GEORGE SOROS LOSES IT.

No, you are not seeing things. He said de-Nazification. He is not saying, in the traditional manner of liberal alarmists, that the United States is now where Weimar Germany was. He is saying that the United States is now where Germany after Weimar was. Even for Davos, this was stupid. Actually, worse than stupid. There is a historical analysis, a moral claim, in Soros’s word. He believes that the United States is now a Nazi country. Why else would we have to go through a “certain de-Nazification process”? I defy anybody to interpret the remark differently. The analogy between Bush’s America and Hitler’s Germany is not fleshed out, and one is left wondering how far he would take it. Is Bush like Hitler? If it is “de-Nazification” that we need, then in some sense Bush must be like Hitler. Was the invasion of Iraq like the invasion of Poland? Perhaps. The more one lingers over Soros’s word, the more one’s eyes pop from one’s head. In the old days, the Amerika view of America was propagated by angry kids on their painful way to adulthood; now, it is propagated by the Maecenas of the Democratic Party. . . . In the same conversation at Davos, Soros announced that he is supporting Senator Barack Obama, though he would also support Senator Hillary Clinton. So my question to both of those progressives is this: How, without any explanation or apology from him, will you take this man’s money?

More here.

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN BAGHDAD: A roundup from The Mudville Gazette.

HE CHOSE POORLY.

HE CHOSE POORLY.

SCIENTOLOGY CRITIC KEITH HENSON has been arrested. The whole story seems rather fishy to me, as is so often the case where these guys are involved.

There’s also a Free Keith Henson blog.

PRINCEBLOGGING the Super Bowl.

UPDATE: I think the Robert Goulet commercial from Emerald Nuts was the best. Follow the link to see it.

So far, Bill Richardson and Rudy Giuliani are the runaway favorites among InstaPundit readers.

TOM MAGUIRE: “One might have hoped that, two weeks into the Libby trial, the basic facts of the case would be clear to the reporters and editors at the Washington Post.”

BIZZYBLOG HAS MORE on the spitting denial issue that I linked to earlier.

FROM BROADCAST TECHNOLOGY TO BETTING: A Super Bowl roundup at Popular Mechanics.

FRANCE INVADED by Islamic Creationism. I think we’ve also discovered the Islamic Max Headroom, judging by the author photo.

UPDATE: Reader John O’Connor emails: “While I appreciate the reference to Max Headroom in your post regarding Islamic Creationism, doesn’t another pop culture reference better apply to an Islamic creationist who has adopted the name Yahya? Think about it, Monkey Boy!”

It all makes sense, now. And Frank Wilson has a question.

IT’S HARDER TO DO this sort of thing in the days of the Internet.

DOG TALES FOR EVERYKID.

COMPACT FLUORESCENT UPDATE: I noted a while back that I was getting good results with the GE compact fluorescent 75, a 75-watt “equivalent” bulb that produces attractive indoor light. On a reader’s recommendation, I also ordered some of the 100 watt equivalent bulbs in the same line. I installed a couple last night and they look fine — as good as the 75s, just a bit brighter.

I’m gradually replacing bulbs in the house, and have now switched about a dozen to fluorescent lights. According to these numbers, if everyone did that it would be the equivalent of taking about 15 million cars off the road. Most importantly, it’s a fairly painless change. The bulbs cost a bit more, but if they save me the trouble of changing lightbulbs all the time it’s worth it. And the light quality is entirely acceptable. This is what I meant in my post below about non-hairshirt approaches.

UPDATE: Reader Fred Butzen writes:

Thanks to your recommendation, we’ve been replacing our incandescent bulbs with fluorescents, at least in areas where we turn on the lights and leave them on for extended periods – principally the kitchen, porches, and bedrooms. The quality of light is almost as good as with an incandescent bulb; in the kitchen, we use the fluorescents mixed with a single incandescent, and the quality of light is excellent.

In Chicago, Commonwealth Edison is subsidizing the bulbs – you can get what’s the equivalent of a 60- or 100-watt bulb for about a buck. Given the cost of building peak capacity, the subsidy makes a lot of sense for ConEd.

However, we have had a bum bulb, which conked out after less than a month.

You get bum bulbs with incandescents, too, though you’re not out as much. Unless Comm Ed is subsidizing you! And yeah, this does make sense for them.

Related thoughts here.

MICKEY KAUS: “Do ‘hate crime’ laws lower racial tensions or raise them? I’m not sure it isn’t the latter.”

I’m not sure that’s entirely accidental: “Chaos umpire sits, And by decision more embroils the fray By which he reigns.”

ANN ALTHOUSE: “Where’s the photograph of the bear chomping down on a cute baby seal?”

UPDATE: This is interesting.

WOMEN INSIST THEY GET BETTER WITH AGE: Actually, as someone who’s married to a woman who gets a day older with each passing day, I’d say that’s true. My wife was delightful when I married her, but she’s only gotten better with the passage of time.

DAVE HARDY NOTES THE THUNE-NELSON national CCW reciprocity bill. (PDF version of the bill is here.) Of course, as one of his commenters notes, it would have been better to have pushed this when the GOP was in the majority. Heck, if they’d pushed it then, they might still be in the majority. On the other hand, the bill has bipartisan sponsorship, so it’ll be interesting to see how many more Democrats jump on board. It’s certainly a moderate alternative to laws involving compulsory arms-bearing.