THE NATIONAL DEBATE to The New York Times: Bring it on!

His lawyer has responded to the Times and he’s deploying powerful support. Just read this quote:

In an era when media conglomerates control the rights to vast amounts of intellectual property, routine elevation of copyright to a right of censorship could easily squelch active debate and criticism of important ideas.

And guess where it’s from? . . .

ED CONE is thinking of running for Congress, and the idea already has momentum: Eric Muller has endorsed him!

ANOTHER REASON WHY AMAZON RULES: It’s time to tune up the lawnmower for the spring, and — having reorganized the garage recently — I couldn’t lay hands on the manual. But it’s on the Amazon page for my mower. Amazon isn’t just a place to buy stuff anymore — it’s a reference source.

WILLIAM SJOSTROM points to some good news from Europe. Not everyone, even on the left, is promoting appeasement.

DONALD SENSING has a fascinating column on gay marriage.

ALPHECCA’S weekly survey of media bias relating to guns is up.

MALARIA IN AFRICA: Fiona Kobusingye-Boynes writes:

Malaria is a great enemy of development, as it makes young and energetic people sick and weak — and even kills them. It strikes quickly, leaving people unable to work or go to school or take care of their families, within days after they get infected.

Fighting malaria is not only a humanitarian need. It is also economically important, both for the developing countries and for aid providers like the United States. Something most people don’t realize is that the same African countries that are most infected by malaria are also the poorest ones on our continent. That is because the disease makes so many millions of people in those countries too sick and weak to earn a living or cultivate their fields.

I myself have suffered high fevers for days, vomited until I thought I had no stomach left. It has left me dehydrated, thirsty and weak, and sometimes I could not even tell day from night. It is a terrible disease. You just can’t imagine.

People in the north, in the United States and Europe, always think of AIDS when they think of troubled Africa. They should remember that malaria is even more important for many tropical countries. It affects more people, kills more, and kills them more quickly. And it makes them sicker than AIDS does, until that disease is very advanced in their bodies.

Read the whole thing.

A TENTH PLANET? I suspect that there’s a lot more stuff in this size range than we’ve discovered so far.

THIS CAN’T BE the posture that the Kerry Campaign wants to find itself in:

US SENATOR John Kerry last night fought off accusations he was a coward and had made strategic mistakes in battle during the Vietnam War.

The Democratic challenger for the White House was embroiled in fresh controversy after one of his former crew members accused him of being someone “who ran from the enemy”.

It was reported last night that Steven Gardner, a gunner’s mate on the first patrol boat commanded by Kerry in the Mekong Delta, contradicts accounts of the senator’s military career that depict him as a brave and aggressive lieutenant who won three Purple Hearts, which are a key element of his campaign against George Bush.

He personally killed a Viet Cong fighter in one action and was wounded three times, though not seriously.

However, in an interview with the Boston Globe, which contacted him about the presidential candidate, Gardner claimed:

[Kerry] did not want to engage the enemy

“He [Kerry] absolutely did not want to engage the enemy when I was with him.”

More here. This sort of thing would look like old news, of course, if Kerry hadn’t spent so much time telling us how relevant his Vietnam experience is to his likely behavior as President.