KERRY ON MEET THE PRESS: A late hit, but it connects. Worth reading for anyone wondering why George W. Bush is President.

BILL ROGGIO: “Did the media fall for yet another insurgent information operation in Ramadi?”

As I’ve noted before, they’re much more vigilant against being spun by the good guys.

UPDATE: A related item: Looking for Bilal Hussein.

MICHAEL TOTTEN’S latest post from Turkish Kurdistan, part of his new “back to Iraq” series, is up. Don’t miss the postscript!

REGROW YOUR OWN:

Stem cell therapy has long captured the limelight as a way to the goal of regenerative medicine, that of repairing the body with its own natural systems. But a few scientists, working in a relatively obscure field, believe another path to regenerative medicine may be as likely to succeed. The less illustrious approach is promising, in their view, because it is the solution that nature itself has developed for repairing damaged limbs or organs in a wide variety of animals. . . .

Mammals, too, can renew damaged parts of their body. All can regenerate the liver. Deer regrow their antlers, some at the rate of 2 centimeters a day, said to be the fastest rate of organ growth in animals. In many of these cases, regeneration begins when the mature cells at the site of a wound start to revert to an immature state. The clump of immature cells, known as a blastema, then regrows the missing part, perhaps by tapping into the embryogenesis program that first formed the animal.

Bring it on. It would be nice if we could regenerate our whole bodies, bit by bit.

RAND SIMBERG ON SPACE in NRO:

NASA is going to have to decide if its plans are really “affordable” and “sustainable,” as the president demanded.

In the meantime, investors continue to pour money into the new private spaceflight industry, with hundreds of advance orders for personal rocket rides. NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program is moving ahead to encourage more commercial entities to provide space transportation, and the agency is moving more aggressively in offering prizes and other innovative procurement techniques.

Perhaps, forty-five years after a race initiated by a socialist-state space program, and 25 years after a failed attempt at our own socialist program, it’s time for NASA to support even more vigorously the new space era. The space program should be based on the American values of free enterprise and individualism, not on NASA’s failed 5, 10, and 25 year plans.

Indeed.

PARTY LINES AND BORDERLINES: More on immigration over at GlennReynolds.com.

TWEEDLEDUM AND TWEEDLEDUMBER: I think that Kos is onto something:

The Democratic leadership thinks that the GOP implosion will ipso facto translate to Democratic victories in November. But the electorate is universally disenchanted with politics.

The GOP has proven, time and time again, that it is incapable of governing. But Democrats have not shown they are any different. They do not paint any bright lines between them and us. And they do nothing to motivate the Democratic base to turn out and vote.

My sense of pessimism for November’s elections only gets deeper the more elections show lower and lower turnout. Our supporters have stopped giving a shit. They were burned three elections in a row, and seeing nothing different come from the leadership, it has become easier for them to tune out.

(Via The Hotline Blog). The good news for each party is that they only have to run against the other, and not against a competent one. The bad news for each party is that the same thing is true for their opposition. As I’ve noted before, it’s like the Special Olympics of politics or something.

OKAY, I WATCHED THE CHENEY VIDEO and I didn’t notice any loud boos. But then, the AP has a history of reporting booing that doesn’t show up in the recordings.

UPDATE: Reader Ashby Beal writes:

I was there. I’m not a big fan of the man, but I thought he deserved some applause in his capacity as VPOTUS. In any event, there was a lot of booing throughout his appearance. And it was very noticeable.

And Chris Newbury writes:

I saw (and heard) video on two of the DC local newscasts this morning. There were definitely audible boos but there was also some applause. I think it’s fair to say the boos were more evident in the clips I heard, though. The AP’s headline may be a little overdramatic, but the description in the first paragraph of the wire story seemed accurate to me. I think the reaction to the VP’s presence can be best discribed as mixed.

On the other hand, Matt Gildart was there, and reports:

It was probably hard for the AP reporters to hear the rest of the stadium over the chrous of boos emanating from the press box.

So there you are.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader William Girardot finds the real scandal:

I was more amazed by the lack of spectators for the Nationals’ opening day festivities… check out the empty seats in the background of Cheney’s photo… that is unheard of here in Detroit for the Tigers. Shame on D.C.! Shame!!!

I hadn’t noticed that.

Also, Gildart emails that he wasn’t actually there, as I had thought from his earlier email.

JOSH TREVINO responds to a critic: “Is this the best they can do?”

RESULTS ARE UP from The Speculist’s Singularity survey.

INDONESIAN MUSLIMS couldn’t wait to get their hands on a copy of Playboy. It’s a smash hit!

ZIMBABWE UPDATE:

Zimbabwe’s rapid economic decline has triggered desperation among city dwellers that could turn planned opposition protests against President Robert Mugabe’s government into a potent force.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai dramatically raised the stakes last month when he proposed mass protests at a time when the country is battling its worst economic downturn since independence and has the world’s highest inflation rate.

“We are on the brink … and anyone who thinks the political situation is manageable at this rate of economic deterioration is going to be shocked,” John Makumbe, a political scientist at Harare’s University of Zimbabwe, told Reuters.

“For many people, especially in the urban areas, life has become unaffordable and unbearable and these people are waiting to vent their anger through mass demonstrations,” said Makumbe, a critic of the government.

The government, while acknowledging the economic crisis, says it remains optimistic but in private officials say rising prices and unemployment above 70 percent are stoking anger, especially in cities.

Last week Zimbabwe’s annual inflation rate, measured through the consumer price index (CPI), jumped to 913.6 percent for the year to March from 782 percent in February.

Interesting. Nobody deserves the Ceaucescu treatment more than Mugabe.

ED MORRISSEY CHARGES FRAUD on a Washington Post bioweapons story. (“Instead of simply reporting that the Pentagon didn’t have consensus on this issue and that the minority report wound up being the most accurate, Joby Warrick turns the story into a Geraldo Rivera my-life-is-actually-in-danger type of journalism that substitutes cheap sensationalism for accuracy.”) Bob Owens agrees. Related thoughts here.

IN YESTERDAY’S PODCAST, Harold Ford was frustrated with the failure of the Iraqis to finish forming a government. Austin Bay’s column today explains why things are taking so long: the quiet war against Muqtada al-Sadr. He’s got more about this on his blog, too.

CARNIVAL-O-RAMA: THE CARNIVAL OF THE VANITIES IS UP: So is the Carnival of Education, the Carnival of Homeschooling (no, they’re not the same), the Blawg Review, the Carnival of the Capitalists, and, of course, the Carnival of the Cats.

Lots more blog carnivals at BlogCarnival.com.

POPULAR MECHANICS reports on undersea methane hydrates as a potential energy source:

“Thirty years ago, hydrates were a novelty,” says Miriam Kastner, a professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and a geochemist on the IODP expedition last fall. “We didn’t realize their significance, and no one calculated how much there could be.” Then someone began to do the math. Methane bound in hydrates could provide the world with an astounding amount of natural gas–if it could be safely extracted. If released inadvertently, it could cause untold damage: hastening global warming and kick-starting tsunamis by causing seafloor slumping.

Yes, the sudden release of undersea methane was the kickoff for John Barnes’ Mother of Storms. Good scenario for a science fiction disaster-thriller, but not something we’d actually want to see.

On a tamer alternative-energy front, here’s an article on evolution in plug-in hybrid auto technology.

Me, I favor plug-in hybrids and lots of nice, clean nuclear plants. No greenhouse ramifications there.

G.M. ROPER reminds Republicans that they need his vote. And can’t very well count on it.

NANOTECH’S TOXIC SHOCK: My TCS Daily column is up. And yes, it’s a bit of an I-told-you-so. Because I did!

HAS OPRAH BEEN READING AYN RAND? Better her than James Frey. . . .

GRAND ROUNDS IS UP! Plus, citizen journalism at Power Line.

MAJOR JOHN TAMMES offers linguistic assistance to the AP.

SUPPORTING the troops.

UPDATE: Here, not so much.

LIBERTY, EQUALITY, MEDIOCRITY.

UPDATE: “A collective loss of Europe’s will.”

WHEN I LINKED TO KING DORK THE OTHER DAY, I didn’t realize that it was by Doktor Frank. Now you really need to buy it.