THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ANNOUNCES AN “L PRIZE” for high-efficiency lighting.

MCCLELLAN AND BUSH, SUMMED UP BY MARK TWAIN: If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.

IN THE NEW YORK POST: John Hinderaker on the war on terror.

PROJECT DRIVEWAY: Daniel Krach on his hydrogen car. I drove one of those a while back and reported on it here.

POLITICO: “Barack Obama’s favorability ratings among white women has declined significantly in recent months, particularly among Democrats and independents, presenting an immediate obstacle for the likely Democratic nominee as he moves to shore up his party’s base.”

DUDE, WHERE’S MY RECESSION? (CONT’D): Jon Henke looks at economics and politics.

HILLARY, OBAMA AND IDENTITY POLITICS: All discussed in the latest PJM Political, with Ed Driscoll, Tammy Bruce, Ed Morrissey, Bill Bradley and Jennifer Rubin.

ABU MUQAWAMA takes off the mask.

IN THE MAIL: Jeffrey Kluger’s Simplexity: Why Simple Things Become Complex, and How Complex Things Can Be Made Simple.

STEYN CANADIAN KANGAROO COURT UPDATE: “The Canadian Association of Journalists has formally applied for standing as an intervenor at the upcoming British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal hearings on a complaint of religious and racial discrimination against Maclean’s magazine.”

MCCAIN’S WEB GAP IS SHOWING. He’s got good web people on the campaign, but he’s way behind in grassroots Web efforts. I mean, this kind of thing is funny, but . . . .

GAY MARRIAGE by executive decision in New York.

THE CARNIVAL OF SPACE is up!

More spaceblogging here.

CONTINUING THE SPELLING-BEE BLOGGING, over at Throwing Things.

HILLARY GETS A DIG IN: “I have the highest respect and regard for Sen. McCain, he and I have actually gone to Iraq and Afghanistan together.” (Via VIMH).

UPDATE: Bitterly clinging to “an outdated storyline about the war.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Meanwhile, here’s a not so outdated storyline on the war. Coming to a newspaper near you, though probably not until after the election. . . .

OUR FRIENDS THE CHINESE: “U.S. authorities are investigating whether Chinese officials secretly copied the contents of a government laptop computer during a visit to China by Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez and used the information to try to hack into Commerce computers, officials and industry experts told The Associated Press. Surreptitious copying is believed to have occurred when a laptop was left unattended during Gutierrez’s trip to Beijing for trade talks in December, people familiar with the incident told the AP. These people spoke on condition of anonymity because the incident was under investigation.”

SO FAR I’M ENJOYING the International Space Development Conference. I did a panel on space and media yesterday afternoon, and saw interesting presentations on China in space and private spaceports. Last night I hung out in the bar with a bunch of folks, including Dale Amon (better known to most as a Samizdata blogger, but a space entrepreneur with a startup, too), Keith Henson, who looked quite hale despite his time in durance vile, Lori Garver, Greg Allison, Loretta Whitesides (founder of “Yuri’s Night”) and a host of others. Rand Simberg, alas, wasn’t able to make it this year.

ALTHOUSE ON MCCLELLAN: “‘I Knew It Was a Terrible Mistake, but I Didn’t Mention It Until I Got a Book Contract.’ . . . It seems to me that Bush didn’t do enough to boost support for the war. He let criticism go unanswered and seemed to trust that the American people would understand why he was doing the right things, so I completely don’t get the “permanent campaign culture” charge. As for the decision to concentrate on the WMD rationale over the democracy argument: It’s been well known for a long time.”

SOME POSSIBLE FUTURE PRIUS OPTIONS.

INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY:

Exxon Mobil’s CEO says his energy company’s “corporate social responsibility” is to produce more energy. While Congress wants to tax oil profits, he wants to spend them to find more oil. What a concept.

More oil seems good to me. And somebody needs to pin down the critics on just what sources of energy are acceptable, given that they don’t like oil, don’t want nuclear, oppose gas drilling, are limiting oil shale, and even get in the way of wind power.

HE WEARS THE CHAINS HE FORGED IN LIFE: “The ghost of Jimmy Carter is haunting the 2008 campaign.” Plus this: “Of the two likely nominees this year, Obama is closest to Carter in background and policy leanings. The parallels between his campaign so far and the one Carter ran in 1976 are striking.”

WHY THE MILITARY needs the gaming industry.

By now, the dual analog thumbsticks on both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 controllers have turned the standard logic of the first-person shooter (FPS) into muscle memory for most red-blooded young American men (and I’m sure a few women, but I’m willing to call a gender bias on this one). Die-hard PC gamers will argue that a player with a mouse and keyboard can outgun a console player while eating a ham sandwich, but the portability, durability and easy ergonomics of the gamepad make it ideal for military use. “It’s interesting that all of the game paddles have evolved toward a similar thumb-based design,” says Bigham. “And when we’ve talked to our human factors experts, what they’ve told us is that the thumb is the most precise pointing instrument and requires the least energy.” While that low-energy, high-efficiency control may lead to less sunlight and exercise for hardcore gamers, it also allows soldiers to remotely fly UAVs effectively for long periods of time.

Read the whole thing.

OBAMA MULLS IRAQ TRIP: But there’s also this: “Obama also declined McCain’s invitation for a joint trip, saying he didn’t want ‘to be involved in a political stunt.'” Apparently, McCain’s suggestion stung a bit.

ANOTHER ULTRAPORTABLE COMPUTER: Hands-on with the MSI Wind.