I WONDER IF THEY’VE GOT HIM ON A HSUICIDE WATCH:

Fugitive political fundraiser Norman Hsu was behaving erratically as he fled the Bay Area on Amtrak’s California Zephyr, at one point stripping off his shirt and shoes, before paramedics were called to take him off the train in western Colorado, passengers said Friday.

Hsu, 56, on the run for the second time from a 1992 grand theft conviction in San Mateo County, was arrested Thursday after the paramedics took him to a hospital from the train station in Grand Junction, Colo. A spokesman at St. Mary’s Hospital said Friday night that Hsu was in fair condition but would not say what was wrong with him.

It would be troubling if he were to die and leave so many questions unanswered.

A BUSH BLAST from the past! But really, UNICEF? Even then?

REVISIONIST HISTORY: The Associated Press gets it wrong on Kyoto again: “Readers with a long memory may recall that the United States never adopted the Kyoto Protocol because the Clinton administration never submitted it for ratification to the Senate. The Clinton administration never submitted it to the Senate for ratification because in July 1997 the Senate voted 95-0 to adopt a resolution stating that ”the United States should not be a signatory to any protocol to, or other agreement regarding, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change of 1992, at negotiations in Kyoto.'” Yet according to AP, the U.S. was a party to Kyoto until Bush unilaterally pulled us out.

It’s not like this is the first time the Associated Press has blown it.

UPDATE: Maybe the AP just has a short memory.

A LOOK AT the real health care crisis. “I am talking about IIH – Internet Induced Hypochondria.”

IN THE MAIL: S.M. Stirling’s The Sunrise Lands, the latest in a series of alt-history novels that began with Island in the Sea of Time. I interviewed Stirling about this series a while back.

UPDATE: Opened it up and almost immediately came to an amusing easter egg — a swordsmith named A.E. Isherman, whose motto is “The right to buy weapons is the right to be free.”

FAKE BEARDS from the Al Qaeda gag shop. I’m guessing that their whoopee cushions are . . . explosively funny.

GREEN IS AS GREEN DOES: Thoughts on private jets and carbon offsets.

HSU-FLY, DON’T BOTHER ME! What made Norman Hsu run? “Much about Mr. Hsu remains a mystery, most notably the source of the money for the donations that made him a favorite in Democratic circles. . . . Mr. Hsu’s past, illuminated by documents fished out of storage at various courts and interviews with former partners and friends, is full of failed businesses, a kidnapping, lawsuits and bouts of financial ruin followed by hard-to-explain recovery. . . . Politicians and donors describe a pleasant and friendly man, though most are hard-pressed to say what he did for a living.”

DAVID ADESNIK notes how fast things are changing in Iraq.

THOUGHTS ON PARENTING, from Tony Woodlief.

THE SECRET OF HAPPINESS, from Leonardo Da Vinci.

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY WINS F.I.R.E.’S speech code of the month.

Which is nothing to be proud of.

NOT MY IDEA OF AIDE MATERIAL: “A high-ranking official in Gov. Blagojevich’s office spent nearly two years in a federal prison for refusing to aid a government terrorism probe into a series of bombings in Chicago and New York City.” (Via Hot Air).

UPDATE: Bill Hobbs emails: “I read the Sun-Times story. Which political party is Blagojevich from?”

It’s a mystery!

REMEMBERING Madeleine L’Engle.

MICKEY KAUS: “Michelle Obama maybe doesn’t need to worry so much anymore that her husband will become a god-like figure requiring her unique humanizing skills. He’s losing by 15 points in the Democratic party to someone who voted for the war and hasn’t apologized.”

IS “UGLY NARRATIVE” newspeak for true? Interesting discussion in the comments.

WILL WILKINSON on tax increases: “It is possible that the state can make its citizens better off by taking $1.76 to spend $1.00, if those very expensive dollar bills are spent on highly valuable public goods folks can’t coordinate to provide privately. But I reckon this kind of bona fide public good is a pretty small part of the existing budget.” I’m afraid you also have to allow for those missing and possibly nonexistent pumps.

ANDY ROTH IS PREPARED TO respond to bin Laden.

PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: Another twisted tale of Congressional earmarking:

The U.S. Navy wants a business owned by the family of Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski to hand over a piece of high-tech equipment bought with some of the $9.25 million in taxpayer funds Kanjorski steered to the company.

Except no one seems to know where to find the equipment — a high-pressure pump.
The mystery of the missing pump, combined with newly unearthed evidence that federal investigators probed Kanjorski’s connections to the company, Cornerstone Technologies, has given new life to a story that seems unlikely to go away. . . .

Kanjorski encouraged the creation of Cornerstone in the late 1990s to develop — and one day commercialize — the technology. It was formed by his nephew, Peter Kanjorski, and a scientist, Bruce Conrad, who were joined in the company by four of the congressman’s other nephews and his daughter.

In 1998, with the help of Rep. John P. Murtha, a fellow Pennsylvanian and the top Democrat on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, Rep. Kanjorski earmarked $3.5 million for the research through the Navy.

Sounds like a culture of corruption to me.

UPDATE: A nepotistic connection here: “So, the head of the company he secured earmarks for is on his payroll, but he’s doing a Sergeant Schultz and knowing nothing? I don’t think!”

“AHISTORICAL NONSENSE:” You’ll be shocked when you see the source.

SHOOT YOUR HUSBAND — go on Oprah! (Via Brendan Loy).

DCGUNCASE.COM is a new blog about Parker v. District of Columbia, the case in which the D.C. Circuit struck down the DC gun ban. The case is now on petition for certiorari to the Supreme Court.

THE ZERO-TAX CHOMSKY/BIN LADEN TICKET: I’m for it, but only if they have to debate Ron Paul and Mike Gravel.

UPDATE: “Read my lips — no new taxes.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Another supporter!

MORE: Incisive commentary from Frank J.: “What I don’t from the video is what exactly was the reaction he was hoping from 9/11 since apparently the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq weren’t it. I should also note that Osama is not a Truther since he sounds pretty sure he’s responsible for 9/11. Someone should ask him about WTC 7.”

A LOOK AT THE PSYCHOLOGY PROFESSION’S diversity problem.

MADELEINE L’ENGLE HAS DIED. When I was a kid, I very much enjoyed A Wrinkle in Time. And the Insta-Daughter liked it a lot too.