A MOOD SURGE ON IRAQ, as public opinion shifts dramatically: “To put it in perspective, because MSNBC doesn’t, that’s … let’s see … 18 points. Double-digit increase.”

UPDATE: More: “In other words, what too many have yet to grasp is that when the U.S. loses a war, we leave lock, stock and barrel (e.g. Vietnam) but when we win, (or at least don’t lose) we remain to support our alliies (e.g. Bosnia, South Korea, Japan and Germany).”

THOUGHTS ON ABU DHABI, CITIGROUP, and the recycling of petrodollars: “Frankly, I’d rather that those dollars be spent and invested in the United States directly than wait around for them to be laundered through the economies of Japan, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom who knows how many times before they make it home again.”

DUANE PATTERSON: “Should We Trust CNN And YouTube In The Debate Wednesday Night?”

OFFICE MATE OR BAD DATE: The Insta-Wife reviews Office Mate: The Employee Handbook for Finding–and Managing–Romance on the Job.

NEWS FROM THE global war on germs.

TRYING TIMES: “Let me get this straight – Democratic aides to a Democratic Governor in a Democratic state were talking to Nick Confessore of the Times (and formerly of The American Prospect, so presumably a Democrat), and they chose to liken Spitzer favorably to Reagan and Giuliani? Are they really unable to come up with any no-nonsense Democrats?”

INSTAPUNK ON STEPHEN KING. But, really, this stands on its own:

STEPHEN KING: So who’s going to be TIME Person of the Year?

TIME: I really don’t know, there’s a very small group of people who make that decision.

[KING:] I was thinking, I think it should be Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan.

But read the whole thing.

THE PENNSYLVANIA SUPREME COURT looks at the Second Amendment as involving an individual right.

SCAREDY SQUIRREL gets a lesson about risk. Preparation is good. Worry is not.

DAVID BROOKS: Lou Dobbs is winning. (Via Taylor Owen).

JAPAN, 1947: Lou Minatti is posting a lot of photos, and would like some captioning help on some of them.

A HUGO CHAVEZ meltdown?

MARINES bring aid to Bangladesh.

MORE ON THE PARIS INTIFADA: “More than 100 officers have been wounded, several of them seriously, according to the police. Thirty of them were hit with buckshot and pellets from shotguns, and one of the wounded was hit with a type of bullet used to kill large game, Patrice Ribeiro, a police spokesman, said in a telephone interview. One of the officers lost an eye; another’s shoulder was shattered by gunfire.”

The French haven’t taken this seriously enough. Perhaps they should ask this guy for advice.

UPDATE: Somewhat belatedly, Clive Davis mocks my suggestion that the French could learn something useful from Lieutenant Colonel Chris Dowling in Fallujah. Based on his comments, I doubt that Davis actually read the pieces I linked.

LEFT HOOK.

“PISS CHRIST” is for wussies. You want subversive art, here it is.

MATT WELCH takes over Reason magazine. No Reasonoids were harmed. Best question: “So, does Matt get a leather coat now?”

THOUGHTS ON the importance of handwashing.

MORE ON THE MYSTERIOUS “YOUTHS” who are rioting in Paris.

Further reporting here.

THOUGHTS ON blogging the political conventions.

CHEAP, CLEAN ELECTRICITY — from Google?

VENEZUELAN STUDENTS fired on by regime.

HEH: BoxBux Sux as Stix Hix Nix Xmas Flix.

UPDATE: John McGinnis emails:

Heh. Why should I spend somewhere in the neghborhood of $40 to watch a box office bomb when I can NetFlix really great old standards online or in the mail? My favorite line up every year —

* White Christmas
* Miracle on 34th Street
* It’s a Wonderful Life
* The Shop Around the Corner
* Were no Angels
* A Christmas Carol (George C. Scott version)

Dip in the eggnog, throw another log on the fire and hit ‘play’ on the media center and I am set.

I think there’s a lot of that. The trouble is, the new movies need to be better than the old ones to compete, and instead they’re usually inferior.

NO, IT WASN’T ME SHOOTING THE REDLIGHT CAMERAS IN KNOXVILLE: “I’m not sure I’d want to encourage this kind of behavior, but I can’t help enjoying it.”

JONAH GOLDBERG’S NEW BOOK gets a nice review from Publisher’s Weekly. They didn’t comment on the amusing cover, though.