THE U.S. MILITARY launches its own YouTube channel.

MORE THOUGHTS on the subject of a Lou Dobbs for President campaign.

A UNITER, NOT A DIVIDER: They love Ron Paul at Daily Kos.

CRASHING AN AL GORE EVENT: ” Al Gore’s speech Saturday at the American Institute of Architects convention was closed to the media, but you can read about it in today’s Express-News on Page 1B. How we cracked the former vice president’s iron curtain is a mildly entertaining story. . . . So here’s what happened: Our intrepid reporter, Caputo, went over to the convention center Thursday, registered under his own name and address as an ‘expo only’ attendee and got a pass that gave him access to the speech. Then he covered it and wrote about it. It was that easy. Purists might contend that was unethical. To me, it was like crashing a Ku Klux Klan rally. Gore didn’t want coverage. We think he deserved it.”

I don’t think he deserved the Klan comparison, though.

I JUST HOPE THAT THIS GUY never gets hold of nuclear or biological weapons:

Paul Watson, founder and president of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and famous for militant intervention to stop whalers, now warns mankind is “acting like a virus” and is harming Mother Earth.

Watson’s May 4 editorial asked the question “The Beginning of the End for Life as We Know it on Planet Earth?” Then he left no doubt about the answer. “We are killing our host the planet Earth,” he claimed and called for a population drop to less than 1 billion.

The commentary reminded readers that Watson had called humans a disease before and he wasn’t sorry. “I was once severely criticized for describing human beings as being the ‘AIDS of the Earth.’ I make no apologies for that statement,” the column continued.

No, really, I mean that. Guys like him creep me out. If he ever got his way it would be Pol Pot all over again.

I mean, next they’ll be calling people who have large families “Eco-Criminals” or something. Oh, wait. . . .

Given that we’re undergoing a global baby bust, this is not only nutty and totalitarian, but out of date and stupid even on its own merits.

CHRIS DODD, blindsided by Zawahiri.

FROM “FREEDOM FRIES” TO “FRIENDSHIP FRIES:” But politics be damned, I’m not giving up my Heinz Ketchup.

REPORTING ON A FIVE FOR FIGHTING CONCERT in Washington, D.C. With photos!

DURHAM AND NIFONG: Captain Ed says it’s worse than you think.

JOEL GARREAU: Robots Are a Soldier’s Best Friend.

A NEW CLIMATE CHANGE BLOG over at Nature.

THE OTHER NIGHT, I mentioned that David Chavarria, executive producer of J.D. Johannes’ Iraq documentary Outside the Wire, was on TV. Now you can see the video on Hot Air. I think you’ll find it worth your time.

OKAY, ONE MORE REMINDER: If you haven’t done it yet, I’d appreciate your taking my reader survey.

REMEMBERING PIM FORTUYN.

MORE THOUGHTS ON SCHOLARSHIP AND THE SECOND AMENDMENT, from Randy Barnett.

COLD FUSION: Not entirely bogus after all? It would be nice if it turned out to work, but I’m not holding my breath.

AGGRESSIVE DISCOUNTING may mean that the new Harry Potter book won’t be making as much money as most people think.

HE CHOSE POORLY: “A man who police said broke into a U.S. Army officer’s south Augusta house to steal guns was fatally shot Wednesday by the soldier living there.”

SARKOZY WINS: Substantial margin, huge turnout.

UPDATE: More here:

Nicolas Sarkozy was tonight handed a decisive mandate to change France winning the presidential election by 6% after a massive turnout in one of the most divisive campaigns in recent history.

As thousands of his flag-waving supporters prepared to gather at Paris’s Place de La Concorde, where heads rolled in the first French revolution, Sarkozyites were promising a new turning point in French history from a man who has promised an “economic revolution.”

Instead of calling for the end of the monarchy, they had rallied round his cry to “liquidate the legacy of May 1968”, end the nanny state, loosen the grip of “political correctness”, lesson the power of unions and break the 35-hour week in the name of a nation that wanted to “work more to earn more”.

I wish them success.

ANOTHER UPDATE: I’m posting this photo from the Washington French Embassy protests a couple of years ago one last time. Just because. . . .

And John Wixted offers a G7 national leadership election scorecard. But I think this is a bit of an exaggeration: “They might as well have just elected George Bush.” Still, it’s an improvement.

A report from Paris:

85.5 % voter turnout is not only amazing, it is also without precedent. Even in France, 75% voter turnout only last happened 40 years ago. This was a HUGE election. Every last granny in the nursing home went to the polls. 53-47 under those circumstances is one helluva mandate and Sarkozy knows it.

Sarkozy just gave his acceptance speech, in which he uttered the somewhat astounding—-and from a political point of view, needless—-line: “…and let me say to our American friends, they can count on our friendship.”

Read the whole thing. I’m not sure about that history, though — wasn’t the turnout similarly high when Miterrand was elected?

MORE: Nidra Poller: “C’est Matin en France.”

STILL MORE: Riots. Video at No Pasaran. More here.

MORE STILL: Bill Hobbs says the West is moving rightward. Possibly; it’s at least not being overwhelmed by the blandishments of leftists. But let’s not exaggerate this: Sarkozy is very likely much better — for both America and France — than Segolene Royal would have been. And he’s likely to be an improvement over Chirac. But he’s still French — and so is France — and I don’t expect dramatic changes. We’re likely to see the benefits more in terms of damage not done than of positive improvements.

FINALLY: Roger Simon has thoughts on what it all means: “On a more social note, American tourists will now be heading back to France. Brush up your French.” En effet.

And more here: “The U.S. has now seen the leadership of both France and Germany pass to figures who believe, as a general matter, that American power is a force for good in the world, and not something that needs persistently to be constrained. Let’s hope that in 2009 the U.S. still has a leader who concurs.”

Plus a study in contrast.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS grills John Edwards.

THIS SEEMS LIKE GOOD NEWS:

The Army National Guard reached its congressionally authorized end strength of 350,000 Citizen-Soldiers on March 30, six months earlier than originally projected, Army Guard officials have reported.

“The strength of the Guard has been the amazing levels of retention among members of deployed units, surpassing all expectations,” said Lt. Col. Diana Craun, the Army Guard’s deputy chief for strength maintenance.

“Retention is highest among units that have returned from deployments, and retention is an essential element in end strength,” she added.

It is the first time that the Army Guard has been at full strength since 1999, Craun said. Officials had projected that the Army Guard would reach 350,000 troops by Sept. 30, the end of this fiscal year.

This pattern — soldiers who have been in Iraq being eager to re-up — is heartening. When I expressed worries a while back, I was told that re-enlistment rates are the best indicator of how well the military is handling the strains of extended deployment. I hope that’s true.

MISINFORMATION SPREADS: Now it’s Rush Limbaugh pushing the dubious Steven Milloy story on the dangers of compact fluorescent bulbs.

Sorry, Rush, but there’s no there, there.

THOUGHTS ON THE DIFFERENCE between activists and terrorists.

CAR-BURNINGS AND RIOT POLICE: More on the French elections.

Unofficial sources are calling it for Sarkozy. More here and here.

IN THE MAIL: Jean Edward Smith’s new biography of FDR, entitled, simply enough, FDR.