TRANSPARENCY IN GOVERNMENT SPENDING: Mark Tapscott reports on upcoming hearings.

A MODEST, BUT REAL, CIVIL RIGHTS VICTORY in the Senate:

The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted to prohibit the confiscation of legally owned guns during an emergency like last year’s Hurricane Katrina, marking another victory for the gun lobby.

By a vote of 84-16, the Senate embraced an amendment by Sen. David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican. He attached his measure to a domestic security spending bill for the fiscal year starting October 1 that the Senate is expected to pass soon.

Although last year’s illegal gun confiscation in New Orleans was eventually overturned in federal court, that kind of relief obviously comes too late for people who need to protect themselves in an emergency. This seems like an appropriate legislative response to me, though as Alphecca notes it still has to pass the House.

ANOTHER ROUNDUP on the Israeli/Hezbollah war.

UPDATE: Dan Riehl has more, too.

DOES RUSSIA BELONG IN THE G8? “Nearly a decade later, the sanguine predictions about Russia’s bright future no longer exist. Although the economy has expanded remarkably — GDP, income, the stock market, and foreign exchange reserves have all grown exponentially — political freedom under President Vladimir Putin has been heavily curtailed.”

CONOR FRIEDERSDORF READS ANDREW SULLIVAN so I don’t have to.

UPDATE: No, the link’s not bad, the site’s just down. I don’t know if it’s one of those pesky DOS attacks, or just insta-traffic. The gist, anyway, was that Andrew is taking his talking points about me from the Townhouse crowd these days, something I’ve noticed myself, which is why I read his site less and less.

OOPS: Disabled the link above, as I got this email:

This morning you linked to a post by Conor Friedersdorf defending you against Andrew Sullivan. I run the site, snarkybastards.com, and the no-talent [censored] who evidently run my server have decided that the traffic generated by your link violates my terms of service. I must therefore ask you to delink so that they will restore service long enough for me to retrieve my blog and move it elsewhere.

“No-talent [censored]” is a bit strong (it’s my “censorship,” not his!) but what kind of hosting service kills your site when it gets noticed? A lousy one, I guess.

LATER: While you’re waiting, some moving thoughts on insufficient condemnation of, well, everything!

MORE ON LEBANON, FROM MICHAEL YOUNG:

By unilaterally taking Lebanon into a conflict with Israel, Hezbollah sought to stage a coup d’état against the anti-Syrian parliamentary and government majority, which opposes the militant group’s adventurism.

Hezbollah holds seats in the 128-member Parliament but has an uneasy relationship with the majority, which has been on the defensive as Syria has tried to reassert control over Lebanon after its military withdrawal last year. Hezbollah hoped to humiliate the anti-Syrian politicians by forcing them to endorse the kidnappings and showing how little control the government has over the party.

As I noted below, if Israel can chase the Syrians out of Lebanon it will be acting in consonance with the goals of the Cedar Revolution.

THOUGHTS ON THE ABA, DIVERSITY, AND admission to the bar.

THE BOSTON GLOBE REPORTS ON INTOLERANCE IN PROVINCETOWN:

Police say they logged numerous complaints of straight people being called “breeders” by gays over the July Fourth holiday weekend. Jamaican workers reported being the target of racial slurs. And a woman was verbally accosted after signing a petition that opposed same-sex marriage, they said.

The town, which prizes its reputation for openness and tolerance, is taking the concerns seriously, though police say they do not consider the incidents hate crimes. . . .

“I’ve been here for eight years, and I think in that time the population has changed a bit and there is a little less tolerance,” said Simply Silver store owner Bill Mitchell, 53, who said he is gay. “There has been a little more tension.”

Meanwhile, Jamaicans say the intensifying debate over immigration is making racial issues worse.

Winsome Karr, 45, originally from Jamaica, has worked in town since 2002. Lately, she said, the off-color comments stem from gay visitors who mistakenly believe that all Jamaicans share the views of an island religious sect that disagrees with homosexuality.

Karr’s strong accent reveals her Jamaican roots.

“After a while people from here get used to you, and it changes,” said Karr, who works at a Tedeschi Food Shop not far from Commercial Street. “It’s just because of the image that gay people have of Jamaicans. People — no matter who they are — get defensive of their lifestyle.”

On same-sex marriage, the clashes have occurred as the state Legislature grapples with whether the electorate should vote on a measure to limit marriage to heterosexuals. A group that supports gay marriage, knowthyneighbor, has created a website displaying the names of more than 100,000 signers of a petition that calls for the state Constitution to be amended to prohibit same-sex marriage.

Knowthyneighbor’s tactics are controversial, with critics alleging that knowthyneighbor is making the names of same-sex marriage opponents public in an effort to expose or intimidate them. The group’s founders say they are simply promoting civic discourse.

I hope that Provincetown’s leading residents will encourage calm, understanding, and a freedom from racial and other stereotypes. (Via Squaring the Globe).

JEEZ, I HOPE THIS COMES TRUE: “Allergy Battle Could Be Won In Five Years, Says Scientist.” Knoxville is one of America’s most allergic cities, a downside of biodiversity that you don’t hear much about.

THINGS IN LEBANON CONTINUE TO UNFOLD, and as I’ve been too busy to blog in real time, I’ve tried to think about what it means.

After the excitement of the Cedar Revolution, this is depressing, of course. But it’s interesting to see that many Lebanese are angry at Hezbollah, and of course getting Syrian influence out of Lebanon was one of the main points of the Cedar Revolution, and something that was only partially accomplished. The Israelis may finish what the Lebanese started, and that would be a good thing.

Looking at the many countries who are, for a change, siding with Israel here I’m beginning to think that what’s unfolding now is something that was prepared for, as part of the next stage in the war on terror — isolating terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah and punishing their patrons like Syria and Iran. If I’m right, that will be very good for the Lebanese, and, eventually, for pretty much everyone in the Mideast except jihadist loonies and their backers. I hope that’s true, anyway.

A PLAME/WILSON CIVIL SUIT? This seems quite unwise to me, as I think all sorts of things will come out in discovery.

UPDATE: Jim Rose: “It’s not about winning or losing the lawsuit, it’s about keeping the story going.”

And reader Gabriel Pentelie writes: “It’s only unwise if one believes the MSM is going to cover it fairly. And what are the chances of that?”

MORE: Another reader emails: “The suit is akin to Oscar Wilde’s defamation case against the Marquis of Queensbury.” That didn’t work out well.

AN ONGOING ROUNDUP on events in Lebanon.

JOSHUA TREVINO REPORTS on his week in Africa with Ashley Judd.

BLOGOMETER HAS HIGHLIGHTS of the McCain podcast. That’s nice for people who don’t want to listen, and wish we had transcripts. (Sorry — I type too much as it is!)

I think, however, that their comparison of Hugh Hewitt to Daily Kos in terms of tone is rather unfair. Hugh’s pretty unhappy with McCain, but I don’t think you can compare his treatment of McCain to the Kossacks’ treatment of Joe Lieberman. And — as I recall quite clearly from when I was at cross-purposes with the social-conservative right over the Terri Schiavo affair — Hugh can and does show courtesy to people he disagrees with (and he and I disagree on plenty, actually). That’s even true where he talks about the Kos Krowd, as he recently reminded his readers: “They aren’t our enemies, only our opponents.”

The Kos Krowd doesn’t show that spirit, as evident in the response to my favorable comments on James Webb — instead of welcoming me into the pro-Webb tent, they aimed scorn my way because I wasn’t sufficiently respectful to the Kos Krowd. When it comes to issues, I probably disagree with Hugh on as many as I disagree with Kos. But when it comes to tone I think we’re closer. I do think that people who, in Blogometer’s words, emphasize common ground where it’s possible to do so are more likely to do better in politics and life than those who look for divisions, and I’m pretty sure that Hugh feels that way, too.

Related post here. And, sort of, here.

DESPITE GUN-CONTROLLERS’ CRITICISMS of Florida laws on handgun carrying and self-defense, Florida’s crime rates are way down.

Meanwhile, in the District of Columbia, where gun laws are much stricter, it’s a crime emergency.

A SUCCESSFUL anti-missile test.

NOT SO SWIFT: Jacob Weisberg writes on why the New York Times was wrong to publish.

MEANWHILE, IN IRAQ:

Britain has handed over responsibility for security in one of Iraq’s 18 provinces to local forces for the first time since the country was invaded. An agreement transferring power in Muthanna was signed by Major General John Cooper, who commands coalition forces in southern Iraq.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who was present, said the handover “will bring happiness to all Iraqis”.

It ends the long-term presence of coalition troops in the province.

UK Defence Secretary Des Browne said it was a “milestone” for the people of the region and of Iraq.

Indeed.

PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: The Hill reports on a planned porkfest:

House Republicans are struggling to move a labor, health and human services (HHS) appropriations bill containing more than 1,700 earmarks that would help lawmakers of both parties in their November reelection bids.

The district-specific projects, totaling about half a billion dollars, are tied to a Democratic minimum-wage increase that is anathema to the GOP, and no proposed solution has taken root. . . .

Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) said leadership will be under pressure to move the bill before the November election.

“Democrats and Republicans are going to want to pass this bill,” said Flake, who has threatened to offer amendments to strike each of the 1,700 earmarks for which a sponsor is not identified.

“We’re in an election season, and members have come to believe that the path to reelection is paved with pork,” Flake said. “This bill is full of it.”

Few, if any, lawmakers expect the largest domestic spending bill to become law before the election, but many would like the House to pass it by then.

It’s called buying your votes with your own money. I hope we’ll see a lot of pushback on this.

MORE ON EVENTS IN LEBANON HERE AND HERE: Also, Chester looks at the prospects for war between Israel and Syria, and Jeff Goldstein comments: “It’s like watching a Frederick Forsyth novel unfold in real-time. Only with heavy casualties and the remote chance of a nuclear winter in July.” I like novels better. But we’re seeing the result of the “international community’s” inability — and, frankly, unwillingness — to bring Hamas and Hezbollah terrorism under control.

UPDATE: Austin Bay looks at the strategic implications:

The Middle East –the entire world– has changed since 1982. There is no Cold War, there is no Saddam. Lebanon has also changed. Many Lebanese are ready for Hezbollah to enter history’s dustbin. The Lebanese have also experienced twenty years of Syrian occupation and thuggery. Hezbollah remains a creature of Syria– a Syrian tool bought and paid for by Iran.

Read the whole thing.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Bill Roggio has more on a possible Iranian angle.

GOOD NEWS:

An experimental spacecraft bankrolled by real estate magnate Robert Bigelow successfully inflated in orbit Wednesday, testing a technology that could be used to fulfill his dream of building a commercial space station. . . .

Bigelow hopes to use inflation technology to build an expandable orbital outpost made up of several Genesis-like modules strung together like sausage links that could serve as a space hotel, science lab or even a sports arena.

“We’re ecstatic. We’re just elated,” Bigelow said in a telephone interview from Las Vegas. “We have a sense of being on a great adventure.”

The goal of the maiden Genesis mission will focus on the inflation process — a key element to determining the feasibility of constructing an expandable space habitat. Future Bigelow missions will test docking among spacecraft.

Bigelow has committed $500 million toward building a commercial space station by 2015. So far, $75 million has been spent on the project.

I wish them success.

SIGNS THAT the Singularity has arrived.

WIDENING INTO WAR? More on Israel in Lebanon. Of course, it’s been war all along, really. And Egypt is blaming Syria. Austin Bay wonders if there’s a deal.

NOVAK ON PLAME: Here’s the video.

UPDATE: Ouch.