SIX BOGUS STORIES IN SIX WEEKS? The media quagmire deepens.

THE BOSTON GLOBE endorses McCain and Obama.

UPDATE: The Des Moines Register endorses McCain and Clinton.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Thoughts from Marc Ambinder.

PROF. KENNETH ANDERSON on Mormons, Muslims, and multiculturalism.

RUDY DOESN’T REMIND ME OF REAGAN particularly, but this new video has overtones of both “Morning In America” and “There’s A Bear In The Woods.”

FIRST CLINTON, NOW HUCKABEE: Clemency for political cash? Is this some kind of Arkansas thing? (In Tennessee they just pocket the cash.)

UPDATE: I should have done it sooner, but I just looked to see what Arkansas blogger Freeman Hunt thinks of Huckabee. Uh oh.

WHAT THE OTHER REPUBLICANS can learn from Ron Paul. “One shame of this race is that for all the enthusiasm the Texan has generated among voters, he hasn’t managed to pressure the front-runners toward his positions. His more kooky views (say, his belief in a conspiracy to create a ‘North American Union’) and his violent antiwar talk have allowed the other aspirants to dismiss him. They shouldn’t dismiss the passion he’s tapped. If Mr. Paul has shown anything, it’s that many conservative voters continue to doubt there’s anything ‘heroic’ or ‘compassionate’ in a ballooning government that sucks up their dollars to aid a dysfunctional state. When Mr. Paul gracefully exits this race, his followers will be looking for an alternative to take up that cause. Any takers?”

I see more on-the-ground energy for Ron Paul in my neck of the woods than for any other Republican candidate except Fred Thompson, who has a local advantage — and who, interestingly, is more of a small-government type than any of the other GOP candidates himself.

ROBERT WRIGHT: Anyone but Edwards.

DISTRUST OF BIG MEDIA IS WIDESPREAD, outside the United States as well as at home. “In the United States, Britain and Germany, only around 29% of those interviewed thought their media did a good job in reporting news accurately.”

IX-NAY ON THE IHAD-JAY. Second thoughts on jihad from an influential Muslim thinker.

A LIST OF THIS YEAR’S most popular toys. I have to say that the bionic eye seems kind of cool. I would have loved it when I was a kid.

UPDATE: Just went online to order some presents for nieces and nephews, and a lot of stuff’s starting to sell out. Plus, surprisingly, some of the Amazon third-party suppliers are showing problems with delivery in time for Christmas even on items that are in stock, though Amazon itself still seems okay. But I wouldn’t recommend putting things off much longer if you’re planning to order online.

WITH SPIES LIKE THESE . . .. More questionable intelligence.

THANKS, “INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY:” For Iran, the NIE Report is the Gift That Keeps On Giving.

WE STILL DON’T KNOW WHO WILL WIN, but the big loser in Iowa is clearly Carolyn Washburn, together with the Des Moines Register. No wonder the Thompson campaign is using her as a foil.

UH OH: Videotape shows Sharpton cutting a deal. Sharpton is questioning the timing.

THE TRUTH IS OPTIONAL: BE SURE TO SUCK UP TO THE OMBUDSMAN — because correcting factual errors about you isn’t something you’re entitled to, you know.

THE CARNIVAL OF CARS IS UP!

A REVIEW OF CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR, from Extreme Mortman. “Sorkin’s style has transitioned from trademark and distinctive to annoying and farcical. And his heavy touch with music absolves the audience of any requirement to think for themselves.” But read the whole thing.

UH OH: Air of inevitability escaping Clinton.

NOT WINNING ME OVER: Robert Bork endorses Romney.

My thoughts on Bork can be found here.

IN THE MAIL: Jim Rogers’ A Bull in China: Investing Profitably in the World’s Greatest Market. I’m not sure I’d be putting a lot of money into China at the moment, but then I’m usually too pessimistic about these things.

DESPERATION MODE? “There must be at least something to that purported Sunday New York Times piece on questionable Clinton Library donors. Dismissing the attacks on Clinton, Inc for going negative on Obama, Bill Clinton kept them up while on with Charlie Rose. One has to wonder if, knowing some mud was coming their way from the New York Times, they didn’t opt to drag Obama down into it first. If you doubted the Obama drug smear was a planned attack, you can pretty much get over that thought now.”

UPDATE: More here. And Marc Ambinder has a post, too. And there are some angry Obama fans in the comments.

This underscores a problem for Hillary — if she beats Obama, but in a way that Obama supporters think is dirty, via smears or excessive reliance on “superdelegate” votes — they may not turn out in November. If she doesn’t pull out all the stops, though, she may not win the nomination. And this has to bother Bill, who managed to retire undefeated, by sullying his legacy since her loss will reflect badly on him.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Juan Paxety emails:

An interesting post on potential dissatisfied Obama voters if Hillary wins. But what will the reaction be when the Obama voters realize that Florida and Michigan, two states with substantial minority populations that might be prone to support Obama, will not be allowed to have delegates at the Democratic Convention?

This is not the first time the Democrats have pulled a similar stunt. In 1968, before the street demonstrations, the Democrats packed the convention balconies with “observers” then took a voice vote on whether to seat the legal delegations from several Southern states. The “observers” could clearly be seen shouting votes to remove the delegates. The Georgia delegation was replaced by one led by Julian Bond, of all people. Georgians fled the Democratic Party in droves and didn’t support another Democrat for President until Jimmy Carter ran in 1976.

Will the Obama supporters similarly abandon Hillary in the fall?

Yes, this is an issue. If Hillary beats Obama soundly in the early primaries that’s one thing. If it’s close, and it looks like she’s won by smears, or by clever insider manipulation, then she may lose not only Obama supporters, but black voters who are generally supportive of the Clintons. On the other hand, with Obama looking strong, she may not win the nomination without playing those cards. The best thing for the Democratic Party, of course, would be for her to play it clean, ensuring that whoever wins the nomination is in a better position to win the general election. Evidence to date, however, suggests that she’ll do what most candidates do — whatever it takes to win the nomination, and try to deal with the general election problems when they arise.

THE INNER LIFE OF A CELL: A cool video from Harvard. This link may not be permanent — it works fine now, but it’s a frontpage link — so here’s a YouTube link, too, for people who come to this post later. Thanks to reader Michael Segal for the tip.

UPDATE: Narrated version here.

TERROR CONVICTIONS IN LOS ANGELES:

Two members of a prison-based Islamic terrorist cell that authorities say was poised to attack military sites, synagogues and other targets across Southern California pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to conspiring to wage war against the United States.

The plot, which police stumbled upon during a routine investigation into a gas station holdup, represented one of the most realistic terrorism threats on U.S. soil since Sept. 11, experts said. The case also raised concerns about whether the country’s prisons could serve as recruiting centers for Islamic extremists.

“Could”? Seems like we know the answer already. More here:

It was not the most spectacular domestic terrorism plot since the Sept. 11 attacks, and certainly not the best-known.

But no other case posed such a real and immediate threat as the audacious scheme to attack more than a dozen military centers, synagogues and other sites in Southern California, experts said Thursday. . . .

The case illustrated how quickly authorities must be prepared to move in the event of an actual terrorist threat, they said. In a matter of weeks, the FBI, Los Angeles and Torrance police departments and two dozen other agencies conducted 19 searches, seized two dozen computer hard drives and examined about 53,000 documents, all without the normal luxury of moving at their own pace with undercover informants, surveillance and wiretaps.

The plotters “were flying dangerously below the radar,” said the FBI’s John Miller, who was the LAPD’s counter-terrorism head at the time the case broke. He added that the defendants had robbed gas stations for the money to buy rifles, had picked their targets and had set a date.

“The clock was ticking. All they needed to do was to start killing,” he said.

The prison-hatched scheme raised another fear in U.S. counter-terrorism circles, particularly within California, which has the nation’s largest inmate population: Were there other members of the conspiracy, spawned in cellblocks and prison libraries, preparing to carry on the plan?

It’s a bad idea to keep so many people in prison, and it’s a worse idea to do so and then have them exposed to radical “clerics.”

“BIBLE BOMBS” in China?

DATING TOXINS.