RAND SIMBERG has some thoughts on space and Presidential announcements — past, present, and future — over at FoxNews.

THERE’S MORE ON LIMITED CONGRESSIONAL POWER over at GlennReynolds.com.

I’VE POSTED A LOT ABOUT NANOTECHNOLOGY today (and other days). My interest is sufficient that I’m on the Board of the Foresight Institute, a foundation dedicated to seeing that the introduction of nanotechnology goes well, and not badly (no oceans of human-devouring slime, omnipotent world police states, or malevolent artificial intelligences — you know, that sort of thing). If you’re interested in helping with that, you might want to go here and donate some money — right now your donation will be matched by another donor, so it’s twice as good.

Like all nonprofits, and even moreso since it’s in Silicon Valley, Foresight has seen its donations drop as a result of the tech bubble bursting. That’s another reason why now is a good time to donate, if you’re so inclined.

IN RESPONSE TO CATHY SEIPP’S PLAINTIVE CRIES, Lane McFadden has made some prowar yard signs.

BILL MAULDIN HAS DIED. Who will take his place? Not Ted Rall.

LIKE CHESS? Here’s a chess weblog by Mig Greengard. (Via Colby Cosh).

THE FRENCH ARE OUTRAGED at Rumsfeld’s remark about their representing “Old Europe.” The truth hurts.

Meanwhile, Max Boot writes about the French diplomatic betrayal of Colin Powell. As Boot observes, even Powell’s patience with French posturing has worn thin, and with good reason.

UPDATE: Porphyrogenitus thinks NATO just died, at the hands of France and Germany.

They’ll come to regret that, I predict.

UPDATE: Because a couple of people have emailed me copies, I happen to know that this ScrappleFace item on the “Axis of Weasel” is getting forwarded around the Pentagon and White House. Excerpt:

U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld apologized today for referring to France and Germany as an “Axis of Weasels.”

“I’m sorry about that Axis of Weasels remark,” said Mr. Rumsfeld. “I didn’t mean to dredge up the history France and Germany share of pathetic compliance with ruthless dictators.”

If the notion that our policymakers are reading and enjoying ScrappleFace doesn’t strike fear into friend and foe alike, well, then, friend and foe aren’t reading Scrappleface themselves. Yet.

CALL ME CRAZY, but this guy sounds like a bad pick:

The Bush administration has chosen Jerry Thacker, a Pennsylvania marketing consultant who has characterized AIDS as the “gay plague,” to serve on the Presidential Advisory Commission on HIV and AIDS. . . .

In his speeches and writings on his Web site and elsewhere, Thacker has described homosexuality as a “deathstyle” rather than a lifestyle and asserted that “Christ can rescue the homosexual.” After word of his selection spread among gays in recent days, some material disappeared from the Web site. Earlier versions located by The Washington Post that referred to the “gay plague,” for instance, were changed as of yesterday to “plague.”

I don’t know this guy, and I suppose it’s conceivable that this is a bit of outrageous character assassination — but there’s a notable absence of Administration voices saying that’s the case. Instead, the spin seems to be that Thacker is HIV-positive and that his appointment furthers diversity on the Commission. Well, it certainly does that. But I thought this Administration was against diversity for diversity’s sake, and it’s not clear to me just what else Thacker brings to the table.

UPDATE: Justin Katz says I am crazy! Well, not really. What he says is that although he’s “ambivalent” about Thacker’s appointment, he thinks that ideological diversity is important, and that having Thacker as one member of a large commission promotes that without doing any real harm.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reportedly, Thacker is withdrawing.

CATCHING UP WITH RIGHT-WING OUTLETS like The Nation, MSNBC,and the Washington Post, the pinkish National Review Online finally addresses A.N.S.W.E.R.’s communist connections.

Disgusted Liberal, meanwhile, is disgusted with A.N.S.W.E.R., and with those who give it a free pass:

Why did antiwar liberals allow a bunch of thugs, nitwits, and Stalinists to take charge of the demonstrations? Are you all too busy billing hours? Drinking lattes?

Good for him.

WHERE MACCHIAVELLI MEETS OCCAM? Well, something like that. I’m surprised that Shick didn’t already buy up this domain name, though.

MATT WELCH reports on Noam Chomsky being fact-checked from the left.

JAMES LILEKS is instructing Ed Harris on masculinity.

HERE’S AN ARTICLE on nanotechnology safety concerns from U.S. News & World Report. And here’s the abstract for non-subscribers of an article from Jane’s on the prospects for nanotechnology as a weapon of mass destruction. Interest in this subject seems to be picking up.

MORE ON HUGO CHAVEZ’S VENEZUELA:

The government denied that Soriano had been mistreated. A thorough medical examination by a civil surgeon reveals that, beyond lacerations, severe bruising, and cracked ribs, Soriano had been repeatedly raped while in custody. His right arm shows that he has been injected. Nails are missing from his left hand. Soriano’s internal organs have been crushed to the point that he urinates blood, and he cannot walk without assistance.

Once the medical report was made public, the secret police immediately began saying that Soriano was a member of a “right-wing paramilitary organization.” This tactic, engineered by Chaderton, is used frequently to disqualify and discount opponents of the regime. All enemies of the “revolution” are coup plotters and fascists. The government now circulates a photo of Soriano in military fatigues. Carlos Roa, Soriano’s attorney, showed me that the picture is a yearbook photo from when he was a schoolboy in military academy.

Although it was obvious that Soriano had been tortured, Iris Varela, a Chavez congressional representative, offered no apologies: “I am glad they did this to him. He deserved it.” That such savage treatment is what greets government supporters who seek a peaceful resolution to the current crisis speaks volumes about Chavez’s ultimate intentions. Soriano, now recuperating at home, must wonder why he ever supported the Chavez regime.

If Chavez were a right-wing dictator, A.N.S.W.E.R. would be organizing marches against him. But there are, of course, no enemies on the left.

Then again, that was probably what Soriano thought, once.

HERE’S AN ARTICLE on military nanotechnology research that’s worth reading.

T.J. BUTTRICK IS A BLOGGER. He’s on his way to Basic Training next week. He’s also a Columbia University alumnus. And he’s unhappy with Columbia President Lee Bollinger because, well, he thinks Columbia is on the other side.

THE BLIZZARD OF ’03! Well, it did snow here, and school is closed — both my daughter’s and mine. My wife’s still trying to figure out if any of her clients will show up or not. Blogging frequency will be determined, to some degree, by the outcome.

COLOMBIAN GUERRILLAS HAVE CONFIRMED that they are holding Robert Young Pelton, but say they haven’t kidnapped him.

ERIC MULLER reports on a dubious antiwar petition circulating among academics. Strangely, it hasn’t shown up in my inbox yet.

HAS DONALD RUMSFELD been reading Den Beste?

Michael Demmons is happy about it.

NICK DENTON’S NOT-SO-SECRET SHAME. The horror!

KIERAN LYONS is charging a coverup in California. Surely not.

HUH. Just checked traffic for the day, and it’s shockingly above 100,000 pageviews already today. This could be a new record.

But why? It’s not like there’s an election, or the 9/11 anniversary, which is what it took to break 100K before.

TOMORROW IS Blog Day for Venezuela.

THIS PICTURE MAKES SENSE TO ME. IT’S BROUGHT A LOT OF US TO A HALT at one time or another. . . .