MARK HARDEN DISCOVERS another fiendish plan by the slippery Bush administration to thwart the anti-war movement: a short, successful war that leaves no time for protests to build momentum. They’ll stop at nothing, those guys.

EUGENE VOLOKH TAKES ON an egregious example of post-9/11 discrimination against non-citizens:

“All persons,” the Nebraska Constitution says, “have certain inherent and inalienable rights,” including “the right to keep and bear arms for security or defense of self, family, home, and others, and for lawful common defense, hunting, recreational use, and all other lawful purposes.” Voters enacted this right to bear arms in 1988 and made clear that the right “shall not be denied or infringed by the state or any subdivision thereof.”

And yet the City Council is now considering re-enacting its law banning anyone who is “not a citizen of the United States” from owning a handgun. Law-abiding Omaha residents – adults who have shown no sign of posing a danger to others – would thus be denied their clearly established constitutional right.

What justification can there be for this? After all, non-citizens are surely included in “all persons.” And surely law-abiding non-citizens need to defend themselves, their families and their homes just as much as you and I do. Denying non-citizens this right because a few non-citizens may abuse it is wrong – just as wrong as denying citizens the right to bear arms because a few citizens abuse it. . . .

Since Sept. 11, we’ve heard many complaints about supposed oppression of immigrants; and many of these have proved unfounded. For instance, of course the government may lock up non-citizens who have overstayed their visas – that’s just enforcing the law.

But this city ordinance really is oppression: The government would deny to law-abiding non-citizens a clearly defined constitutional right.

Where’s the ACLU on this one?

RALPH PETERS looks at root causes. (Via Kathy Kinsley).

MATT WELCH RESPONDS to claims that America is facing a tide of anti-intellectualism. Excerpt:

But I suspect that, to the contrary, Noam Chomsky’s never had a wider audience. It’s just that many of his new readers don’t agree with him, and aren’t shy about saying so, despite his “five decades” of comment compared to their five months. I would go as far as suggesting that what we are witnessing is a further democratization of political/intellectual debate, rather than some kind of grunting Cossack putsch.

Indeed. But I think that that may be what’s really bothering some people.

SAMIZDATA has a firsthand report from the “Countryside March” in London.

AMERICA’S “UNILATERAL ACTION” IN AFGHANISTAN, explained.

BILL HERBERT looks into plans for violence at next week’s protests in Washington. I don’t think these guys have figured out yet that their moment has passed.

JOSHUA TREVINO is reporting on his experience taking the Foreign Service Exam. He’s going to report on all stages of the process, which should provide some interesting insight.

ROBERT PRATHER doesn’t think much of Terry Jones.

ALEX BEAM NOTWITHSTANDING, rumor has it that the Boston Globe is interested in weblogs and is planning a weblog-related initiative for its Boston.com site. I hope it’s true.

UPDATE: Jeff Jarvis emails with this link, which leads to more info. Cool.

DALE AMON REPORTS that Bob Forward has died. I don’t have anything to say that Dale hasn’t already said better. Bummer.

RON WYDEN talks about his new nanotechnology-research bill.

THEY CHECK IN, BUT THEY DON’T CHECK OUT: Jim Bennett says the European Union is turning into a roach motel. I think that these new efforts to strengthen the EU are comparable to Cuba’s recent “communism forever” vote — evidence of fraying and insecurity, rather than of permanence.

DON’T MISS TODAY’S PUNDITWATCH. Mark Shields isn’t getting much respect.

MICKEY KAUS HAS MORE on the welfare / terrorism connection. I think he’s onto something here.

INTERESTING PIECE on South Dakota’s proposed jury nullification amendment in The New York Times.

HESIOD THEOGENY is admirably forthright about his views on the war — and I actually share his fears about the dangers of empire, as I’ve mentioned here from time to time. I wish that, say, Tom Daschle would be as straightforward as Hesiod.

Unless, of course, Hesiod really is Tom Daschle, blogging so as to get things off his chest that he doesn’t feel he can say in public. With these pseudonymous bloggers, you never know. . . .

Seriously, though, it’s a good post. And I think a lot of so-called warbloggers share his concerns. You don’t go to war because it’s inherently desirable. You go to war because you see no other reasonable alternatives. Reasonable people can agree on exactly when that becomes the case. I wish that it weren’t the case now, though I think it is. If something could magically sweep away our problems without a war, I’d be very happy. I don’t think it’s going to happen though.

UPDATE: Justin Katz thinks I’m being too generous to Hesiod. So do a lot of people who have emailed me.

Well, I think the Bush-bashing is pretty over-the-top (FDR was rather disingenuous about leading us into war, too, but that’s considered sign of his craftiness in looking after the national interest, not of moral turpitude). But Hesiod was, I think, honest about his motivations and clear about his positions, and made clear that his reluctance to invade Iraq was based on affection for America and American principles, not on hostility thereto. That puts him head and shoulders above most of the anti-war critics. And most of the anti-war Democrats in Congress.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Boy, they’re slamming me in the comments over at Bill Quick’s page. That’s okay, guys — I can take it!

BRITAIN’S PRO-FOX-HUNTING MARCH drew over 400,000 people according to this AP report:

LONDON (AP) – To the blare of hunting horns and the shriek of whistles, about 400,000 people marched through the streets of London on Sunday to support fox hunting and the rural way of life.

The march, billed as Britain’s largest civil protest in 150 years, drew farmers, gamekeepers, and hunting enthusiasts with a clear message for Prime Minister Tony Blair.

“Blair, ban hunting and we will boot you out,” read placards held by tweed-clad demonstrators as they marched 20 abreast through the streets, bringing much of the city to a standstill.

“We are here to show Mr. Blair that we won’t go away, we won’t be quiet. He is talking about changing our way of life and that’s just not on,” said John Gammell, a gamekeeper from Yorkshire, northern England.

It must be highly embarrassing to the anti-war crowd that they can’t put any significant number in the streets to protest action against Iraq, while pro-fox-hunters can get nearly half a million. To be fair, I think this goes beyond just fox-hunting, and constitutes a response to a lot of so-called “Transnational Progressive” ideology, though I suppose the antiwar folks won’t take much comfort from that. Expect to hear more about this from the folks at Samizdata, though at the moment they appear to be marching, not blogging. Or more likely, knowing them, they’re recovering from their exertions at a pub.

AFGHAN WOMEN LEARNING TO READ: Josh Chafetz writes that this story suggests that the United States military may be the world’s foremost humanitarian institution.

UPDATE: Hmm. The lesson appears to be spreading:

Witnesses say a Jordanian woman ripped off her enveloping black cloak and veil — to reveal a traditional long dress that was nearly as enveloping — and punched and kicked into submission three young men who had been verbally harassing her.

The official Petra News Agency reported Sunday that shopkeepers and passers-by believe the unidentified woman must have had martial arts training. In Friday’s incident on the main street in Zarqa 13 miles north Amman, the three men were too shocked to react at first and ended up knocked to the ground, screaming in pain. They then scrambled up and fled.

The crowd cheered. What’s interesting is that this story was originally reported by the official news agency, suggesting that someone in Jordan wants word of it to get out. And why might that be? Hmm.

GERMAN ELECTIONS: It’s neck-and-neck according to exit polls. A German reader emails that the German media seem to think Schroder’s going to lose. If nothing else, this proves that anti-Americanism isn’t the path to a landslide.

UPDATE: Looks like Schroder’s squeaked by, though just barely.

WELL, I’M BACK. I don’t know how much blogging will get done today, but I’ll try to post a few items anyway. I can report that Virginia Postrel is much better looking in person than she is in the picture on her website. And Richard Epstein is thick-skinned even for a law professor, as he sat for two days listening to people discuss his book, usually — these were academics, after all — critically, and he stayed calm and cheerful the whole time.

My flights were smooth and on-time, and airport security wasn’t noticeably stupid, though I did notice that the first guy in line for boarding always seems to get a “random” search, something that I’ve noticed on previous trips and gotten numerous emails about, so that it may actually be a valid generalization.

OKAY, it’s a nice day. I’m spending the rest of this break outdoors in the sunshine. You enjoy your day, too.

If I don’t get back tonight, keep your eyes on this planned demonstration in London tomorrow, which some expect to be the biggest ever in Britain. Samizdata has more information.

BRAD WARDELL ARGUES that as the stakes go up, media bias is getting stronger.

VEGARD VALBERG has some thoughts on how the war might go. He wonders if America has the proper attitude for empire.

MASSACHUSSETTS LIBERTARIAN CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR CARLA HOWELL was invited to participate in a debate with the Democratic and Republican candidates. Now, Samizdata reports, the “media consortium” sponsoring the debate is talking about withdrawing the invitation.

That doesn’t seem fair. Howell’s initiative to end the Massachussetts income tax, a reader emails, is now polling around 40%. (That seems plausible, as the last time I heard about it I think the figure was 37%). Think that could be making people nervous?