CATHY SEIPP HAS DIED. May she rest in peace, and may her friends and family get through this period as well as can be.
Susan Estrich has a fine remembrance, here.
UPDATE: Here’s more in the Los Angeles Times.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Matt Welch remembers Cathy. So does Virginia Postrel.
TALIBAN VS. AL QAEDA? That’s a “cycle of violence” I could live with.
UPDATE: Bill Roggio has more.
PROFESSOR BAINBRIDGE: Cardinal Mahoney must go.
The surge is well underway in Iraq, and by some reports it’s already making a big difference. We contacted the blogosphere’s man-on-the-spot in Baghdad, Michael Yon, by satellite phone, and got his take on how things are going. Some important bits: The dispersal of troops out of big bases and into Iraqi neighborhoods has had a big impact — somewhat like the “community policing” approach in New York and elsewhere — and is generating a lot more intelligence and assistance from ordinary Iraqis. “Just being there makes a huge difference,” says Yon. But don’t expect overnight results: “The surge itself will go on well past summer,” and it’ll be Fall before we can tell if the trends are good or bad.
Listen to the whole thing — he’s also got some interesting takes on changing tactics and changing press coverage. You can stream the file by going here and clicking on the gray Flash player, or you can download the file directly by clicking right here. There’s a lo-fi version suitable for dialup here — select the lo-fi version — and, of course, you can subscribe for free via iTunes. Is that a deal, or what?
Music is by Mobius Dick. This podcast was brought to you by Volvo Motors — buy a Volvo today and tell ’em it’s all because of the Glenn and Helen Show!
And as always, my lovely and talented cohost is taking comments and suggestions.
BARACK OBAMA: More nuanced than the Economist item I linked below suggests.
NOSTALGIA ACT: Bobby Seale is selling Black Panther posters. They’re kind of ugly and black-and-white.
I can, however, vouch for his barbecue cookbook, Barbeque’n with Bobby. Say what you like, but the man knows his ‘cue.
UPDATE: Ed Driscoll is tired of ’60s nostalgia.
MAPPING WI-FI HOTSPOTS — including yours:
Just in case the picture isn’t clear, let me paint it for you:
Skyhook’s trucks have been cruising your street, have identified your home wireless router by its unique code that only your home wifi has – and is correlating it with your location using GPS.
And then they put it in a database.
Read the whole thing.
LOOKING AT GUBERNATORIAL INCAPACITY: If your state has an approach that you think is good, drop me a line.
HEY, MINE DON’T FLICKER, but I guess your results may vary:
I recently bought a compact flourescent bulb, the GE brand recommended by Instapundit. I hate it. It flickers constantly. When it’s not flickering it fills the room with a depressive, dulling haze. Maybe this is what happened to Courtney Love! It gives me a headache to look at it. … I’ve consoled myself with the thought that I’ll replace it with a regular bulb when it burns out. Then I realized it won’t burn out for five years. I’m replacing it tomorrow. If John Edwards can be live in a 28,000 square-foot mansion, I can have a 100-watt bulb. Populism!
Really, mine don’t flicker at all. It’s hard to argue with the Edwards point, though.
UPDATE: Reader Jim Armstrong thinks Mickey got a bad bulb:
I have a house full of them and never encountered that problem.
Has the guy ever considered how many times he installs a bum incandescent straight from the pack? AT LEAST one of 8, in my experience; and I have installed many more than 8 CFL’s without a problem.
I’ve had one bad CFL, but it just didn’t work at all. None of them flicker, though.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Mickey emails that all the switches in his place have dimmers. That’s probably it!
DON SURBER HAS EXTENSIVE THOUGHTS on the Gonzales mess.
Meanwhile, Orin Kerr thinks that Bush shouldn’t want a showdown with Congress. I’m not so sure. It’ll fire up his base, and Congress is polling even worse than he is.
Other folks seem to see it this way too.
IN THE MAIL: Myrna Blyth and Chriss Winston’s How to Raise an American: 1776 Fun and Easy Tools, Tips, and Activities to Help Your Child Love This Country.
GROUND VIEWS, from Jules Crittenden.
UPDATE: This post is interesting, too.
THOUGHTS ON STRUCTURING THE RESERVES for a long war.
UPDATE: Check out this podcast with then-Army Secretary Francis Harvey, too. I worried then that Harvey was a bit too optimistic.
BARACK OBAMA: That’s not what I didn’t say!
ADVERTISING PROBLEMS for The New York Times.
DAVID CORN AND RICHARD MINITER on what’s shaking in Washington. It’s better than Crossfire!
YES, THAT’S THE ONE: Yesterday’s Hill Street Blues reference produced this email from reader Jon Knouse:
Regarding your link to Mr. Goldberg’s piece on betraying the base, it is exactly Hill Street Blues. One of my favorite shows of all time (my father is a retired policeman), and a great episode. Officers Hill and Renko are called to a restaurant that offers an all-you-can-eat salad bar. The owner is upset because a very heavy-set man is literally laying on the buffet picking at all the food with his fingers and a fork, which is driving away other customers.
Hill and Renko say to the guy, “Time’s up buddy, you have to leave.†The guy looks at them and says, “Make me.†Well Hill and Renko look at each other, half shrug and each grabs a hold of the guy. With a one, two, three! Both men endeavor to move the guy, but he doesn’t move one inch!
Priceless.
I remember that. Making the episode better, as I recall, was that Renko was busy worrying about his own weight. It turns out that Hill Street Blues is now out on DVD, and Doug Weinstein thinks it holds up pretty well.
NFL CAUGHT ABUSING THE DMCA: What’s worse, they made the mistake of targeting a law professor. Oops!
THOUGHTS ON the press and the Second Amendment.this post, too.
SAY IT AIN’T SO: Cardinal Mahoney lied about sex abuse.
TOM MAGUIRE looks at academia today. Sigh. It’s a fair cop.
“IN THE FUTURE, EVERY PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE will buy carbon offsets.”
And all restaurants will be Taco Bell!
IT’S ALWAYS SOMETHING: “The FBI is investigating five-year-old contributions by the family of a Mississippi trial lawyer to former Democratic Sen. John Edwards.”
CATHY SEIPP OUTRANKS PARIS HILTON. Well, yeah.
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