May 16, 2008

BUSH GETS BUPKIS FROM THE SAUDIS in terms of increased production.

I'm not surprised. I'm actually not sure they can increase their production all that much at the moment, as I suspect they've been overstating their capacity all along. Also, alas, they seem to have caught on to the Malcolm S. Forbes plan. Guess I shouldn't have blogged it . . . .:

One clue comes from the March bulletin of OAPEC, the Arab sub-group of the OPEC producers' cartel. It notes sourly that President Bush is aiming to reduce US dependency on oil imports "particularly from the Middle East”, by 75pc by the year 2025.

"This has created some ambiguity in the US position on the future of oil consumption," it said. Touchee.

King Abdullah's retort to the Bush speech was to announce that Saudi Arabia would stop developing big projects after the Khurais field comes on stream in next year with 1.2m bpd, leaving the country's oil in the ground for future generations.

Were America the imperial power that its critics claim, of course, we'd have simply seized the oil after 9/11 -- it would have been easier than invading Iraq -- killed a bunch of Saudis and gone our way. Instead, however, we probably won't do much. If we were as serious as we say we are about energy, we'd start developing domestic sources. But we can't even get shale oil past Congress.

TOM MAGUIRE ON worthy disaster-relief efforts.

UNLIKE SOME OTHER SEARCH ENGINES: A nice thank-you to the troops at Dogpile.com.

SHATNER ON SHATNER: On, uhh, Shatner.

UPDATE: Bill Quick: "Since I know Shatner fairly well, and I’ve spent a fair amount of time with him, I can tell you that this is pretty much the way he really is. He’s not putting anything on here."

ADVICE TO OBAMA FROM ANN ALTHOUSE, who voted for him:

Don't lie! I mean, I know you've been having an unimaginably powerful experience with millions of people buying the things you say, but don't get cocky. We do still have our lie detectors, and we can reactivate them if we get in the mood to. Don't push us. Keep the magic alive.

To perform at such a level requires more self-knowledge and self-discipline than most politicians possess.

STICKING WITH THE NARRATIVE at The Washington Post.

SEBASTIAN LIVEBLOGGED MCCAIN'S NRA SPEECH: "The theme seems to be 'I suck a little, but my opponents suck more.'"

Now there's a winning formula!

UPDATE: Checking my email, I got a copy of the speech, which is pasted below -- hit "read more" to read it. But McCain doesn't seem to support a ban on private sales, just an extension of instant background checks to gun shows.:

Over the years, I haven't agreed with the NRA on every issue. I have supported efforts to have NICS background checks apply to gun sales at gun shows. I recognize that gun shows are enjoyed by millions of law-abiding Americans. I do not support efforts by those who seek to regulate them out of existence. But I believe an accurate, fair and instant background check at guns shows is a reasonable requirement. I also oppose efforts to require federal regulation of all private sales such as the transfer between a father and son or husband and wife. I supported campaign finance reform because I strongly believed our system of financing campaigns was influencing elected officials to put the interests of "soft money" donors ahead of the public interest. It is neither my purpose nor the purpose of the legislation to prevent gun owners or any other group of citizens from making their voices heard in the legislative process.

Whole text below.

Read More ?

WELL, OKAY, BUT DID RON PAUL EVER CLAIM to be a "compassionate conservative?" Though admittedly, congratulating the University of Kansas' football team isn't within Congress's enumerated powers either . . . .

GIGAPIXEL PHOTOS: Coming soon to a camera near you. They've actually been around for a while, but this makes it easier.

DOG BITES MAN: Charges of double standards at Human Rights Watch.

INTEGRATING NANOTECHNOLOGY with silicon wafer technology.

MAKING YOUR KITCHEN Plastic-free.

IGNORANT, RACIST HEARTLANDERS angry, bitter at media name-calling.

ARE YOU NOW OR HAVE YOU EVER BEEN a member of the American Constitution Society?

ADVICE TO MCCAIN: Run against Congress.

AUSTIN BAY: Limited options in Burma. Yeah, as Shannon Love notes about people agitating for a humanitarian invasion: "It’s not a bad idea except it is at least 6 months too late."

MICHAEL ON MICHAEL: Totten on Yon, that is. It's a review of Michael Yon's Moment of Truth in Iraq by Michael Totten.

GENERATING NEITHER LUST NOR RESPECT: The Geo Metro. Chris Hafner says it deserves the latter, anyway. "I like both the Smart and the Prius--there's something gadgety about them that appeals to me--but if your goal is just to have a useful gas-sipping car, it would be hard to do better than a Geo Metro."

A PRO-NUKE PROGRESSIVE? Tennessee Democratic Senate Candidate Calls for Removal of Harry Reid over Reid's opposition to nuclear power.

WELCOME TO the new diplomacy.

SMALL SHELLS, BIG BOOM: A look at the military's new miniature arsenal.

IN THE MAIL: 10 Books That Screwed Up the World: And 5 Others That Didn't Help. I don't think I agree with all the choices here.

Richy-Kreme Donuts, Alcoa, Tennessee. They start selling donuts in the morning, and they close when they run out. Best donuts I've ever had -- sweet, fluffy, but not the least bit greasy. Yum.

YEAH, THAT'LL HELP MATTERS: "Revolutionary Defeatism" on the right.

MORE NEWS ON the automotive X-Prize.

P.J. O'ROURKE SUMS UP THE ELECTIONS:

Two substantive political issues are the federal budget deficit and the war in Iraq. Now, if you're electing Democrats to control government spending, then you're marrying Angelina Jolie for her brains. This leaves the Democrats with one real issue: Iraq. And so far the best that any Democratic presidential candidate has been able to manage with Iraq is to make what I think of as the high school sex promise: I will pull out in time, honest dear.

Though, actually, I think Angelina Jolie is smarter than Obama when it comes to Iraq.

SO IF THE REPUBLICANS ARE IN TROUBLE, WHY ARE THESE PEOPLE SO HAPPY? I'm at the NRA Convention in Louisville, Kentucky. I haven't been to a big gun event in probably a decade, and the change in mood is striking: People are, well . . . not ebullient, really, but noticeably cheerful and confident. The defensive crouch of a decade ago is gone. Will that change if the Democrats take the White House?

They don't seem to think so here. Ten years ago, gun rights were under siege. Now the two Democratic presidential candidates are bending over backward to try to paint themselves as pro-gun. It's a lie, of course. But it's a lie that shows where the political balance of power, er, lies on this issue. The Democrats are electing new members of Congress, too -- but, again, they're running as pro-gun. People here, I think, feel like they've got the momentum regardless of what happens in November.

That's bad news for the Republicans, in a way. Scared gun-rights people vote Republican, and work hard to get Republican candidates elected. Confident gun-rights people figure that they can force Democrats to protect their rights, too. Probably the best thing that could happen for John McCain's candidacy -- and for the GOP's Congressional prospects -- would be a Supreme Court decision upholding D.C.'s gun-ban law. Will that happen? Well, possibly. The smart money says "no," but counting Supreme Court votes is a risky business. We'll see.

McCain's speaking here this afternoon -- alas, after I have to leave to return home, as I'm just here to give a talk on the Heller case this morning and will then head back -- and it's the only event in which people aren't allowed to carry guns. That's the Secret Service's demand. If I were McCain, I'd note that I'd feel safer in an audience of armed NRA members. It's likely true, and it would make a point.

LOOK WHO'S DRILLING: Petrobras Hires 80% of Deepwater Rigs, Inflates Rents.

Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil's state-controlled oil company, leased about 80 percent of the world's deepest-drilling offshore rigs to explore prospects including the Western Hemisphere's biggest discovery in decades.

Petrobras, as the Rio de Janeiro-based company is known, is hiring rigs that can drill in at least 3,000 meters (9,800 feet) of water, Chief Executive Officer Jose Sergio Gabrielli said in an interview last week. The world has 21 such vessels, according to Rigzone.com, which tracks the offshore drilling industry.

The company's ``insatiable'' demand is forcing producers including Exxon Mobil Corp. and BP Plc to pay more as they compete for the remaining units, said Kjell Erik Eilertsen and Truls Olsen, analysts at Fearnley Fonds AS in Oslo. Explorers that don't have rigs under contract may delay projects or pay rents of more than $600,000 a day.

Sounds like they're onto something. And maybe we need to be doing more drilling at home? Hell, thanks to Congress we can't even get shale oil going.

A LOOK AT ANGRY DEMOCRATIC WOMEN. It wasn't supposed to turn out this way.

HEH: "Selling well is the best revenge." I'll note that only one of these books was featured on The Glenn and Helen Show. Guess which one?

HAS THE LA TIMES UNCOVERED Obama's Bosnian sniper tale? Video at the link.

SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PLANTS?

May 15, 2008

ROCKET MAN FLIES ON JET-POWERED WINGS:

After one last wave to the crowd the rocket man tipped his wings, flipped onto his back and leveled out again, executing a perfect 360-degree roll that most birds would find impossible.

"That was to impress the girls," he later admitted.

Isn't it always? Play your cards right and you might wind up with Jennifer Connelly.

THE BLOGGER MEETUP WAS FUN: Met a bunch of bloggers, some of whom I already knew, including SayUncle, Bitter, Sebastian, Murdoc, etc., and firearms legend Ronnie Barrett dropped by, which was kinda cool. There were probably about 50 people there, which is a pretty good-sized turnout of gunbloggers.

BECAUSE IT'S NOT LIKE WE NEED ANY DOMESTIC OIL OR ANYTHING

The Senate Appropriations Committee today narrowly defeated Sen. Wayne Allard's attempt to end a moratorium related to oil shale development in Colorado. . . .

The moratorium prevents the Department of Interior from issuing regulations so that oil companies can move forward on oil-shale projects in Colorado and Utah. Allard said the moratorium has left uncertainties at a time when companies need to move forward and in the long term make the United States more energy independent.

"If we are really serious about reducing pain at the pump, this is a vote that would make a difference in people's lives," Allard argued.

But in a 14-15 vote, the committee spilt strictly on party lines and rejected the amendment.

Are these guys on the Saudi payroll, or what?

UPDATE: Link was wrong before. Fixed now. Sorry!

WHAT'S WITH THOSE 10% OF BLACK PEOPLE who don't support Obama? Yeah, get with the program.

COMMERCE AND COMMERCIALS: "I’m going to be straight with you—if you don’t click one of the ads on this page, we’re all doomed."

MY REVIEW OF THE HP MINI-NOTE LAPTOP is now online at Popular Mechanics.

HERE'S MORE ON MASSACHUSETTS' anti-Income Tax crusade.

CALIFORNIA'S SUPREME COURT STRIKES DOWN the state's ban on gay marriages. Did it just hand the state to McCain? Well, possibly.

Personally, I favor gay marriage, but I think it would be much better if it were adopted through political, rather than judicial, channels -- though I realize that some would call that a distinction without a difference where California is concerned. . . .

UPDATE: More thoughts here.

MEMO TO THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN: When somebody condemns appeasement, it doesn't help things to jump up and yell "Hey, he's talking about me!"

SO I'M IN LOUISVILLE, where I'll be talking about the Second Amendment and the Heller case tomorrow. ("Scheduled posts" kept the site hopping while I drove, somewhat blearily, up from Knoxville, though I did stop at a Cracker Barrel in Lexington for coffee and a quick blog-and-email check.) I don't think I'll see much of the fleshpots while I'm here, though there's a blogger get-together in an hour or so that I'll visit. After last night's limited sleep, I don't think I'll be out late tonight. . . .

THE PRIVATE SECTOR ROLE in global higher education. " in many countries, as in the United States, demand for higher education is growing fast, sometimes outstripping the ability of traditional colleges — which, in many countries, means government-run institutions — to fulfill the need. . . . And to kick off the meeting, the group turned to Douglas L. Becker, chairman and chief executive officer of Laureate Education, Inc., whose company has built a 300,000-student, $2 billion a year enterprise by focusing solely on creating private institutions in foreign lands — so far, 70 campuses in 17 countries."

THE NEXT THING for Fred Thompson.

DYING LAW PROFESSOR teaches last class.

IRON MAN: Beneath the Armor.

SIX WAYS THE G.O.P. CAN save itself. It had better do something.

DATING THE DIVORCED: The latest Ask Dr. Helen column is up!

MORE RAMPANT CHRISTIANISM.

LOOKING INSIDE Britain's alien files. "Although they didn't want their names to be included in the report covering the event, they believed it was a UFO. And they were sober."

GOOD QUESTION: What could Hillary Clinton want from Obama?

MEGAN MCARDLE ON JOB INTERVIEWS: "Frankly, it's a miracle unemployment is as low as it is."

NANOTECHNOLOGY gangs up on cancer cells.

MORE QUESTIONS ABOUT OBAMA, from Steve Gill.

HACKING A GEO METRO with the Cornell X-Prize team.

IN THE MAIL: Instructions for American Servicemen in France during World War II.

Fire Station, Maryville, Tennessee.

CONGRATULATIONS TO RANDY NEAL as an accredited blogger to the Democratic Convention. (Via Michael Silence).

THOMAS EDSALL: Union Leaders' Clash Over Dem Endorsements A Sign Of Racial Polarization.

Plus, apparently, rampant sexism!

UPDATE: Had the wrong link for Edsall before. Fixed now. Sorry!

ANOTHER UPDATE: NARAL Affiliates Question Obama Endorsement.

BILL ARDOLINO: From Rusafa to Sadr City.

LARRY TRIBE: Thanks for boning, ma and pa. Um, ditto, I guess. More here. It's really just a variation on the Neal Stephenson "stupendous badass" point.

AUSTIN BAY: Dictatorships kill. And steal.

A WINDFALL PROFITS TAX FOR FARMERS? Heavens No!

MICKEY KAUS: "HuffPo Off Message: Rachel Sklar comes dangerously close to Fisking the NYT's book-length Pentagon Message Machine scoop."

CALLING AHMADINEJAD SWEETIE? Actually, that could be fun.

OUCH: "Robert Samuelson's argument is so self-evident no politician can ever state it."

BRAZILIAN BABES FOR dropping the ethanol tariff.

BACK HOME, after six hours at the Children's E.R. Things turned out about as well as could be, considering. Blogging may be a bit, er, sparse in the morning, though.

UPDATE: Thanks to all the people who sent thoughts and prayers. Doesn't appear to have been anything serious. Alas, I didn't get six hours of sleep to make up for the E.R. time.

May 14, 2008

AN INTERVIEW WITH Tom Wolfe.

And some useful background here.

SPACE NEWS: SpaceX Claims Crew Transfer Ability by 2011.

CROSS-CULTURAL PROCRASTINATION STUDIES. I wonder why no one got around to that before . . . .?

TEST-DRIVING THE 2008 Porsche 911. How come I never get assignments like that?

MEGAN MCARDLE: Democrats: the party of . . . rich farmers? That would explain the ethanol enthusiasm . . . .

A STEAMPUNK ROUNDUP.

SOME CIVIL RIGHTS PROGRESS IN GEORGIA: "Georgians with carry licenses will be able to tote their concealed guns on public transportation, in restaurants that serve alcohol and in state parks under legislation signed by Gov. Sonny Perdue on Wednesday."

A REPORT FROM the Maker Faire.

SHOULD LIBERALS SUPPORT THE DEATH PENALTY?

HMM: Nanotechnology to kill bacteria OK in hospitals but suspect in commercial products.

AT NEWSWEEK, a discussion of ethanol, energy, and Bob Zubrin's plan.

DOES THIS MEAN THE RECESSION-TALK IS RIGHT? Lamborghini working on a certified pre-owned program. Or is it a sign of trickle-down prosperity?

KATIE GRANJU: THE POST-FEMINIST FUTURE IS NOW: "The nation’s most prominent pro-choice lobby has decided against endorsing the first truly viable female presidential contender."

CAR LUST: The McLaren F1.

HEH: "Remember (Gov.) Mike Huckabee’s supposed subliminal cross in his Christmas campaign ad? Well, Obama campaign ditches the subliminal and goes for the in your face cross.”

CREDIT WHERE IT'S DUE: Thoughts on disaster relief:

THERE is a certain familiarity to the concomitant series of actions and reactions when disaster strikes in the world. The US stands ready, willing and able to offer assistance. It is often the first country to send in millions of dollars, navy strike groups loaded with food and medical supplies, and transport planes, helicopters and floating hospitals to help those devastated by natural disaster.

Then, just as swift and with equal predictability, those wedded to the Great Satan view of the US begin to carp, drawing on a potent mixture of cynicism and conspiracy theories to criticise the last remaining superpower. When the US keeps doing so much of the heavy lifting to alleviate suffering, you'd figure that the anti-Americans might eventually revise their view of the US. But they never do. And coming under constant attack even when helping others, you'd figure that Americans would eventually draw the curtains on world crises. But they haven't. At least not yet.

So it was last week. The US stood ready to help the cyclone-ravaged Burmese people. It did not matter that Burma's ruling junta was no friend of the Americans. With more than 100,000 people feared dead and many more hundreds of thousands left destitute, US Air Force cargo planes loaded with supplies and personnel started arriving in nearby Thailand to begin humanitarian operations in Burma. . . . The resentment that comes from needing the military and economic might of the US translated into the most absurd criticism. Jan Egeland, the former UN boss of humanitarian affairs, cavilled about the stinginess of certain Western nations. His eye was on the US. Former British minister Claire Short was equally miffed, describing the initiative by the US and other countries as "yet another attempt to undermine the UN", which was, according to her, the "only body that has the moral authority" to help.

I love moral authority as much as the next guy, but the UN's moral authority is a mighty hard sell given that the UN club includes the most odious regimes in the world, such as Burma. And notice how the UN's moral authority did not quickly translate into helicopters laden with food and water?

It never does. More like briefcases full of untraceable cash, in the wrong hands.

JOHN TAMMES POSTS VIDEO FROM IRAQ.

DON SURBER looks at Bushonomics.

KEEP TINKERING ALIVE! Related thoughts here.

A REPORT FROM Afghanistan.

TIM WU on "tolerated use" -- things that are technically copyright infringements but that people, well, tolerate. (Via Larry Solum).

CONGRATULATIONS TO MY SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD NEPHEW JOSEPH, who just got his helicopter license.

MANY STATES ARE backing away from red-light cameras. Not mine, alas.

BRAZIL STARTS A PRO-ETHANOL DIPLOMATIC OFFENSIVE: I don't need any persuading. We should drop our barriers to Brazilian ethanol right away.

FLUNK YOUR STUDENTS, lose your job? “'Show me how lowering the bar has ever helped anyone,' Aird said in an interview. . . . Today, Steve Aird is packing up his office."

UPDATE: Tom Elia comments: "What a bunch of candy asses we have developed in this country..." They were always there. They've just acquired more influence of late.

THOUGHTS ON HOW TO CALCULATE the value of a longevity treatment.

HILLARY PICKS UP ANOTHER Tennessee superdelegate.

JEFF GOLDSTEIN: Guilt by association by association.

DADBLOGGER ROBERT PEDERSON is now blogging for the Detroit News.

BILL QUICK ON an immigration double standard.

IN THE MAIL: John Varley's Rolling Thunder, the sequel to his earlier Mars books, Red Lightning and Red Thunder.

Harriman, Tennessee.

NEW YORK TIMES: After Lopsided Loss, Obama Woos Blue-Collar Voters. Plus, breaking out the flag pin! Is it "phony patriotism" now, or was it just phony patriotism then?

ACTUALLY, IT'S NOT A GOOF: By appearing clueless, he undermines claims that he's a secret Muslim!

FREE TRADE: The case for Colombia.

AND WHEN YOU GET THERE, BE SURE TO BITCH about the Bush Administration's position on global warming: Avoid Traffic: Take a Helicopter to the Hamptons.

THE SMART CAR MAY BE LITTLE, but it gets high marks for safety:

The Smart ForTwo, the twin-seat micro that's so small that two can fit in a single parking space, earned the top rating in front- and side-impact crash tests. It was rated "acceptable" for whiplash protection in rear-end crashes, the agency says.

There's an important caveat: While the frontal tests do a good job of replicating a crash against a fixed object, there is no overcoming the laws of physics when it comes to crashes against larger, heavier vehicles such as SUVs and big pickups.

Still, it's possible to design small cars that are surprisingly safe.

TONY BLANKLEY: "Race, the yet unclosed scab that has run deep through our history, is about to be discussed as it never has been in a presidential election. . . . I would argue that the more honest the public conversation is the less virulent the private one will be, and therein lies the path to maximum civic hygiene."

THE LITTLE-KNOWN BACKGROUND to Loving v. Virginia.

HUSAYN'S STORY: A report from Iraq.

LAUGH, CRY, OR JUST SMACK YOUR FOREHEAD? Outsourcing of King Memorial to China Is Probed.

OUCH: "White. White. White. Race. Race. Race. Oh, you Democrats. You've really made a nice place for yourselves."

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION FOR CONSERVATIVE ACADEMICS? The roots of racial affirmative action lie in a history of institutions that claimed to be trying to hire a more diverse faculty, but actually persisted in closed, old-boy-network hiring -- and sometimes even engaged in deliberate and dishonest efforts to avoid hiring minorities. Does this new phenomenon reflect a similar fear with regard to intellectual diversity?

RICK MORAN: Why Hillary won't give up.

UGH: The death toll in that China earthquake has hit 15,000.

JERRY POURNELLE:

I have a number of letters about McCain and why we ought to vote Libertarian and "Send a message." I understand the argument.

The fact is that the Democrats will control Congress. If they also control the White House, we will have a series of legislative packages that will make the Great Society look like a libertarian government. . . . The argument is to give the Democrats their head, and pick up the pieces after the inevitable crash. I think that overlooks the resilience of tax and tax, spend and spend, elect and elect regimes. We haven't seen much in the way of reforms in Europe. The Democrats will create new bureaucracies that can never be dismantled: an example is the Department of Education. Reagan came into office determined to abolish it. Now it owns US education, and No Child Left Behind is entrenched. The Iron Law of Bureaucracy is inexorable.

He concludes: "The post-Gingrich Republicans who invented 'big government conservatism' have much to answer for."

BUT WITHOUT MUCH NATIONAL MEDIA COVERAGE: Rezko trial goes to jury.

AGEISM VS. RACISM: A look ahead to November. . . .

UPDATE: Related thoughts here.

POWER LINE: The Republican losing streak continues. And yet I'll bet the GOP delegation in Congress won't take the lesson. Nothing else has worked, after all.

DON SURBER: Making American politics too dainty.

WOW: "Obama only wins 53% of WV DEM PRIMARY VOTERS in a matchup with McCain."

FINAL VOTE TALLY: Hillary 67, Obama 26. That's a thumpin'.

SHE ALWAYS DID HAVE A NOSE FOR UNUSUALLY SHREWD INVESTMENTS:

Propelled by her husband's post-White House earnings, Sen. Hillary Clinton's average net worth soared from red ink to $30.7 million between 2000 and 2006, the fastest financial climb among members of Congress who arrived without assets, a watchdog group reported Tuesday.

Unsurprisingly, however, McCain and Obama have made out okay, too. It's a good thing that we elect such financially savvy folks to Congress. That must explain why the country's finances are in such good shape. Here's much more at the Sunlight Foundation website. And check out their Project 535 page too.

May 13, 2008

I WAS OUT IN MARYVILLE TODAY, and ran across one of those ignorant, rural Appalachian types, clinging to his gun.

TALKLEFT: There is no nominee. Kinda has a Sarah-Connorish ring to it . . . .

MICKEY KAUS: "Dave Weigel of Reason describes the confident union push for 'card check' legislation in the next Democratic administration. This is a much more significant issue than the manufactured debate over a gas tax holiday (sorry, Jon!). It's a permanent structural change in the economy. With "card check," unions wouldn't have to win the right to represent workers in a regular secret ballot election. They'd merely have to collect cards from a majority of workers."

SINCE COOKWARE IS A FREQUENT TOPIC AROUND HERE, I should note that they're having a 50% off sale over at Amazon. I guess, post-Mother's Day, they're trying to clear stuff out. (Bumped, because it's a good sale, and no, I don't know why the formerly-pricey Calphalon is suddenly so cheap. Probably a sign of the Apolcalypse.)

UPDATE: Susanna Cornett emails: "Glenn - Thank you for the link to the cookware deal at Amazon. I ordered several things, and then found out at checkout that they were eligible for a 4-for-3 deal! So I got one of them free, saving another $18. I didn't just get Calphalon, so I don't think it's connected to a specific brand. I checked back, and found that the ones eligible for 4-for-3 say so on their individual specs page. You may want to bump that post up one more time!"

Consider it done!

DON'T TUG ON SUPERMAN'S CAPE.

HERE'S A LINK to the results from that special Congressional election in Mississippi. No clear leader yet.

UPDATE: Still close, but with 82% in, Childers (the Democrat) is projected the winner. The GOP Congressional delegation didn't learn its lesson in 2006, and they're paying the price now.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Tom Brosz blames a last-minute dirty trick by Democrats. But the GOP keeps losing these races they shouldn't lose.

CURRENTLY SHOWING HILLARY 62, OBAMA 31, with 18% of the vote in. Don't know if that'll hold, but if it does a 2-1 margin, or something close to it, ain't hay. Still, the Democrats who matter seem to have decided that Obama should get the nomination.

UPDATE: With 31% in, it's Hillary over Obama, 64 to 29.

ANOTHER UPDATE: It's now 65 to 28, with 42% of the vote in. Whether this election "matters" or not, that's a clobberin'.

DAVE WEIGEL: "If he had lost Indiana by a landslide and North Carolina by a little, West Virginia's primary would be getting more attention than it is. And even the little attention it's getting is focusing on Obama's crippling weakness with a certain segment of white voters."

A WEST VIRGINIA ROUNDUP.

UPDATE: More from Salena Zito.

THE MUDVILLE GAZETTE: OBAMA TELEGRAPHS HIS FIRST PUNCH. "In response, McCain and other Republicans are busy creating 'kick me' signs to wear throughout the upcoming political season."

MCCLATCHY: Clinton scores big win in W.Va., but does it matter?

LOOKING AT Obama's Appalachian problem.

UPDATE: TalkLeft: "West Virginia is not an anomaly. Obama's white working class problem is EAST of the Mississippi. It is not just Appalachia. It MUST be addressed. Calling West Virginia names is not going to solve the problem."

IT'S NOT JUST ME: Tim Blair has made a move, too.

SAVE THE PLANET -- DRIVE A HYBRID: Er, except when it's air-freighted to you from Japan. "The Lexus LS600H, which costs £84,000, was a gift from Lexus to the 65-year-old former Beatle, who helped promote the hybrid vehicle. But instead of arriving by boat as expected, the car was flown to Britain on a Korean Air flight, creating a carbon footprint almost 100 times bigger than if it had come by sea."

So much for driving "guilt-free."

WEST VIRGINIA CALLED FOR HILLARY: By a large though not yet declared margin.

A LOOK AT the Chinese earthquake, from Popular Mechanics.

STEPHEN GREEN IS DRUNKBLOGGING WEST VIRGINIA. The primary, not the whole state. Though for him, that wouldn't be an insuperable challenge, probably.

UPDATE: Mark Murray, Why West Virginia Matters.

MORE ON THE MOVE: Ralph Luker emails: "Do those of us who keep you on our blogroll need to change the link to the pj site?" Nope. You can if you want, but Instapundit.com continues to point here.

Meanwhile, if you visit the main Pajamas Media page you'll see a helpful scrolling list of InstaPundit headlines. We'll be doing some other cool stuff too, including a piece by me on Robert Heinlein and libertarianism. But for those who sent worried email, relax: InstaPundit will stay InstaPundit.

TOP TEN JOB INTERVIEW MISTAKES.

IS THE BACHELOR'S DEGREE OBSOLETE?

FOLDING PROTEINS on your lunch break.

HEH: Cop Assaulted by M&M -- Clean-hand Defense Fails.

BOB BARR: Why I want to be President. Or at least, why he's running.

UPDATE: He may have a few flipflop problems: "McCain voted against the prescription-drug entitlement in 2003. Barr voted for it. And by the way, Barr, who is now running on an anti-war platform, voted to authorize military force against Iraq." He's just grown in office. Or out of it!

ANOTHER UPDATE: A modest correction: "Clark Stooksbury points out that Barr had left Congress before the bill passed in 2003. That's correct. But Barr was still in Congress in 2002, and he voted for the idea then. (I phrased the post a bit clumsily, so it sounded as though I were claiming that Barr had voted for the bill in 2003.)"

PROBLEMS WITH antibacterial soap.

THEY TOLD ME THAT IF GEORGE W. BUSH WERE RE-ELECTED, people who spoke out on civil rights would be fired, even from university jobs. And they were right!

DIY ROCKETEERS AND SPACE PROPERTY RIGHTS, on the latest Popular Mechanics podcast.

THE MOVE: James Joyner emails: "Congrats on the PJM move. I must admit, though, to wondering what you get out of it." Well, nothing will really change -- I'm just shifting to PJ's servers for obscure but important ad-sales reasons, etc. This was actually my original deal when I signed up with them, it's just been put off for one reason or another. Let me stress that I have zero complaints about HostingMatters, who hosted me for years with terrific service. They'll continue hosting some other stuff of mine -- including a new GlennReynolds.com site as soon as I get it put together -- into the future. And except for a few minor bugs in the moving process, you should see no change in InstaPundit.

THE JOY OF FLYING (CONT'D): What's really in that seat-back pocket.

EXAMINER: MORE DRILLING, not higher taxes.

A ROUNDUP OF WEST VIRGINIA COVERAGE: It'll be continuously updated all day.

A BI-FUEL MUSTANG that runs on either propane or gasoline.

IN THE MAIL: Liberty's Blueprint: How Madison and Hamilton Wrote The Federalist, Defined the Constitution, and Made Democracy Safe for the World. By Michael Meyerson.

THE OBAMA RULES, explained. They kind of remind me of Calvinball. Perhaps the election will end "Q to 12."

Inside Brooks General Store, near Rugby, Tennessee.

GOOD NEWS: Marine Corps meets 142 percent of recruiting goal. "The Marine Corps far surpassed its recruiting goal last month and could eventually be more than a year ahead of schedule in its plan to grow the force to 202,000 members. All military services met or exceeded their monthly recruiting goals in April, with the Marine Corps signing 142 percent of the number it was looking for, the Pentagon said."

The story does its best to spin this as bad news about the slowing economy -- but if that's all it is, why is the combat-oriented Marine Corps doing the best of all the services? (Via TigerHawk, who has some thoughts).

UPDATE: Reader Alex del Castillo emails: "Because, thank god (or whatever), this country still produces people who really believe in *personal* sacrifice for something greater than themselves. One reason liberal commentators are so amazed at this type of thing is that such personal motivation sails pretty close to the whole family values/religion thing, which they like to conflate with Falwell, polygamists and other bad extremes of the Christian right for politcal reasons. Fact is, while the there are no atheists in foxholes, there are an awful lot of agnostics."

HMM: "There are lots of methodologies and modes of thought that are widely acceptable within at least some circles of academia, but would strike an uninitiated outside observer as nonsensical, academically dishonest, or otherwise discreditable."

FROM DEAN RIVKIN: Legal Advocacy and Education Reform: Litigating School Exclusion.

BECAUSE THINGS DON'T SUCK ENOUGH ON THEIR OWN: Fake malaria drugs:

Until recently, fake malaria drugs have been a problem largely confined to Southeast Asia, where a sampling two years ago found 53 percent of the drugs substandard, and drug experts said Asia was facing “an epidemic of counterfeits.” . . . A study released last week suggests that the epidemic is spreading to Africa, where the malaria burden is even greater, and the regulatory agencies are even weaker. Tests on 195 packs of malaria drugs bought at private pharmacies found that 35 percent either did not contain enough active ingredient or did not dissolve quickly enough to work.

Find the perpetrators and shoot 'em up with the nastiest strain you can find. And limit them to their own medications . . . .

STOLEN VOTE INVESTIGATION BEGINS: "Nine months after Democrats allegedly stole a parliamentary vote in the House, the long-running 'Select Committee to Investigate the Voting Irregularities of August 2, 2007' will haul House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer to the witness stand today for what Republicans insist will be the Maryland Democrat's comeuppance." Seems like a bigger story than page A13, and if the parties were reversed I'm sure it would be.

BARACK OBAMA: Christianist? They're everywhere!

REVIEWING THE REVIEWERS: A roundup of book reviews from the weekend's newspapers.

THE LATEST SILICON GRAFFITI IS UP!