DOUG WEINSTEIN: “Does anybody else think that it’s ridiculous for presidential candidates to be going at it hammer and tongs a full year before the first primary?” He thinks Edwards is smart to hang back. Plus, a look at Republican maneuvers and what Democrats should be doing.

TIM BLAIR: “Why do these people ignore science?”

TRENT LOTT, ACTING ACCORDING TO TYPE:

One big question when Democrats took over Congress was which industry would be first to feel the new majority’s populist rage. Oil? Pharma? Banks? Corporate America just got its answer, direct from the angriest man to have been empowered in the past election: Republican Sen. Trent Lott.

The Mississippian was “infuriated” by the insurance industry’s refusal to shell out for certain Katrina claims, most notably his own. So Mr. Lott is spearheading a ferocious campaign of political revenge that would make even Henry Waxman envious–replete with investigations, voracious trial lawyers, ambitious state attorneys general and threats of punitive federal legislation. And like most personal grievances that get morphed into policy battles, it’s ending badly for consumers.

Mr. Lott’s beachfront property in Pascagoula–one of three homes he owned–was swept away entirely by Hurricane Katrina’s waters. Like many Gulf Coast residents, Mr. Lott was soon reminded by his insurer, State Farm, that his policy only covered wind damage–not flood damage. The senator surely knew that, which is why he’d also purchased federal flood insurance. According to his flood policy that was in effect when Katrina hit, he was covered up to $350,000 in flood damages, and he presumably collected in full. (Sen. Lott’s office didn’t return my call.) . . .

For his part, Mr. Lott has been busy cranking up the pressure in Washington. Not that he didn’t give fair warning. In July of last year, he placed a call to Chuck Chamness, the CEO of the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, to let the industry know what was coming. Mr. Chamness later sent a letter to Mr. Lott, summing up the call. The key passage: “Your comment that you will dedicate your next term of office to ‘bringing down State Farm and the industry’ through all means available to you, including legislation designed to harm the property/casualty insurance industry, was very unsettling, to say the least.”

Nice to know that he’s got his priorities in order. Sheesh.

EGYPT’S FREE SPEECH MARTYR: A special feature on blogger Abdel Kareem Soliman over at Pajamas Media. Excerpt: “This verdict sets a legal precedent for prosecuting someone for what they write on the Internet, on charges that are not easily defined or defended against. This could be used to prosecute any blogger the government feels like punishing, and serves a huge blow to freedom of speech in Egypt.”

GIVING NEW MEANING to the term abusive lab test, Erik Sofge tries out the new civilian Taser C2. Or, more accurately, the Taser C2 is tried out on Sofge. There’s video.

VISITED THE INSTA-MOTHER-IN-LAW at the hospital. She’s doing pretty well for someone who just had a steel rod surgically implanted in her leg. They’re trying to sort out her balance problems before they let her go.

JOHN TIERNEY: Why are these models scowling?

YESTERDAY’S “BALL OF WHACKS” POST produced this email from Ball of Whacks creator Roger van Oechs:

Thanks for posting about the amazing “Ball of Whacks.” Glad to hear your secretary enjoyed hers.

I was in Egypt a week or so ago, and here is a photo of me introducing the Ball of Whacks to the Sphinx. A truly cosmic moment!

I’m not sure it presages peace in the Middle East, but most of the Egyptians I showed the Ball to had fun playing with it, and told me that it had “Nice Pyramids,” which I took as a compliment.

Sounds like the punchline to a Pam Anderson joke.

HOWARD KURTZ: “Beneath the hugely entertaining spectacle of a Hollywood billionaire slapping his former pal Hillary Clinton lies this question: Will much of her campaign–perhaps too much–be about Bill? . . . But what’s striking is that this wasn’t the vast right-wing conspiracy slamming the Clinton legacy, but a leading light of the Hollywood left, spouting off to Maureen Dowd.”

Mickey Kaus, meanwhile, has more thoughts.

HEH:

Under increased pressure to announce an exit strategy from Iraq, President George W. Bush revealed plans today to bring U.S. troops home on the budget airlines JetBlue.

Mr. Bush received praise for his decision to withdraw American troops, but his choice of JetBlue to transport them raised more than a few eyebrows.

According to most official estimates, with its recent spate of scheduling problems and flight delays, JetBlue could take up to seven years to bring U.S. troops home, and possibly ten years in the event of inclement weather.

But at a press conference at the White House today, the president argued that the selection of Jet Blue was “crucial” to the success of his latest exit strategy.

“Setting an exact timetable for a withdrawal from Iraq would be playing right into the enemy’s hands,” Mr. Bush said. “By going with JetBlue, our enemy will have no idea when we’re leaving.”

To emphasizes his point, Mr. Bush added, “And neither will we.”

Across Iraq, U.S. GIs were hopeful that the news about JetBlue meant that they would be home by Christmas, or at least by Easter 2012.

Poor JetBlue.

JOHN TAMMES has posted his weekly roundup of news from Afghanistan that you may have missed.

THOUGHTS ON MEMORY, from Tom Maguire.

UPDATE: A sentencing suggestion, should Libby be convicted.

FEDERAL BOOZE POLICE GO BONKERS. Indeed.

JIMMY CARTER AT EMORY: Blogged at Jewish Current Issues. More on that story here.

DAVID HOROWITZ has a new book out on leftist bias in the academy, but this Arizona legislation is too much even for him.

UPDATE: Related thoughts here.

AUSTIN BAY:

“More troops” isn’t the most significant aspect of the military “surge” in Iraq. . . .

Adding 20,000 troops to Iraq in a five- to six-month window is a significant increase but in and of itself not decisive, and certainly not a “new strategy.”

The relentless, focused targeting of Shia and Sunni extremist organizations is a far more important feature of what Iraqis are calling “the new security plan” than more U.S. troops. The coalition’s effort to better integrate the economic and political development “lines of operation” with security operations could have greater long-term effects. . . . Perhaps the most encouraging aspect of the new security plan is the increased aggressiveness of the Iraqi Army as it conducts counterinsurgent operations. The Iraqi military defeat of the cultist “Soldiers of Heaven” planned attack on Najaf in late January provides a dramatic example. With coalition backup, Iraqi forces launched a spoiling attack and killed or captured several hundred militants.

Maliki’s national reconciliation program remains the key Iraqi political endeavor. That program began well before “the new security plan,” but no security plan will succeed unless reconciliation occurs.

Read the whole thing.

UPDATE: Chris Muir, back from his embed in Iraq, emails:

I’m not sure if it’s the same thing as the Office of National Reconciliation, but I can say that the Army’s MiTT teams (Military transition teams) I observed in Mosul are heavily involved in training the IP (Iraqi Police) and the IA (Iraqi Army) to self- sufficiency in both organizational and cultural integration.

Some of the Army’s best are actually referred to as ‘going native’ a la Lawrence of Arabia, and are living with the Iraqis, working with them from within as to their (and the Army’s) goals.

The State Department appears completely absent from the theatre, and the Army has done the work of infrastructure projects & rebuild, community relations, political organization,etc.

When I look around my home here this morning, I appreciate more readily the invisible but strong level of infrastructure only possible with an organization and co-operation of a society. This is what I saw the Army doing for Iraqis from scratch, and as they reiterated to me there, it ‘will take time’ for the Iraqis to get to that day.

But will the American public give them the time of day?

That remains to be seen.

MOMENTUM BUILDS for the automotive X-Prize.

MORE GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS, rounded up by Jules Crittenden.

PAY FOR PLAY in South Carolina?

LIEBERMAN AND THE DEMOCRATS: Ann Althouse is enjoying it.

ROGER SIMON thinks he knows why Geffen said what he said: “Geffen doesn’t think Hillary can win.”

THOSE FRED THOMPSON RUMORS just won’t go away.

THIS IS JUST WRONG:

Two Florida teenagers, Jeremy and Amber, ages 17 and 16 respectively, boyfriend and girlfriend — snapped digital photos of themselves engaged in sexual activity. They were prosecuted under state child porn laws, and convicted. . . . In Florida, Amber and Jeremy did not break the law by having sexual relations — even though they’re both teens — but the courts decided they were criminals for having documented it digitally.

Wrong, and dumb.

WELL, THIS SUCKS: Today was the big day when my mother-in-law was going to move from her old apartment into an “independent living” setup. But while getting ready for the movers this morning she tripped, fell, and broke a leg. She had to go to the E.R., then had surgery, and is now going to be hospitalized for a while, then wheelchair-bound for several weeks. Blogging may be a bit intermittent for the next little while. Sigh.

VICTORYCAUCUS.COM has got Professor Bainbridge unhappy, but I certainly agree with this suggestion:

The national disgrace of gerrymandering has created a system in which the vast majority of House seats are safe for one of the two parties. As a result, the real action is in the primaries, which tend to be dominated by activists. As a result, we see the polarization of Congress, as GOP candidates tend hard right to win their primaries and vice-versa for the Democrats. Now the netroots plan to exacerbate the problem.

The solution seems obvious. A national system of nonpartisan redistricting designed to maximize the number of truly competitive seats. In such a system, candidates would succeed by appealing to the center rather than the extremes, which in turn would reduce the destructive influence of the rabid partisans on both sides of the net.

This is another of those things that I would be more excited about if the prospect of it working were better.