CHUCK SIMMINS REPORTS on a mass casualty incident in Rochester.

OBAMA, TONY REZKO, and other potential casualties of “Operation Board Games.”

PAIRED HEADLINES ON DRUDGE:

You almost feel sorry for Pelosi. Almost.

UPDATE: Herschel Smith says that Pelosi should read this. She should read something.

ONCE AGAIN, Ford sells a cool car in Europe that Americans would be happy to buy, if allowed.

MORE PROBLEMS FOR Hugo Chavez. “Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, in an effort to deal with food shortages nationwide, threatened today to expropriate farms and raised the price rice producers are permitted to charge. . . . It was at least the fourth time this year that Chavez’s government has threatened to use expropriation to deal with shortages of milk, rice, cooking oil and other price-controlled basic foods. The decision on rice prices was another in a series of increases this year, following boosts in the prices of beans, cheese and ultra-pasteurized milk.” Chavez blames hoarders and wreckers.

SO I JUST TURNED ON THE TV and caught a rather zombie-like Amy Winehouse doing Rehab via satellite for the Grammies. It was . . . emblematic.

CASSANDRA OFFERS thoughts on love and marriage.

GAL LUFT on how to make OPEC blink. Not bad, but not as good as the Zubrin plan.

ANOTHER BAD INFORMANT:

Wes Ballard is trying to put his life back together after serving 10 months in jail because of lies told by an informant who was handled by a federal agent now facing multiple investigations himself.

Ballard and 25 other people were arrested in a sting meant to clean up the drug trade in Mansfield, about halfway between Cleveland and Columbus. Many of those arrested were convicted.

Now, though, prosecutors are asking a federal judge to dismiss charges including conspiracy and cocaine trafficking against most of the defendants, even some who pleaded guilty.

Ouch.

BILL CLINTON: Obama’s white half won Maine. “I told you he won South Carolina because he’s black, like Jesse Jackson. So, to be consistent, I’d have to say he won Maine because he’s white like Michael Dukakis.” Be sure to read the whole thing . . . .

WELL, DUH: Poll finds plummeting support for the Taliban, Osama bin Laden. Generally, once they start blowing up fellow-Muslims, their support plummets. And whatever else you say about the Bush Administration’s strategy, it seems almost as if it were tailor-made to produce this result.

IT’S JUST NICE not to have people saying this about East Tennesseans for a change:

A government minister has warned that inbreeding among immigrants is causing a surge in birth defects – comments likely to spark a new row over the place of Muslims in British society.

Phil Woolas, an environment minister, said the culture of arranged marriages between first cousins was the “elephant in the room”. Woolas, a former race relations minister, said: “If you have a child with your cousin the likelihood is there’ll be a genetic problem.”

This should generate a PC kerfuffle.

I’M SURE THIS WILL PROVE ENTIRELY UNCONTROVERSIAL: “In a major policy shift aimed at reducing a ballooning immigration backlog, the Department of Homeland Security is preparing to grant permanent residency to tens of thousands of applicants before the FBI completes a required background check.”

UPDATE: Meanwhile, we’re cracking down on airline security to the discomfiture of the Europeans. Not sure what I think of that, though — with the exception of the air marshal bit — I doubt it’ll do much good.

IMPOTENT RAGE from Hugo Chavez.

ANONYMITY IS HARD TO COME BY: “During a week of attempting to cloak every aspect of daily life, our correspondent found that in an information age, leaving no trace is nearly impossible.”

MATT TAIBBI is unhappy with Congressional “Chicken Doves.” What, you were expecting them to be brave?

VITRIOLAGE: Everything old is new again, though in some parts of the world this never really went away . . . .

HEH: “They told me that if George W. Bush were re-elected, certain racial, ethnic, religious, and gender groups would be grossly underrepresented on campus. And they were right!”

BUT HE ONLY SAID “FAIRY,” NOT “PIMP:” “The nation’s first elected black governor said Saturday he is not ready to excuse comments former President Bill Clinton made about Barack Obama.”

And this has got to hurt Bill in a way that few other statements would: “A time comes and a time goes. The president has had his time.” Maybe that’s what people mean when they say they want change.

BEHEADING IN LONDON. Someone might ask Rowan Williams what legal system should apply . . .

MCCAIN MAKES A PROMISE ABOUT JUDGES: Professor Bainbridge believes him. Plus, worries about Hillary or Obama nominating Harold Koh to the Supreme Court.

BIZZYBLOG: HILLARY CLINTON WILL NOT BE OUR NEXT PRESIDENT:

Write it down: The only way Hillary can win the nomination is if she steals it. She could conceivably do that by having the DNC “rehabilitate” Michigan and Florida with their current results (BOOHOO will beat her like a drum in both states if the do-overs being considered are held), and by rolling and cajoling super-delegates. But if she steals it, she will ultimately learn that the damage done in doing so made the prize not worth winning.

Yes, I’m officially predicting that Hillary Clinton will not be the next President of the United States.

Hmm. Could we be at a tipping point?

“MCCAIN LEADS HANDILY, DEMS DEADLOCKED.”

IRAQPUNDIT: “There was a time, not so long ago, when the only news out of Iraq was bad news. Good news, if there was any the mainstream media thought necessary to report, would be tucked into the inside pages of the newspaper. What’s that old newspaper saying? If it bleeds it leads? Well, now it’s AQI that seems to be doing the newsworthy bleeding.”

THE CARNIVAL OF CARS is up!