LYLE DENNISTON suggests that it might become a political issue if the Justice Department enters the D.C. gun ban case in a way that strongly supports an individual right to arms. But I’m not sure why, other than the obvious media posturing that is likely to result. Denniston notes that the Justice Department changed its position on the Second Amendment during the Bush Administration, to support an individual right view. But in making this change the Administration was actually adopting the view repeatedly expressed by the Congress in recent decades, and so I don’t see why that move should be especially controversial.

WHAT WENT WRONG with Fred Thompson’s campaign? They seemed highly disorganized this summer; things are better now, I think, but they really lost momentum over several months.

A LOOK AT THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT’S rigorous approach to data security.

CALCULATING THE CARBON FOOTPRINT of the U.N. Climate Change Conference.

IN THE MAIL: Larry Niven and Edward Lerner’s Fleet of Worlds.

A LOOK AT the Second Amendment as a teaching tool in Constitutional Law classes, with a link to an article by me, Eugene Volokh, Sandy Levinson, Bob Cottrol, and Scot Powe on the subject.

DAVID HARSANYI: Property right wrongly taken: “The story is so absurd, so unfair, so ludicrous, I had a difficult time believing that it could actually happen – even in Boulder.”

JOHN MCWHORTER: “On Thanksgiving, while maybe a few holdouts make sure to muster up a sense of thanks for the season’s harvest or a mental salute to the Pilgrims who originated the holiday, it’s safe to say that for most of us what Thanksgiving is about is eating a large, starchy meal while taking advantage of the occasion to see family and friends.” Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

SUSANNAH BRESLIN on the Congo rape epidemic, and what you can do to help.

JACQUES CHIRAC faces a formal investigation for embezzlement.

LAWYERS, GUNS AND WASHINGTON: I’ve got a column in today’s New York Post on the D.C. gun ban case.

MORE ON CONGRESS’S NEW LUXURY JET: “One final thought: the delivery of a new ‘junket jet’ for Congress may infuriate a lot of taxpayers, but there’s a method in Boeing’s apparent madness. Winners of the KC-X and CSAR-X contracts will be announced early next year, and by delivering the C-40 now (just in time for Christmas holiday ‘fact-finding’ trips), the aircraft giant hopes that some of its Congressional friends will pressure the Air Force to steer those contracts toward Boeing.”

UPDATE: Reader Al Reasin emails: “Since congress’s new luxury jet is part of the military appropriations and with congress not funding the military as the president requested, the jet should be the first causalty of the reduction in spending required to maintain support for the troops in harm’s way. While the jet has been delivered, so too late to cancel it, it should be grounded. Actually all congressional fights provided by the Air Force should be grounded. Let them all take to the airways with the regular folks and experience the problems we face. And since they are so concerned about global warming, it would reduce their carbon footprint.” I’m on board!

ROSS DOUTHAT ON Stem Cells, Race, and the Future of the Science Wars.

A SECOND AMENDMENT PREDICTION, from Bill Quick: “I think Hillary will have a Sister Souljah moment and come out in support of an individual rights interpretation. In my leftist days, the New Left certainly felt that way. None of us supported disarming the Black Panthers. And, frankly, Kos isn’t exactly a hotbed of anti-gun fervor.” Nope. That would be interesting.

ANOTHER HOLLYWOOD SUICIDE BOMB: Wagner James Au emails:

Not sure anyone’s pointed this out yet, but *Redacted* was a giant bomb, I mean just disastrous in relation to profile, ranking *50th* place in last weekend’s box office receipts.

Grossing $25,628 in 15 theaters, which means an audience of roughly 3000 people *in the entire country*. It’s not even doing well for an indy movie; for example, note that a Joe Strummer documentary playing in less theaters still made more in its third week. This despite an A list director, a huge wave of publicity, high praise in the Times, the New Yorker, left-leaning sites like Salon, etc.etc.– not even many people who presumably agree with the movie’s anti-war movie thesis made the effort to see it.

Ouch. Lions for Lambs isn’t exactly raking it in, either.

AN OIL-FOR-FOOD guilty plea.

IRAQIS returning home after exile. This seems like good news. Much more on the subject here.

A LOOK AT DEVELOPMENTS in northern Iraq.

MORE ON the flying imams.

MEGAN MCARDLE: “Why not nuclear? We asked. The World Bank doesn’t support nuclear, though it’s not clear why. Geopolitically, of course, there are proliferation concerns, and questions about whether developing countries can safely manage a nuclear plant. On the other side of the ledger, however, is the fact that without nuclear, all these developing countries are going to be dumping a gigantic load of carbon into the atmosphere. Shouldn’t we at least be thinking hard about safer reactors for the developing world?”

HILLARY MOCKS OBAMA. “Hillary Rodham Clinton ridiculed Democratic rival Barack Obama on Tuesday for his contention that living in a foreign country as a child helped give him a better understanding of the foreign policy challenges facing the U.S.” She’s right. It’s not like he’s been First Lady or anything.

A HUGE ROUNDUP OF sources on the Second Amendment.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON on those Iraqi colonels.

WATCH TODAY’S ENTIRE SENATE SESSION, in this 46-second video. Which includes the pregame show. (Via Don Surber.)