A REPORT FROM BANGKOK on the Thai constitutional vote.

“SO LONG, SUCKERS!”

AND YOU THOUGHT RATHERGATE WAS BAD: A CBS Reality Show Draws a Claim of Possible Child Abuse.

UPDATE: A good question: “Who allows their children to participate in something like this?”

FRED THOMPSON ON GAY MARRIAGE:

For the record, the Thompson camp has officially noted that “Fred Thompson does not support a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.” He supports the rights of States to choose their marriage law for themselves. . . .

Thompson believes that states should be able to adopt their own laws on marriage consistent with the views of their citizens.

Federalism.

ARRESTED FOR carding the cops.

AN AD FOR THE APPLE 1 COMPUTER:

A fast (1 kilobaud) cassette interface is available and includes a tape of Apple Basic. And … Yes, Folks. Apple Basic is Free!

You don’t want those slow cassette interfaces

DEAN IS NOW A CATEGORY 4, FLIRTING WITH CATEGORY 5, and aimed at Grand Cayman: “Cayman Islands Leader of Government Business Kurt D. Tibbetts has urged all residents of Grand Cayman to be prepared for a direct hit from a predicted strong Category 4 Hurricane Dean. The storm is forecast to have 130 mph winds when over Grand Cayman.”

More here.

YEAH: “The Baker-Hamilton group and others have urged the administration to have direct talks with Iran; I believe such talks are going to take place with respect to Iraq. Isn’t it a little hard, though, to find common ground with a country whose leaders think it’s a compliment to be considered a terrorist?”

Well, here’s a strategy we might consider.

JAMES HANSEN RESPONDS on the 1998/1934 climate data correction.

UPDATE: Dave Price thinks Hansen’s response was rather intemperate.

MICKEY KAUS: “Am I crazy to think that the failure of comprehensive immigration reform–and with it, the prospect (despite sponsors’ assurances) of millions more legal and illegal immigrants–has something to do with the trouble in the housing market?”

BERNANKE BLINKS, Wall Street rallies. Is that good? Beats me.

WHAT THE TROOPS THINK ABOUT the war debate:

For the troops on the front lines and the colonels in the rear—and just about everyone in between—the big news in Iraq every day is that they’re still alive and healthy. When it comes to Senate votes on the U.S. presence in Iraq, Sunday talk shows thrashing out length of deployment and stateside pundits talking to themselves, nearly every grunt, airman, sailor, soldier and Marine I speak with just doesn’t care. . . .

During last month’s heated, all-night debate on Capitol Hill about when and if the U.S. should withdraw from Iraq, I asked several military officers of different ages and ranks about their thoughts on a potential pullout. Nearly every one stressed how important his or her work here has been—and will be. “If we leave within months, Iraq will be a province of Iran,” one colonel said. “Everyone with any education or skills who hasn’t already left will end up leaving.”

A mortarman with the 25th Infantry stationed in Tal Afar stressed that he thought the American media has not been reporting what really goes on during daily ops across the war zone. “It’s all about body counts,” he said. Marines out in the former Wild West of Anbar province said the same. They are proud of the job they’ve done in cleaning up what was once considered a lost, Al Qaeda-infested area. They wondered why America hasn’t heard MORE of that news.

A sergeant 1st class with the 5th Battalion, 7th Cavalry, whose unit is attached to the Marines near Habbaniyah, patrols daily around Al Anbar province. This is his third tour, and he’s confident that progress is being made, despite what he calls early missteps in policy. “I think [Americans] understand our sacrifice, but they don’t understand that we’re just not ready to leave.”

Read the whole thing.

DEBATING THE CASE FOR ANARCHY. “I know there is a tendency among many to respond to defenses of anarchism with snickering or derision. Given all the harm caused by government (mass murder, genocide, repression, war, and so on), this tendency should be resisted.”

FREE SEX CHANGES in Brazil.

GOOSE CREEK UPDATE: “The FBI is urging people not to jump to conclusions in the case of two men accused of having pipe bombs in their car, saying the allegations may not be true. One former federal prosecutor said the agency’s statement was ‘highly unusual.'”

It is.

A CLASS ACTION against the RIAA.

NEW ORLEANS: In the crosshairs again? Depends on which model you like.

UPDATE: More here: “Does the GFDL computer model know something that all the others don’t?” Let’s hope not.

ANOTHER UPDATE: “Real devastation” in Martinique.

PATTERICO OFFERS LEGAL ADVICE to Yale University Press.

AN AWKWARD SPOT FOR NANCY PELOSI:

Another Congressional Democrat has shifted his views on Iraq to support from opposition — and this change has significance. Rep. Brian Baird, one of the Democrats who voted against the authorization to use military force in 2002, has now returned from Iraq convinced that we need to give General David Petraeus more time. . . . Baird made it plain that his change of heart is based on two very clear criteria. One, a pullback would devastate Iraq and be catastrophic to the region and our national interests. Primarily, though, Baird believes that Petraeus has made real progress. He does not want to pull out while success can still be achieved.

The trash-Petraeus campaign may have waited too long to get off the ground.

UPDATE: Jules Crittenden: “That non-veto-proof margin is shrinking. Anyone care to hazard a guess where it’ll be by mid-September?”

MAGICAL THINKING IN AMERICA’S POLITICAL CLASS: “Cincinnati – Mayor Mark Mallory refuses to fire a starter pistol to kick off an upcoming road race, saying he doesn’t like the gun’s symbolism in a city that set a record for homicides last year.”

“POLL: AMERICANS WANT TO WIN:” And a growing, though still inadequate, number seem to think that we just might: “47 percent of Americans now think we’re making progress in Iraq, despite the best effort by our major news media organizations to ignore this, to bury it, to cast it in the worst possible light.”

Imagine how things might be if the press were, you know, honest.

A LOOK AT eco-affluence in the 21st Century. I found the discussion of how much environmental damage is being done by government subsidies enlightening.

IT’S LIKE “ANIMAL FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS.” Well, sort of: “For New Yorkers without the time, space, or willingness to commit to owning a dog, a new share program launching in Manhattan next month offers pets for rent.” Okay, not much, really.

MICHELLE MALKIN INTERVIEWS Mitt Romney on immigration.

MORE EXCITEMENT IN TEN MINUTES than the PBS Newshour packs into sixty! The latest Corn & Miniter Show is up! This time with special guest Michelle Cottle.

UPDATE: Michelle Cottle on Fred Thompson: “To run for President, you have to be a little crazy.” Is Fred too sane?