NEEDED: Nine million new smokers. It’s for the children!

IT’S PRETTY SIMPLE: “A shovel, a house fan, and other objects: as a parent, I think that about sums up the emotion you’d feel. You find someone assaulting a nine-year-old girl, you subdue the attacker with whatever you can get your hands on.”

REJECTING A $10 MILLION EARMARK.

BURYING THE LEDE AT THE NEW YORK TIMES: “Do people even click to see what’s on page 2?”

Plus, Al Qaeda watercooler chatter: “Heard the latest? They say Human Resources just decided that virgins 47-72 are redundant. And did you ever notice how they always seem to send us off on these suicide missions just as our stock options are about to vest?”

RICH LOWRY: REVENGE OF THE TRIBES.

BRENDAN LOY: No, really, get out of Jamaica: “When Hurricane Gilbert slammed Jamaica in 1988, it killed 45 people and caused $4 billion of damage. It destroyed houses, roads and small aircraft. It ‘severely damaged all but two medical facilities and 50% of the water supply.’ So even if you survive the hurricane, the aftermath will be ugly, if it hits as badly as it could. Seriously — there’s no reason to risk it. Get the hell out.”

UPDATE: A Cayman Islands hurricane alert.

HOW TO SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT: Prices!

AARON HANSCOM LOOKS AT 21ST CENTURY HYPER-PARENTING: I had some related thoughts on the topic here.

IN THE MAIL: IF YOU LIKED THE DANGEROUS BOOK FOR BOYS, then there’s always How to Be the Best At Everything. And there’s also a girls’ version. The books include such highlights as how to fight off a crocodile, how to rip a phonebook in half, how to escape quicksand, how to act like a celebrity, how to read body language, and how to grow a crystal.

They look pretty cool, though the “how to fly a helicopter” treatment in the boys’ book is a bit, um, brief.

THOUGHTS ON GIULIANI AND EDWARDS’ foreign policy writings.

SOME INTERESTING STUFF ABOUT THE NATION and war veterans.

DISASTER PREPAREDNESS UPDATE: Popular Mechanics’ big disaster-survival feature is now up on the Web.

WHY AM I NOT SURPRISED? “For years, members of the military brass have been warning that soldiers’ blogs could pose a security threat by leaking sensitive wartime information. But a series of online audits, conducted by the Army, suggests that official Defense Department websites post far more potentially-harmful than blogs do.”

A BLOG GROWS in Brooklyn.

TRYING TO SINK the Delta Queen. Because her crew isn’t unionized.

A SPACE HOTEL: By 2009?

MORE PHOTO QUESTIONS FOR AFP: Maybe I should start my own news service. Apparently the demands are lighter than I had thought.

UPDATE: Tigerhawk notes that the press is much less charitable where misconduct by other big corporations is concerned.

YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS stands up to libel thuggery on behalf of an “Islamic charity” that came off rather badly in Matthew Levitt’s Hamas: Politics, Charity, and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad. Now maybe somebody should take a closer look at “KinderUSA,” which brought the suit.

UPDATE: Bravo for the American Library Association. Nice to see some backbone, though the Middle Eastern Studies Association isn’t looking so good.

MORE: In the comments section on the Levitt book, above, we’re starting to see 911-denialist posts like “Twin Towers not knocked down by aircraft.” Sigh.

ACADEMIC HIRING IS STARTING TO GET more outside scrutiny. That seems entirely reasonable to me.

IF YOU’RE IN JAMAICA OR YUCATAN, Brendan Loy suggests you get the hell out.

AN INTERVIEW WITH the rapping Marine.

PORK NEVER DIES: “So far this year, three members of Congress have died. But they did not take their earmarks with them. The earmarks keep going and going.”

UPDATE: Reader Chris Foster emails:

Three members of Congress this year? Do you realize how high that mortality rate is?

It’s just too dangerous. Get them out now.

“Congress Out Of Washington Now!”

It’s a quagmire, and their presence is only making things worse.

MORE ON ONGOING GROUND COMBAT IN AFGHANISTAN: What? Not just air raids on civilians?

HURRICANE DEAN becomes a “major Caribbean storm threat.”

They’re paying close attention in the Cayman Islands.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL IS UPSET about a Taser marketed to women. My question for Amnesty — what is it about women, in particular, that makes this especially inappropriate?

Most women would at least be smart enough not to taser a man holding a baby. . . .

Earlier post on this topic here.