DE-COMMUNIZATION IN POLAND: A Polish court says it’s unconstitutional, leading Perry de Havilland to observe: “But surely justice cannot be served by allowing the communist era and above all, the role of the people who made it all possible, to vanish down the memory hole. If people did despicable things during the communist era, why should they escape punishment? I cannot imagine a German court being allowed to stop the process of de-nazification in Germany, so why tolerate something similar in Poland in the aftermath of communism? Forgiveness can not come before repentance and a lot of people have yet to repent. I wonder if there are any senior judges who might have an embarrassing file on their communist era activities that they would rather not see the light of day? Just wondering.”

SPRINGTIME IN ISLAMBERG: No doubt it’s full of FBI informants.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: If you’re serious about fuel economy, propose a carbon tax. Forget CAFE standards.

RUDY GIULIANI wants a bigger army.

PATRICK BELTON HAS THOUGHTS on Sarkozy’s first 100 days.

A LOOK AT THE DECLINE OF MOTHERHOOD in Canada.

UPDATE: Related thoughts here.

THE NUMBER ONE PROBLEM IN AMERICA: fat people on TV?

A REVIEW OF DANIEL WILSON’S Where’s My Jetpack? A Guide to the Amazing Science Fiction Future That Never Arrived, by (no relation) Simon Reynolds. Troubling observation: “Today we seem to have trouble picturing the future, except in cataclysmic terms.” That’s a cultural thing, I think, brought about more by the values of filmmakers, etc. than by anything inherent in reality. But it’s true enough.

MORE ENVIRONMENTAL HYPOCRISY: The Detroit Free Press reports: “Obama talks hybrids, but his ride has a Hemi.”

Nothing wrong with that, but could we have a bit less sanctimony, please? (Via Ed Driscoll).

IF YOU MISSED IT: Here’s a complete set of links for the dialogue that Bob McChesney and I had on the future of media at the L.A. Times.

NICE WORK: Reporters’ errors heard ’round the world.

NEXT WEEK: It’s the Personal Democracy Forum in New York. Looks interesting.

THE (IMPERFECT) MAGIC OF AMAZON RECOMMENDATIONS: It was kind of cool to discover Volume Two of The Official Firefly Companion, by Joss Whedon. But I had never known that there was a Volume One. Oh, well — I do now!

For a show that didn’t even go one full season, Firefly has certainly supported a huge secondary market, with a movie, other books, etc. And, of course, the series DVD has done very well. Quite unusual. I wish the rumors of a second season straight-to-DVD had been true.

Our podcast interview of Firefly executive producer Tim Minear can be heard here.

MARY KATHARINE HAM REPORTS FROM THE MILBLOGGERS’ CONFERENCE, in the latest Ham Nation.

KAROL SHEININ ON THE FORT DIX TERRORISTS: “When Elvis and Dritan Duka, two of the three brothers arrested on terrorism charges in Fort Dix, were kids, they were neighborhood bullies. When they got a little older, they became drug dealers. How do I know? They grew up in my neighborhood, my brother and his friends used to brawl with them on a fairly regular basis. My brother’s best friend’s mom was friends with their mom. Then they moved to New Jersey and became Jihadis.”

I’D RATHER THEY FOCUSED ON STOPPING IRAN FROM GETTING NUKES:

In a letter written earlier this week to the House Intelligence Committee, the official, Michael McConnell, director of national intelligence, said it was “entirely appropriate” that the intelligence community prepare an assessment of the “geopolitical and security implications of global climate change.”

No doubt we’ll soon hear that the case for carbon caps is a “slam dunk.”

UPDATE: Some further thoughts on intelligence from T.M. Lutas.

STRANGE BREW: Terrorism and Saudi Arabia:

Some details of terrorist operations in Saudi Arabia have been getting out, in the wake of the recent round up of 172 terrorist suspects, and the seizure of weapons, explosives and plans. There were seven different terrorist cells involved in those arrests. One of the cells had a safe house in Syria, where meetings with terrorist groups in Iraq were conducted. The Saudis are not happy with the links between terrorists inside Saudi Arabia, and Iraqi Sunni Arabs. The Saudis have told the Iraqi Sunni Arabs that the Sunni Arab nations in the regions will not bail them out, and that they must make peace with the Shia Arab majority. Many Sunni Arabs, throughout the region, do not agree with this. But they are a small minority. Most Sunni Arabs are appalled at the body count the Sunni Arab terrorists have created in Iraq. While most of the dead are Shia Arabs, a growing number are Sunni Arabs, killed either by the suicide bombers, or by Shia Arab death squads looking for revenge. While most Sunni Arabs would like to see Sunni Arabs running Iraq, there was revulsion at Saddam Husseins methods, and even greater distaste for the subsequent mayhem by his followers.

Well, that’s good. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia makes Freedom House’s “Worst of the Worst” list for human rights.

LOOKING AT THE G.I. FILM FESTIVAL.

DESPITE THE CHARGES BEING DROPPED, THERE’S A LOT GOING ON STILL in the Duke/Nifong/Mangum false accusation case. K.C. Johnson continues to follow it. Latest: A call for an investigation of the Durham Police by the Attorney General.

LOTS OF LOVELY PHOTOS, at Melissa Schwartz’s blog.

ADVICE FOR LIBERTARIANS AND CONSERVATIVES, from Josh Treviño. “The challenge of building the right wing, conservative, and/or libertarian movement online is in many ways less daunting than that faced by its opposites on the left.”

PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: Talking the ethics talk, but not walking the ethics walk:

House Democrats are suddenly balking at the tough lobbying reforms they touted to voters last fall as a reason for putting them in charge of Congress.

Now that they are running things, many Democrats want to keep the big campaign donations and lavish parties that lobbyists put together for them. They’re also having second thoughts about having to wait an extra year before they can become high-paid lobbyists themselves should they retire or be defeated at the polls.

The growing resistance to several proposed reforms now threatens passage of a bill that once seemed on track to fulfill Democrats’ campaign promise of cleaner fundraising and lobbying practices. . . .

The situation concerns some Democrats, who note their party campaigned against a “culture of corruption” in 2006, when voters ended a long run of Republican control of Congress.

Actually, they campaigned against a “culture of corruption” before the voters ended Republican control of Congress. Since then, not so much.

UPDATE: A lovely poem:

They promised us laws to reform the corruption,
But now they’re in charge, that’s a needless disruption.

They’ve got bigger tasks –
What they are, please don’t ask.

Heh.

HILLARY: Mission accomplished!

A STATE OF EMERGENCY IN PAKISTAN? “Opposition to General Musharraf’s alleged attack on the independence of the judiciary was initially led by lawyers’ associations and rights groups striving to bring Pakistan under the rule of law. But the protests have evolved into a pro-democracy movement, with broad support across Pakistan that extends well beyond earlier antigovernment demonstrations that were led by radical Islamic groups.” This could end well, but probably won’t. (Via Dan Riehl).

“BUSH RESIGNS:” Some wishful thinking at CNN?

Of course, they probably wouldn’t like having to utter the words “President Cheney” hundreds of times a day . . .