PERSONALLY, I FIND THE LITTLE CHUCKLE THAT MITT ROMNEY DEPLOYS when he think he’s scored a point more irritating than the Clinton cackle. But the latter gets more attention, perhaps because Jon Stewart has been making an issue of it.

THE NATIONAL JOURNAL LOOKS AT BLOGS: It’s a pretty good piece, though author Bara Vaida calls me a “conservative,” which is only true if “conservative” is a synonym for “supports the war.” But then, that’s common usage these days.

A broader look here.

A NOVEL SUGGESTION FOR COLLEGE ADMISSIONS OFFICERS: “Let’s not break the law.”

BILL CLINTON: Hillary’s ambassador to the world?

FRANKEN ON YOUTUBE: I still think he’s nobody without Davis.

YEAH, SO WHAT’S YOUR POINT? “Hello, My Name Is Bob, and I Check My Email While on the Toilet.”

RAND SIMBERG AND HOMER HICKAM DISCUSS transhumans in space. It’s kind of a long way from Rocket Boys.

WALTER OLSON on the Lynne Stewart / Hofstra affair.

JULES CRITTENDEN: “It’s remarkable how Katie Couric, in her effort to be viewed as more than a perky face, has emerged as an unexpectedly honest voice in the mainstream media.”

IN LIGHT OF EVIDENCE THAT POPULISM AND PROTECTIONISM ARE GROWING, some thoughts of Robert Heinlein:

Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.

This is known as “bad luck.”

I’m just, you know, saying.

EVERYTHING OLD IS HSU AGAIN: Investor’s Business Daily looks at the Norman Hsu scandal and sees the same old tricks.

MULLAHS VS. MULLAHS in Iran.

BEAUCHAMP UPDATE: Bob Owens notices the dogs not barking at TNR.

DRUG CZAR TO MILTON FRIEDMAN: Drop deader!

THE ECONOMIST WONDERS why Hillary is doing so well.

EARLIER, I NOTED A POLL suggesting that Americans — even Republicans — are turning against free trade. But Frank Newport observes:

We don’t know how Republican voters may feel about free trade in the abstract. Whar we learn from this question allows one to say something like this: “By a two to one margin, the majority of Republican voters can be swayed to say that foreign trade is bad when they listen to a particular set of arguments both for and against it as presented in this particular question wording.” (The headline by the way references “free” trade while the question uses the phrase “foreign” trade).

It’s also not entirely clear if Republicans have “grown” skeptical on foreign trade. The time point comparison made in the article is to a 1999 WSJ/NBC poll which asked an apparently different question about whether trade deals had helped or hurt the U.S. Comparing the results of that question wording to the results of the current question wording usually would not be something that in and of itself would form the basis for a conclusion about changes in attitudes over time.

Sounds like the poll is pretty iffy. I certainly think that a shift toward U.S. protectionism would be a serious mistake. So does Barack Obama’s economic advisor, Austan Goolsbee:

“Globalization” means free trade and various deregulations that supposedly put downward pressure on American wages because of imports from low-wage countries. Goolsbee, however, says globalization is responsible for “a small fraction” of today’s income disparities. He says “60 to 70 percent of the economy faces virtually no international competition.” America’s 18.5 million government employees have little to fear from free trade; neither do auto mechanics, dentists and many others.

Goolsbee’s rough estimate is that technology — meaning all that the phrase “information economy” denotes — accounts for more than 80 percent of the increase in earnings disparities, whereas trade accounts for much less than 20 percent. This is something congressional Democrats need to hear from a Democratic economist as they resist trade agreements with South Korea and such minor economic powers as Peru, Panama and Colombia.

Yes, they do. And it won’t hurt for Republicans to hear it, either. Related item here.

AYAN HIRSI ALI FACES death threats in the United States. Rather more serious than Bruce Springsteen’s bleating that some people have called him unpatriotic. But likely to be less covered.

Then there are the terror threats against Flemming Rose. I hope that Bruce never has to show the courage that these two are already showing.

GREAT TITLE: The rights of the people: now available, for the first time, to the people!

Now if that were just true.

PROPHECIES borne out.

LOTS OF CORRUPTION CASES in New Orleans. No, really.

DEMOCRATS VS. THE DNC: “The Democratic National Committee will be sued by Florida Congressguys Bill Nelson of the Senate and Alcee Hastings of the House for violating the Voting Rights Act. This is in response to the DNC plan to refuse to seat the Florida delegation to the Democratic National Convention if the delegates are selected in a too-early primary.”

IT SEEMS TO ME, that the latest torture-memo news just underscores what we heard from Jack Goldsmith.

FROM NORM GERAS, thoughts on women and the holocaust.

A POST-SPUTNIK CALL TO ACTION FROM RAND SIMBERG: Fifty Years On, Time for a New Dawn.

Plus, another look at the next 50 years.

CAMCORDER UPDATE: In response to my earlier request for sites with good camcorder reviews, lots of readers recommended CamcorderInfo.com. It looks good. For higher-end stuff, people seem to like FreshDV.com. I’ve poked around both sites a bit and they look pretty useful.

I found this review of a Panasonic HD / flash camera I’ve been looking at (it’s attractively priced) quite helpful. My big barrier has been the limited editing support for AVCHD, but now, “Suddenly, AVCHD doesn’t look so foreboding anymore. Support for viewing and editing is sprouting up on a monthly basis.” Sounds like we’re getting close, anyway. Related earlier post here.

And reader Rich Reilly sends a link to a site focusing on Sony HD. Of course, the convergence between HD and digital still photography would move faster if it weren’t for the EU’s tax policies, which are likely to discourage manufacturers from making equipment with those capabilities, since it will be dutied at a higher rate in Europe.

UPDATE: James Lileks emails:

That Panasonic camcorder you mentioned was the one I ordered from Amazon, a very long time ago. I’ve been looking forward to it for weeks – only to learn today that the vendor is out of stock, and the order was cancelled.

Stop mentioning things I want! It’s hard to concentrate.

Er, sorry. But I like mentioning the things that I want. And, natch, other sensible people will often want them too.