MORE ON WARD CHURCHILL from the Rocky Mountain News.

J.D. LASICA’S DARKNET: HOLLYWOOD’S WAR AGAINST THE DIGITAL GENERATION, which I mentioned a while back when it was in press, is now out.

One point he makes, which I think is very important, is that the various restrictions promoted by Hollywood and the record industry aren’t just intended to protect their intellectual property, but to make it harder for independent creators to compete with them in the larger market.

J.D. has a book blog, too.

MICHAEL SILENCE posts the results of a newsroom survey on blogs.

RANDY BARNETT ON THE RAICH CASE:

The Ninth Circuit finally got its revenge on the Supreme Court justices who seemed to delight in reversing it. In Gonzales v. Raich, it gave the conservatives a choice: Uphold the Ninth Circuit’s ruling favoring individuals engaged in the wholly intrastate non-economic activity of growing and consuming cannabis for medical purposes as recommended by a doctor and permitted by state law, or retreat from the landmark Commerce Clause decisions of U.S. v. Lopez (1995) and U.S. v. Morrison (2000). Either way the Ninth Circuit wins. But with Justices Kennedy and Scalia on the liberal side of the Court, the Ninth Circuit won big. So did Judge Stephen Reinhardt, who first implemented this strategy in the child-porn case of U.S. v. McCoy.

As I’ve written elsewhere, stuff like this is why it’s hard for me to get excited about the filibuster fights; principled federalists seem rather thin on the ground, and I don’t see any great likelihood of getting more.

UPDATE: On the other hand, Julian Sanchez puts the best possible face on the Bush Administration’s commitment to federalism and limited government.

HERE’S A PIECE on the FBI’s I.T. problems.

AUSTIN BAY HAS FURTHER THOUGHTS on journalism and the war. And if you want to help out his independent journalistic efforts, visit his tipjar.

BIRTHDAY CATBLOGGING: Precious seems to be flourishing in her new home. Thanks, Dr. Tony!

I FINISHED RADICAL EVOLUTION last night. I thought it was quite good, and it’s well worth your time and money if you’re interested in technological change.

THIS WEEK’S CARNIVAL OF GAMERS is up.

CHESTER HAS SOME THOUGHTS ON ZIMBABWE, inspired by Philip Bobbitt.

UPDATE: Publius has a Zimbabwe roundup, where it appears the protest is having some effect, but that the government is wielding a heavy hand against strikers.

STRATEGYPAGE:

More towns in Iraqi’s “wild west” are being pacified. The usual drill is not another Fallujah, but a government official meeting with local tribal and religious leaders, where an offer is made. Iraqi and American troops are coming. Neighborhoods that support the government will see little or no fighting as a search is made for weapons, bombs and the like. Neighborhoods that wish to resist will be hit hard. By now, everyone knows how smart bombs work. Increasingly, Sunni Arab leaders are being told, by their followers, that all this violence is not worth it. After Saddam fell, Sunni Arabs continued to believe in fantasies. For the last two years, the collective delusion was that the Americans had no stomach for guerilla war, and the Kurds and Shia Arabs could never get a government together. Today, Sunni Arabs who can get away on a little vacation, go north to the Kurdish north, or south to Shia Basra. In both places you can sit in an outdoor cafe without fear of a suicide bomb going off down the street. The Kurds and Shia have more jobs, more reconstruction and less crime. The Sunni Arabs don’t want to live in their own mess any more. They don’t want to live in a combat zone, especially while the Kurds and Shia are not.

It’s not all good news, though, and here’s some of the bad:

The biggest obstacle to economic revival is not terrorism, but corruption. For example, over a third of Iraq’s potential oil revenue is lost to corruption and theft. . . .

Iraq may be free of Saddam, but it is not yet free of the corrupt practices that allow someone like Saddam to take power, and keep it. While much is made of the terror Saddam used to keep Iraqis in line, we forget that he often used corruption, and the willingness of too many Iraqis to take the money and look the other way. The corruption has gotten so bad, especially the oil thefts, that the government is planning on firing several hundred thousand government workers. The money simply isn’t there to pay them. The money, instead, is in the pockets of local criminals, or foreign bank accounts belonging to corrupt officials. Until Iraq can confront and conquer this enemy, they will not be able to enjoy the benefits of their oil wealth.

This is an endemic problem throughout much of the world (I could tell you some Nigeria stories . . .), but seems to be especially bad in Iraq.

JAMES PINKERTON has thoughts on Intelligent Design.

DARFUR AND THE PALESTINIANS: A modest proposal.

SOME THOUGHTS ON THE JOURNALISM OF WARFARE, by Keith Windschuttle. (Via Bill Quick).

RYAN SAGER ON THE “REFORMERS:”

In fact, the Internet resembles in many ways the campaign-finance reformers’ long-sought utopia: full public financing of political campaigns. While the government is of course not financing anyone on the Internet, the outcome is the same: For an absolute pittance, every idea, every political philosophy, every candidate has access to a soap box.

The only limitation is how many people care to listen.

Why, when the free market has gone and created the exact state of affairs the reformers have long claimed to desire, are the McCains of the world looking to crack down?

Because the reform movement has never been about freedom. It has always been about control.

Indeed.

MORE THOUGHTS ON THE SINGULARITY, at Centerfield.

A CALL FOR REVOLUTION IN ZIMBABWE: If Rep. Rangel wants to make Holocaust comparisons, they would be better aimed at Robert Mugabe.

UPDATE: Much more on Zimbabwe, from The Belmont Club.

THE HYSTERIA SPREADS: Charles Rangel compares Bush’s foreign policy to the Holocaust.

Really, Bush’s ability to drive his opponents stark, raving bonkers is almost supernatural.

MICHAEL LEDEEN is condemning the silence on Iran’s use of torture.

Meanwhile, there are numerous reports of unrest in Iran.

UPDATE: More on Iran here.

MATT WELCH:

How people can derive pleasure from evidence of the suffering of innocents is beyond me, and few sights are more unseemly to my eyes than seeing a Lonely Planet-waving travel snob whine about how some current or formerly misgoverned hellhole has been “ruined” by all that yucky reconstruction, material success, and (worst of all!) tourism.

Indeed.

UPDATE: Reader Patrick Prescott sends this link to a post with related thoughts.