you have is a bare-bones, no-frills budget as a result of the OPEB issue,” Niday told the Parkersburg News and Sentinel. “Next year will be at a deficit. There is no question. There is no way out.”

This problem is popping up everywhere.

JOURNALISTIC ETHICS: It doesn’t mean giving subscribers what they want. Concerns about the marketing department driving news stories may be justified. On the other hand, the hauteur displayed here seems inappropriate to a failing industry. Actually, letting subscribers vote on stories might be a good way to encourage people to subscribe — and since recent evidence suggests that news coverage isn’t driven by a disinterested concern for the facts anyway, why not let the consumers have a voice in what they’re consuming?

A contrary argument, of course, might be that “shaping the news” is one of the perks of being a journalist — hence the hauteur — and that letting other people have a hand in doing that is tantamount to a pay cut of sorts. But, in a failing industry, you’ve got to expect some of the perks to disappear.

VIDEO: Virgin Galactic Test Flight.

THOUGHTS ON THE IMPACT OF more and more computing every year. In more and more places. “What took 500 hours of median wages to purchase in 2002 now takes just 40 hours of median wages in 2009. Pessimists counter that computing is too small a part of the economy for this to be a significant prosperity elevator. But let’s see how much of the global economy is devoted to computing relative to oil (let alone gold).”

ALEX BEAM: Blogging For Dollars.

SWINE FLU IDENTIFIED IN KNOXVILLE.

UPDATE: Why close schools? A very useful analysis, and consistent with what I know about the subject. (Via Aetiology.) And here are some thoughts of mine on neglecting public health. Plus, some related thoughts of mine here. And why you shouldn’t trust case counts.

BITES FROM THE APPLE: A roundup of news from the Apple Empire. A MacBook Touch sounds kinda neat to me . . . .

SMALL NUCLEAR PLANTS to dot the Arctic Circle.

THE WAY WE WERE: “This kind of situation — the undiscovered talent — is really more common than might be imagined by people who aren’t in the music business.”

OH, GOODY: Inspectors Find Safety Problems At Nuclear Weapons Complex.

WILL WOLFRAM ALPHA Kill Google?

ANN ALTHOUSE TO FRANK RICH:

Do you really still insist they are people who feel the whole world is against them? You’ve just mapped out why they — and all of us — really should be alarmed. You have a massively powerful, ambitious President, unchecked by an opposition party, boosted and promoted by journalists who’ve forgotten what their role is. Now, go back to your imagination exercise and do it again.

I agree with the commenter who says they should fire Rich and replace him with Althouse. Won’t happen — they’re still stuck in this mode: “Forgive the bad journalism. We need to make it bad so you’ll buy it. Not you brick-throwing deadenders. But somebody. Anybody.” Frank Rich is perfect for that.

HMM: Why Would We Suspect Democrats of Pressuring an Attorney General to Back Off?

AN ENGINE FOR RUNNING medical microbots.

REPORTING FROM THE One Lap Of America race.

IN THE MAIL: Off the Beaten Path – Newly Revised & Updated: A Travel Guide to More Than 1000 Scenic and Interesting Places Still Uncrowded and Inviting. Looks interesting, and useful in roadtrip planning.

“YOU REPORT, WE DENY.” “Just imagine the outrage if the Bush administration had threatened to sic Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity on its political opponents. But the obedient steno clerks in the White House press corps just do as they’re told nowadays.” Plus, the White House Press Room designated a “Blog-Free Zone?”

CHRIS DODD UPDATE: Hartford Courant: Jackie Clegg Dodd Making Big Money As Corporate Director.

U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd has long had a reputation as a politician of limited means — a reputation underscored, for good or bad, by recent disclosures about his dependence on friends to finance his homes.

The reputation could prove difficult to sustain as Dodd begins what political operatives predict might be the toughest campaign of his 35-year congressional career — considering the dramatic uptick in his wife’s income since they married.

Since the low-profile family wedding on a rise above the Connecticut River in 1999, Jackie M. Clegg Dodd’s income has quadrupled to the mid-six-figure range. All of the increase is due to her appointment as a highly compensated member of multiple corporate boards of directors.

Funny how that kind of thing tends to happen. Plus, a “consulting” business with no clients, or phone number. And this: “The official, who asked not to be identified for fear of offending Dodd, said he does not believe that Clegg Dodd’s legislative and banking experience qualified her as an audit committee expert.”

TOM MAGUIRE: “Change” we hope they didn’t believe in.

COURAGE, and the lack of it.

EDITORIAL: Pelosi Confronts Justice:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is working to buffer lawmakers from federal investigators. This is a bad idea. Special legal protections for politicians encourage unethical conduct.

Irvin B. Nathan, general counsel of the House of Representatives, sent a letter to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Monday about establishing a protocol on how to handle “hopefully rare searches and electronic surveillance involving members of Congress.” Mr. Nathan previously failed to negotiate such an agreement with the George W. Bush administration when Republicans controlled the House. His return to this effort isn’t surprising given the number of congressional Democrats facing accusations of ethical misconduct.

Democrats facing scrutiny include the chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania, for his close ties to the defense lobby firm PMA Group, which is under federal investigation; House Ways and Means Chairman Charles B. Rangel of New York about a number of tax issues; Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. of Illinois over his reported effort to persuade ousted Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich to appoint him to fill President Obama’s former Senate seat; and Rep. Jane Harman of California, who reportedly was taped in 2005 by the National Security Agency purportedly agreeing to help seek leniency for two accused Israeli spies in exchange for help in lobbying her appointment to chair the House Intelligence Committee.

And don’t forget Pete Visclosky, Jim Moran, Allen Mollohan, etc. I know, I know — there are so many it’s hard to keep track!

LESS HOPE THAN CHANGE in Obama’s poll numbers.

A SPLIT IN THE TEA PARTY MOVEMENT? Complete with a Judean People’s Front reference.

Tucson Tea Party organizer Robert Mayer emails:

My advice to local organizers: Become self-sufficient. Capture names, email address, phone numbers, and zip codes. Raise money and merchandise (t-shirts, bumper sticks, etc) the events yourself. Do not let outside organizations like FreedomWorks, Americans for Prosperity, and the Republican Party try to co-opt what you’re doing.

What we’re doing can only work with strong local organizations. Focusing too much on the drama upstairs at the national level will get us off track. Keep your head down and go for the goal. You do not need their direction to take this to the next level.

I think that’s good advice. This kind of split is inevitable in movement politics. My advice is to follow Mark Levin’s principle, and quit worrying about what “they” should be doing, or what “we” should be doing, and start thinking about what you can do. It’s a grassroots movement, and the Web means that good ideas will spread on their own.

TOM RIDGE CONSIDERING A run against Specter.

KIDS DON’T HAVE A UNION. “It’s worth saying again: If the twittish, PC L.A.Times is now going after the teachers’ unions, those unions have lost the PR battle in the mainstream press.”

UPDATE: A suggested political reform, from reader Robert Stermer: “How about giving the voting franchise to children, exercised by their parents. It might give a stronger voice to those concerned about the future.”

BAD NEWS for traffic signal manufacturers.

I MENTIONED IT IN PASSING BEFORE, but Bill Whittle’s evisceration of the Truman “war criminal” accusers is truly a must-see. Give it a few minutes of your time — you won’t be sorry. Unless, you know, you’re Jon Stewart or someone with way too much of an investment in spurious war crimes charges.

UPDATE: Reader William Girardot writes: “Who is Bill Whittle and why is he not my Senator?” I don’t think he has the requisite ability to suffer fools gladly.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Dan Rector thinks I should repeat that Stewart has apologized. Okay, but the history lesson is no less important for all that.

PEREZ HILTON, COPYRIGHT THUG. Given his history, that’s amusingly hypocritical. Though “copyright coward” is a better term, since he’s using a bogus copyright claim to avoid taking responsibility. “It is clear that Hilton is embarrassed by what he said, and he is using a transparently frivolous copyright claim to try to squelch free speech about his ridiculous statements. I’m not standing for it. If Hilton sends me a DMCA takedown notice, I’m going to fight it — and I may sue him. I have never seen a clearer example of fair use in my life.”

MY COLLEAGUE IRIS GOODWIN is in the New York Times on restricted donations to universities, etc.

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG? Giant, scary-looking bug given computer-control chip.

MARK STEYN on Obama so far.

MEGAN MCARDLE: “When did it become the government’s job to intervene in the bankruptcy process to move junior creditors who belong to favored political constituencies to the front of the line? Leave aside the moral point that these people lent money under a given set of rules, and now the government wants to intervene in our extremely well-functioning (and generous) bankruptcy regime solely in order to save a favored Democratic interest group. No, leave that aside for the nonce, and let’s pretend that the most important thing in the world, far more interesting than stupid concepts like the rule of law, is saving unions. What do you think this is going to do to the supply of credit for industries with powerful unions?”

THOUGHTS ON individual rights and the era of antibiotics.

JAKE TAPPER: White House Denies Charge By Attorney that Administration Threatened to Destroy Investment Firm’s Reputation.

A leading bankruptcy attorney representing hedge funds and money managers told ABC News Saturday that Steve Rattner, the leader of the Obama administration’s Auto Industry Task Force, threatened one of the firms, an investment bank, that if it continued to oppose the administration’s Chrysler bankruptcy plan, the White House would use the White House press corps to destroy its reputation.

The White House said the story was false.

But read the whole thing, and decide who you believe for yourself. And good for Jake Tapper for looking into this.

UPDATE: Don Surber is not buying the denial.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Neither is reader Tom McCobb: “Bill Burton’s protest that ‘…there’s obviously no evidence to suggest that this happened in any way’ is so demonstrably false that it is a dead giveaway. There most certainly is evidence: Attorney Lauria’s assertions on radio and in print. The evidence might be only hearsay – we don’t know without knowing whether Mr. Lauria was present during the threatening conduct. But that is a only question of the weight to be given to Mr. Lauria’s assertions.”

BOB SOMERBY: Progressives of the world, unite! “Did we mention that Prejean’s position on the issue at hand resembles that of almost all major Dems? Resembles that of President Obama, to cite just one example? At any rate, the boys went on and on—and on—with their clever boob jokes. . . . Criticizing Prejean for this stance, and for her new affiliations, is perfectly OK, of course—although she simply isn’t an important public figure. But Prejean’s stance has nothing to do with her ‘boobs,’ or with Olbermann’s undying need to denigrate women’s intelligence and joke about women’s bodies. The fact that this keeps occurring on a ‘progressive’ TV show is a truly amazing fact about an amazing corporate era. Even more amazing: The fact that a screaming mess like this would then be thrown to a woman host. The fact that few progressives on the ‘liberal web’ will ever say boo about this.” Hope and change. . . .

DAN MAGE: I Was a High-Tech Sweatshop Worker for the Obama Campaign. “Why did the candidate of hope and change use workers paid less than half of the minimum wage?”

THE FIREFLY ALUMNI CLUB: Is there a curse?

HEH: Census Worker Accused Of Inappropriate Questions.

Mertin said the man commented about her clothing, asked if she’d like a back rub. She said he even asked if she “was wearing pink undies.” Mertin said she felt immediately uncomfortable and started to back away, but it wasn’t just the conversation that bothered her.

“On several occasions, he touched himself,” she said.

Mertin went inside, locked the door and called police. She also sent the Census Bureau an e-mail, assuming the man must be an impersonator.

But, it turned out the man was really employed as a Census worker.

You’d think they’d be able to find better help in the midst of a recession. And the Census Bureau wouldn’t confirm that the man was fired.

YEAH, IT’S LIKE middle school out there.

Related thoughts here.

A MAP OF Beloved Europe.

CASTING THE HEDGE FUNDS AS VILLAINS: And why the press thinks it’s good for Obama to demonize people who don’t go along with the program. For a figure of hope and change, he’s sure big on demonization. I hope that changes. . . .

Plus, from the comments: “In particular, I found interesting his label that creditors are ‘speculators’, when in fact some some of these bondholders were part of the 2003 class to fund….. the UAW pension fund! Given that the reconstituted Chrysler will need cash flow, who will fund them?”

PROFESSOR BAINBRIDGE: Revisiting the Filibuster Deal.

JUST SAY YES: Nationwide Tea Party Leaders Call on Obama to Live up to Meeting Promise .

Eighteen national leaders of the Tea Party protest movement, which has drawn the participation of hundreds of thousands of Americans over the past few weeks, today responded to President Barack Obama’s invitation to meet with members of the Tea Party movement to discuss solutions to the nation’s fiscal challenges.

Speaking at a townhall meeting in Arnold, Missouri this past Wednesday, Obama said: “So, you know, when you see — those of you who are watching certain news channels on which I’m not very popular and you see folks waving tea bags around, let me just remind them that I am happy to have a serious conversation about how we are going to cut our health care costs down over the long term, how we’re going to stabilize Social Security.”

The national leadership team of the Nationwide Tea Party Coalition, one of several organizations that form the grassroots ecosystem of the Tea Party movement, this afternoon faxed a letter to the White House accepting the President’s invitation for such a discussion. “The Tea Party movement has grown because millions of Americans believe the government is heading in the wrong direction and their government is not only not listening to them, but ignoring them. We need to have a serious, public discussion of these issues. We are ready to have that discussion with you and look forward to your response,” the Nationwide Tea Party Coalition leaders wrote in their letter to Obama.

Think he’ll meet with them?

JACOB SULLUM: Everybody’s a Critic—and a ‘Cyberbully,’ Apparently.

SUSAN ROESGEN, call your office!

A BUNCH OF interesting food links.

TOM MAGUIRE: Maybe Stephon Marbury Could Teach Michelle Obama Something.

LET’S HOPE THEY DON’T: Swine Flu Deaths Ebb, But Could Come Back Strong.

DELIVERING A BABY, with help from YouTube.

DAVID HARSANYI: Change the GOP Can Believe In.

DUTY, RESCUE, and the kindness of lawyers.

DAVE KOPEL LOOKS AT the Second Amendment record of some potential Obama Supreme Court nominees. One person he doesn’t discuss is former Stanford Law School dean Kathleen Sullivan. She hosted a Second Amendment conference at Stanford where I spoke a few years ago, and seemed in that — as she’s seemed in many other things when we’ve interacted over the years — to be open-minded, fair, and intellectually honest.

Plus, some related thoughts from Stuart Taylor.

PJTV: STEPHEN GREEN looks at the week in blogs.

IN THE MAIL: From Peter Wallison and Joel Gora, Better Parties, Better Government: A Realistic Program for Campaign Finance Reform.

FIRST IT WAS MURTHA, NOW OBAMA SNUBS VISCLOSKY:

President Obama plans to cap his cap-and-gown commencement address at the University of Notre Dame later this month with an Indianapolis fundraising event for four Indiana House Democrats, according to the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette’s Sylvia Smith. . . .

Notably absent from the guest list for the fundraiser is the state’s only other Democratic House member, Peter J. Visclosky. On Thursday, a set of Washington watchdog groups called for a House ethics investigation into the relationships between several lawmakers, including Visclosky, and a now-defunct lobbying firm that contributed heavily to the House members and won their backing for clients’ earmarks.

I wonder if Obama knows something. Are indictments in the works?

WHITE HOUSE THUGGERY: A transcript of the key bit from bankruptcy lawyer Tom Lauria’s radio interview.

UPDATE: This passage strikes me:

One of my clients was directly threatened by the White House and in essence compelled to withdraw its opposition to the deal under the threat that the full force of the White House Press Corps would destroy its reputation if it continued to fight.

How does the supposedly independent White House Press Corps feel to know that it’s being wielded as a weapon by Obama’s operatives? Might it at least be interested in looking into these allegations?

ANOTHER UPDATE: Ed Morrissey comments:

Glenn Reynolds wonders how the White House press corps will feel about being used as an arm of the administration to beat its opposition into submission. My guess? Enchanted, with just a couple of exceptions. He also wonders whether they will show the slightest inclination to ask about these allegations. So far, it looks like the Sounds of Silence on the WHPC dial rather than We’re Not Gonna Take It.

Bear in mind that this is one attorney operating in his client’s interest, and attorneys do like to make media waves by fighting cases on the evening news and the front page before they fight them in court. However, the WHPC should be asking whether they’re getting played by the Obama administration — and consider the strong possibility that they’ve allowed themselves to be put in that position.

Indeed. Related thoughts from Nick Gillespie.

FOLLOWUP: White House Denies Threats.

CONCORD MONITOR: The More Restraints On Earmarks The Better.

Rep. Paul Hodes, who was out of the blocks in a flash when Sen. Judd Gregg announced that his intention to retire in 2010, continues to make a mark in Washington. Last week, Hodes and fellow Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona sponsored a bill that would prohibit lawmakers from accepting campaign contributions from the top officials of any company that benefited from an earmark sponsored by that member of Congress during the following election cycle.

The bill isn’t perfect. Its prohibitions, for now, apply only to the president, CEO, chief operating officer or chief financial officer of the earmark beneficiary. There are already, no doubt, people hard at work figuring out ways to get around the ban. House members’ terms are also shorter than then the memories of earmark beneficiaries. Both sides could simply factor the new rule into their long range planning – play now, pay later. Still, the bill is a big step in the right direction, and members of Congress who vote against its passage will have some explaining to do.

Faster, please.

IS IT TIME TO reframe framing?

JOE SESTAK not making way for Arlen Specter. Well, he probably figures he’ll get some Republican donations in the primary. And he’s probably right!

“THAT WAS RETRIBUTION.”

JOHN ALLISON, AYN RAND, and turning a profit morally.

CHRYSLER: THE CAR OF THE FUTURE: “And though I’m not a gearhead, I’m a little surprised to hear the administration saying that Chrysler is going to be saved by–Fiat’s world-class engineering.” Plus, this: possible Chrysler savior Fiat has low reliability scores.

The country auto industry is in the very best of hands!

FROM A.P., a roundup of swine flu developments worldwide. Plus, more schools close, as flu-fighters warn against complacency.

CAR LUST: Remembering the 1970 Pontiac Grand Prix 455. My friend Doug Weinstein had a 1973 — he bought it used from Ernie Grunfeld — and it was a pretty nice car, though a gas-hog par excellence.

DARREN HUTCHINSON: Kinder, Gentler Military Tribunals? Change! Plus a useful summary:

Obama has embraced many of the same positions that liberals and Obama himself criticized. For example:

* Obama and members of his administration have embraced the use of rendition. Many of Obama’s most ardent defenders blasted progressives who criticized Obama on rendition as jumping the gun. Today, their arguments look even more problematic than in the past.

* Obama has invoked the maligned “state secrets” defense as a complete bar to lawsuits challenging potential human rights and constitutional law violations.

* Obama has argued that detainees at Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan do not qualify for habeas corpus rights, even though many of the detainees at the facility were not captured in the war or in Afghanistan.

* Even though it no longer uses the phrase “enemy combatants,” the Obama administration has taken the position that the government can indefinitely detain individuals, whether or not they engaged in torture and whether or not they fought the United States on the “battlefield.” This logic combined with the denial of habeas to detainees in Afghanistan could make Bagram the functional equivalent of Guantanamo Bay.

If the New York Times article is accurate, then the use of military tribunals issue will join the list of policies that Obama has endorsed, despite the loud liberal criticism that Bush received when he did the same things.

Indeed.

UPDATE: From Jules Crittenden: “What are we on, Day 103? I think that Change shark just officially got jumped.”

REUTERS: Barack Obama is revelling in presidential power and influence unseen in Washington for decades.

He certainly feels comfortable making threats.

THE EXAMINER: President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and Others Owe 1.2 Million Tea Party Patriots Apology.

UPDATE: Reader Marc Greendorfer emails:

You linked today to a Washington Examiner editorial regarding the dismissive statements made by the Obama administration on the tax protests. What struck me about the statement from President Obama was how much change there has been from the days of that Darth Vader of civil liberties, President Bush. I can’t recall a single instance during his eight years where President Bush derided American citizens who took to the streets to protest his administration. In fact, I think that President Bush always acknowledged the right of citizens to disagree with him and he was always respectful of that dissent. If Obama’s mocking of dissent is the change he promised I don’t think I like it.

As I noted earlier, you can say what you like about George W. Bush, but he didn’t have a skin whose thickness was measured in Planck lengths. Or, to put it more simply . . . you can say what you like about George W. Bush.

UPDATE: Reader Jake Jacobsen writes: “Your respondent insists that GWB never denigrated those protesting him, actually he did…” By calling the Minutemen “vigilantes.” Hmm. I’ll leave it to readers to decide how comparable the two situations are.

FABIUS MAXIMUS: It’s Official: TARP Is Just Theft.

SLASHDOT: Flu Models Predict Pandemic, But Flu Chips Ready.

SWINE FLU VACCINE PROSPECTS LOOKING GOOD SO FAR: “So far, all of the swine flu viruses isolated from infected people have been virtually identical, which should simplify the development of a vaccine, an official from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.”

A MERMAID SIGHTING near Knoxville.

HMM: Pew Poll: Public Takes Conservative Turn on Gun Control, Abortion. “For the first time in a Pew Research survey, nearly as many people believe it is more important to protect the right of Americans to own guns (45%) than to control gun ownership (49%). . . . The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted March 31-April 21 among 1,521 adults reached on landlines and cell phones, also finds public opinion about abortion more closely divided than it has been in several years.”

UPDATE: Hmm. Related? Obama says abortion rights not a top priority.

Plus this: “Obama knows passage of the FOCA would mean lasting reproductive Freedom for women, which in turn would allow women the Freedom to cross party lines more readily. So…Obama punts women into the abyss of ongoing begging for control over their own bodies, and ongoing servitude to the Blue party.”

BLACKFIVE: “A serious leadership problem.”

CORY DOCTOROW: US Trade Rep lies about Canadian piracy.

SWINE FLU COVERAGE? Corporate laid him off. Health care reporter. Non vital.

YOUR ENLIGHTENED MAINSTREAM: Video: Miss California is a piece of garbage with breast implants or something.

It’s stuff like this that makes all the “have you no decency, sir?” stuff from the left hard to swallow. Plus, “gay gynephobia?” There does seem to be a lot of misogyny coming out of the gay-marriage crowd lately. I don’t think it does them any credit, and if it were coming out of people who didn’t possess the Official Victim Sanction it would be denounced mercilessly by the usual chin-tuggers. Instead, as Gloria Feldt demonstrates, they’re joining right in.

Meanwhile, you probably can name Ms. Prejean, but can you name this year’s Miss USA?

BACK TO THE FUTURE: U.S. May Revive Guantánamo Military Courts. “The Obama administration is moving toward reviving the military commission system for prosecuting Guantánamo detainees, which was a target of critics during the Bush administration, including Mr. Obama himself.”

WOMEN SKI JUMPERS TAKE ON THE VANCOUVER OLYMPICS, and I take over the PJTV Sports Desk, interviewing world champion Lindsey Van and U.S. Women’s Ski Jumping Association President DeeDee Corradini — asking a question I never expected to in the process.

Hey, female athletes in spandex, and corrupt, selfish international organizations. What more do you want on a Friday night?

THE COUNTRY’S IN THE VERY BEST OF HANDS: ‘Secret’ CIA document on White House Flickr feed.

BANKRUPTCY LAWYER TOM LAURIA talks about the Chrysler deal. And threats from the White House. (Bumped).

AN EMOTIONAL Cyclone.

THE DALAI LAMA TALKS ABOUT GEORGE W. BUSH, and the Anchoress needs a drink.

THE NOMENKLATURA always get nice shoes.