SOME LEGISLATIVE SUGGESTIONS FOR THE DEMOCRATS, from Victor Davis Hanson.

IT’S BEEN NEARLY A YEAR since I hosted a Digital Camera Carnival — here’s a link to last year’s post — and several people would like me to do it again. So if you’ve got posts on digital photography — cameras, printers, video, lights, whatever — send me a link and I’ll put something up soon. Put “Digital Camera Carnival” in the subject line, so that I can find it via an email search.

MICHAEL RUBIN ON IRAQ: He wants to bring back the CERP program, something that I spent a fair number of pixels on here a while back. Earlier entries on that topic here, here, and here.

UPDATE: Rubin emails:

I whole-heartedly agree with you re: CERP, and have long been a fan of the program and concept.

What was edited out because of space is the proposal that USAID, should they balk at losing control of funds, embed everyone necessary to make a decision with various military units out-and-about on patrol. This might have the auxiliary benefit of encouraging some streamlining.

As noted here at the time, dropping the CERP funding was one of the major failures of the early occupation. And check out this StrategyPage piece from 2004.

ARE CONSERVATIVES more charitable? “The book’s basic findings are that conservatives who practice religion, live in traditional nuclear families and reject the notion that the government should engage in income redistribution are the most generous Americans, by any measure. Conversely, secular liberals who believe fervently in government entitlement programs give far less to charity. They want everyone’s tax dollars to support charitable causes and are reluctant to write checks to those causes, even when governments don’t provide them with enough money.”

Apparently they’re not big on paying the taxes to support those entitlement programs, either: “Bono demands more of the taxes he won’t pay.”

EUGENE VOLOKH:

At various law schools, student groups organize what are sometimes called “canned immunity” drives — if students donate canned food that will end up going to a soup kitchen or some similar charity, the professors agree not to call on them. I’ve always been vaguely uneasy about this, but I’m not sure whether I should be.

I’ve never liked that either — I don’ think of being called on in class as a punishment, or being ignored in class as a reward.

BANNING BURKAS in the Netherlands.

ANDREW BOLT notes journalists standing up for censorship.

THE MUDVILLE GAZETTE has more on the Senators vs. the generals on Iraq.

PRODUCING OIL FROM OIL SHALE at $17 a barrel? If this pans out, it’s huge. (Via SerandEz).

UPDATE: Comments from a Chemical Engineering professor, here.

JUDITH WEISS LOOKS AT “the narcissism of politicized grief.”

JEFF TAYLOR looks at the John Edwards contradiction. “Everyone loves a good hypocrite; they make us feel superior just for being consistent, if not competent. Accordingly the Internets are getting a good snort out of Wal-Mart basher John Edwards getting caught looking for Wal-Mart to hook him up with a Playstation 3. . . . However, the slapstick of the Edwards misstep should not obscure the really big picture, the fatal flaw in his ‘Two Americas’ spiel. Many thousands of Americans evidently have $600 to spend on a video game machine. What’s more, this Christmas is expected to usher in the year of the flat-panel. With price points dropping below the $1000 mark, high-end TVs are moving down-market fast with Wal-Mart leading the way. Contrary to the Edwards’ pitch that labor-hostile companies are leaving American workers destitute, somebody is making some money out there in America. More importantly, they are making it in many, many cases without a union card.”

IT’S BAAACK!

TIGERHAWK: “Crude oil has hit a 17-month low. National security conservatives and anti-carbon greens should get together now — before Americans readjust to inexpensive gasoline — and push through a reasonable tax on carbon-based fuels in return for an extension of the most economically efficient aspects of the ‘Bush tax cuts.'”

WE MAY NOT BE LIVING IN THE BEST OF ALL POSSIBLE WORLDS, but we’re certainly living in a better world than most people realize.

A QUESTION: Why are Blu-Ray DVD players so much more expensive than HD-DVD players?

Is it a pricing strategy, an inherent cost difference, or a sign of who’s winning the format war?

UPDATE: Several readers point out that the PlayStation 3 will play Blu-Ray DVDs, and it’s cheaper than the standard players. Here’s a (somewhat mixed, but fairly positive) review of its performance. Downside: The Playstation 3 shows as “currently not available.”

IT’S A NEW INSTA-POLL, inspired by events of the past week!

UPDATE: “A dead heat of dumbness” is winning in a runaway. Steven Den Beste emails:

There’s an old saying among fantasy roleplaying gamers: “You don’t have to be faster than the dragon. You just have to be faster than the elf.”

I think that the Republicans have gotten spoiled by having the Democrats as their opponents. They don’t think they have to be good, or principled, or honest; they think they just have to be perceived as being less bad than the Democrats. In 2006 that strategy failed — but by gum, they’re going to give it another try over the next two years.

Oh, joy.

MISSING MURTHA at the L.A. Times?

A U.S. / INDIA Nuclear Cooperation Agreement has passed. Indians are reportedly delighted. Critics say it will “drive a nail into the coffin” of the nuclear non-proliferation regime.

But the nuclear non-proliferation regime has been an abject failure, as Iran and North Korea, among others, demonstrate, because there isn’t any actual enforcement, and rogue nations have figured that out. Which means that we’re back to balance-of-power diplomacy instead. God help us.

FROM NEW YORK TO APPALACHIA: A rather cool pair of photos from Rick Lee.

THE NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIALIZES:

Nancy Pelosi has managed to severely scar her leadership even before taking up the gavel as the new speaker of the House. First, she played politics with the leadership of the House Intelligence Committee to settle an old score and a new debt. And then she put herself in a lose-lose position by trying to force a badly tarnished ally, Representative John Murtha, on the incoming Democratic Congress as majority leader. The party caucus put a decisive end to that gambit yesterday, giving the No. 2 job to Steny Hoyer, a longtime Pelosi rival.

Of the two, I think the Alcee Hastings problem is worse than the Murtha problem. Forget the New York Times editorials and the talk of Democratic circular firing squads, the Hastings matter even has people at The Huffington Post worried: “But the damage Murtha’s ethics history can do to the Pelosi Speakership is nothing compared to what Alcee Hastings can do. . . . If Rove had been smart enough to make Alcee Hastings a household term during the campaign, the Democrats would not have won as many seats. If Pelosi makes Hastings a chairman, Rove won’t miss the shot this time. The Democrats would instantly take over as the party of corruption.”

Of course, the Congressional Black Caucus is doubling down on Hastings’ behalf, amplifying the circular-firing-squad aspect, at least. . . .

Putting a corrupt guy in charge of intelligence in wartime, in order to play racial politics, doesn’t sound like a winning move to me.

GENE DOPING FOR BIGGER MUSCLES: Faster, please — I spend too much time at the gym.

ANOTHER BLOGGER REPORTING FROM IRAQ: This time it’s Mark Finkelstein of NewsBusters.

EXTREME MORTMAN: “Shocker: Republicans have a good day!”

Plus: A victory for Robert Cox.

A LOOK AT MONEY IN POLITICS, and where a lot of it comes from.

THIS WEEK’S BLOG WEEK IN REVIEW PODCAST is up!