I THINK WE’LL SEE MORE OF THIS: Complaint filed at the Canadian Human Rights Commission against a Montreal imam.

A LOOK AT the eligible bachelor paradox. Hey, all the good ones are married. That’s news?

MULTITASKING IS OUT: Omnitasking is in.

JOHN MCCAIN: “President Carter is wrong to meet with Hamas, a terrorist group that has also killed innocent Americans.”

“VISUAL SEXUAL AGGRESSION:” Perhaps we should cover women in large, tentlike garments to prevent this. It’s popular some places, I hear.

UPDATE: Then there’s the dreaded problem of excessive male loquaciousness.

OBAMA’S PROBLEM:

As for small-town Americans’ alleged “antipathy to people who aren’t like them”: During what Obama considers the terrible Clinton-Bush years of economic frustration, by any measurement of public opinion polling or observed behavior, Americans have become far more tolerant and respectful of minorities who are not “like them.” Surely Obama knows this. Was he simply flattering his wealthy San Francisco donors by casting aspersions on the idiocy of small-town life? . . .

What does this mean for Obama’s presidential prospects? He’s disdainful of small-town America — one might say, of bourgeois America. He’s usually good at disguising this. But in San Francisco the mask slipped. And it’s not so easy to get elected by a citizenry you patronize.

And what are the grounds for his supercilious disdain? If he were a war hero, if he had a career of remarkable civic achievement or public service — then he could perhaps be excused an unattractive but in a sense understandable hauteur. But what has Barack Obama accomplished that entitles him to look down on his fellow Americans?

He’s been a unifier!

MICHAEL TOTTEN: Hope for Iraq’s Meanest City: How the Surge Brought Order to Fallujah.

IN ADVERTISING AGE, a shocking message to advertisers: “Bashing Fathers and Husbands Isn’t the Right Way for Marketers to Sell Products.” Go figure.

UPDATE: Reader Rick Maxey emails that advertisers might want to listen: “I’ve stopped using several products and changed my phone company because of insulting commercials. It’s like the whole world became the Lifetime channel!” Now there’s a frightening thought.

And Tom Kazazes emails: “I have said for some time that I am tired of the way men are depicted in ad campaigns – clearly, I am not alone. While any single commercial with goofy guys or clueless dads may get a laugh or two, there is a long-term cost at the subconscious level. Personally, given a choice, I would steer my purchasing to advertisers who present a depiction of men/fathers that I can relate to rather than those who see us as future candidates for the Darwin Awards or ridicule on America’s Funniest Videos.”

MICHAEL YON’S BOOK IS STILL flying high at #58 #48 on Amazon, which is a tribute to his Internet power since the big-media PR campaign is just getting under way. We’ll have a podcast interview with him later on.

AFF AWARDS COLLEGE BLOG PRIZE:

Today, AFF judges awarded $10,000 to Dartmouth University senior Joe Malchow as the winner of AFF’s College Blogger Contest. Malchow founded Dartblog. Judges awarded a second-place prize of $1,000 to the staff blog of the Oregon Commentator and third-place to Surveillance State.

And via Joe Malchow, the other finalists:

GOP3.com (Marquette University), California Patriot Blog (University of California, Berkeley), The Irish Rover (University of Notre Dame), The Critical Badger (University of Wisconsin-Madison), The Claremont Conservative (Claremont McKenna College), Panther Talk Live (University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee), Surveillance State (Indiana University Bloomington), and On Life and Lybberty (Brigham Young University & University College London).

They’re all good blogs — check ’em out.

HMM: Harvard professor predicts railroads will return to prominence in the U.S. That’s not much of a prediction, since it’s already happening, and has been for a few years.

DANIEL WILSON: 10 inventions we’re still waiting for.

POLL: 56% disagree with Obama’s comments on small-town America. Plus, this email from reader Madhu Dahiya:

So I listened to that Trace Adkins song and I can see how it’s perfect rebuttal to Obama’s ‘so bitter about jobs (or lack of) they turn to God and Guns’ comment.

But, you know what? You don’t need to be a small town person to find Obama’s comments annoying. I’m a city person and I find them incredibly irritating. He sounded like a know-it-all. “I know more about your motivations than you, little person, know about your own motivations.’ Oh, really, Senator?

That’s the real problem with his comments. It’s a glimpse into his mindset and that mindset is: I know better than you. I can just imagine the type of government coming out of that mindset. Four years of talking down to me and asking me to pay for it.

“Four years of talking down to me and asking me to pay for it.” That sounds about right.

UPDATE: Related item here.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Juliette Ochieng: It’s the “White” Church that Obama’s Talking About.

If you think about it, the fact that Obama lumped the perceived religion of the white, rural Pennsylvanian with “antipathy toward those not like them”–that is, racism, bigotry and anti-immigration (sic)–makes perfect sense.* The latter is bad and so is the former—if one is observing from the perspective of Black Liberation Theology.

In Obama’s mind, the religion clung to by the “average poor white Pennsylvanian” is BLT’s demonic “white” Church. The “white” Church the tool of oppression for all—including poor whites—and should be shaken off just like other social maladies. . . . Never forget where this guy is coming from.

Hadn’t looked at it that way.

ANOTHER UPDATE: In Slate: “When I went back there, and visited similar small towns in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, one thing I heard over and over—from registered Democrats!—was that their national party leaders were elitists who couldn’t seem to relate to their struggles. . . . Now, if Obama is sticking by the essence of what he said out of stubbornness or arrogance, that’s one kind of problem. But if he really doesn’t see why this could be a game-changer, that’s worse.”

WELL, YES: Regional law schools may be better deals than elite law schools.

IN THE MAIL: David Levy’s Love and Sex with Robots: The Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships, No doubt this will set off a storm among the narrow-minded robophobes out there. Stand up to the haters!

RED-LIGHT CAMERA UPDATE: More on cities being busted for shortening the yellow light to boost traffic revenue. But it’s all about safety, really!

HILLARY GETS A 20-POINT LEAD IN PENNSYLVANIA according to this poll being touted by Drudge. Make of it what you will, but I don’t see how it could possibly be good news for Obama.

EUGENE VOLOKH ON THE NEW YORK TIMES and respect for precedents. Plus, related thoughts on opinion vs. reporting from the Supreme Court press corps.

MR AND MS. SPOKEN: And the difference between misspeaking and lying.

ED MORRISSEY: Iraqis aren’t stupid — and they’re watching us.

THERE REALLY ARE TWO AMERICAS: Taxpayers and Tax Consumers. Guess who’s on top?

THE MOTHER OF ALL GAFFES: “Barack Obama broke the first rule of Democratic presidential politics: never let on that you believe rural American voters are hicks straight out of Deliverance. . . . he could not have picked a worse time to reveal his contempt for average Americans.”

A PROGRESS REPORT ON The Rocket Racing League. Competition starts next year. Cool!

SMART GUNS, DUMB LEGISLATORS: “Mark DeSaulnier, a Democratic California state legislator, wants to require guns to have biometric technology that doesn’t exist before the guns can fire.”

PORK, New York style. Oink. [Link was bad earlier. Fixed now. Sorry!]