A SPITZER OVERREACH? “Top Democrats fear that Gov. Spitzer’s controversial plan to grant driver’s licenses to illegal aliens has endangered their party’s candidates across the state — and even threatens the presidential prospects of Hillary Rodham Clinton.”

FROM AUTOBLOG, a huge roundup of green auto tech.

TOM SMITH PLAYS capture the flag with Hezbollah.

IN THE MAIL: From Charles Stross, the latest in his “Clan Corporate” novels, entitled The Merchants’ War. I haven’t even gotten around to reading Halting State yet, but the earlier books in this series — which starts with The Family Trade — have been good, so I expect that this one will be too.

JOHN TIERNEY HAS THOUGHTS ON PEOPLE talking nasty on the Net.

TNR: It’s the coverup that kills you, part III.

MICHAEL BARONE: We’re way past 2006:

Things are not working out as Democratic congressional leaders expected. For the first eight months of this year they struggled to find some way to shut down the American military effort in Iraq.

They took it for granted that we were stuck in a quagmire in Iraq, with continuous high casualties and very little to show for them. They pressed hard to get the Republican votes they needed to block a filibuster in the Senate and were cheered when some Republicans, like John Warner, seemed to lean their way. They worked hard over the August recess to pressure Republican House members to break ranks and vote with them. . . .

The Democrats here suffered from a lack of imagination. They could not imagine that the United States military could perform more effectively in 2007 than it did in 2005 and 2006.

Read the whole thing.

MICKEY KAUS discovers a crisis: America’s missing cukes!

THE PRINCETON REVIEW has published its list of Top 50 Law Schools. It’s quite different from the U.S. News list, which serves to underscore, of course, just how arbitrary these things are. Maybe I should do an InstaPundit law school ranking . . . .

GRAFT OPTIONAL. WELL, NOT REALLY: Italy proposes a Ministry of Blogging with mandatory blog-licensing.

AVIATION SAFETY: Burying the bad news?

A STEEP DECLINE IN WORLD OIL PRODUCTION? Maybe we should start offshore drilling in Florida now?

THERE ARE MORE WORLD OF WARCRAFT PLAYERS IN AMERICA than there are farmers.

And some people think that’s just fine: “I don’t hate WOW at all. I’m deadly serious about it being a honeyed trap for people who’d otherwise be competing with me for gigs and creative work. Like folks who get home, drop in front of the tv and zone out till the lights go dim, they’re opting out of life and making room for people who would rather do than consume.”

UPDATE: Reader James Greer takes exception:

I’m a longtime reader and felt compelled to comment on your World of Warcraft (WoW) entry. I think WoW is yet another example of new media providing new options, and often surprising benefits, similar to other trends that you have commented on your blog and in your book.

My wife and I both enjoy WoW and we are both employed professionals. Many of the players that I meet are in similar situations as ourselves. Few other post-workday entertainment options offer the same level of human interaction and mental activity. While this has almost reduced TV-time in my house to nil, it certainly hasn’t impacted my productivity in general.

As for benefits: The most challenging events in WoW requires the coordination of 25 people working closely as a team. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the same situations that occur in the real-word when organizing 25 people, occur in virtual worlds as well. Problem-solving, politics, leadership, communication, team-building… just to scratch the surface.

Here’s a prediction for you – right now there are teen aged kids gaining more practical experience leading and organizing in WoW then they’ll ever learn in college. 10-20 years from now someone will cite WoW as the formative experience that they built on to become political or business leaders.

I didn’t mean to give the impression that I’m anti-WOW. I’m generally of the belief that computer gaming provides many underappreciated benefits. Actually, I’ve written about that more than once.

MICHAEL YON WRITES ON “The bizarro-world contrast between what most Americans seem to think is happening in Iraq versus what is really happening in Iraq.” It’s an important report, so read the whole thing. And remember, he’s supported by reader donations, so if you like his work, consider hitting the tipjar.

ALAN DERSHOWITZ: “This is an obituary for the Oxford Union, which claims to be one of the most famous and distinguished debating societies in the world. The reality is that it is no longer a debating society at all; it has become a propaganda platform for extremist views, primarily of the hard-left. It has now stopped even pretending to present both sides of controversial issues.”

AN OFFER THEY CAN REFUSE: “Several major research libraries have rebuffed offers from Google and Microsoft to scan their books into computer databases, saying they are put off by restrictions these companies want to place on the new digital collections. . . . Libraries that agree to work with Google must agree to a set of terms, which include making the material unavailable to other commercial search services. Microsoft places a similar restriction on the books it converts to electronic form. The Open Content Alliance, by contrast, is making the material available to any search service.”

I blame Vernor Vinge — an evil for-profit book-scanning plot was part of the action in Rainbows End.

HEH. I SLEEP NEXT TO MUCH DEADLIER PROTECTION than this gadget. And she’s attractive, too . . . .

JEFF EMANUEL reports on the situation in Iraq.

HAVE THE SWISS BECOME RACIST, or is the press misrepresenting things?

FROM A FORMER CLINTON NSC STAFFER, five “myths” about rendition.

UPDATE: Some history from Tom Maguire. I’d vote for that Al Gore. Come to think of it, I did!

I’M NOT A FAN: School uniforms with embedded RFID.