BLOG CENSORSHIP IN INDIA? It’s going to be hard for India to make it as a technology leader if this kind of thing goes on.

UNSCAM UPDATE: Claudia Rosett has more on Tongsun Park’s oil-for-food conviction and what it means.

BUSH’S STEM CELL VETO: As I noted below, this appears to be mostly political theater on both sides. I think Bush was wrong to veto the bill, though, and I also think that he’s going to get extra heat because this was his first veto. If he had been vetoing bills all along, this wouldn’t be such a big deal. And it’s not as if there weren’t plenty of other bills he could have vetoed. . . .

FEDS SHARPEN DATA-MINING TOOLS:

U.S. intelligence agencies have invested millions of dollars since 9/11 on computer programs that search through financial, communications, travel and other personal records of people in the USA and around the world for connections to terrorism, according to public records and security experts.

Interestingly, it sounds as if a lot of the data is purchased from commercial databases. It would be useful to have a debate on what sort of data mining is appropriate, on the level of general principles, as opposed to the sort of episodic alarmism we get about particular programs.

In probably unrelated war-on-terror news, there seem to be more prosecutions of terror suspects in the United States:

Two men already accused of discussing terror targets with Islamic extremists were indicted Wednesday on charges of undergoing paramilitary training in northwest Georgia and plotting a “violent jihad” against civilian and government targets, including an air base in suburban Atlanta.

The new indictment accuses Syed Ahmed, a 21-year-old Georgia Tech student who was arrested in March, and Ehsanul Islam Sadequee, 19, of traveling to Washington to film possible targets, including the U.S. Capitol and the headquarters of the World Bank, and sharing the recordings with another alleged terrorist based in Great Britain.

Both men are U.S. citizens who grew up in Atlanta area. They previously were accused of traveling to Canada last year to meet with Islamic extremists to discuss “strategic locations in the United States suitable for a terrorist strike,” including military bases and oil refineries, according to prosecutors.

And there’s this:

A British man was indicted Wednesday on charges he helped run terrorism fundraising Web sites, set up terrorists with temporary housing in England and possessed a classified U.S. Navy document revealing troop movements.

Syed Talha Ahsan was arrested at his home in London, England, on a federal indictment in Connecticut charging him with conspiracy to support terrorists and conspiracy to kill or injure people abroad.

Ahsan is accused in the same case as Babar Ahmad, a British computer specialist who was indicted in Connecticut in October 2004.

Both are accused of running several Web sites including Azzam.com, which investigators say was used to recruit members for the al Qaeda network, Afghanistan’s ousted Taliban regime and Chechen rebels.

It’s hard to know how much to make of these cases at this point, but stay tuned. Meanwhile, the Counterterrorism Blog looks at Hezbollah activity in North America.

THE VOLOKH CONSPIRACY is having DNS problems. If you’re having trouble reaching them at Volokh.com, try Volokh.powerblogs.com instead.

MORE QUESTIONS ABOUT REP. JERRY LEWIS:

Rep. Jerry Lewis profited handsomely on an investment in a fledgling bank headed by a close friend who invited him to get in on the company’s initial stock offering.

The California Republican was given the opportunity to buy into Security Bank of California in early 2005, shortly after becoming chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee. Lewis’ initial $22,000 investment now is worth nearly $60,000.

Besides his friendship with bank Chairman James Robinson, Lewis has other connections to the bank. Several of its board members have contributed to his campaigns and are linked to businesses that shared in the bonanza of federal dollars Lewis steered back home.

Lewis’ finances are under scrutiny as part of a broad federal investigation into connections between Washington lobbyists, their clients and the awarding of government contracts. No charges have been filed, and Lewis has denied any wrongdoing.

It seems a bit dodgy, though.

MYSTERY POLLSTER COMMENTS ON a new Pew blogger study.

JACOB WEISBERG MAKES A HERETICAL SUGGESTION: That the war in Lebanon isn’t Bush’s fault. Can this be true?

ALL THE PRESIDENT’S GLENN? I’m not worthy of such attention, but it’s just more evidence that Karl Rove’s insidious “blogpaper” strategy is working. But we already knew that.

Related posts here and here.

UPDATE: And it’s not just Glenns. Or maybe it is. . . .

YES, I’M NOT BLOGGING MUCH THIS WEEK, but James Taranto is back online.

SOME DEVELOPMENTS AT DUKE are reported by KC Johnson.

MORE THOUGHTS ON THE LONG TAIL, in my TCS Daily column.

SOME THOUGHTS ON BARRY GOLDWATER, and rigid toilet training.

Plus, advice for Hillary Clinton, from Mickey Kaus.

RADLEY BALKO has a paper on the militarization of police forces across America. This has been going on for over a decade, and I agree that it’s troubling. I also recommend this book on federal law enforcement by Dave Kopel and Paul Blackman.

RAISING CAPITAL at The Huffington Post.

TOMORROW WILL BE A WORLDWIDE DAY OF PROTEST over Iran’s treatment of gays, which includes the execution of gay teenagers. Michael Petrelis has lots on this story — just keep scrolling.

BUNKERCASTING: A podcast interview with an Israeli teenager in a Haifa bomb shelter.

UPDATE: Putting a human face on the war. Plus, behind the curtain at The New York Times.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Here’s a post on the Lebanon evacuation, from Austin Bay.

BILL FRIST has started a group medical blog.

UPDATE: Brad Rubenstein is disappointed. He was hoping for something more like Grand Rounds.

IT’S THE 100TH Carnival of Recipes.

AUSTIN BAY WRITES on Katyushas and the Westphalian system.

MORE ON PRESIDENTIAL SIGNING STATEMENTS from Kevin Drum and Ramesh Ponnuru. My earlier post on the subject is here.

A LOOK AT BLOGS AND THE KELO DECISION.

THE CARNIVAL OF THE RINOS is up.

DISCOVERY COMES HOME: A podcast with astronaut Tom Jones.

AS I MENTIONED, I’m on semi-vacation and not blogging much. If you want the latest mideast news, you should go to Pajamas Media and N.Z. Bear’s blog aggregator page. And see this roundup by Norm Geras.

On a less depressing note, here’s a picture of downtown Knoxville from reader Jeff Tidwell.