INSTAPOWER? Yep. A bunch of pictures have been added to the PopShot Magazine interview with the Capitalist Chicks. How do I know it was InstaPower? Because they told me so.

READER HARRY HELMS offers this slant on the voucher decision:

Wonder if all the cultural conservatives applauding today’s Supreme Court decision on vouchers realize this means their tax dollars can now be used to support students attending Islamic madrasas? And what will be the reaction of those same conservatives when they learn about vouchers being used by parents who want to give their children an education in an “Islamic-based environment”?

Stay tuned. This decision is going to have a LOT of interesting ramifications.

Well, but at least they’ll have to say the Pledge of Allegiance. . . .

UPDATE: Here’s an old Jonathan Rauch article from Reason on unforeseen consequences of vouchers. I think that these fears have resonance only to the extent that voucher schools get no oversight, which I see as unlikely.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Eugene Volokh has blogged a reply to Helms.

PSYCHOTIC DEATH CULT UPDATE. Sorry, no other caption does justice to this.

(Via Charles Johnson).

THE BLOVIATOR (who teaches public health law in real life, I think) says that the Homeland Security bill would be a public health disaster.

UPDATE: I was right. Ross Silverman writes: “You are correct. I teach health law and policy, and have a particular interest in public health law.”

THE PLEDGE RULING has been stayed pending action by the full Ninth Circuit.

MICHAEL BARONE has noticed a Dick Gephardt speech on the war that deserves more attention.

A READER sends this picture with the phrase “Hooray for our side!” and suggests that it’s why the West will defeat Islamist fundamentalists.

Well, it certainly helps explain why our side has more appeal.

UPDATE: I think we killed this server. At least, the link’s gone bad, and the parent site is returning cryptic error messages. Oops. Maybe it’ll be back up tomorrow.

IS PRESIDENT BUSH MAKING HIMSELF A DICTATOR? Krugman, Dowd & Moore say yes. Spinsanity says no. And it says that Krugman, Dowd, and Moore need to drop their manipulative paranoia and get a grip. Yep.

JANE GALT EXPLAINS WORLDCOM. I like the way she frames the initial question.

HEY! Didn’t Dave Winer have this idea first?

RAPID RESPONSE: Reason has an article on the vouchers decision, by Mike Lynch. It also has a piece by Charles Paul Freund, pointing out that the Pledge started out as a piece of Socialist propaganda. Interesting reading.

CHRISTIAN PACIFISM UPDATE: Reader Ramesh Ponnuru sends this prayer from Stanley Hauerwas’s book Prayers Plainly Spoken:

Title: Save Us from Our American Power

Hauerwas puts in an editor’s note: “I wrote this prayer after the United States sent missiles into Iraq because Iraq had allegedly tried to kill George Bush when he visited Kuwait. President Clinton showed he ‘meant business’ by bombing them.”

Here’s the prayer: “Graceful Lord, we find ourselves living in the most powerful country in the world. The pride and self-righteousness such power breeds are beyond compare. No power exists that can humble us. We are tyrants of all we survey. We decide to bomb these people, send rockets against those people, kill those we call terrorists–all because we can. We are the most powerful people in the world. It is hard not to be caught up in such power. It is intoxicating. Save us from it. Sober us with the knowledge that you will judge this nation, you will humble this nation, you will destroy this nation for our pride. Send us a reminder that you are God, that you alone have the right of vengeance, and if it be your will, make those we bomb instruments of your judgment. At the very least, save us from the ‘normality of killing.’ Amen.”

The 9/11 attacks, in other words, seem to have been exactly what Hauerwas was praying for. I hope he’s happy. Here’s my prayer in response:

Dear God, at the very least, save us from the inanity and excessive self-regard of those who choose to say they are Thy servants and mouthpieces, but who only seem interested in humbling others’ pride, and whose positions always seem to mirror those of Mother Jones. Except that even Mother Jones is showing some sign of a backbone these days. Perhaps I should say The Nation — which seems to see nothing more offensive than American “boastfulness.” In Thy mercy and power, please grant these smug Pharisees in their well-paid sinecures a clue. Amen.

UPDATE: A reader named Dave (his email address gives no clue as to his name, and his signature gives only his first — this is often why I call people “a reader” in these posts, the other reason being that they request confidentiality) sends this thought:

I think the problem is that someone prayed Voltaire’s prayer, and He’s still answering it.

Dave

“I have only made but one prayer in my life: `O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.’ And it was granted.”

— Voltaire

That’s been the prayer of warbloggers everywhere, and boy, oh boy, has it been granted.

JAY NORDLINGER has some thoughts on antisemitism and Holocaust denial at SFSU and the University of Michigan (scroll down). He offers a lot of interesting information (some of which was new to me) both about the extent to which hardcore antisemitism (and anti-Americanism, which is becoming antisemitism’s frequent companion) has spread on college campuses — and some heartening examples of how students are pushing back.

SPEAKING OF CHOOSING POORLY: I think that these guys have a case. But boy are they idiots.

THE PALESTINIANS ARE CHOOSING. . . POORLY: Check out these insults directed at Condi Rice. Brian Emmett is unimpressed.

ISNTAPUNDIT is royally p.o.’ed at the various other InstaPundit-knockoff sites that have sprung up lately. He figures he had that market cornered, tells the other guys where to get off.

OKAY, when I implied that nobody reads paper magazines, I was kidding. In fact, I found this article by Seth Godin in Fast Company while I was waiting to get my hair cut. It rules. Also, elsewhere I saw Esther Dyson making the point that high-speed wireless will make computer use more social — instead of being tied to a machine you can take the machine where people are, making computing a group activity more like watching TV together. That’s how it is in my house now that the wireless network is working.

CHICKS, BUCKS AND ROCK’N’ROLL: PopShot Magazine has an interview with the Capitalist Chicks. It’s on their website — I don’t usually get the actual mag, but I assume it’s there, too. Cool photo on the cover of the webzine; is it the cover photo on the actual, hardcopy version? I don’t know.

But who reads magazines on paper anymore anyway?

UPDATE: The cover pic rotates, so I’ve added it here. I don’t think they’ll mind.

ANOTHER UPDATE: They didn’t mind. In fact, they sent this one for your further enjoyment. I had it on the site for a minute, but it’s a bit too big for the main page.

THE CLEVELAND SCHOOL VOUCHER PROGRAM WAS JUST UPHELD BY THE SUPREME COURT — which adds an interesting angle to the Pledge of Allegiance case. Perhaps Patrick Ruffini will update his post on the political impact of the Pledge decision to take that into account.

HERE’S A LINK to a page where you can view the decision in PDF form. Warning: it’s 995K.

UPDATE: Here’s another link that seems a lot faster. And Eugene Volokh has links to the Court’s other important decisions today.

IT’S A COULTER-A-THON: Henry Hanks says that TAPPED’s fact-checking comes up short.

BLOGOSPHERE PANEL UPDATE: Mickey Kaus has bowed out due to scheduling problems, but Josh Marshall and John Hiler will be there, which is something new since my previous mention. It’s the National Press Club, tomorrow at noon. Here’s a link to the press release.

UPDATE: Hey, I thought Jonah Goldberg was invited. Come anyway, Jonah!

TROUBLING DEVELOPMENTS IN COLOMBIA: Here’s a short report from the Miami Herald and a much more detailed analysis from El Sur. Essentially, the FARC terrorists are trying to take over the country, starting with mayors and municipal officials.

CAN WE TRUST THE HOMELAND SECURITY BUREAUCRACY AS MUCH AS WE NEED TO? I have my doubts, as this FoxNews column makes clear.

N.Z. BEAR SAYS Stephen Green is wrong about the pledge. Me, I agree with the Bear on the Pledge: adding “under God” was just a cave to a campaign by the Knights of Columbus, actually — but I just don’t care about this issue much. I agree with Stephen that it’s a bit of a distraction when we’re at war.

MICKEY KAUS SAYS THAT TOM DASCHLE IS BLUFFING.