AL GORE: We’re not worthy of him.

A LOOK AT WHO IN CONGRESS IS TAKING MONEY FROM THE RIAA.

MORE THOUGHTS ON THE LACK OF BASIC MANUAL SKILLS: When you’re grateful that someone knows how to use a screwdriver, we’ve got a problem.

FRED THOMPSON talks to Republicans:

“Folks, we’re a bit down politically right now, but I think we’re on the comeback trail, and it’s going to start right here,” he declared in the deep Southern rumble made famous by his roles in film and on television’s “Law and Order.” . . .

But he received his biggest applause for blasting the bipartisan plan for immigration reform, which he called unworkable. “We are a nation of compassion, a nation of immigrants,” he said. “But this is our home . . . and we get to decide who comes into our home.”

Thompson reminded guests that he now lives in McLean, but he offered himself as a Beltway outsider, saying there was a “disconnect” between Washington and the rest of the country “like I’ve never seen before.” He said the GOP had lost its congressional majorities because “some of us came to drain the swamp and made partnership with the alligators.”

A journalist who was there emails with uncharacteristic enthusiasm: “it’s what a stump speech should be…. a standing ovation in the middle of the speech even.” He calls the WaPo account “dry.” You can see the speech yourself on C-SPAN tonight if you’re interested — 6:30 or 9:30 pm Eastern.

PAUL GEARY WATCHES the evolution of a story at the Associated Press.

RON BAILEY looks at Barbara Kingsolver’s latest fiction: “Reading Kingsolver, one could also conclude that pesticides were created by giant chemical companies whose sole aim was to cause cancer.”

STRATEGYPAGE: “For the last five years, the army has been using more cash, and more science, including regular opinion surveys, to maintain its strength without conscription. This is very unusual during wartime. “

THOUGHTS ON THE INFORMATION WAR, from Fred Thompson.

And some further thoughts from Ed Morrissey.

GOREMANIA! Direct from Nashville!

MICHAEL TOTTEN on Al Qaeda in Lebanon.

LAMAR! MEETS WITH HIS CONSTITUENTS: According to this account, it didn’t go very well.

UPDATE: Similar problems for Trent Lott.

DO WE FACE THE CRIMINALIZATION OF NAPPING?

Everybody wants to demonstrate that they care about kids by ratcheting the standards for parenting and childcare ever-higher. But in doing so we raise the costs of having kids — you can’t even go out, because who’ll babysit if the liability is so extreme? — and that probably does more societal damage.

I also note that when I was on the state’s Juvenile Justice Reform Commission, I heard a lot of child-welfare authorities who testified make the same kind of excuses for the neglect or abuse of children in their care that they refused to accept from parents, etc. — we’re so busy, there’s not enough money, it’s not our fault they live in a building that’s old and unsafe, etc. As Reverend Lovejoy said, when the state does it, it’s not wrong!

I think it’s safer to assume that most of the time parents, and those they select to watch out for their kids, know what they’re doing, and that they already have adequate incentives to try to keep them safe. That’s not perfect, but this inquisitorial approach, plus the ridiculous effort to purge all risks from childrens’ lives, aren’t perfect either and do significant harm of their own.

UPDATE: Brendan Loy: “Sometimes, a tragedy is just a tragedy, not a crime.”

CARBON CREDITS cause global warming? It’s just perverse enough to make sense.

SO I SPOKE THIS AFTERNOON at a program put on by the University of Tennessee’s Howard Baker Center for Public Policy, about political campaigning and the online world.

The audience was mostly local political types and journalists, and it was interesting to see the dramatic increase in web- and blog-literacy among all the participants. Several of the people there were already blogging, and most everybody seemed generally familiar with the subject and the area blogs.

Still, there were people who were surprised that you could set up a blog for free with Blogger.com — I guess that just seems like too good a deal to be true.

One interesting thing, though, was a question about voters — most people who vote in local elections are over 45, and some people wondered if any of them would read blogs. I noted that the characterization of bloggers and blog-readers as “tech-savvy youth” is pretty much bogus, with the bulk of blog readers, or at least political blog readers, being well over 30. That blog stereotype is one of those media tropes that seems immune to the facts. At any rate, if people over 45 are the ones most interested in local politics, then that’s who’ll be reading local politics blogs.

Surfing the web isn’t that hard. People of all ages can do it. And do!

SUING EHARMONY AND TRIVIALIZING ANTIDISCRIMINATION LAW: That trivialization has been going on for years, and has robbed it of most of its moral force. It’s a real tragedy of the commons — sensible self-restraint is important if antidiscrimination law is to retain its moral currency, but no particular plaintiff or lawyer gains anything by not filing a claim.

MICHAEL YON EMAILS TO RECOMMEND this article on Anbar. The most important lesson: Don’t let up.

AS PORN GOES, SO GO THE REST OF THE MEDIA, which may be worrisome to some:

The Internet was supposed to be a tremendous boon for the pornography industry, creating a global market of images and videos accessible from the privacy of a home computer. For a time it worked, with wider distribution and social acceptance driving a steady increase in sales.

ut now the established pornography business is in decline — and the Internet is being held responsible.

The online availability of free or low-cost photos and videos has begun to take a fierce toll on sales of X-rated DVDs. Inexpensive digital technology has paved the way for aspiring amateur pornographers, who are flooding the market, while everyone in the industry is giving away more material to lure paying customers.

And unlike consumers looking for music and other media, viewers of pornography do not seem to mind giving up brand-name producers and performers for anonymous ones, or a well-lighted movie set for a ratty couch at an amateur videographer’s house.

Other media folks, beware!

THOUGHTS ON FRED THOMPSON and anti-Southern bigotry.

TRADITIONAL MALE SKILLS: I’ve mentioned before that we’re in something of a cultural moment, and here’s more evidence — an interesting dialogue on Rush Limbaugh (thanks to Ed Driscoll for the link). The topic is a commercial for Lowe’s, where the husband keeps saying that he doesn’t know how to do anything and the wife keeps encouraging him. A caller said it made men look dumb (which is common for commercials, of course) but Limbaugh disagrees here:

But this could have been appealing from the Lowe’s standpoint to men’s aspirations. They want to be able to fix things but they aren’t sure they know how, and they don’t want to be embarrassed in front of the girl. They don’t want to be embarrassed in front of the woman. They don’t want to look dumb by screwing it up. The commercial, actually from the Lowe’s standpoint, Lowe’s could say, “Hey, look at the ending of our commercial. This commercial affirms that men can learn to fix things.”

Now, that’s kind of insulting itself, but given where we are in our culture today, who knows.

He even mentions The Dangerous Book for Boys.

I think he’s onto something with this business about the loss of traditional male skills and men feeling unhappy about it. Here’s an essay that a bunch of readers have emailed me: I Can’t Do One-Quarter of the Things My Father Can.

And guys, visit the Skill Sets page to learn some of this!

HERE’S A Disaster Preparedness List for those who are interested. Just remember: It’s important to have supplies, but disaster preparedness is about more than just buying things.

RUSSIA: If we can’t own the pipeline, we’ll control the faucet.

ROGER SIMON has thoughts on Danny Glover.

The actor, not the blogger.

JFK TERROR PLOT BUSTED. Well, good.

IN THE MAIL: From Smithsonian Books, Larry Berman’s Perfect Spy: The Incredible Double Life of Pham Xuan An Time Magazine Reporter and Vietnamese Communist Agent. The North Vietnamese fed him “scoops” to raise his stature in the magazine, even as he was spying and manipulating on their behalf. I wonder how many similar “infiltrators” are at work in Western press agencies covering the Middle East today. And whether those agencies even care much.

UPDATE: A reader points to this post, too. Also these comments by Ben Stein.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME: Michael Yon sends another email:

Was going on a mission today but it was canceled, so am on base writing. I was just in the dining facility here on Camp Hit. It’s a simple affair. This Saturday’s lunch was hotdogs and hamburgers. Paper plates. The tables are wooden and rickety. For some, it’s very spartan. For others it’s cush. One of the Soldiers (Army) came at sat at the same table. The Soldier was not in the best mood, and one of his buddies, a Marine, asked how he was doing. The soldier came back with some grumpy talk, “All I can get’s hamburger and hotdogs.”

Marine answered, “Sorry I asked.” Marine seemed a little put off.
Soldier continued, “When I get home, I ain’t taken’ nothin’ for granted.” I chuckled and the Marine smiled slightly while the Soldier continued, “Gonna get home an’ get me a bacon lettuce and cheese, hamburger. A cheeseburger.” (The cheese had run out, and so had the mustard.)
Marine answered, “Burger King?”
Soldier said, “Yep, when I get home, ain’t taken nothin’ for granted.”
“Amen, I smiled, and the Soldier smiled a little bit and the grumpiness retreated a bit.
The Soldier continued, “When I get home, taken’ nothin’ for granted, and I’m gonna get on that field and get on my knees and kiss the ground where that 3rd ID patch is.”

There’s no place like home.

Much progress out here in Anbar, and I haven’t seen any combat since I got here some weeks back. Will be back in the thick of things soon, though. Back in the shooting war.

Michael’s latest full post can be found here.