LATEST FROM NIELSEN: Donahue’s viewer loves the show.

THE HORSE’S MOUTH: Porphyrogenitus points out that the Guardian called the case for going after Saddam “unanswerable.” Back in November.

THE POWER OF THE BLOGOSPHERE: Some of Howard Berman’s (D-Disney) constituents discover just how much clout a blog confers.

NOT INSTAPUNDIT. IsraPundit. With advice for Palestinian journalists.

HENRY HANKS RESPONDS TO TAPPED’S RESPONSE to yours truly regarding Coulter and Bellesiles.

I’m just happy to see The American Prospect join the ranks of those who believe Bellesiles’ Arming America is fatally flawed.

JOHANNESBURG UPDATE: Greenpeace has won an award, but I don’t think they’ll be parading it back home:

Johannesburg – African and Asian farmers, and hawkers from across South Africa handed over a “Bullshit Trophy” (yes, that is the trophy’s real name) to Greenpeace, the Third World Network and BioWatch for their contribution to the “preservation of poverty” in developing countries.

The trophy comprises of a piece of wood on which two heaps of dried cow-dung – “unfortunately not elephant dung” – are mounted.

Barun Mitra of the Sustainable Development Network (SDN), a coalition of non-governmental organisations which believes, among other things, that sustainable development is attainable only through free trade, officiated at the symbolic handing-over in Johannesburg on Wednesday.

Mitra denounced the three NGOs as parasites which “prey on the blood of the poor” and did not help to improve agricultural productivity in the Third World.

“They are not interested in famine or poverty. This lot is concerned only about their own interests.

“They sit here at the World Summit for Sustainable Development in their rich man’s hotels and romanticise everything,” he said.

Bet this doesn’t get a lot of Big Media attention. But Kenya’s James Shikwati has noticed.

THE PROGRESSIVE has laid out its case against war in Iraq.

I’m not very persuaded by the invocation of Christian “just war” doctrine. That’s because (1) I don’t agree that an invasion would violate it; and (2) I don’t believe foreign (or domestic) policy should be driven by religious dogma. And I don’t really think The Progressive does either, most of the time.

UPDATE: Zach Barbera responds at length.

THE U.S. DELEGATION IS TAKING THE OFFENSIVE in Johannesburg:

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) – The United States launched a diplomatic counterattack at the world summit Thursday, declaring itself to be the world’s leader in sustainable development and challenging the need for timetables to tackle poverty and environmental damage.

In a forceful – nearly angry – presentation, a dozen Bush administration officials laid out a series of partnerships with industry and foundations in what they described as a “new approach” to address some of the world’s most pressing problems: energy, clean water, sanitation, hunger, among others.

Prediction: no approach that doesn’t produce a lot of jobs for internationalista bureaucrats and NGO-crats will get good reviews.

WINDS OF CHANGE IS FINISHING UP ITS WEEKLONG SERIES of firsthand reports on the Sudan. Follow the links and read the whole thing; it’s very interesting.

MICHAEL RUBIN SAYS PUNDITS ARE overestimating Iraqi military power, just as they did in Gulf War I. Reader Tim Callahan adds:

I predict a ground war of less than 72 hours, with massive desertions, less than 1,000 Iraqi civilian casualties and less than 100 American military ones. This will have to be preceded by an air campaign of 15-30 days. The number of civilian deaths caused in that is the wild card — expect howls of outrage from the usual suspects quoting “official” Iraqi gov’t figures multiplied by a factor of 5. On the other hand, an effective air campaign might cause such massive desertions or even a coup that would obviate the need for any ground action.

Of course, I’m nobody, but if you look at Gulf War I and compare both militaries then and now, it’s hard to argue otherwise. My only worry is that the US won’t have the will to implement a Marshall Plan-like restructuring of the country. As far as I see it, *that’s* where the debate should be right now.

Yes, and that last item is what the Saudis, and the other Arab despots, fear most.

UPDATE: Here’s an interesting piece from the Asia Times on U.S. military operations in and around Iraq.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF SADDAM: Nothing especially new, but interesting. And here’s a summary of Iraqi propaganda by Carla Passino.

THE INDEPUNDIT ISN’T IMPRESSED with reports of Saudi plans for a PR offensive. He has some constructive suggestions for the Saudis as to how they might make a better impression. Excerpt:

8. Allow American citizens being held against their will by their Saudi relatives to return to the United States.

9. Stop oppressing your people. Beating women in public for allowing a lock of hair to slip from their veils does nothing for your image in the international community. Neither does forcing little girls to die in a burning school because they aren’t properly dressed to venture onto a public street.

Good advice, but unlikely to be heeded.

PATRICK RUFFINI IS SURVEYING THE BLOGOSPHERE on attitudes about war with Iraq.

WHAT’S SCARIER? That Marc Weisblott has a new blog? Or his email that it was “inspired by Jim Treacher?” Brrrr.

MEDIA COVERAGE OF THE LOS ANGELES SCHOOLS SODA-BAN GETS A SPANKING:

I can’t believe that the local media thinks this is big news, but they don’t think incompetent teachers, grossly low reading scores, a state crackdown on home-schooling parents, political indoctrination in public schools, and teachers unions illegally using union dues for political purposes are not news stories. No, wait a minute. I do believe it.

So do I.

ANOTHER TRIUMPH of globalization over racial prejudice.

UPDATE: There’s more on this at The Lexfiles.

HOWARD KURTZ: “By the way, do you think there were any Hill hearings on removing Adolf Hitler?”

CORPORATE GREED VERSUS PRIVACY: Here’s more on Democratic Rep. Howard Berman’s ($191,891 from Big Entertainment) plan to open your home to Hollywood Hackers. And read this piece by Katherine Mangu-Ward on the subject, too.

Where are famous protectors of the little guy on this issue? You know, like Hillary Clinton ($603,845 from Big Entertainment), or Ted Kennedy ($239,000 from Big Entertainment), or Chuck Schumer ($450,185 from Big Entertainment).

If the Democrats keep this up, you know, people will start thinking they’re just tools of Big Business or something. . . .

AUSTIN BAY WRITES that Iraq is no Vietnam, and that fears of an urban-warfare quagmire are overstated:

The Iraqi Army of 2002, including the Republican Guard and special units, is deployed not to defend Iraq but to oppress it. Yes, that means it is deployed to defend Saddam’s ruling cohort. Still, loyalty from even elite units is bought with better bread and Mercedes-Benzes. When someone else — like Washington — offers steaks and Porsches, as well as a chance to remain alive, who’s true to the Butcher of Baghdad? Recall Iraqi troops’ surrender to French photographers in Desert Storm.

Saddam’s regime is brittle. The apt analogy is Nicolae Ceausescu’s vile Romanian dictatorship, a multitiered police state akin to Saddam’s. In late 1989, with the political context of the Cold War suddenly shifting, Ceausescu’s own secret police quickly put him in a grave. U.S. strategy remains directed at provoking a Baghdad coup. Aggressive “war talk” and troop movements promote that optimal result.

Stay tuned.

AIR SECURITY JUST GOT A BIT LESS STUPID. And it’s about time. Think those “Impeach Norm Mineta” stickers are having an effect?

A friend who is a bigshot at the Department of Transportation tells me that he thinks Norm Mineta is the fallguy in a conspiracy by the Bush Administration to make big government look bad — that the Administration’s agreement to federalize air security last fall was basically a rope-a-dope strategy. That’s a theory that I’ve propounded here before, mostly in jest, but he seemed to be serious. Go figure.

It would certainly explain a lot.

UPDATE: Reader John Tuttle has some other candidates for “conspiracy programs” to make big government look bad:

Education Reform

The Farm Bill

Campaign Finance Reform

The Steel Tariffs

Homeland Defense

George Tenet

FBI Dir Mueller

Hey, come to think of it. . . .

UNIVERSAL RECORDS LIABLE FOR SEX ATTACKS? Well. . . . Read the item and make up your own mind concerning what’s just.

JOHN HAWKINS HAS AN INTERVIEW WITH DANIEL PIPES ON HIS SITE. Who says bloggers can’t do “real” journalism? Excerpt:

The key thing to understand about US/Saudi relations at this point is that it’s a very private affair. The American electorate, think tanks, Congress, lobbyists, and others have had no say over it. It’s been a very cliquish affair for decades now. The change in the last year has been the opening of the relationship. The President has invited the Saudi ambassador to visit him at his Crawford Ranch as a way of saying, “we’re sticking with you.” It’s a clear response to the vehement anti-Saudi feeling. . . . Saudi Arabia is our rival, not an enemy, not a friend, a rival.

There’s much more, including a statement that the Oslo Accords set back prospects for peace by decades, and a discussion of the likely fallout from deposing Saddam Hussein.

JEREMY LOTT has a contrarian thought about this 9/11 slogan: “Has there ever been a more un-American mantra than ‘We shall never forget?'”

He’s right. The American way is to stomp hell out of people who do us ill, then forget all about it within a decade or two.

UPDATE: I like this slogan better.

JAMES LILEKS HAS UNEARTHED A HUGE SCANDAL at NPR’s Car Talk. Did I say huge? I meant HUUUGE! It’s like finding out that Martha Stewart serves her guests Hot Pockets.

“GAY MEDIA DOMINANCE” CLAIMS BILL O’REILLY! Well, that’s what some people are saying, anyway. That this is what they are saying proves that gays are doing pretty well in the PR battles.