ARIANNA HUFFINGTON ON THE CUNNINGHAM SCANDAL:

But we can’t let this collective carcass picking — as voyeuristically titillating as it may be — distract us from the two vital issues this story raises: the corrupting role that money continues to play in our politics, and the overly cozy relationship between those in power and those in the media whose job it is to cover them.

I mean, where was the Washington press corps on this story?

Here you have a Congressman making $158,000 a year, living (and partying with lobbyists) on a yacht docked at the Capital Yacht Club and driving a Rolls-Royce — and not a single Washington journalist thought this worth looking into? If one of them had followed the spoils, it would have quickly led to a defense contractor buying the yacht, christened the “Duke-Stir”, while at the same time receiving massive government contracts authorized by the defense appropriations subcommittee Cunningham sat on.

But, instead, the Beltway Gang turned a blind-eye — so jaded and accepting of how the game is played in Washington that the corruption didn’t even register.

Which isn’t uncommon. I suspect that bloggers could accomplish a lot in unmasking corruption by looking at politicians’ lifestyles and matching them against their declared incomes. So could journalists, but they don’t seem to do much of that.

AUSTIN BAY writes on Iraqi reconstruction efforts.

IN JUST A FEW MINUTES, Michael Ledeen and Marc Cooper will be debating online. There’s also a contest to name their show. I favored “Nattering Nabobs,” but they vetoed it. (There was also a potential naming dispute with the philosophical blog “Nattering Nabobs of Postivism,” and you can’t be too careful about those things, it seems . . . .)

A PEARL HARBOR ANNIVERSARY ROUNDUP at LaShawn Barber’s place.

NUDE PHOTOS OF JENNIFER ANISTON raise legal questions.

SOME OVERLOOKED ASPECTS of Condi’s Eastern Europe trip.

SATELLITE RADIO UPDATE: So after reading all the responses to this post on XM and Sirius, I wound up ordering this one. Though a few people had complaints, the vast majority of emailers seemed happy with either XM or Sirius, regardless of which they had. So as a tie-breaker, I decided to go with loyalty to the one that carries my brother’s stuff — and that was offering a really good deal.

SAMBUCKS loses to Starbucks. This seems silly to me.

THANKS, Business Week.

BURNING CARS AND BURNING GIRLS: A German feminist looks at the French riots. (Via Winds of Change).

THE CARNIVAL OF THE VANITIES is up! Along with some others (look right).

VIRGINIA POSTREL looks at airport politics.

HERE’S A ROUNDUP OF BLOGGING on Saddam’s trial.

INTERESTING DEVELOPMENT: “Most Americans and a majority of people in Britain, France and South Korea say torturing terrorism suspects is justified at least in rare instances, according to AP-Ipsos polling. . . . In America, 61 percent of those surveyed agreed torture is justified at least on rare occasions. Almost nine in 10 in South Korea and just over half in France and Britain felt that way.” I happen to disagree with this view, though I can’t say I’m surprised, and I suspect that the over-the-top hysteria of some torture opponents, equating things like fake menstrual blood and wrapping people in the Israeli flag with torture, is actually creating a backlash. It will be interesting to see whether this poll affects any of our political weathervanes in Congress.

UPDATE: Tom Holsinger suggests the headline, “Majorities say torture should be safe, legal, rare.”

READER HANSON TIPTON EMAILS:

I am considering getting satellite radio for Christmas and knowing that you are a bit of a technophile I was wondering if you or your readers could recommend particular receivers or set-ups. I am leaning toward XM as they carry all major league baseball games, and I would want it mainly for the car but I would also want to have a way to play it in the house. I currently only listen to music (on CDs) or radio (talk) in the car. My job has me in the car a lot and usually out in rural areas that don’t necessarily get good reception for conventional radio, so I think satellite is something I would enjoy. Do you have satellite radio and if so do you recommend it to others?

Thanks for any advice you can offer. I always enjoy seeing your reviews of products (particularly electronics,) and also the input of your readers. Using Instapundit’s search feature I saw that in April someone wrote you about finding Webb Wilder on XM and you mentioned your brother’s band was on there too. Have you taken the satellite radio plunge?

No, I haven’t, though I’m planning to. My sister has Sirius and likes it; I was talking to a friend today who has XM and is very happy with it, too. That’s part of my problem — I’m too lazy to make a decision, though I’d probably go with XM for the reasons above.

My sister chose Sirius because it had the more compact receiver at the time, but now it looks as if both outfits have plenty of choices available. Of course, that just makes it harder. If they merged, they might get a lot of extra customers who currently can’t make up their minds which to choose . . . .

Anybody got advice for Mr. Tipton? Er, and maybe for me?

UPDATE: Michael Barone emails:

Last year I decided to buy (lease, actually) a BMW. The car came with a radio equipped to pick up Sirius satellite radio; I decided to take advantage of it and subscribe. I find I like it very much. I can get Fox News Channel audio (I listen especially when I’m headed to the Fox News studio for an appearance), and the classical music offerings are good. Also, there are lots and lots of other channels and I listen to a few of those occasionally (like the Washington/ Baltimore traffic channel). Reception is generally good, though there are occasional irritating blackouts and it goes off in underground garages (not in the tunnel under the Capitol, however). Commercial interruptions are much less frequent than on AM or FM radio.

Overall, I am happy with Sirius and will definitely install satellite radio on any future car. It helps that the BMW doesn’t require extra equipment (I believe Mercedes cars are set up for XM).

Meanwhile, Hazen Dempster emails:

I’m getting satellite radio for Christmas and I chose XM largely due to the MyFi Portable XM Receiver. It comes with a built-in antenna and a built in FM transmitter. It also comes with the complete home and car accessory kits so you don’t have to buy them separately. One cool feature is that It can record up to 5 hours of programming to play back at your convenience. What ultimately closed the sale for me, however, is I was able to find it for $134.99 at Buy.com. Since XM is offering a $50 rebate through year end, that brought the price down to $84.99 (Buy.com also offers free shipping). I figured it would be tough to beat that price and I don’t like Howard Stern anyway.

Here is a link to the XM description of the MyFi Receiver: Link
Here is a link to Buy.com description: Link

I’ll update this post more, later. Of course, even if you don’t get satellite radio, you could be a winner, as Michael Barone also observes:

I note that about a month ago I heard Rush Limbaugh announce that Clear Channel stations that broadcast his program will have one FEWER minute of ads each hour. I take this to be a competitive response to satellite radio. I don’t think Clear Channel would give up the revenue except out of fear that people sick of all the commercials will switch to satellite. Competition works.

I love that.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Bill Mullins notes that Webb Wilder has recently left XM. D’oh! I have to agree with the commenter on Webb’s page who writes: “in my opinion XM were idiots to let Webb get away.” Indeed.

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: Turns out Hazen Dempster’s deal is also available at Amazon at almost the same price, for those who prefer Amazon to Buy.com. I do, though I suppose it’s mostly out of habit.

DEFINING TERRORISM DOWN.

AN INTERESTING INTERVIEW on life-extension science in the New York Times:

Q. Do you believe there is such a thing as a limited life span for humans?

A. No. Life span is totally tunable. In my lab, we tune it up and down all the time.

Read the whole thing.

HERE’S A ROUNDUP on the Wikipedia wars. I’ve had my own problems with them in the past, though short-lived and (to me at least) no very big deal. My sense is that the wiki format works pretty well when issues are uncontroversial, but that it doesn’t handle politics very well.

UPDATE: More here.

BUSH’S POLLS SEEM TO BE DRIFTING UPWARD, and there are various theories as to why.

The photograph to the right seems to be the most likely explanation, though the reappearance of John Kerry — always good for Bush — may explain part of it too, as may the Administration’s willingness to hit back at its critics. This may not win over a lot of enemies, but it probably heartens a lot of Bush supporters. And given that some of the dissatisfaction with Bush comes from war supporters who think he’s not fighting hard enough at home and abroad, that might make a difference, too.

HERE’S MORE DISCUSSION ON INTERNET GOVERNANCE, from Laurence Simon, Tobias Buckell, Stephen Green, and Yay Sports!

TOM MAGUIRE wonders what Howard Dean’s thinking. Tom Bevan wonders if he speaks for the Democrats.

INDEED: “It’s as if the whole Valerie Plame matter never happened.”

A PROFESSOR’S CLAIMS of anti-conservative bias turn out to contain rather a lot of bogosity, leading to his resignation.

UPDATE: Eugene Volokh has more.

ED DRISCOLL looks at Hollywood’s declining fortunes. I’m interested to see him touch on the “prosumer threat,” which is something I’ve written about myself.

DENNIS KUCINICH explains what it means to “Buy American:”

“This is about our children and grandchildren,” he said. “We have to get the word out – ‘Buy American.’ This is a matter of our allegiance to our own communities, our belief in each other, our commitment to each other.”

While Ohio has about 16,000 workers building Honda automobiles, engines and transmissions, Kucinich later said he defined “American” as being made by a union. The UAW has failed in its effort to organize the Honda plants.

So if you’re an autoworker who isn’t a UAW member, I guess you’re not American. I hope he’s not questioning your patriotism. . . .

UPDATE: Reader Richard Zeien emails:

“The UAW has failed in its effort to organize the Honda plants.”

Hmmmm, the Honda plants aren’t in danger of closing. Coincidence?

I think not.