REWRITING THE MALIKI QUOTE at Der Spiegel?

Now there are three versions. Is there audio?

OBAMA TO BE PRESIDENT FOR THE NEXT “EIGHT TO TEN YEARS?”

Today on CBS’s Face the Nation, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in Afghanistan, told the paparazzi-pursued correspondent Lara Logan that “the objective of this trip was to have substantive discussions with people like President Karzai or Prime Minister Maliki or President Sarkozy or others who I expect to be dealing with over the next eight to 10 years. . . .

The notion that Obama will be dealing with world leaders for eighjt-to-ten years, possibly up through July 2018, suggests that either (a) he believes that not only will he be elected and re-elected, but the 22nd amendment will be repealed and he will be elected for a third term, OR (b) he was speaking casually and just meant two terms.

Casually and inartfully.

FIGHT HIGH GAS PRICES: Men’s clothes on sale at Amazon.

JENNIFER RUBIN: McCain Follows Obama Overseas: “I think the remarkable part of the first day of coverage wasn’t the Maliki muddle, but the degree to which McCain successfully inserted himself into the debate and, even from home, kept pushing and counterpunching Obama. . . . His foreign policy message did break through: his surge worked.” Did McCain really do that good a job? He’ll have to do more of that in coming months if he expects to win.

WHY PEOPLE have sex in public.

STRATEGYPAGE:

While the mass media continues to feature wars and terrorism, the overall trend continues away from such unpleasantness. Such stories are anathema to the mass media, because they do not attract eyeballs, and revenue. That’s the way people are, and the result is a distorted view of trends in global violence.

Worldwide, violence continues to decline, as it has for the last few years. Violence has also greatly diminished, or disappeared completely, in places like Iraq, Nepal, Chechnya, Congo, Indonesia and Burundi. Even Afghanistan, touted as the new war zone, is seeing less violence this year than last.

All this continues a trend that began when the Cold War ended, and the Soviet Union no longer subsidized terrorist and rebel groups everywhere.

Now if we can just get the Saudis and Iranians to stop. Read the whole thing.

MICKEY KAUS, automotive spy par excellence!

MICHAEL SILENCE: Did Obama Just Undercut Party Leaders?

HMM:

Despite all the hype over Obama’s religious outreach, a new Pew survey indicates Obama actually has slightly less support from evangelicals than John Kerry had at this point four years ago. Not that this translates into evangelical enthusiasm for McCain, but the survey is worth noting for no other reason than it challenges the prevailing media assumptions about how Obama’s overt religiosity is helping his campaign . . . It seems to me that this is a classic example of the media trying to force a campaign narrative, regardless of whether it is true.

Imagine that.

FASTER, PLEASE: Blood Vessels Made From Human Adult Stem Cells Grown in Mice.

RAND SIMBERG ON CALLS FOR an Apollo-like energy program. “It’s an understandable appeal, but it betrays a certain lack of understanding of the problem to think that we will solve it with a crash federal program, at least if it’s one modeled on Apollo. . . . Which is why John McCain’s idea of a prize for more efficient electric car batteries is a good step in the right direction. I would argue, though, that it is still too specific.”

JOHN NOLTE: Hollywood Loses the War in Iraq.

MORE ON green fuel from algae.

A NEW PLUTOID: “A dwarf planet orbiting beyond Neptune has been designated the third plutoid in the solar system and given the name Makemake, the International Astronomical Union said Saturday. The red methane-covered dwarf planet, formerly known as 2005 FY9 or ‘Easterbunny,’ is named after a Polynesian creator of humanity and god of fertility.”

SOME QUESTIONS ON ACADEMIA FROM JOHN TIERNEY:

1) Given the slow turnover of faculty and its bad effect on opportunities for young female (and male) scientists, should advocates for more women in science be trying to eliminate tenure? (Some Title Niners have advocated its abolition.)

2) Given the consequences of the law forbidding mandatory retirement of professors, should we think twice about imposing further federal restrictions? Could Title IX become another rigid, one-size-fits-all rule that makes it harder for universities to hire the best young scientists?

Good questions.

A LOOK AT the new science of fear. “I’m taking part in a study on how people handle acute stress, conducted by Lilianne Mujica-Parodi, director of the Laboratory for the Study of Emotion and Cognition at Stony Brook University. As I edge toward the door, I’m wearing a clutch of electrical sensors. Soon I’ll be a data point—or a big red splotch on the landscape.”

DOG BITES MAN: “Pope Criticizes Materialism.”

TROPICAL STORM CRISTOBAL, PLUS “HELLO, DOLLY!” All at Weather Nerd.

REVISITING past Camaro commercials at Autoblog.

A “CIVILIAN NATIONAL SECURITY FORCE” — already provided for in the Constitution?

TURNING SAWDUST INTO BIOFUEL: “A wider of range of plant material could be turned into biofuels thanks to a breakthrough that converts plant molecules called lignin into liquid hydrocarbons. The reaction reliably and efficiently turns the lignin in waste products such as sawdust into the chemical precursors of ethanol and biodiesel.”

Faster, please. It’s gotta beat turning corn into fuel.

MORE ON THE MOUNTAIN CITY POLICE PHOTO-BULLYING INCIDENT, from Knoxville News-Sentinel columnist Michael Silence.

BRIAN WANG ROUNDS UP NEWS on life extension and Alzheimer’s treatment.

“RELEASE THE HOUNDS!” Canadian civil liberties crusader Ezra Levant gets a death threat, posts reward for identity of threatener.

IN THE MAIL: The New Gold Standard: 5 Leadership Principles for Creating a Legendary Customer Experience.