THE BLOGOSPHERE SHOULD GET BEHIND THE ONLINE FREEDOM OF SPEECH ACT, which has bipartisan support in the House and Senate. Tell the FEC to keep its grubby laws off your computer! Mike Krempasky observes:

In short – if this bill passes both houses and becomes law in the next 50 or-so days, the disastrous FEC rulemaking process will be rendered moot. Remember, the FEC is only creating regulations for Internet activity because Congress didn’t specifically mention the Internet at all, and a federal judge ruled that even in the absence of specific direction of Congress, the FEC had to do so anyway.

This bill provides that direction, and creates that exclusion. It might not solve *all* the problems of regulation, but it’s miles and away the best solution right now. I’ve already heard from some liberal colleagues in the blogosphere, and we’re going to push this bill – and hard.

Let’s do.

I’VE RUN EMAIL from 1st LT David Lucas in Iraq, and from his father, John Lucas. Now The Mudville Gazette reports on his Bronze Star.

MY BROTHER’S BAND, COPPER, has a new video out. You can watch it by following the link and clicking on the “watch video” icon at the top. I think it’s pretty cool.

UPDATE: The Insta-Wife’s take: “Those guys are hot.”

Well of course. One of them’s my brother, after all.

STEPHEN BAINBRIDGE joins the elite corps of campus-photoblogging law professors.

RANDY BARNETT:

I have long bemoaned the opportunity cost of the aborted Supreme Court nomination of Judge Douglas Ginsburg of the D.C Circuit Court of Appeals. Nominated in the wake of Robert Bork’s defeat, Ginsburg was pressured (rumor has it by then-Drug “Czar” Bill Bennett) to withdraw his name when it was disclosed by Nina Totenberg (whose speaker’s agent brags about it here) that he had smoked marijuana in the presence of law students when he was a professor at Harvard Law School. Anthony Kennedy was nominated in his place.

What happened to Judge Ginsburg was a tragedy for liberty, and a terrible injustice to a very decent man. Without casting any aspersions on Justice Kennedy, I really wish that now-Chief Judge Ginsburg, the most libertarian Supreme Court nominee in the modern era, had been on the Court these past 15 years.

Me, too. Thanks fer nuthin’, Bill!

UPDATE: John Podhoretz emails to say that this is unfair to Bill Bennett:

Just a note to say Bill Bennett wasn’t Drug Czar when Doug Ginsburg was nominated for the Supreme Court. The job didn’t even exist. At the time, in 1987, it was a lead-pipe cinch that any public figure who had to admit to doing illegal drugs was in BIG trouble. And Bennett was then secretary of education.

As I was but a stripling youth at the time, I can hardly be expected to remember such things.

MORE ON JUDGES: In case people are serious about reforming the judiciary, I’ve got some suggestions over at GlennReynolds.com.

SIMTERROR ’05: An interesting blog-based exercise.

INTERESTING PRIVACY NEWS from Engadget: “[T]he North Dakota legislature is the first to set a precedent by making the black box data sole property of the vehicle owner. The legislature overwhelmingly approved the bill, which also aims at requiring auto manufacturers to notify owners of the presence of black boxes in their vehicles.”

UPDATE: Reader Dale Wetzel writes:

Engadget’s analysis misses the mark somewhat.

The data is not under the sole control of the vehicle owner, although
the owner does have some say about what is done with it.

The significance of the bill is, the insurance companies can’t use
black-box data against you.

Link to bill:

Link to story about bill:

Hmm. That’s not quite as good, but it’s better than nothing.

PUBLIUS reports on growing unrest in China.

Meanwhile, here’s a report that China is pressuring satellite companies to support censorship.

UPDATE: This post from The Daily Demarche rounds up a lot of China news.

DEFENSETECH has been looking at the threat from China. Here’s the latest post in the series.

DURING AN EARLIER DISCUSSION of classic TV on DVD, several readers wondered why Hogan’s Heroes wasn’t out on DVD. Now it is!

Unfortunately, it’s still a dry hole for another classic show from that era.

ROGER SIMON: Uncovering the oil-for-food coverup — with photos.

RON COLEMAN HAS IMPORTANT THOUGHTS on security and negligence inspired by the Lexis/Nexis debacle:

Unlike most bloggers (it seems), I am not a libertarian, nor the biggest “civil libertarian.” I am skeptical of conspiracy theories and the like. And most private data, the stuff that the privacy fetishists obsess about, is, as one great man said (about something completely else), “dull, boring and omnipresent” and pretty much worthless — a point I make to the typical would-be Internet defamation or privacy plaintiff in that weekly phone call we get around here.

But I will say this: If government agencies are going to use their presumptive police power to collect data, however legitimately, they are — regardless of whether they outsource the task or not — obligated to insure that this information is retained securely. Even a law-and-order, Burkean conservative can recognize that duty, a duty of competence which is after all a premise of civil government right after ordered liberty and somewhere above free ham hocks.

It looks like the State of Florida (the increasingly incompetent-looking State of Florida), which has taken a lead role in the Matrix database project, along with LexisNexis, has a lot of explaining to do.

Read the whole thing.

AUSTIN BAY writes on the collapse of Al Qaeda’s “Iraqi Tet” fantasy. He’s got a bit more background on his blog, too.

DONALD SENSING RESPONDS to my TCS column on religion and politics.

INSTAPUNDIT’S AFGHANISTAN CORRESPONDENT, Maj. Robert Macaraeg, reports:

Guess who dropped in to Kanadahar Air Field (KAF)? Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Earlier he flew out to a Forward Operating Base, returned to KAF and then reenlisted 11 soldiers, gave a speech, did a question and answer session and then posed for photos with soldiers, airmen, marines and sailors.

He gave a 10 to 15 minute speech on why we are in Afghanistan. He mentioned after 2000 years Afghanistan had its first free election after the Soviets occupation and brutal rule of the Taliban. He was optimistic about the future of Afghanistan and said that the Afghan people wanted a bright future. Also he mentioned the devotion to duty that SFC Smith who was just awarded the Medal of Honor.

Then it was the question and answer session. He has a good sense of humor, but did not sugar coat his answers. The questions ranged from the new XM-8 rifle for the infantry, immigration and citizenship for foreigners who serve in the US military, shorter rotations for the US Army and why not military police can earn the new Close Combat Badge. One thing that struck me that he did not B.S. anybody. When he did not know the right answer, he said he would get back to you or deferred to one of Generals to give the straight answer.

One soldier asked the question on why America gets such a negative view of events here. Rumsfeld asked the soldier to repeat the question to make sure that he understood then smiled and laughed. He said “do you think I control the press?” That got a good laugh out of everybody; then he said if you look at any newspaper or TV news program all the headlines are negative. Negative headlines sell. He said with our (military) emails and letters that we send home, people in America will see the good that the military is accomplishing. Also Americans can sort through the news and see the truth. I totally agree with him.

After that he stood with service members for 30 minutes and took photos and shook hands. You can see that he enjoys meeting the troops. I have seen in the previous Sec Defs and Presidents who just did a five minute grip and grin, but Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld impressed the troops and in the dining facility (DFAC) comments were made that he should serve his full term.

I’ve noticed that Rumsfeld seems to be more popular with the troops than with the press. Perhaps that’s because Rumsfeld seems to be counting on the Internet to bypass the press . . . .

TIM WORSTALL has more on avian flu. And here are further thoughts on future epidemics.

MORE ON SANDY BERGER:

It’s hard to underestimate the effect a case like this has on national-security professionals. For cynics, it shows that big players get off easy when they commit the crimes smaller fry lose their careers over. Meanwhile, spies, policy-makers and other handlers of secrets are effectively being told their efforts aren’t taken seriously. It’s a classic Washington double standard.

It certainly seems that way to me. Even Berger’s defenders — say at the WSJ — would surely admit that a Chief Warrant Officer who commited the same crime would be unlikely to get the same wristslap treatment.

TOM MAGUIRE has thoughts on media credibility, inspired by Nick Kristof.

JOHN KERRY is looking for stories — preferably negative ones — regarding service in Iraq. He got this amusing reply:

Dear John,

I’d like to share the story of my son’s service in Iraq. However, first, can I ask…won’t you share YOUR story by signing the SF-180 form to release your military records?

He keeps promising to do that. Isn’t that enough?

UPDATE: Will Collier has a letter for Kerry, too.

BILL QUICK NOTES MORE FAILURE in the L.A. Times’ multiple-layers-of-editing scheme.

STEPHEN ST. ONGE has taken up the Chronicle of Higher Education’s invitation and reviewed its coverage of the Bellesiles matter.

HERE’S MORE ON CAMPUS POLITICS, from Evan Coyne Maloney.

DARFUR UPDATE: The Sudanese Ambassador will be in Nashville Wednesday. Bill Hobbs has the scoop. If you’re in the vicinity you might consider dropping in.

I HAVE THOUGHTS ON RELIGION AND POLITICS in my TechCentralStation column for tomorrow. But as an “InstaPundit Premium Subscriber” — the only kind there is! — you can read them now. For free! Is that a great deal, or what?