MICKEY KAUS is speculating on a Howard Dean third-party run, should Dean not get the nomination. I can easily imagine Dean doing something like that.

Meanwhile Jay Rosen offers nine new storylines for covering the campaign, to replace the tired and outdated ones that the press generally uses. Very much worth reading. One of them is “donated talent,” and I want to repeat the prediction that I made at Bloggercon, that the 21st century will belong to whoever is best at getting people to volunteer their efforts.

THE POLITBURO finds Tim Noah silly.

ANOTHER VICTORY FOR GOOD SENSE, THE CONSTITUTION, AND LIMITED GOVERNMENT: Randy Barnett has won his medical cannabis case, and on Commerce Clause grounds. “It is supremely ironic that the Ninth Circuit is the court of appeals that is taking the Supreme Court’s new Commerce Clause jurisprudence the most seriously.”

He has a link to the opinion, which I — just home from the elementary school Christmas program — haven’t read yet.

CNN IS BUSTED for differential coverage of demonstrations in Iraq. Tom Perry has proof.

Meanwhile, Jeff Jarvis posts excerpts from Iraqi bloggers’ critiques of Western media.

PUNCH THE BAG notes an odd defense of Saddam.

“IRAQI MINISTER TELLS U.N. TO STOP SNIPING, START HELPING:” Indeed.

UPDATE: Reader Julie Meehan notes that the same story plays rather differently at the BBC:

It’s titled “UN Chief demands clear role for Iraq”

The BBC story makes no mention whatsoever of the Iraqi foreign minister’s comments that the UN “failed to help rescue the Iraqi people from a murderous tyranny that lasted over 35 years” or that “One year ago, the Security Council was divided between those who wanted to appease Saddam Hussein and those who wanted to hold him accountable”.

It’s a horrible piece of reporting by an increasingly horrible media service. Thank god we’ve got you! :-)

And no license fee required! Meanwhile, though the New York Times must not have gotten the BBC’s memo, as its coverage does not omit the criticism of the UN, and adds some additional material that seems to contradict the BBC’s Kofi-boosting coverage:

Iraq’s foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, accused the United Nations Security Council today of having failed to help rescue his country from Saddam Hussein, and he chided member states for bickering over his beleaguered country’s future. . . .

Taking a harsh view of the inability of quarreling members of the Security Council to endorse military action in Iraq, Mr. Zebari said, “One year ago, the Security Council was divided between those who wanted to appease Saddam Hussein and those who wanted to hold him accountable.

“The United Nations as an organization failed to help rescue the Iraqi people from a murderous tyranny that lasted over 35 years, and today we are unearthing thousands of victims in horrifying testament to that failure.”

He declared, “The U.N. must not fail the Iraqi people again.”

It was not immediately clear how the accusatory tone of Mr. Zebari’s speech affected the closed-door discussion over the United Nations’ role in Iraq that followed, but Secretary General Kofi Annan, the first to emerge from the hall, appeared taken aback.

“Now is not the time to pin blame and point fingers,” he told reporters.

By which he meant, Now is not the time to pin blame on me! The BBC’s characterization of this meeting seems quite at odds with the other two stories, and will only serve to confirm the BBC’s image as increasingly shoddy, biased and out of touch. And, apparently, still unaware just how easy it is to notice this sort of thing, thanks to that newfangled Internet.

A “JACQUES RUBY INCIDENT” FOR SADDAM? Read this by Damian Penny in The Globe and Mail.

ORSON SCOTT CARD is savaging his fellow Democrats on the war.

MULTICULTURALISM FINDS ITS LIMITS. I should have guessed this would do the trick.

STUART BENJAMIN ON STROM THURMOND:

Which one was he — hypocrite or liar?

I think the answer is actually “both.”

MORE LACK OF MORAL SERIOUSNESS FROM THE VATICAN: Robert Tagorda is more respectful of this stuff than I would be. I’ll just note that they’re showing more concern for Saddam Hussein than they probably would for Joanne Webb.

UPDATE: The World Wide Rant is also unimpressed with the Vatican’s take on this issue.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Outright — and dead-on-target — mockery here.

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: Professor Bainbridge calls this pretty appalling, and Justin Katz observes:

The world is not all dignity and affronts to dignity. There are sin and repercussions, too.

Unfortunately, for some people, the world is all about dignity and its affronts. By all appearances, Cardinal Martino is one of those people.

I thought that Lauryn Hill’s remarks were grandstanding when she made them. But now I think she can claim a bit of vindication.

MORE: Damian Penny: “I should apologize to my Catholic readers for saying this, but compared to the way the Vatican has coddled the criminals within its ranks, then yes, I must admit Saddam is being treated pretty roughly.”

STILL MORE: Reader Bill Reece emails:

As a Catholic who is rather disenchanted with the Church, I am probably not the most “objective” person to comment on the good Cardinal’s statements, but I am truly appalled by his solicitous concerns for a monster like Hussein. Perhaps if the Church were as acutely aware of the affront to dignity that many of its priests have inflicted on the innocent young children who are under its care, then the good Cardinal’s comments might be taken a little more seriously. Sadly, the Church is far more solicitous in its concerns for the likes of Saddam Hussein (and for that matter, Francis Geoghann) than it is for innocent children.

It does seem that way at times, doesn’t it?

APPARENTLY, THERE’S A SHORTAGE OF ACTUAL CRIMINALS IN CLEBURNE, TEXAS:

A Texas housewife is in big trouble with the law for selling a vibrator to a pair of undercover cops. . . . Joanne Webb, a former fifth-grade teacher and mother of three, was in a county court in Cleburne, Texas, on Monday to answer obscenity charges for selling the vibrator to undercover narcotics officers posing as a dysfunctional married couple in search of a sex aid.

I recommend laying off half the police force, and three-fourths of the prosecuting attorneys. The good people of Cleburne are obviously overtaxed, and overpoliced.

UPDATE: Andrew Lloyd emails: “I see that Texas finally has smaller government. So small, in fact, that it will fit inside your bedroom.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: A Texas reader sends this extract from a Texas judicial opinion of some years back:

CURTISS BROWN, Justice, concurring.
Here we go raising the price of dildos again. Since this appears to be the law in Texas I must concur.

Regalado v. State, 872 S.W.2d 7 (1994). Meanwhile, reader David Radulski emails:

After a first cut analysis, your hypothesis that the City of Cleburne may be overpoliced appears correct.

City of Cleburne Police Department website says their police department has 47 officers and 16 civilian employees. Link

Given Cleburne’s population of 25,356, that equals 2.5 law enforcement employees per 1,000 population.

The FBI’s 2002 ‘Uniform Crime Reports: Law Enforcement Personnel’ (Link) state that Cleburne had 60 full time law enforcement employees in 2002. Perhaps Cleburne has hired 3 more people since then or some of the 63 mentioned on the City of Cleburne Police Department web site are part-time employees. Using the FBI’s more conservative number, it means that Cleburne has 2.4 law enforcement employees per 1,000 population.

The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports further state that cities comparable to Cleburne (Group IV cities in the West with populations between 25,000 and 49,999) average 2.0 law enforcement employees per 1,000 population. That extra 0.4 law enforcement employees per 1,000 population suggests that Cleburne has ten more law enforcement employees than other cities of its size.

Sounds like a round of layoffs is in order.

MORE: Eugene Volokh asks:

Seriously, folks, isn’t it kind of silly not just to have such a law on the books, but to actually spend money, time, and effort enforcing it?

Why yes, it is.

STILL MORE: Long after this item was posted, I received this email:

Dear Mr. Reynolds,

I am a Police Officer for the City of Cleburne and I recently reviewed your article dated December 16th, regarding the incident about the young lady arrested for having too many sexual toys. If I may correct you, this incident did not happen in Cleburne, it actually happened in Burleson, Texas, which is about 10 miles north of Cleburne, and the Burleson Police, in connection with our Drug Task Force, arrested and charged the lady for possession too many sexual devices. I would also like to correct you on your point of view that the city of Cleburne has too many officers. We currently have an unofficial poputlion of about 35,000 poeple, counting the illegal aliens who have overwhlemed our small town. Our department is too overwhelmed with calls for help to even worry about sexual toys being sold. Although, possessing too many sexual devices is still against the law in the state of Texas and the Burleson Police Department has every right to enforce that law, should it deem necessary. Thank you for your time and please correct the article in regards to the Cleburne Police Department.

Brandon Arriola

Why, exactly, it makes Cleburne look better is beyond me. What was the Cleburne Drug Task Force doing staging “stings” over sex toys ten miles from Cleburne? Especially when the department is “overwhelmed” with calls at home? Sorry, but this looks like a case of bad priorities no matter how you spin it.

IF YOU LOOK UP “SOUTH PARK REPUBLICAN” IN THE DICTIONARY, you’ll probably see a picture of Dennis Miller, who observes:

I’m left on a lot of things. If two gay guys want to get married, I could care less. If a nut case from overseas wants to blow up their wedding, that’s when I’m right. (Sept. 11) was a big thing for me. I was saying to liberal America, “Well, what are you offering?” And they said, “Well, we’re not going to protect you, and we want some more money.” That didn’t interest me.

Indeed.

A WHILE BACK, I challenged FCC Chair Michael Powell to get the FCC to stand up for a free and open Internet. Judging by this piece by FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps, it’s not happening:

This Internet may be dying. At the behest of powerful interests, the FCC is buying into a warped vision that open networks should be replaced by closed networks and that the FCC should excuse broadband providers from longstanding non-discrimination requirements. . . .

The FCC is rushing toward breathtaking change in regulatory policy. Whether it’s the giant media companies or telecom’s gatekeepers, we are closing networks, undermining competition, stifling entrepreneurship and threatening consumer choice. At this rate, it won’t be long until we look back, shake our heads and wonder whatever happened to that open and dynamic high speed Internet that might have been.

Well, that will suit some people just fine.

HERE’S AN INTERESTING INTERVIEW with Iranian blog-guru Hossein Derakshan.

FOR SOME REASON, a bunch of the thank-you emails I sent to people who donated have bounced. I’ll try to figure out what the problem was, but for those who donated, please accept my thanks this way in the meantime.

THE MOST INCRIMINATING SADDAM PHOTO YET. He’ll never get a fair trial now.

RACHEL CUNLIFFE has a blog design showcase up. She’s soliciting further nominations.

GEORGE MONBIOT: Homicidal maniac?

WOW. Just looked at the counter and saw that InstaPundit had over 180,000 pageviews yesterday. That’s rather a lot.

JOHN HAWKINS ON THE LIES ABOUT WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION: He says that there are lies, all right, but that they come from Bush’s critics:

So we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Hussein once had and used weapons of mass destruction. Moreover, at the time of the invasion, Saddam either had WMD or planned to acquire them. So all this quibbling over WMD is in a very important sense, irrelevant. Worst case scenario, it’s like we stopped a serial killer before he could kill again as opposed to actually catching him with a body in the basement. In any case, sensible people who are concerned about what an anti-American tyrant like Saddam might have done with his WMD should be happy that the Butcher of Baghdad is now permanently out of business.

And we are!

JOSH CHAFETZ rounds up links to reviews of The Return of the King. It’s supposed to be good!

“HE FELT SAFER WITH THE AMERICANS.” Amazing quote about Saddam

ORDERED THE INSTA-DAUGHTER the Digital Blue kids’ video camera. Frankly, I would rather have spent more and gotten her a real one, but this is what she’s been on about for weeks. The good news is that it’s not terribly expensive (by the standards of today’s kids’ toys) so when she outgrows it it won’t be a total loss.

It’s a far cry from this kids’ toy from an earlier age, isn’t it? But the Johnny Astro was a great toy, actually. (Three cheers for the Bernoulli effect!) Er, and a lot cheaper, even allowing for inflation.

I MEANT TO LINK TO THIS MICHAEL CRICHTON SPEECH on the environment over the weekend but was distracted by events. Derek Lowe emailed me the link again (I’m absent-minded, but there are lots of people to prod me!) and it’s well worth reading.