TERRORISTS AND INFORMANTS:

The use of rewards in the war on terror has not worked as well as was expected, largely because of the difficulty in getting the word out, and fear of retaliation against potential informants. This has always been a problem with offering rewards for information. . . . But the new program hopes to be the start of a much larger informant effort. Many of the American reserve troops in Iraq have been policemen, including some detectives. They have made it clear to the American intelligence officers that, without lots of “CIs” (Confidential Informants), you’ll never be able to shut down the terrorists, much less the more troublesome (to the average Iraqi) criminal gangs. That message got through, and the number of casual (one time) informants is increasing daily.

That sounds encouraging.

UPDATE: This paid-informant story, from a Georgia high school, is somewhat less so.

GORDON SMITH SURVEYS law professor teaching loads: Apparently, I’m overworked.

IRAQI BLOGGER ALI HAS MUST-READ THOUGHTS on the second anniversary of the fall rise of Baghdad.

MORE DIVERSITY PROBLEMS for higher education.

THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR REPORTS:

A Canadian publication ban and an American blogger clashed last week. The court-ordered ban did not survive the impact. The blogger was overwhelmed with visitors.

And what had been Canada’s own private scandal – so private Canadians had been prevented from hearing about it in full – fast traveled the borderless blogosphere.

Heh.

JOHN FUND:

Newt Gingrich may still be disclaiming any interest in running for president, but you wouldn’t know it from his travel schedule. The former House Speaker will be in New Hampshire — site of the nation’s first presidential primary — for two days next week to schmooze with editorial boards and political activists. A couple of signings for his new best seller “Winning the Future” will be thrown in as a cover for the trip.

Next month, the peripatetic former Speaker will curiously enough also be in Iowa, site of the first presidential caucus, with visits scheduled in Sioux City, Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. While Mr. Gingrich barely registers in early surveys of national Republicans who are asked to pick their presidential preference, he brings a lot of assets to a possible race. Rep. Mark Foley, a Florida Republican who represents the Palm Beach area, told the Hill newspaper that Mr. Gingrich “probably has the best political Rolodex of anyone in the nation. Think of how many candidates like myself he’s helped in the past; think of all the Lincoln Day dinners he’s attended.”

For Mr. Gingrich, putting his toe in presidential campaign waters is a low-risk proposition. Even if he decides not to run, speculation about his candidacy is guaranteed to sell more books in every city he visits.

Phil Gramm had a big Rolodex, too.

SEN. BOXER QUESTIONS SOURCE OF BOLTON’S MUSTACHE: I think she’s onto something.

FURTHER THOUGHTS on Mau-Mauing the judiciary, over at GlennReynolds.com. Start here and then scroll up.

UPDATE: Power Line: “I believe in full-throated criticism of judges (individually and generally) where warranted, but I have to agree that talk about impeaching Justice Kennedy is over-the-top.”

ANN ALTHOUSE WRITES ON STUDENTS INSTANT-MESSAGING IN CLASS:

My colleague Asifa Quraishi said the students are already using the classroom WiFi to IM each other, and maybe it hasn’t been so bad. We got going on the subject of how maybe we should outright encourage the students to IM, including sending tips and cues to a student who is engaged in Socratic dialogue with the lawprof. What’s wrong with students pooling their expertise on the fly?

I actually do encourage this — I figure that this way you’ve got several students thinking about the question seriously, when they might otherwise just be waiting to see if the student I’ve called on makes a fool of himself. How well it works depends on the class, and how extensively they tend to IM, but I do agree with the point.

UPDATE: Prawfsblawg has thoughts on whether law schools should encourage blogging by professors.

EVAN COYNE MALONEY has thoughts on campus politics.

CANADA: Love it or Leave It! Who knew that the CBC could be so testy?

HEH. I love the photo.

THOUGHTS ON SEX AND RELIGION, at the Becker-Posner blog.

ADVANCING FREE ENTERPRISE IN SPACE: Alan Boyle reports on promising developments:

Two deals signed this week, both involving rocket company XCOR Aerospace, look promising.

Cool. More here.

VIRGINIA POSTREL HAS A ROUNDUP on breast implants and culture wars.

OXBLOG has a firsthand report from Afghanistan.

RAMPANT THEOCRATIC HOMOPHOBIA: No, really.

HEH: Actually, as I’ve written before, I look forward to being replaced by a machine.

THREE INDICTED for planning terror attacks against NYC financial targets: “The reports did not identify the men, but sources told NBC News that they are Dhiren Barot — allegedly to be high-level al-Qaida operative known as Esa al-Hindi — and operatives Nadeem Tarmohamed and Quaisar Shaffi.”

UPDATE: Much more, including a link to the now-unsealed indictment, at the counterterrorism blog.

MORE MOWER-BLOGGING: I found another advantage to the push-mower last night. My daughter asked to mow the lawn, and mowed a good chunk of the back yard (I had to help in places, as it’s about 1/2 acre and kind of steep toward the back). But she could easily do the front yard herself, and I intend to let her. It’s much safer than a power-mower, and less intimidating to a kid.

It’s a fine moment in a father’s life when his kid first mows the lawn. I hadn’t expected it to come quite so early. I don’t think a robot mower could equal it!

INSOURCING: This article on Turkish tailors in Knoxville is quite interesting. I’ve been having my suits made at John Daniels for years, and they’re very good:

The idea of outsourcing didn’t sit well with the Bryans, who were reluctant to uproot themselves or their longtime employees. Benton Bryan grew up in the factory and rose to be his father’s No. 2. His sister is in charge of design, and a brother runs a separate retail outlet.

“These people baby-sat me as a kid,” says the younger Mr. Bryan, strolling through the brick downtown factory, patting the shoulders of white-haired Southern ladies, who do less-skilled work as seamstresses. “What am I going to do? Say you have to pack up and move to Mexico?”

The solution dawned on the Bryans slowly. The first few Turks were hired away from a competitor in New York. In 2000, the Bryans realized their best hope was to go recruiting abroad. The company now has dozens of Turks among its roughly 300 employees, and their starting salaries are as high as those of any of the company’s master tailors.

As I say, a very interesting story.

MICHAEL TOTTEN has more photoblogging from Lebanon over at the Spirit of America Lebanon blog. Check it out — and if you’d like to support Lebanese democracy, leave a donation.

ANN ALTHOUSE IS PLUGGING the NYU Journal of Law and Liberty.

I’ve actually got a (short) review of Larry Kramer and Randy Barnett’s new books coming out in that journal. I like it that they run short reviews as well as long ones, which is good from both a reader’s and a writer’s standpoint.

THE COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW gives the student-run Columbia Spectator higher marks for journalistic integrity than it gives the New York Times:

The fact that some at the Times decided to subvert their own reporting by agreeing to ignore one side of a debate is disturbing, if not wholly insulting, to the paper’s readership. And given that in this case, student journalists on a campus newspaper upheld a higher standard of journalistic integrity than the “paper of record,” the Times is right to be embarrassed.

Indeed. (Via Howard Kurtz).

MORE HEALTHCARE BLOGGING: This week’s Grand Rounds is up!

UPDATE: Link was bad before. Sorry!