FIGHTING BACK AGAINST THE CRUSHING OF DISSENT:

A former presenter of One Man and His Dog has won £2,000 in compensation after being wrongly arrested on suspicion of stirring up racial hatred. . . .

Robin Page fought a five-year, one-man campaign to clear his name over remarks he made at a pro-hunting rally which led to him being held in a police cell.

Using the Data Protection Act, he obtained official documents which showed that there had been no grounds for prosecution before Gloucestershire Constabulary agreed the settlement for his wrongful detention.

“I believe I have scored a significant victory over the ludicrous and sinister politically-correct ‘hate crime’ culture that is currently doing so much to prevent free speech in this country,” he said.

His heinous remark? “If you are a black, vegetarian, Muslim, asylum-seeking, one-legged lesbian lorry driver, I want the same rights as you.” Seems admirably universalist to me.

PERRY DE HAVILLAND: “I just do not understand it. When Spain capitulated to attacks from Islamic fascists and elected a socialist government who promptly pulled its troops out of coalition operations… a policy we have been told by many that the USA and UK should follow in order to stop provoking the Islamists… that should have been the end of Spain’s non-Basque terrorist problems.” And yet . . ..

THE MAGIC 8 BALL said I’d be worth millions one day. I hope it wasn’t talking about this. It reminds me of Dan Aykroyd as Jimmy Carter delivering the good side of inflation.

COUNTERINSURGENCY and our NATO allies.

MORE UPROAR OVER ISLAMISM in the Netherlands.

BARACK OBAMA: Urging unity and attacking Bill Clinton.

TAKING ENERGY CONSERVATION TOO FAR:

California is proposing revisions to its housing code that would require all new or remodeled homes to have a “programmable communicating thermostat.” Equipped with special “nonremovable” FM radio receivers, these devices would allow state power authorities to set the temperature in your home as they see fit. Ostensibly to manage demand during “price events” and other “emergencies,” you would basically cede control of your home’s heating and air conditioning to the state (when and if state officials wanted to exercise it).

Taken by itself, this may not sound so scary. But then again, as Gulliver learned, one Lilliputian is an intriguing freak. Two are kind of cool. But 10,000 teeny-weeny folk tying you down?

Of course, tying Americans down, limiting their options, foreclosing on any path not acceptable to today’s social controllers of the right and the left is perhaps the defining spirit of our age.

Break those threads. And don’t worry too much about trampling a few of the Lilliputians underfoot.

UPDATE: Reader Charles Prael emails that this proposal had been withdrawn before the above ran. That’s what I get for relying on the L.A. Times!

THE NANNY STATE HAS NO RHYTHM:

(Via Ed Driscoll).

AMAZON SEEMS TO HAVE SOLD OUT OF JONAH GOLDBERG’S BOOK, and it seems to be out of stock at lots of other places — including Wal-Mart and book-wholesaler Baker & Taylor. So don’t give your local bookstore a hard time if they’re sold out now. . . .

VIDEO GAME saves a life:

A North Carolina man who saw an SUV flip and roll on a highway last November was able to provide medical aid to the victims with skills he learned from the America’s Army, say the videogame’s makers. . . .

Galvanek said he learned about controlling bleeding from playing section two of the “medic” class training in America’s Army, a game developed by the Army as a recruitment tool.

Violent videogames — if they save just one life, it’s worth it!

IS MORALITY important in a spouse?

UNHAPPY WITH THE STATE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, Bill Quick is interested in ideas for a new one.

SOME QUESTIONS FOR George Clooney.

MORE CRUSHING OF DISSENT, REVERSED:

Months after first reviewing the expulsion of a student activist from Valdosta State University, the Georgia Board of Regents agreed to allow T. Hayden Barnes — once dubbed a “clear and present danger” to the campus by its president, Ronald Zaccari — to return to his studies, reversing the university’s May decision to “administratively withdraw” him.

F.I.R.E. was involved.

“I DIDN’T KNOW SANTA wore blue.”

A WHILE BACK, I MENTIONED the Samsung duo Blu-Ray / HD-DVD player. I was too impatient to wait long enough, but now here’s a first-person review from Boots and Sabers.

A NEW HAMPSHIRE DATELINE, filed from Jerusalem?

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: “McCain is starting to show a certain attraction to many bedrock conservatives that must be based on his war record and service, and this trumps their worries about his less than conservative fides — or at least allows them to accept McCain’s won’t-make-that-mistake-again changed views on closing the border, tax cuts, etc. Privately many conservative voters have looked at the polls and know McCain does best against the Democrats.” But read the whole thing, which is less positive.

UPDATE: Mark Levin isn’t feeling the attraction.

Neither is Dan Riehl.

But read this.

FIGHTING COUNTERFEITING around the world.

THE PERFECT PUSHUP: So I’ve seen all the hoopla about these gadgets, and Amazon keeps emailing me recommendations, so I decided I’d order a set (they’re only $39.99) and try ’em out. It’s basically two rotating handles, each on a broad base, that extend your range of motion and let you rotate your arms/shoulders as you do the pushup. (Follow the link for a picture if you haven’t seen one of the ubiquitous infomercials.)

Verdict: Not bad. I did a dozen pushups in regular position, and another dozen with my feet on a yoga ball. (What’s that? One of these). Does the handle-rotation make for a better workout? Possibly. It felt like it did. The range of motion is a bit better, too, because you’re elevated off the ground, making it more like a bench press — though you don’t quite get that much range of motion. It’s easier on my wrists because they’re straight instead of bent, though I felt a bit of a pinch in my palms — probably better with workout gloves, at least if you suffer from barely-under-control computer-related RSI like I do. (I usually do pushups karate-style, on my knuckles, to spare my wrists and palms). The insert promises that if you use these you’ll “get ripped,” which is undoubtedly true — if, while you use them, you follow a proper “getting ripped” diet at the same time, something that they downplay. If you drink beer and eat pizza, you can do “perfect pushups” all day and you won’t get ripped, you’ll just get better muscles underneath the beer-and-pizza fat. Not that there’s anything wrong with that!

I used to have a full home gym, but I got rid of that stuff years ago as I found that going out to the gym motivated me more. I do keep a bike and some dumbbells and a yoga ball around for when I have to work out at home for some reason. These gadgets aren’t a bad addition, and they don’t take up much space. But, contrary to the hype, they won’t work miracles — sadly, nothing does. You have to actually work out and eat right, alas. Meanwhile, the Amazon reviews are almost uniformly positive, almost suspiciously so. If I were reviewing it, I’d give it 3 stars — not bad. If it’s all you use, and you follow their workout plans, you’ll probably make good progress for 6-8 weeks, then level off because there’s not enough variety. I wouldn’t build a whole workout around these things, but they make a nice supplement. That’s about as much as you can expect from any single exercise gadget.

UPDATE: A couple of readers say you can get these at Wal-Mart for half the price. But of course!

THE PROBLEM WITH BOYS.

INDEED: “You fight an election with the politicians you have.”

UPDATE: Bill Quick emails: “No, you fight elections for the principles you have. When you are reduced to merely fighting an election with whatever politicians are available, you are conceding that you have no principles for which to fight, and are now merely concerned with a squabble over power.”

Hmm. I’m sympathetic to this in the abstract, but by the time we get to an election those principles are embodied — however imperfectly — by the politicians who are actually running.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Bill responds further on his blog. Ultimate problem — you don’t want the better to be the enemy of the good, but you don’t want the perhaps-barely-tolerable to be the enemy of making things better. Some more background on Bill’s rather sour take here. I’d certainly be the last to argue that the GOP hasn’t been blowing it for years.

In response to some of Bill’s commenters, let me note a couple of less-sour things. First, people have been predicting America’s imminent decline into fascism for my entire lifetime, and so far it hasn’t happened. Second, if you want to make things better, party politics is probably not your best focus. Politicians are weathervanes, and the winds they respond to come mostly from forces in the culture and the media. If you want to turn them around, work on that. Change the culture and the politics will follow. Leave the culture to Oprah, Olbermann, and worse, and you won’t accomplish much through politics over the long run.

My thoughts, anyway.

MORE: A troubling post from Philo of Alexandria includes this:

I do worry, however, about the short-term perspective that democracy encourages, especially when voters have little historical perspective. I’m starting to think there’s something to Arthur Schlesinger Jr.’s 30-year cycle theory, simply because each generation has to relearn the same hard lessons. I see echoes of the 1970s all around me, and so far it looks as if those who are succeeding in this campaign are those most likely to repeat its mistakes.

Ugh.

REVIEWING THE NEW Nissan Altima coupe. I saw one of these the other day, and it was pretty.

CLARK HOYT makes TigerHawk cranky.

NO LOVE FOR HUCKABEE among the Fredheads, according to Bob Krumm.

UPDATE: A personal message for Fred Thompson.

ANOTHER UPDATE: From McCain’s supporters: “Go, Fred, go!”

MORE: A McCain coalition?