I LOVE WI-FI: I’m wireless-blogging from the Downtown Grill and Brewery, which is yet another in the list of wifi equipped local businesses.

I note that Shannon Okey is playing up the idea of free wireless hotzones as tools for downtown redevelopment. I think that there’s a lot of room for that sort of thing. Knoxville’s Market Square, downtown, has wireless access now. I’d like to see that sort of thing spread.

Of course it may be — as Paul Boutin suggests — that businesses will take care of this everywhere. (That’s actually how it is in Knoxville — the City hasn’t done squat). And in fact, as Boutin also points out, the biggest hassle and expense in setting up a for-pay wifi hotspot is the billing setup. I think that means that wireless internet access may really be “too cheap to meter.” Though perhaps that will change as wifi becomes more popular. In the meantime, be sure the hotspots have backup power, so that people can post photos to their blogs during blackouts!

UPDATE: Then again, maybe — as this Paul Boutin article suggests (he’s everywhere these days!) — it’ll all be beside the point as broadband cellular becomes ubiquitous.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Here’s more on wifi as a lure to development.

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: Hey, this is inspiring business plans! Virginia Postrel, meanwhile, has her own view.

I’VE GOT SOME THOUGHTS ON SECURITY OVER AT GLENNREYNOLDS.COM, inspired by Bruce Schneier’s new book on the subject.

Meanwhile, here’s an observation worth repeating:

A cement truck laden with explosives plows into the Baghdad headquarters of the United Nations and, presto-chango, there are “terrorists” in Iraq. That’s right, not “guerrillas,” not “resistance fighters,” but “terrorists.” And the press is appalled at their wickedness. Suddenly journalists and pundits who could scarcely bring themselves to utter the T-word now find themselves compelled to use it. Strange how when a U.S. serviceman is killed while guarding a hospital or when Israeli women and children are obliterated on a city bus, the perpetrators are often referred to as “militants,” “extremists,” or simply “bombers” and “gunmen.” But when U.N. officials are the victims… Pardon me. Considering who does the talking, it isn’t strange at all.

Indeed.

IS ORRIN HATCH ANOTHER JIM WRIGHT?

WASHINGTON — As he was seeking political favors, a friend of Sen. Orrin Hatch bought a whopping 1,200 copies of Hatch’s largely self-produced music CDs, for which Hatch receives $3 to $7 each.

Hatch, R-Utah, and his friend, Monzer Hourani, a Houston developer who twice before has landed Hatch into major ethics controversies, say he wasn’t trying to buy political help with those CDs and they merely share a love of his music.

Hey, music-lover — you can buy 1200 of my CDs any time you like!

MORE EVIDENCE that outsourcing will be an election issue — this time in the California recall.

SORRY for the limited blogging today. The Insta-Mother-in-Law got out of the hospital this morning after some nontrivial surgery. She’s doing fine now.

JOSH CHAFETZ RESPONDS AT LENGTH to critics of his BBC piece, with links and quotes. You won’t be surprised to hear that I think he comes out on top.

LEE HARRIS WRITES on standing up to terrorists. And to apologists for terror.

UPDATE: Read this piece, on Jessica Stern’s recent oped. “Her resume is impressive. She has studied this subject much more than I have. Therefore she has no excuse.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Here’s more on Stern.

GOOD NEWS ON LOW-POWER RADIO: I meant to blog this yesterday, but got distracted. Michael Powell is opening up low-power FM. That’s a good thing. Maybe he’ll speak out in favor of
250&CID=1051-052003B”>Internet freedom, next.

UPDATE: Jeff Jarvis makes a good point, too.

PEJMAN YOUSEFZADEH SURVEYS THE BLOGS of presidential candidates, and finds them wanting.

Does this mean that Pejman is agreeing with Maureen Dowd? Yeah, more or less.

HOW TO BE AN ALPHA MALE: A series of essays at Halley’s Comment. The series ends rather differently than it begins.

JUDGING BY THE COMMENTS that this post has attracted, the “Sorority Eye for the Straight Guy” show has a shot at making it. Developing. . . .

UPDATE: More related commentary here, here and here.

WINDS OF CHANGE HAS A ROUNDUP OF NEWS from the ‘Stans. Lots of interesting and underreported stuff there.

INTERESTING STRATEGY PAGE REPORT ON DOINGS IN SAUDI ARABIA:

August 22, 2003: Saudi Arabia’s government has been engaged in a bloody, bitter war with Al Qaeda since 9-11, with efforts intensifying over the last few months. The conflict has taken against a back drop of confusing kaleidoscope of circumstances, divided loyalties, innuendoes, suspicions and misunderstandings.

Ever since Al Qaeda terrorists, a majority of them Saudis, hijacked four aircraft and flew them into buildings in New York and Washington, Saudi security forces, acting under the broad ranging instructions of the increasingly resolute Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, have arrested hundreds, if not thousands of suspected militants, sympathizers and persons believed to have ties to Al Qaeda.

Saudi investigators reportedly uncovered plots by the Al Qaeda network to initiate a series of major terrorist attacks, primarily in Riyadh, to coincide with the war in Iraq. Saudi intelligence had a source in the group and the plans were frustrated, but the Saudi government was shocked by the discovery that the group had stockpiled poisons, C4 explosives, hand grenades and small arms in preparation for their planned attacks. . . .

The vast majority of Saudis are a mixed bag. For the most part they prefer their Islam to be Wahabbi. They respect the House of Saud, but feel it is corrupt at times and needs to be cleaned up. Less than one percent actively support Al Qaeda, but many were secretly sympathetic to it because of its demonstrated ability to bloody the nose of the “arrogant” West. The Riyadh attacks and Abdullah’s condemnation of sympathizers will likely lead to a population that is increasingly hostile to Al Qaeda operatives, and Al Qaeda sympathizers and militants who are increasingly hardened and willing to commit mayhem.

There’s much more in this long report, which suggests that last spring’s attacks may have actually spurred the Saudi government to constructive action. I hope that’s true.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON observes:

Indeed, the abhorrent assault on a U.N. complex in Baghdad — taken together with the near-simultaneous murdering of innocents in Jerusalem, the recent attack on the Jordanian embassy, and the bombing of Iraqi oil and water pipelines — may suggest to critics of the Americans that the enemy is recouping and gaining the upper hand.

Far from it. We are indeed entering a third phase. But it is not quite what most people think, since it has brought a brutal clarity to the conflict that the terrorists may not have intended. For those who were still unsure of the affinities between the West Bank killers once subsidized by Saddam, Baathist fedeyeen, the Taliban, and al Qaedist terrorists, the similarity in method, the identical blood-curling rhetoric, and the eerie timing of slaughtering during peace negotiations and efforts at civil reconstruction should establish the existence of a common enemy. It has been fighting us all along — a general fascism, now theocratic, now autocratic, that seeks to divert the Middle East from the forces of modernization and liberalization.

Contrary to the latest round of punditry, the liberation of Iraq did not stir up a hornet’s nest nor create ex nihilo these terrible alliances. No, they are natural expressions of the hatred manifested on 9/11 that will continue until either we or they are defeated.

This seems right to me. Treating them as reasonable people with possibly legitimate grievances has mostly been a matter of Western self-deception. Read the whole thing, but don’t miss this bit:

Our astonishing defeats of Saddam Hussein and the Taliban cannot blind us to the reality — unchanging since 9/11 — that we are in a war to the end with those who wish to destroy Western society and all that it holds dear. Both tactically and strategically this is a conflict that our enemies cannot win — given their military inferiority and accompanying failure to offer an attractive alternative to the freedom and prosperity of the West.

This doom the nihilists grudgingly accept. Thus the past week in Afghanistan, in Baghdad, and in Jerusalem they have once more embraced the tactics of the bomb-laden truck and suicide belt to demoralize civil society and to win the only way they can — as was true in Beirut and Mogadishu — by eroding public support for the continuance of war. Otherwise, they will lose and the virus of reform and legality will only spread.

Either the Middle East will be a breeding ground for terrorists and rogue regimes that threaten sober nations and peoples the world over, from Manhattan to Jerusalem, or it will desist and join the rest of the world. It really is as simple as that.

Yes.

UPDATE: Read this Phil Carter post on MPs. And just keep scrolling — Phil’s been on a hot streak.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Read this response to Josh Marshall, too.

THIS IS INTERESTING — and troubling:

American investigators looking into the suicide bombing of the United Nations compound on Tuesday are focusing on the possibility that the attackers were assisted by Iraqi security guards who worked there, a senior American official here said today.

The official said all of the guards at the compound were agents of the Iraqi secret services, to whom they reported on United Nations activities before the war. The United Nations continued to employ them after the war was over, the official said.

The official said that when investigators began questioning the guards, two of them asserted that they were entitled to “diplomatic immunity” and refused to cooperate. Diplomats working in foreign countries are often entitled to immunity from prosecution by local authorities, but the official said the two guards could make no such claim.

Well, that’s chutzpah. But why on Earth did the U.N. hire guys who had been spying on them as guards? I’m not the only one wondering:

Throughout the day, United Nations staffers came to gape at the wreckage of what had been their offices and to try to salvage the hard drives of their computers. Looking at the remnants of the office of Mr. Vieira de Mello, one woman gasped: “How could they have left this place so unprotected?”

The possibility that Iraqi security guards had cooperated in the bombing increased suspicions that Mr. Vieira de Mello was a target of the attack, the American official said. The truck pulled up to the wall just below his office while he was inside meeting with other American officials.

“We are very concerned about the possibility” that Mr. De Mello was chosen as a target, the official said.

The official said that the revelation that former agents of Mr. Hussein were still working at the compound had also added to their suspicions that it was loyalists to the deposed president who carried out the attack.

Maybe De Mello was looking too closely into where the “oil-for-food” money had gone? That’s a trail that probably goes beyond Iraq. Pure speculation, of course, but hard to resist on these facts.

UPDATE: Ted Barlow emails: “If you are _not_ suggesting that the U.N. bombed itself, you should probably make that loud and clear on your page.”

Huh? I really don’t see how Ted got that from this post, but in light of the great Ashcroft misunderstanding, I guess I should say that, no, I’m not blaming Kofi for conspiring to blow up the U.N. mission. Rather, I was suggesting (in agreement with Roger Simon) that there were a lot of unsavory go-betweens involved in the oil-for-food program, and that quite a few people might have had an incentive to foreclose further inquiries. Oh, and I don’t actually think that Frank J. is a communist, either. Though I don’t really mind if people get the wrong idea, there. And if you read my GlennReynolds.com post today, you’ll see that I’m entertaining multiple theories, none of which implicate the U.N. institutionally.

MORE: Tim Blair rounds up questions, and finds someone who admires the attackers.

RANDAL ROBINSON spots Jane’s Law in action.

THE “BATTLE OF PRATTLE?” That seems about right.

SOMEBODY TELL THE BELGIANS: Looted artifacts are being bought by The Louvre? Surely not. That would be uncivilized.

BUT HE DOESN’T SEEM INTERESTED IN GOING AFTER “CHEMICAL ALI:”

The Belgian lawyer who angered Washington by launching a war crimes case against the former US military commander in Iraq, Tommy Franks, said he was appealing against the government’s decision not to pursue his suit in Belgium.

I think he must be a mole for the Bush Administration, working to discredit the idea of an International Criminal Court. Double his pay — he’s doing great work! (What, you’ve got a better explanation?) [He could just be a pretentious twit with delusions of grandeur! — Ed. Hmm. A Belgian human rights lawyer? That’s so crazy it just might be true! Kind of like “Lapdance Island?” — Ed. I’m pretty sure that’s not in Belgium.]

THE VOLUNTEER TAILGATE PARTY is up, with many links to blog posts from Tennessee bloggers — including Thomas Nephew! [Thomas Nephew is from Tennessee? Who knew? — Ed. Not me. But SKBubba’s never wrong!]

UPDATE: SKBubba emails:

Well, you don’t have to technically be in Tennessee to be in the RTB. We have a big tent. Thomas had some sort of connection, like he went to U.T. or something, I don’t recall now. At least that’s what he said when he applied.

As you can see, it’s an exclusive club. But be sure to check out the whole Brigade and read the many fine bloggers you’ll find there.

RANDOM CALIFORNIA-RELATED THOUGHT: Everyone running in the California recall might profitably take a look at Tennessee’s Democratic Governor, Phil Bredesen. Bredesen is balancing the budget without raising taxes (in fact, Tennessee, which has no income tax, is in surplus), and is popular not only with Democrats, but with a lot of pretty hard-core Republicans too. His secret: He’s honest, and does what he says he’ll do.

I know it’s crazy, but it just might work!

UPDATE: Bill Hobbs notes that the surplus hasn’t gotten much attention.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Hey, here’s an article in The Economist on Bredesen. It’s subscriber only, but an excerpt follows:

With the unpopular Mr Sundquist term-limited, the governor’s chair was open to anyone brave enough to take on Tennessee’s fiscal mess. And Mr Bredesen was well-positioned. He had built a reputation of fiscal conservatism and economic development during eight years as mayor of Nashville, where he cut deals to bring a Dell computer factory and professional football and hockey teams to the city. And he promised no income tax.

He took a decidedly managerial approach to cutting state spending, calling for 9% cuts in every department and asking each commissioner to present a list of proposed cuts in a public forum. His first budget, which has just gone into effect, is only 4.1% larger than the 2002-03 budget, which was, by contrast, nearly 7% larger than the year before’s. But Tennessee is starting the new fiscal year with a tiny surplus.

Democrats elsewhere, take note.

CATS AND DOGS, LIVING TOGETHER.

PICKING UP WHERE MATT WELCH LEFT OFF, now Susan Estrich is all over Arianna Huffington:

Huffington has no chance of winning. Never did. The only reason to run was her ego, self-aggrandizement, attention — at the expense of her kids.

She is running on a platform she didn’t even believe in a few years ago. Nor is it one she lives by.

How could she do that to her children? my own children ask.

In Huffington’s case, of course, it may be a bit more complicated than that, financially speaking, since it’s slightly more difficult to live off your children’s child support when your children aren’t living with you. But don’t bet against her. This is, after all, the woman who runs against oil interests and lives in a mansion financed by oil money, rails against pigs at the trough and pays no taxes, runs as an independent and supports a guru.

I think that this candidacy may have been a gimmick too far. (Via Mitch Berg).

UPDATE: Yes, definitely a gimmick too far:

Arienron – I’m sorry, I mean Arianna – says the business is “cyclical” because she’s been doing research. $2.7 mil seems to me an awful lot of photocopying at the library. But that just goes to show why I’m poor bumbling Dr Watson next to Arianna’s Sherlock Holmes. “Why, Holmes, what an amazing deduction!”

“Elementary, my dear Watson. By the way, did you get a receipt from that hansom cab driver?” . . .

It’s comical how tone deaf Arianna Huffington’s campaign has been. Arnold Schwarzenegger is trying to tap the anger that’s brought this recall campaign so far – the people who are fed up with runaway spending, high taxes, bureaucratic featherbedding. Arianna seems to think there’s another kind of anger out there – people who are angry because they want more government programs, more regulation, more bureaucracies, and they’d be prepared to pay higher taxes for these blessings. Hey, I would too in her shoes. After all if you tripled Arianna’s state income tax bill, you’d get …let’s see now, three times zero equals …zero.

Ouch. Running for office, even as a gimmick, produces a different level of criticism altogether.

CRIME WRITER ROGER SIMON on the U.N. bombing:

[W]e never did find out where all that money went. You know, those gazillions in oil-for-food cash Kofi & Co. was supposedly administering but ended up lining a lot of pockets in various quarters in Iraq and elsewhere. There was even a Congressional Hearing with the usual results (not much). Those records just have not surfaced. Slippery fingers, I guess.

Now maybe I’m just being one of those paranoid conspiracy theorists… or a crime writer with too many plots… but cui bono, as they say, when UN headquarters in Iraq gets blown to smithereens?… (Unless, of course, its computers and accounts books were locked in a secure vault under the building– as if)… And, yes, I know there were obviously other motives. But at the various least, I guess we could call this “collateral damage.”

By the way, where has the major media been on this story? Nobody’s been following this up as far as a know, but it’s one of the great heists of our time.

Where, indeed. Just remember, Simon was right about the museum looting being an inside job.

UPDATE: Niraj notes an interesting passage from the bombing story.

THREATS OF VIOLENCE IN SEATTLE, during Bush’s visit, tomorrow. Troubling.