MORE ON KIDS, ROAMING, and parental (over?) protectiveness.

PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY CHARTS BY STATE, at Pollster.com.

AN ARMY OF MORONS: Save a life, lose your job.

PROFESSOR BAINBRIDGE says that Sarbanes-Oxley is more costly than realized.

We had a podcast show on related topics a while back — you can listen to it here.

A LOOK AT THE GRIM CONSEQUENCES of a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.

SOUNDS LIKE CENSORSHIP TO ME:

The heads of the House committee and subcommittee overseeing communications issues, respectively, have asked the National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA) to study the use of “telecommunications to commit hate crimes.”

While NTIA, which is the Bush administration’s telecommunications policy advisory arm, already produced a study on the topic under the first president Bush back in 1992, Reps. John Dingell and Ed Markey urged it to update the study given the rise in the Internet since them. But, according to a release from the commitee issued Monday, they also said they are also “particularly” interested in studying “uses by broadcast facilites licensed on behalf of the public by the FCC, and whether such uses convey messages of bigotry or hatred, creating a climate of fear and inciting individuals to commit hate crimes.”

Given the flexible definition of “hate crime,” I think we can be sure that whatever comes of this will be a politicized effort to shut down debate. Of course, this will go away if the NTIA suggests that news reports that make terrorists look good count as incitement to hate crime. . . .

UPDATE: Should this count? I think it encourages hatred and violence. And the perpetrator has a record of this kind of thing.

FUEL ECONOMY: A skeptical look at boosting CAFE requirements. I think a gas tax would be preferable if you don’t just want to leave fuel economy to the market (my preference), but “hidden” taxes like this one are Congress’s specialty, since they get to take the credit and automakers will take the blame.

FRED THOMPSON IN LONDON: Video at Tim Montgomerie’s Britain and America blog.

WORLD’S WORST CURRENCIES: Though a bill with a picture of Nikola Tesla would be cool. But there’s this: “someone just told me that the exchange houses in London don’t even have a ‘buy rate’ for Zimbabwean money, because the inflation is so rapid that they don’t want any more of it.” Sounds smart to me.

TEST DRIVING THE NEW LEXUS HYBRID LUXURY SEDAN: “This model is, however, sure to surprise a lot of prospective buyers accustomed to hearing about hybrids with gas mileage in the 40- to 60-mpg range. There’s a story of fuel efficiency behind the LS 600h—the story of a V8 engine that has the power of a V12, with the mileage of many V-6 cars. Nevertheless, with an estimated 20 city/22 highway miles per gallon (I got closer to 19 mpg), this vehicle isn’t putting any oil sheiks out of business. But with a sticker price of $102,000, it is probably marketed to them. . . . The lesson I take from this car is that the German luxury brands have little to no competitive advantage over Lexus anymore.”

GREEN FUEL: Making oil from algae.

IN THE MAIL: Encounters at Indian Head: The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Abduction Revisited.

PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: Forget transparency in legislation — how about just getting your phone calls returned?

Since there are Examiner branches in San Francisco, Baltimore and Washington, we called representatives from California, Maryland and Virginia to see who was really willing to commit to earmark transparency.

This seemed relatively easy, because all we needed was a yes-or-no answer from the representatives’ press secretaries. We figured we would spend no more than a few hours to make all the calls and get the information.

Instead, we found ourselves getting the runaround, the D.C. equivalent of driving around Dupont Circle and passing the same Starbucks a hundred times. Every call we made was met with the same response, each with a slight variation: “The press secretary just stepped out; can I connect you to his voicemail?” “She’s actually on her lunch break right now; would you like to leave a message?” “He’s not here right now, would you like his voicemail?” And, our personal favorite, “Sorry, he’s on vacation.”

We realize that congressional press secretaries are extremely busy, but our question was far from complex. We simply wanted a “yes” or a “no.” Was that too much to ask?

Apparently so. It’s as if they just want the whole subject to go away. Plus this: “Politicians of both parties claim to be in favor of earmark transparency and gloat about how they (unlike the other party) are strongly in favor of showing taxpayers exactly where their money goes. However, very few were willing to commit to do so in writing. If representatives can’t answer a simple yes-or-no question, how do they expect to answer more complicated ones?”

COMPLAINTS ABOUT COMCAST’S HDTV SERVICE: I have Comcast, and the pickings are a bit slim. I’m actually considering going back to DirecTV, though I didn’t like them, either.

I’VE SAID BEFORE that there seems to be some sort of culture-change on childrearing. Here’s more evidence:

Kids don’t think about going outside like they used to, and unless there is some scheduled activity, I don’t think they know what to do outdoors anymore,” Pelzman said.

Pelzman’s view is shared by a growing number of children’s advocates, environmentalists, business executives and political leaders who fear that this might be the first generation of “indoor children,” largely disconnected from nature.

Concerns about long-term consequences — affecting emotional well-being, physical health, learning abilities, environmental consciousness — have spawned a national movement to “leave no child inside.” In recent months, it has been the focus of Capitol Hill hearings, state legislative action, grass-roots projects, a U.S. Forest Service initiative to get more children into the woods and a national effort to promote a “green hour” in each day.

Tomorrow 40 civic leaders — representing several governors, three big-city mayors, Walt Disney Co., Sesame Workshop, DuPont, the gaming industry and others — will launch a campaign to raise $20 million that will ultimately fund 20 initiatives across the country to encourage children to do what once seemed second nature: go outdoors.

“If we really want to make a difference in this area, we need a shift in the culture,” said Larry Selzer, president of the Conservation Fund, which organized the alliance of leaders.

At least, there’s a change in awareness.

HIGHER EDUCATION, NOW AND THEN:

About three years into my own English major, I was looking at want ads, and noted the dearth of positions for people who could, given a week, come up with 800 words on the metaphorical implications of the light on Daisy Buchanan’s dock. Likewise very little for poets. For some reason we expected there would be a POETS WANTED section in the want ads, broken down by specialty (Sonneteer, Patriotic Doggerel with Sturdy Manly Meter Maker, Depressed Blank Verse Fabricator, Unpunctuated Mewling Beatnik, etc.) Instead I found ads for the Dayton’s parking ramp booth (“Imperviousness to carbon monoxide a plus”) and a job waiting tables, which I was already doing.

I imagine it was different in 1873. “So, what are your qualifications?”

“I have a degree from the University of Minnesota.”

“Ah, so you’re the one I’ve heard about!”

It’s not that way today.

HOWARD KURTZ: “Hillary Clinton is inevitable. . . . So why is there such unease about her within the party?”

DEATH WISH (CONT’D): “Recent polls have shown Bush’s popularity — which has long been in the tank with independents — suffering significant erosion even among GOP base voters, largely due to a backlash over the president’s stance on immigration.”

Or maybe it’s not a death wish. I noted a while back that the GOP would sacrifice Bush for the 2008 elections, and it sounds like that’s what’s going on.

THE SECRET CYBERWAR: All this military networking is cool, but I’m afraid it’s going to turn out to be foolishly vulnerable.

MICHAEL GRAHAM RESPONDS TO TRENT LOTT: “While the media present the Republican divide as ‘pro-life vs. pro-choice,’ the real battle is between the insider elites and the rank-and-file voters who support the party. One side has the money, the other side has the votes. “

ASPIRIN: A WONDER DRUG!

After controlling for age, exercise, diet and other factors, those who used aspirin had a 16 percent reduced risk of getting cancer, and a 13 percent reduced risk of cancer death, compared with women who never used it. Aspirin use was also associated with a 25 percent reduced risk of dying from coronary artery disease and an 18 percent reduction in all-cause mortality compared with those who never took aspirin.

Other NSAIDS didn’t do this.

PROTECTING KIDS FROM THE SUN: I think the dermatologists are way overboard on this, but the basic advice is good. Sun may be good, but sunburns are bad.

BATTLE FOR BAQUBAH: Michael Yon emails:

Baqubah is surrounded by our forces and there is sharp fighting. Apaches firing occasionally, artillery, air strikes and some loud rockets that flew in all the way from Fallujah. Casualties on both sides, but looks like first day is going well. I was present when LTC Fred Johnson informed Iraqi officials that the city is surrounded. LTC Johnson was forthright about the attacks unfolding. There was gunfire just outside during the first meetings. The biggest part of the plan is to trap and kill as many al Qaeda as possible, and to eventually leave the city completely in Iraqi hands. The Iraqi leaders I have seen are thankful and are taking part. Their biggest complaint was that the attack started just as students are trying to take their National Exams. So, early today there was a large gathering of students who wanted to take the exams, but the schools are closed. Bad news is that this is the latest serious disruption to Iraqi lives, but I do find it heartening that the biggest complaint is about the National Exams. It’s hard not to respect people who see helicopters shooting rockets, and who are hearing the explosions from the shells and rockets, yet they are thinking about exams.

This is a serious battle, and much more important that the news is making out. My guess is that most media have little idea of the consequences or magnitude of the Battle for Baqubah, and so it’s slipping by. I’ve posted on the attack: http://michaelyon-online.com/wp/be-not-afraid.htm

Follow the link for more.

UPDATE: Bob Owens warns against the coming media counterspin: “Once reality slowly dawns on the media that they are misunderestimating the scope and scale of the assault, steel yourself for a rush of inaccuracies as they seek to get something, anything published, much of it based upon rumor, some of it based upon outright propaganda and lies. We saw the same during and after Fallujah, when the U.S. military was accused of using napalm on civilians. We don’t even have napalm.”

Stay tuned. And when reporters get it wrong, don’t be afraid to use their names in correcting them.

ANOTHER UPDATE: More from Bill Roggio, who has been writing about the Diyala Campaign since March.

NORM GERAS profiles Megan McArdle.

IRAN: “The government is blaming unrest on the United States. Most people know better, but reading about American spy rings, and U.S. financed rebel groups makes for entertaining reading. There’s not much other entertainment allowed in Iran.”