I’VE ALWAYS BEEN SUSPICIOUS OF THOSE MAIL-IN REBATES. This story does nothing to alleviate those suspicions:

This is a picture of the 1,300 unopened rebate forms a Mercury News reporter found in a dumpster near Vastech, a rebate processor for Fry’s Electronics.

I just ignore rebate offers, and go for the best regular price.

RON BAILEY REPORTS that the case of the disappearing bees may be solved.

THE OTHER HSU DROPS:

Norman Hsu’s quickly jump-started life on the lam came to a screeching stop less than 48 hours after it began when he got sick on Amtrak’s California Zephyr train and was nabbed after being rushed to a Colorado hospital, according to the FBI.

The prolific Democratic fundraiser and fugitive was busted at 6 p.m. PDT by FBI agents from the Denver office, according to Special Agent Joseph M. Schadler in the FBI’s San Francisco office. . . . Hsu had fled the law for the second time by skipping out on a Wednesday court date – and $2 million bail – in Redwood City.

It’ll be interesting to see what comes of this. Meanwhile, some further thoughts at Wizbang: “Norman Hsu has a great deal of questions to answer. And we need those answers. . . . Of all these, I think the source of his money is the most important. Every single investigation into his business history ends up blank — ‘there’s no there there,’ as Gertrude Stein once said about Oakland. He apparently had no visible means of possessing that much money, and I — and anyone who cares the least about our electoral process — ought to know who was trying to inject that much cash into certain candidates — and, by extension, what they sought to gain by it.”

And some big-picture thoughts here: “I think the Hsu case is bigger than Vick and Craig combined. It has a creepy, tip-of-the-iceberg feel to it. . . . Yes, there will be more Hsus to tap.”

AT GAYPATRIOT, some thoughts on the religious zeal of the “outers.”

PROMOTING DAVE HARDY’S Second Amendment video.

THEY’RE NOT COMING FROM A POSITION OF STRENGTH: Democrats newly willing to compromise on Iraq.

WHY AM I WRITING ABOUT POLITICS AND TECHNOLOGY, when the big news is that the Vanessa Hudgens nude photos are real!

A SHOCKING DEPARTURE: “Imagine. A political ad that focuses on ‘the children.’ How original.”

A ONE-CLICK SOLUTION to XML documents.

DEAN BARNETT ON why there isn’t a conservative DailyKos.

A CULTURE OF CORRUPTION?

MORE ON THE CAMPAIGN TO preemptively discredit Petraeus.

POLITICS END AT THE WATER’S EDGE: Except, you know, when they don’t.

UPDATE: More at Gateway Pundit.

THE AL DURA CASE: A petition. The new French government may be more receptive.

NOT PLAYING “NAME THAT PARTY” AT The New York Times: “Among the 11 public officials arrested in an F.B.I. corruption sting in New Jersey today was a leading Democratic supporter of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign in that state, Mayor Samuel Rivera of Passaic. It was the latest legal embarrassment involving an ally of the Clinton campaign, coming only one day after a wealthy Clinton donor, Norman Hsu, missed his court date in a California fraud case and apparently disappeared.”

DUKAKIS/BENTSEN. Heh.

POWERING YOUR HOUSE with a Prius. My house is wired for a generator, but I’ve never bought one. Maybe I should get my Highlander Hybrid modified for this. A generator is probably cheaper, though.

WIRED looks at Fred Thompson on technology issues. Hey, what other candidate gets praise from Kevin Mitnick?

MICHAEL CANNON: Socialized medicine is already here.

HOW FACEBOOK TOOK DOWN A GIANT: But was this power used for good, or for evil?

STUART TAYLOR & K.C. JOHNSON’S book on the Duke rape case gets a very positive review from Abigail Thernstrom in the Wall Street Journal. (Free link).

The book’s currently #34 on Amazon.

UPDATE: Okay, now it’s up to 25.

LOTS OF CONVERGESOUTH NEWS, from Ed Cone.

PEACEKEEPING IN THE BALKANS: “The United States continues to back a ‘unitary’ state in Bosnia. Since 1996 this has been the US position. The problem is the current ‘unitary’ Bosnian state really isn’t.”

FREEMAN HUNT thinks the Presidential race is over. “Get used to typing ‘President Thompson.'”

Seems a bit early to be drawing that conclusion.

I’M SKEPTICAL ABOUT THE CLAIMS THAT THE fake butter flavoring in microwave popcorn causes lung disease in people who eat it, but I have to say that I’ve always found it disgusting. Maybe my sense of smell is different, but to me it’s always smelled more like rancid motor oil than butter, and I always hate it when people are microwaving popcorn at the office. So if people want to ban the stuff based on dubious science, well, I’ll be less upset than I might otherwise be . . . .