I SAW The Incredibles the other night with the Insta-Daughter, who had seen it in the theater but wanted to see it again on the small screen. I didn’t find the Randian subtext quite as pronounced as some of the reviews suggested, but it was certainly a very good movie.

THIS WEEK’S CARNIVAL OF THE LIBERATED, a roundup of Iraqi blog posts, is up.

Meanwhile, Dave Weigel reviews Gunner Palace and asks:

Why do I have to go [to] the movies to see video of soldiers in Iraq? The TVs blaring over our desks in the office had been playing nothing but human interest stories all week – Terri Schiavo, Robert Blake, Scott Peterson, some missing girl in Florida (why is it ALWAYS Florida?) Stories of euthenasia and murder in small-town America and Hollywood. I could expect to hear about this stuff in times of peace. But we have 150,000 soldiers risking their lives for us 24/7 in Iraq and Afghanistan. They’re shooting it out with snipers, busting down doors, arresting assassins, quelling riots, handing out candy to schoolkids, cuddling babies at orphanages, Hummering down to the Baghdad airport’s McDonalds to get a precious Big Mac. In what twisted universe is this not interesting?

A universe in which it’s become apparent that we’re winning the war, I suspect . . . .

Meanwhile, read this post by Austin Bay.

THERE ARE SOME SECTIONS OF THE ACADEMY THAT I WOULD NOT ADVISE YOU TO INVADE, and a nationwide program of harassing Jewish law professors strikes me as a serious miscalculation. As a lawyer at my old firm once said, when Mao used the term “paper tiger” as a synonym for “harmless and ineffectual,” he was merely demonstrating that he had never been on the receiving end of a big-firm discovery demand . . . .

CHINA’S BUREAUCRATS HATE BLOGS:

It’s estimated that about a million Chinese are now running blogs (web logs.) This, for Chinese security officials, is worse than chat rooms and bulletin boards. The bloggers have quickly become quite good at saying what the government doesn’t want said, but doing it in a way to deceive the software tools the government uses to watch for such misbehavior. Most of the blogs do not cover political issues, but the ones that do are saying things the government doesn’t want Chinese people to see. The most worrisome blogging covers government corruption, which officials would rather keep in the shadows while they try to deal with it.

Somebody needs to catalog the tricks the Chinese bloggers are using — if the F.E.C. gets its way, we may need some of them over here . . . .

IS THE STAR TRIBUNE THE WORST NEWSPAPER IN AMERICA? Or is it just that people are paying attention? It certainly seems to publish a lot of obviously wrong stuff about blogs, despite the ease of fact-checking, and despite repeated slurs against blogs for, er, not fact-checking. Here’s a letter from Charles Johnson:

In a March 19 counterpoint (“Article on blogs should have said more on political divide”), Tamara Baker made a bald-faced lie: “[Eric] Black’s article also didn’t mention “Little Green Footballs,” a right-wing blog whose founder, Charles Johnson, claims that he and not John Hinderaker’s PowerLineBlog was the first to lead the charge against Dan Rather last fall.”

I have never written or said anything like this. In fact, in my posts about Rathergate on the day the story broke, I very clearly credited Power Line and “Buckhead” at Free Republic.

These posts are all readily available at my site (www.littlegreenfootballs.com), and, in fact, there is a permanent link to an index of all Rathergate posts at LGF, near the top of our left sidebar.

There really is no excuse for this blatant act of character assassination, and the Star Tribune owes me an apology for publishing Baker’s unhinged rant.

It certainly looks that way.

AMITY SHLAES:

Less than two weeks until World Bank shareholders vote on Paul Wolfowitz’s nomination to head the Bank and the protests continue to build. Naming John Bolton, a vigorous critic of the United Nations, to serve as US ambassador to the UN had seemed bad enough. But now President George W. Bush wants the head of the World Neocon Conspiracy to lead the ultimate philanthropist’s bank. What is he trying to do, destroy these institutions?

The opposite, in fact. Multilateralists around the globe ought to be thrilled about these choices. These men are not going to endanger the future of the UN or the World Bank. Those futures are already in danger. Rather, the new candidates may turn out to be the institutions’ salvation.

I guess that explains why Kerry / Clinton adviser James Rubin is endorsing Wolfowitz.

ARTHUR CHRENKOFF ROUNDS UP GOOD NEWS FROM THE ISLAMIC WORLD — and there’s a lot more than you might think from watching the Nightly News.

ARE THINGS INVOLVING SYRIA coming to a head? Here’s a report that there are 3 carrier groups heading for the region.

HERE’S A ROUNDUP OF KYRGYZSTAN DEVELOPMENTS from the indefatigable GatewayPundit.

FORMER SPINSANITY GUY BRENDAN NYHAN notes bogus death numbers being peddled by antiwar groups. And Shannon Love has more math.

UPDATE: Reader Peter Malloy emails: “The inability to sense of irony among the anti-war left never ceases to amaze me. The way this group clings to the 100,000 deaths figure makes clear that they WANT it, desperately, to be true. This group of people, ostensibly against the killing involved in war, actually desires that Iraqi civilians have suffered the worst case outcome in order to support their political views. Real humanitarians, ain’t they?”

GOTCHER HEALTHCARE BLOGGING RIGHT HERE: This week’s Grand Rounds is up!

THE MOST IMPORTANT FIRST AMENDMENT CASE since New York Times v. Sullivan?

ASTROTURFING CAMPAIGN FINANCE “REFORM” — Ryan Sager is declaring a victory, of sorts:

My argument relates to the hypocrisy of a movement for “open government” doing the best it can within the law to remain opaque. And my argument is about a docile press that doesn’t give a damn about anyone else’s free-speech rights so long as it enjoys a “media exemption.”

I’ll be perfectly clear: I’m deliberately turning the campaign-finance-reform lobby’s obsession with money on its head.

That’s the whole point: to show that it is just another lobby.

If Hasen is conceding that — which I think his response does in spades — then the anti-reform forces have already won this battle.

Quite a shift in the terms of the debate since Thursday, don’t you think?

It would be more of one, if the level of denial weren’t so strong.

IT’S THE FIRST YEAR FOR THE FOURTH RAIL: Congratulations to Bill Roggio for some fine blogging.

HERE’S ANOTHER good military blog from Iraq.

GOOGLE NEWS’ JOURNALISTIC STANDARDS: Nazis welcome, mainstream bloggers not. I haven’t paid much attention to this issue, but I’m often astonished at what turns up in a Google News search these days — and what doesn’t.

LANCE FRIZZELL blogs from Iraq about a “peace” march in America.

UPDATE: Lance also has pictures of what they’re protesting.

ANOTHER UPDATE: The Detroit Free Press offers this unflattering portrayal: “Judging by their meager presence at a state Capitol rally Saturday, the antiwar movement in Michigan cannot currently be described as vibrant.”

WHAT HE SAID: “I know nothing about the Schiavo matter, and despite that have no opinion.”

Tom Maguire, on the other hand, notes that not everyone is emulating this approach.

[LATER: Mark Kleiman emails that Tom is doing him an injustice.]

UPDATE: Chris Nolan says it’s a made-for-TV movie: “No good is going to come of this; none at all.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Jerry Lawson thinks it’s Chandra Levy all over again:

You know what I’m reminded of?

I’m looking at the media and the things they’re obsessing about, and I’m reminded of the period right before 9/11. Everything was pretty stable, or so we thought, and there were daily media obsessions about stuff which a few days later would be forgotten completely. Hell, I remember vhemnently arguing on a newsgroup about something in the news which seemed vitally important … and three and a half years later I don’t remember a thing about the argument other than that we were arguing. Must have been damned important to be so memorable.

But right now, media attention’s on Schiavo. Why? Because it’s an easy story to cover. Nobody’s shooting at the reporters. It’s got human interest. It’s got politicians jumping through hoops. It pulls a lot of emotions, in all sorts of directions. It’s a distraction from the Iraq war, where the media scripts are NOT playing out to the ‘proper’ conclusion. It’s got everything you could want but cute animals. And ultimately – this story’s about as meaningful long-term as any tabloid material you’re likely to see at the checkout stand. Only the long-term ramifications by lawmakers who desperately need to be perceived as ‘Doing Something’ will be, IMHO, detrimental in the long run.

Before some recent hernia surgery, my wife and I talked briefly about what would happen if… and we’ve also got wills, and she’s got my durable medical power of attorney. As she’s a nurse I figure she’ll know what needs to be done, when and if – so I’m covered there. My opinion on the Schiavo case… basically, I’ve got no opinion. It doesn’t concern me, one way or another. I’ve seen arguments for both sides, I’ve seen arguments against both sides – and I’m not going to go one way or another on this except to point out just how very obsessive the coverage is on this…

And wonder if we’re in the calm before another storm hits.

I hope not.

“MARRYING THE CUSTODIAN:” A not-terribly-insightful essay from Inside Higher Education. The comments are fun, though.

Just this morning, the Insta-Daughter mentioned an angle (learned from The Sims) that the essay omits: “When you marry a maid, you get someone with excellent cooking and cleaning skills.” These are highly valued in the Sims world, where their absence is made extremely apparent. She also reported that one of her married Sims is having an affair, and that it’s working out badly for all concerned. As I’ve noted before, you can learn a lot from The Sims. I don’t know whether marrying a University custodian is an option in The Sims Go to College, though.

DOG BITES MAN: “Journalistic malpractice” in reporting from Iraq.

MACHINEGUNS IN THE CLASSROOM? Been there, done that.

MORE ON REGULATION OF POLITICAL SPEECH, over at GlennReynolds.com.

AUSTIN BAY will be on Kudlow & Co. this afternoon. The show starts at 5 Eastern, on CNBC. I don’t know where in the hour Austin will appear.

AIRBUS UPDATE: France has issued an emergency airworthiness directive on Airbus rudders. But Billy Beck is still not satisfied that they’re serious.

AN EXTENSIVELY DEVELOPED THEORY OF POLITICAL FREEDOM: Though I should note that I’ve paid close attention to Kyrgyzstan in spite of the absence of the theory’s predictive factors.

UPDATE: More on Kyrgyzstan here.