FRED THOMPSON on the Fairness Doctrine.

DELIGHTFUL: “Sandy Berger, who stole highly classified terrorism documents from the National Archives, destroyed them and lied to investigators, is now an adviser to presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.”

Though Jonathan Adler offers at least the hope that Berger’s role is exaggerated, above.

UPDATE: Advice for journalists.

MORE: “My tepid support for Rudy Giuliani is growing warmer by the day.”

ETHICS QUESTIONS for university administrators.

BURT RUTAN speaks.

“PARTIALLY NUDE PICTURES OF TEACHER” turns out to mean entirely non-nude pictures of teacher: “One photograph shows England shirtless, her left hand covering her right breast and her left breast is in the crook of her left elbow. Another picture shows her lying on her stomach, face down, wearing black panties. Her bare back is visible.”

Feh. There’s racier stuff than this in The Ladies’ Home Journal.

UPDATE: Pictures here: A whole lotta nothin’ goin’ on.

It is absolutely pathetic that anyone is making a big deal over these pictures. Both Knox County Schools and the local and national media are making fools of themselves. (Via Dan Riehl).

IOWAHAWK LOOKS AT Lowriders of 1977.

GLEN WHITMAN ON INSURANCE MANDATES: “But how big is the free-rider problem, really? According to an Urban Institute study released in 2003, uncompensated care for the uninsured constitutes less than 3% of all health expenditures. Even if the individual mandate works exactly as planned, that’s the effective upper boundary on the mandate’s impact.” (Via Greg Mankiw).

GEOFFREY STONE REVIEWS Jack Goldsmith’s The Terror Presidency. Our podcast interview with Goldsmith, with transcript, is here.

THERE’S A POLITICAL JOKE IN THIS SOMEWHERE, but I can’t think of it right now: Fertile strippers make more money.

IT’S A SPECIAL COLUMBUS DAY EDITION OF BLAWG REVIEW!

Lots of other blog carnivals at BlogCarnival.com.

VIDEO: The Unseen Beatles, now seen.

“HEAVEN IS A PLACE ON EARTH:” And has anyone considered the possibility that Barack Obama is just a big Belinda Carlisle fan?

AL QAEDA’S RAMADAN OFFENSIVE: So far, a fizzle.

And more here, from Omar Fadhil.

MEDIA SHIELDS FEDERAL SHIELD LAW.

CLAMPING DOWN on phony green claims.

SO I GUESS THE TAX CODE IS PRETTY PROGRESSIVE, THEN: Top 1% Pay More Income Tax Than Bottom 90%.

I think that degree of progressivity is actually bad. I think that everyone should pay at least some tax, and it should vary each year with how much the government spends, and should be enough to give people an incentive to care.

UPDATE: A reader emails: “The optimal tax code for the political class is one where more than 51% of the voters pay no taxes at all and where the politicians and their friends receive exemptions from most of the taxes. Explain how this differs from the current system.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: A reader says the above doesn’t demonstrate progressivity. But follow the link: “The linked PDF quite clearly states that the top 1% of payers pay 23.13% of their AGI, while the bottom 50% of payers pay 2.98% of theirs.” That’s a lot of progressivity, no? The numbers are on the last page of the PDF report. It’s true, I suppose, that you could get this kind of a revenue distribution even from a flat tax if income variances were sufficiently broad, but we don’t have anything like a flat tax.

MORE: Kevin Drum comments that the tax system as a whole is less progressive than the income tax. Yes, if you add in excise taxes, etc., that’s certainly true. I was talking about income tax and should have been more precise. And if those other taxes followed my model — with taxes going up and down from year to year with spending, and with individual taxpayers at all levels experiencing increases in their taxes when spending went up — that would be a good thing, too.

Meanwhile, some of Kevin’s commenters are misinformed. In fact, I’ve always been quite positive about the Clinton Administration’s economic team. See, e.g., this post, or this one. Plus, rooting for Gene Sperling.

SOME RATHER THUGGISH BEHAVIOR:

Rep. Henry Waxman has asked his investigative staff to begin compiling reports on Limbaugh, and fellow radio hosts Sean Hannity and Mark Levin based on transcripts from their shows, and to call in Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin to discuss the so-called “Fairness Doctrine.”

“Limbaugh isn’t the only one who needs to be made uncomfortable about what he says on the radio,” says a House leadership source. “We don’t have as big a megaphone as these guys, but this all political, and we’ll do what we can to gain the advantage. If we can take them off their game for a while, it will help our folks out there on the campaign trail.”

They told me that if George W. Bush were re-elected, we’d see enemies lists, dossiers, and naked abuse of political and regulatory power in order to silence criticism and secure an unfair electoral advantage. And they were right!

UPDATE: More thoughts here.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Modest skepticism from Allah.

LATER: Waxman denies the reports. The American Spectator stands by its story. Allah is saying I-told-you-so.

A LOOK AT PUTIN’S REGULATION OF NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS: “NGO law represents one more effort on the part of President Putin’s administration to assert control over Russian society . . . it should be viewed as part of the overarching effort to minimize political opposition, eliminate independent media, and silence Russia’s oligarchs.” Plus, thoughts on a response.

NEW SCRUTINY FOR NONPROFITS: As I’ve said here on numerous occasions, the nonprofit sector is awash in money and far more powerful than it used to be, but drastically lacking in transparency and oversight by comparison to the corporate world. More thoughts from Todd Zywicki, who observes: “I understand that other nonprofit institutions have been moving in a different direction, toward less board independence, less accountability, less transparency, larger board size, and a more powerful executive committee. Amazingly, these developments sometimes are even justified under the rubric that they constitute ‘best practices’ of board practice.”

UPDATE: A reader sends this Financial Times link, too: “Philanthropic bodies, charities and non-governmental organisations are, indeed, businesses in the eyes of the law. Yet, perversely, today’s FTSE or Nasdaq companies are far more transparent, accountable and responsibly governed than the typical wealthy foundation or charity. More damning, corporate results are measured in the marketplace while philanthropic results are not. That invites mischief and mismanagement.” Indeed.

IN THE MAIL: Bruce Barry’s Speechless: The Erosion of Free Expression in the American Workplace.

SOME DISTURBING THOUGHTS ABOUT politics and free trade, from Jonathan Adler. Bear in mind, however, that reports of declining support for free trade among Republicans may be exaggerated.

PERHAPS NEUROTIC BEHAVIOR PERSISTS because it offers an evolutionary advantage in some circumstances. I suspect that’s the case in the real world, as well as in gaming.

A LOT OF PEOPLE HIT THE AMAZON OR PAYPAL DONATION BUTTONS this weekend. As I noted earlier, I think it’s side-splash from the big fundraising drive over at The Corner.

If you donated via Paypal, I’ve sent you a thank-you email. If you donated via Amazon, and clicked the button that let me know who you are, I’ve sent you a thank-you email. If you didn’t click that button, you’re anonymous to me. But thanks, regardless!

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION. A look at who’s keeping the money.

HEH. INSTAPUNDIT READERS aren’t just kicking DailyKos’s ass when it comes to energy conservation. They’re way ahead of the government, too. Look how the D.C. Metro government is doing. Remember this the next time you hear a politician lecture Americans about energy waste.