PETE DUPONT writes that Iraq is only the first step to liberating the mideast. Leon Fuerth more or less agrees, but thinks that’s a bad thing. He sees it as the birth of an empire.

But American hegemony in the region is already extensive, and there seems little alternative — certainly Fuerth doesn’t provide one — to an increase of American influence. A U.N. figleaf might be diplomatically desirable (Fuerth thinks is is) but it would still be just that, a figleaf. Fuerth is, as I’ve said before, a smart guy. But I’d very much like to see a column as long as this one that spelled out exactly what we should be doing differently, and compared the costs (including the costs of failure) between that approach and the one the Bush Administration is pursuing.

FIRST THE MIRROR, NOW REUTERS. Maybe vapid anti-Americanism doesn’t sell as well as some people think.

ISRAEL AND THE ARABS: It’s hard to imagine this happening in any Arab country:

A 62-year-old chemistry professor and retired army officer, Mr. Even is soon to be sworn in as the first openly gay member of the Israeli Parliament, moving from the quiet confines of his laboratory at Tel Aviv University to the tumult of legislative politics.

So why are “progressives” siding with the Arabs against Israel?

WEBLOGS AND BIG MEDIA: A SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP? My TechCentralStation column is up.

UPDATE: Via Nick Denton, I ran across this piece by Andrew Sullivan from Sunday’s Times that’s on a similar topic. (He even mentions me). He envisions symbiosis, too, though of a different sort.

MICKEY KAUS ON LINCOLN CHAFEE:

But here’s a thought experiment: Suppose the Republicans were to pick up three Senate seats in the coming election, giving them a majority of two. Is there the slightest chance that Chafee would then bolt and become a Democrat — which would involve leaving the majority party to join the minority? No, there is not a chance. What does that say about how principled Chafee’s chafing is?

He’s got a new campaign slogan, too.

BRITISH SUPPORT FOR THE WAR HAS JUMPED TEN PERCENT SINCE THE BALI ATTACK according to this poll. This would seem to support Nick Denton’s terrorist-idiocy theory.

UPDATE: Apparently they’ve caught the Bali bomber.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Rachel Cunliffe, a New Zealand blogger, thinks people have been too quick to blame Islamists: “It is naive to quickly assume that all terrorism is the result of one particular group of people: ‘them.'” Yeah — except that it usually is “them,” isn’t it?

CONDITION RED: William Sjostrom has issued an “Urgent Fisking Alert” inspired by dumb Germaine Greer column on the Bali bombing. We should have known this was coming.

UPDATE: Hmm. Self-Fisking? Here’s a report of Germaine Greer telling women to veil themselves to protest the clothing industry, and characterizing pap smears as a patriarchal conspiracy.

Of such is the antiwar movement made, these days.

MICHIEL VISSER REPORTS ON THE FALL OF THE DUTCH GOVERNMENT, apparently brought about by infighting within Pim Fortuyn’s party.

HERE’S A LENGTHY story suggesting that the government is taking the possibility of terrorism in the D.C. sniper case more seriously than it appears. I certainly hope so. But I’m kind of tired of this pattern of treating terrorism as almost unthinkable. That sounds like what’s at work here, and it’s irritating, as Matt Welch wrote after the Hadayet/LAX shooting, to be treated as “children who need to be lied to.”

BARRELFISKING: Eugene Volokh describes Mary McGrory’s column as “nonsense of the most nonsensical sort,” which would usually be redundant — but not in this case, as his analysis makes clear.

RAND SIMBERG has some observations on the D.C. sniper.

Meanwhile the suspect is being described by three witnesses as an olive-skinned man.

INTERESTING ARTICLES ON SCIENCE FRAUD here, and here in the New York Times. Here’s a piece on the subject that I wrote a couple of weeks back, too.

YOU PDA TYPES should notice the “InstaPundit for PDA” link over on the left, courtesy of the redoubtable Stacy Tabb.. It’ll take you to an AvantGo configuration setup so you can get InstaPundit on your PDA, which some people have been asking for.

NICK DENTON IDENTIFIES new frontiers in porn.

UPDATE: Here’s a post from LawMeme that’s worth reading, too.

VINOD VALLOPILLIL writes that the coverage of Iraqi elections that he’s seeing in Europe at the moment omits any mention of the coercion involved.

NZPUNDIT.COM is another good source for information on the Bali bombing and reaction thereto. So is The Gweilo Diaries, which observes:

THE INDONESIAN GOVERNMENT is directly culpable for this weekend’s outrage in Bali. They refused to take action against Abu Bakar Bashir and Jemaah Islamiah, the most likely culprits, thinking they could reach an accomodation with Islamic extremists. The result is the devastation of its tourist industry, which employs 8 million Indonesians, and an effective embargo of future outside investment. The already troubled Indonesian economy will grow even worse. Has everyone learned their lesson now?

Perhaps not, but we should do our best to drive the lesson home.

PROBLEMS AT THE TIMES — Dave Kopel’s media analysis column says there’s still good reporting there, but that it’s gone downhill under Howell Raines.

I DON’T KNOW IF THIS DISCUSSION BOARD POST about the FBI is true or not (scroll down to the post marked 6:25 AM, 10-14). But if it is true, it’s a troubling example of the FBI once again substituting thuggery for competence, and sadly, the record of the FBI is not such that I can dismiss the possibility out of hand. Perhaps someone in a position to do so will care to look into the matter.

And while I think reasonable people should always cooperate, the minute a law enforcement agent begins to make threats and tell you you’d better not get a lawyer, you should get a lawyer. And you should demand to speak to his superior, with that lawyer present.

UPDATE: TalkLeft has picked up on this and offers some general advice for people who are contacted by the police in this fashion.

WELL, TECHNICALLY I GUESS THIS IS GOSSIP, from Cindy Adams:

HIGH-RANKING French pols whisper over their Moet et Chandon that they support Bush and his c’est la guerre with Iraq. They support zapping that damn Saddam. But they will never say anything openly other than a polite, soft-spoken “merci” after it’s all done. Reason? Eight million Arabs float around France and the government wants no trouble. So, simply put, they don’t want their asses on the line but they’re pleased if ours are there.

It’s still funny to see it in a column that opens with Tony Orlando.

READER KEITH HIATT SUGGESTS sending flowers to the Australian Embassy in commemoration of the victims of the Bali bombing. It’s a good idea — in fact, I just did. 1800FLOWERS wanted a person, so I used the Ambassador, Michael Thawley’s name. The note read: “As a reader of Tim Blair’s website I wish to express my sincere condolences in response to the Bali bombing.”

UPDATE: Here’s an additional suggestion from Tim Blair.

MORE LIKE THIS, PLEASE:

Sean Gifford of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) and an unidentified man in a cow-suit had planned a peaceful protest at the gates of the Grammar School to let pupils know about the claimed hazards in milk.

But they had to be rescued by two female police officers when the teenage pupils launched a violent protest of their own.

About 100 children, shouting “milk for the masses” and carrying banners, surrounded Mr Gifford and his “cow” partner and drenched them both in milk for about ten minutes. The police eventually intervened and escorted the PETA members back to their car.

(Via Iain Murray).

MCKINNEY UPDATE: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports:

U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney believes it was Republicans who defeated her in the August Democratic primary. But an analysis by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution shows they weren’t the decisive factor.

In fact, it wasn’t even close.

Of the 68,612 voters who cast ballots for Democratic challenger Denise Majette, no more than 3,118 of them were voters who can be clearly identified as Republicans, based on their voting histories in state primaries. Majette’s margin of victory, in winning 58 percent of the votes cast in the primary, was six times that amount.

I think it was the Anti-Idiotarian Party that did her in.

I WONDER WHY THIS STORY ISN’T GETTING MORE BIG-MEDIA ATTENTION:

A pistol-packing woman accomplished with two bullets what Pittsburgh police had been attempting to do for days: to stop the man suspected of a string of sexual assaults in the city’s East End. . . .

Police said Charmaine Dunbar, 42, fired her licensed .357-caliber revolver in self-defense on a Homewood street when Wesley came at her with a rifle, possibly intending, they said, for her to become a seventh victim.

The gun the rapist used was stolen. Read the whole story.

VANDALS STRUCK A U.S. MILITARY RECRUTING CENTER in San Jose:

Vandals torched two military vehicles and defaced a recruiting center in San Jose on Monday, spray-painting an ominous warning across the building: “Pre-emptive Attack.”

San Jose fire officials said the targeted vehicle was a minivan wrapped in military slogans and patriotic advertisements. Flames also spread to a second government car parked next to it.

Officials say they don’t have a motive, but I think it’s pretty obvious what this is about. Expect more such doings, interspersed with loud cries of outrage whenever the “antiwar” movement is characterized as unpatriotic.

I HAVE A FEELING THAT THIS REPORT about a foiled Saudi hijacking leaves out some important details.