DIRTY TRICKS aimed at the Swift Boat Vets? I can’t say I’m surprised to hear reports like this, but I suspect that it will backfire if they actually try it. Indeed, if people start dishing dirt about these guys instead of offering factual refutations, it will pretty much serve as an admission that the charges are true.

MORE ADVICE FOR LAW STUDENTS: It looks pretty good to me.

CHRISTMAS IN CAMBODIA: Drudge has more on reports that Kerry was never there as he claimed. For one of the places where Kerry made that claim, go here or scroll down.

UPDATE: The inexorable Tom Maguire has more on Kerry’s Cambodian holiday. And it still looks bad for Kerry.

LOTS OF UPDATES TO LOTS OF POSTS, so be sure you scroll down. But you knew to do that anyway, right?

STEVE VERDON says the economy is slowing down. Mickey Kaus, on the other hand, isn’t so sure. Neither, apparently, are a lot of other people:

Consumer confidence surged during the past month to its highest level since the beginning of the year, with Americans feeling better about their own finances and more optimistic about the future despite renewed terror threats and rising oil prices.

Consumer confidence has been rising for the past four months as the economy has been on a solid path to recovery.

The AP-Ipsos consumer confidence index climbed to 104.8 in August, up from 92.0 in July, led by consumers’ perceptions of their own finances and optimism about the future.

On the other hand, Megan McArdle thinks the economy is softening and it’s very bad news for Bush. Who’s right? Beats me. But given the rapid pace of growth in the past few months, a bit of a slowdown might be a good thing for the country, if not for Bush, as it means that we don’t have to worry about inflationary pressures.

JAY ROSEN HAS THOUGHTS on diversity and groupthink in the press.

UPDATE: More thoughts here, from Jeff Jarvis.

DAHLIA LITHWICK: “The legal system is inadequate to the task of resolving acquaintance rape cases, and the media actually exacerbates the original injustice – be that a rape, or a false accusation of rape.”

UPDATE: I agree with this: “It’s a very thoughtful piece on the unintended consequences of rape shield laws. It is further proof that most of the Times’ guest columnists are better than the real thing.”

OKAY, WHEN I SAID IT, it was just cute. But when Salman Rushdie says it. . . .

TODAY IS INSTAPUNDIT’S THREE-YEAR BLOGGIVERSARY: And I had forgotten all about it until reader James Davila reminded me. I’ll celebrate by, er, blogging!

UPDATE: It’s also Emancipation Day. There’s lots to celebrate!

ANOTHER UPDATE: Thanks!

NIXON NOSTALGIA: Eric Scheie is questioning the timing.

WI-FI WANTS TO BE FREE: At least at my local Panera Bread (actually, I think it’s now at all of ’em in the area). And it’s totally open — no login, no fee, just turn on your computer and surf. (And note the comfy chair.)

I spent this afternoon there working on a column — and I also spent a fair amount of money.

They’ll be getting a lot more of my business, and, I suspect, a lot of other people’s as a result. I hope that more businesses will follow suit!

UPDATE: A reader emails:

I spent three nights in your fair city’s Radisson this spring and I’m still bitter that they charged me for the WiFi. I will now make a point of spending slow afternoons in Panera and eating their tasty although pricey sandwiches. It’s amazing every business doesn’t understand this simple model.

Yeah. Of course, he could have walked a block from the Radisson and enjoyed the free wi-fi at the Downtown Grill & Brewery.

Meanwhile reader Martin Shoemaker emails:

I love Thai food. I like Panera’s food. It’s acceptable. On the road between my house and Ann Arbor (where I travel a lot), there’s an interesting looking Thai place. A block away, there’s a Panera place, the first near me to have WiFi. (Recently, they finished adding WiFi in all their stores in Michigan.)

I have spent somewhere over $200 at that Panera store this summer. I still haven’t tried the Thai place. To me, this seems like the smartest move Panera could make.

Yep.

WELL, THIS IS A SWITCH: “Militants in Iraq said Sunday they took a top Iranian diplomat hostage, according to a video shown on the Arab-language Al-Arabiya television station. . . . The kidnappers, calling themselves the ‘Islamic Army in Iraq’, accused Jihani of provoking sectarian war in Iraq and warned Iran not to interfere in Iraq’s affairs, according to Al-Arabiya.”

UPDATE: And a warrant for Chalabi’s arrest, too. No doubt unrelated.

TOM MAGUIRE has already posted John Kerry’s speech claiming to have been in Cambodia on Christmas day, 1968. But because this is a question of importance, and because some people might doubt the veracity of quotations pasted in from NEXIS, I thought I’d go to the law library and check it myself in hardcopy. (The law library was closed and the copiers were off, but I have a key, and — let this be another lesson to bloggers everywhere — a digital camera).

Here’s a link to a larger version showing the exact page citation and context.

The evidence that Kerry wasn’t in Cambodia seems pretty strong (see Tom Maguire’s post, along with this letter) which makes Kerry’s claim all the more difficult to understand.

It’s possible, of course, that there’s an innocent explanation for this, even if I can’t quite think of one. Maybe Kerry was on a double-secret mission to Cambodia, such that everyone involved continues to deny it today. Except, inexplicably, for Kerry. . . . Or maybe his memory failed him — though there’s that “seared–seared–in” language to contend with when considering that hypothesis. Or he could just have been bragging. Your call. Personally, I remain more interested in what Kerry would do regarding the current war, but since he invites us to judge him on his Vietnam record, evidence that he might not be telling the truth about that record is obviously relevant.

At any rate, posting this should remove any doubt about what Kerry said, if not about what he did.

UPDATE: More here, including another Kerry quote on the same subject.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Wayne Seibert emails: “You forgot about Kerry’s mission to kill Col. Kurtz.”

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: Several readers wonder why, if Kerry is really lying about having been in Cambodia on Christmas Day, 1968, somebody hasn’t made something of it before? Beats me.

On the other hand, if it were false, you’d expect somebody from the Democratic spin machine to be coming forth with evidence that Kerry was in Cambodia then. But what did I get in the daily “Media Matters” email? A complaint that Bill O’Reilly compared Media Matters to the Klan.

MORE: Brian Rogge emails: “A blogger with a key and a digital camera? There’s a novel there somewhere. Someone tell Roger Simon!”

Yes, as I photographed the pages with my little camera in the darkened library, it did make me think of old spy thrillers. Though only a particularly masochistic spy would copy the Congressional Record.

STILL MORE: More reports of Kerry’s absence from Cambodia.

THIS REPORT SEEMS LIKE MORE GOOD NEWS:

A Pakistani al Qaeda operative believed to have been close to al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar was flown to Pakistan after he was arrested in Dubai, Pakistani intelligence sources said.

Qari Saifullah Akhtar’s capture may help in the hunt for the al Qaeda and Taliban leaders, the sources said.

Ahktar has been linked to two assassination attempts against Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, the sources said. . . .

More than a dozen terror suspects around the world have been arrested in the past week.

Their apprehension is believed to have been fueled by intelligence from Pakistan, and many of the suspects are alleged to have strong ties to al Qaeda.

One man arrested in a British roundup of al Qaeda suspects is believed to have been on the ground in New York in 2001 conducting reconnaissance of financial buildings identified recently as possible attack targets, a U.S. law enforcement source told CNN.

On the other hand, the limp response described here seems disappointing.

KERRY AND CAMBODIA: Roger Simon says he’s cutting a comic, not a heroic, figure.

THE SWIFTBOAT VETS are responding to the Kerry campaign with some lawyering of their own — as well as talking about the facts, something the Kerry campaign seems less interested in doing. Ed Morrissey is convinced.

THIS SEEMS LIKE GOOD NEWS:

The capture, in Pakistan, of al Qaeda communications specialist Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan, has apparently unleashed another flood of arrests and alerts about planned al Qaeda operations. Kahn was caught with a laptop computer containing emails and other al Qaeda documents. Kahn is also said to be freely answering questions and cooperating.

Kahn was captured on July 13th. His capture was kept quiet initially. This was apparently so that information captured with Kahn could be used to round up other al Qaeda leaders and operatives. Once these arrests were made, al Qaeda members began to suspect that their guy Kahn was working for the other side. . . .

For the last two years, al Qaeda has been trying to reconstitute itself. This has not been easy, as no nation will openly offer sanctuary to al Qaeda, and most are actively looking for al Qaeda members. Using email, the Internet and a system of couriers, al Qaeda has established contact with operatives, supporters and financial backers. The key leadership of al Qaeda has found places to hide in Pakistan. But the rural refuges in the tribal areas (along the Afghan border) are under attack by the Pakistani army. In the past few months, the al Qaeda people have been detected moving into Pakistan’s cities, where many supporters of Islamic radicalism provide some cover, but not as good as in the tribal areas.

This, on the other hand, isn’t so good:

COLOMBIA: Drug War Kills People, Not Cocaine Supply

The successful operation against drug manufacturing and smuggling in the past year has not led to a reduction in the cocaine supply in the United States. It is thought that this is because supplies in the pipeline are still being drawn upon, and that the drug gangs have shifted production to neighboring countries. This shift has been going on for several years.

Kind of suggests where our priorities ought to be, doesn’t it?

UPDATE: More here:

A Pakistani man whose arrest provided information about the reconnaissance of financial institutions in New York, Newark and Washington was also communicating with Qaeda operatives who the authorities say are plotting to carry out an attack intended to disrupt the fall elections, a senior intelligence official said Saturday. . . .

The arrest last month of the Pakistani, Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan, had already prompted a search in the United States, Britain and other countries to locate the people behind the surveillance, which took place three or four years ago. Now the authorities say Mr. Khan’s arrest is also helping them unravel a threat to carry out an attack this year inside the United States.

It is not clear whether Mr. Khan represents the second channel of intelligence that officials have alluded to in recent days that, they say, convinced them that the reconnaissance of financial institutions was related to current threats.

But he is emerging as a central figure in an expanding web of connections that, the authorities say, indicates that they may have penetrated an operational Qaeda group whose intentions were previously unknown.

And there’s this fascinating tidbit:

American officials contacted on Saturday would not confirm whether Mr. Khan was a mole or double agent.

Hmm. Obviously there’s a lot more going on here than meets the eye. Read this, too.

UPDATE: Cori Dauber interviews a homeland security expert and concludes that the press is blowing the story on antiterrorism.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Here’s more on the double-agent bit: “The New York Times obtained Khan’s name independently, and US officials confirmed it when it appeared in the paper the next morning.”

Why confirm it? Perhaps because they figured the game was about up, anyway, and wanted to get Al Qaeda worried about other moles. Perhaps to cover up the existence of other moles. Perhaps because things are approaching some sort of endgame and they wanted to sow confusion. Perhaps through idiocy. There’s no way to tell with stuff like this. All we can be sure of is that we probably don’t know the whole story.

More here, including a hint that federal officials favor going public because of “pack not a herd” considerations.

MORE: This post by Michael Young on the “double agent” story seems uncharacteristically unthought-out, but there’s interesting discussion in the comments. Biggest point: We really have no idea what’s going on here. But let’s be clear — this guy, based on the reports we have, was only a “double agent” in the sense that — after he was captured — we let him send emails to people who thought he was still free and operational. There’s no way that was going to last very long, regardless, as someone would have noticed. And, again, the whole thing could be a way of messing with their minds.