JONATHAN ADLER: “As one of the two most recently tenured faculty members at Case, I’ve noticed that the volume of law porn has skyrocketed this year.”

“Law porn,” alas, bears the same relationship to real porn that “legal ethics” bear to actual ethics. It refers to self-promotional literature sent out by law schools, mostly in the hopes of boosting their reputation-score in the U.S. News rankings. And, yes, I’ve noticed that the volume seems to have drastically increased this year over the already copious quantities of past years. I think it’s hit the saturation point: I used to at least glance at the stuff, but now it goes straight into the recycle bin conveniently located in the faculty mailroom — and I notice that the bin is full of the same stuff from other faculty members’ culling, too. While there may have been an advantage to being an early adopter in this area, it’s now largely a waste of money, I think.

UPDATE: Gordon Smith notes that research seems to support my off-the-cuff impression: “Two weeks ago, sociologist Michael Sauder of the University of Iowa was here to present his work on reactivity to the U.S. New rankings. He has interviewed deans (among others) to evaluate the way in which law schools respond to rankings, and his conclusions track Glenn’s.”

JOINT ECONOMIC COMMITTEE: Don’t tax virtual economies.

PUPPET-VIDEOBLOGGING at Imao. Shockingly, no one named “Ellison” or “Wilson” is involved. “I ain’t no sock puppet — I’m a quality action toy!”

A LOOK AT the military commissions bill: “During the bitter controversy over the military commission bill, which President Bush signed into law on Tuesday, most of the press and the professional punditry missed the big story. In the struggle for power between the three branches of government, it is not the presidency that ‘won.’ Instead, it is the judiciary that lost.”

I’m not sure I see it this way. All three branches were involved, and the resulting law — whether or not you like it — is the product of extended democratic deliberation.

ANNE APPLEBAUM writes that North Korea is China’s problem:

For not only is China the country with the most influence over North Korea, it is also, along with South Korea and Japan, one of the countries most under threat from North Korean nukes. After all, it is China, not the United States, that will be at the center of the new Asian arms race if Japan and South Korea feel compelled to get the bomb. It is China, not the United States, that would feel the effects of fallout if North Korea actually used its weapons. Although it isn’t clear whether North Korean missiles can reach Hawaii, it’s obvious that Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong are well within range. So shouldn’t this be China’s problem, not ours?

It has seemed odd to me all along that the Chinese don’t seem more worried about having a kook with nukes actually on their border. It also seems odd that neither Russia nor China — both much closer to Iran, and both with a Muslim problem in their nearby territories — aren’t more worried about Iran acquiring nukes.

UPDATE: Maybe they are: A NATO/Russia missile defense exercise. Seems to me that it would be easier to stop the Iranians from getting nukes, though — unless, that is, they already have them.

RUNNING FOR OFFICE by condemning romance novels as porn. It seems to me to be a weak strategy.

DOES A SHORTAGE OF OMEGA-3 produce a predisposition to violence? Hmm. Worth looking into, anyway.

IRAN IN KUWAIT: StrategyPage reports:

Kuwait announced that it’s police and intelligence services had discovered an Iran espionage and sabotage organization within Kuwait. The Iranian agents, recruited from among the Shia (who are half the population) in Kuwait, were often trained in Iran. The Iranian network consisted mainly of “sleeper cells” (agents who were inactive, and went about their normal lives until activated by their Iranian bosses.) Kuwait is still trying to discover the extent of the Iranian networks, but fears that it may be a large one (several thousand members).

Iran is a big threat. I had thought that one of the major reasons for invading Iraq was to put the squeeze on Iran, but inexplicably we don’t seem to have done anything much, even in response to Iranian support for the insurgency in Iraq and Hezbollah’s actions in Lebanon. This is why I’ve wondered before if Iran already has nuclear weapons, or is somehow managing to deter us in another fashion.

MICKEY KAUS: “The bad news for Dems: Dick Morris says they’ll win! I’d only start worrying if Lawrence O’Donnell says it too.”

ERIC SCHEIE explains how to be anti-gay. It’s easier than you think!

Plus, thoughts on sexual McCarthyism.

UPDATE: Related post from Dean Barnett.

BILL CLINTON is pro-torture in “special cases.”

Alan Dershowitz and Captain Ed wonder why no one cares.

A CANADIAN MP suspended for blogging. More here.

THE SPIES WHO COULDN’T THINK STRAIGHT.

At least they aren’t romantically entangled with demons, as in the Charles Stross book I’m reading now. Or, hell, maybe they are. It would explain a lot.

A LOOK AT PRE-ELECTION POLLS from 2002.

ARE THE TERRORISTS TRYING TO PULL A TET IN IRAQ? Of course. And the media are trying to help them. “Not surprisingly to me but shocking to many, the President obviously knows more history than his interviewer.”

Knowing more history than most journalists is no great feat.

BRENDAN NYHAN notes that conspiracy theories are spreading.

READER JOHN LYNCH notes that this Washington Post article on North Korea from 20 years ago “inexplicably appeared on Google News” earlier today. It’s certainly a puff piece, and a reminder that it’s not just intelligence agencies that produce dubious reports.

WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES backs U.N. control of all new technologies.

Yeah, that’ll keep us all safe.

MICKEY KAUS says Bush will sign the fence bill in a private ceremony with no publicity.

When I talk about the Republicans acting like they want to lose, this is the kind of thing I mean.

UPDATE: This post from Kate O’Beirne suggests that wiser heads may prevail. And here’s some surprising good news for the GOP effort, from The Hotline:

If you’re ever read a profile of Ken Mehlman, you know he is obsessed with metrics. For him, one of the most important sources of data is a weekly e-mail his political team prepares called the “Weekly Grassroots Report.” It meticulously records the work of tens of thousands of volunteers in targeted states, counties and congressional districts across the country. The data summary allows the RNC to determine which states are meeting goals and which states are falling behind.

The RNC declined to share the most recent report, which was issued Monday. But two independent sources who saw last week’s report professed to be surprised: not only was there no drop off last week, 12 states broke new voter contact records.

Perhaps the GOP base will turn out one more time.

PHIL ANGELIDES DESPERATION WATCH: And if you’re asking “who’s Phil Angelides?” well, that’s why. . . .

HAMNATION: Mary Katharine Ham has started her own videoblog.

TAKING THE DARE: “North Korea has informed China that it is prepared to conduct ‘as many as three additional tests’ following the first nuclear experiment Oct. 9, CNN television reported Wednesday.”

Not bad, but it’ll take six or eight to convince me.

HAROLD FORD, JR. endorses Joe Lieberman. (Via James Taranto).

UPDATE: Audio here, courtesy of A.C. Kleinheider.

MORE VOTER FRAUD IN ST. LOUIS? Gateway Pundit has a roundup.

REID IT AND WEEP: “Is there any place other than Washington where you can amend your ethics — and do it through a government form?”