THE AMAZON KINDLE gets a rather good review from Megan McArdle. “Love it. Best thing since sliced bread.”

MAKE OF IT WHAT YOU WILL: Clinton (47%) Overtakes Obama (40%) Nationally On Eve of Indiana And North Carolina Primaries.

I guess that’s evidence that the Obama-Wright debacle was indeed a debacle. The last time Indiana was a key primary state was 1968, a year that keeps coming up in the context of this year’s Democratic race.

LAPHAMIZATION UPDATE: Mary Katharine Ham emails: “‘I’m sitting in the auditorium at Wake Forest University waiting for McCain to arrive and give his judges speech. But who needs me when you’ve got a couple of speech excerpts and the AP writer’s imagination.” Okay, the piece does reference a “prepared speech,” but still . . . .

POLITICAL POKER: Place your bets on Indiana and North Carolina.

KURT ANDERSEN: “If Obama is deemed to be an effete, out-of-touch yuppie, then the effete-yuppie media Establishment that’s embraced him must be equally oblivious and/or indifferent to the sentiments of the common folk. Uh-oh. As the cratering of newspaper circulations accelerates (thousands a week are now abandoning the Times) and network-news audiences continue to shrink, for big-time mainstream journalists to seem even more out of touch makes some of them panic.”

WELL, THIS JUST SUCKS: “More than 15,000 people were killed in Myanmar’s devastating cyclone, the government said Tuesday, with thousands more feared dead after the storm left rice fields littered with corpses.”

But this sucks, if possible, even more: “Myanmar’s reclusive military rulers insisted foreign aid experts would still have to negotiate with the government to be allowed into the isolated nation.”

IS IT REALLY THE DEVIL’S EXCREMENT? John Tierney reports on the “oil curse.” Plus, these thoughts on Iraq: “I still think that it might be better off today if American officials had insisted on a cure for the resource curse favored by development experts: giving oil revenues directly to citizens (perhaps through some sort of pension plan, or a scheme of payments like Alaska’s).”

I agree, and have from the beginning. Likewise Hillary Clinton, Vernon Smith, and Milton Friedman. I still wonder why nothing happened here.

LONG WAR JOURNAL: Mahdi Army takes a hit in Baghdad, Basrah.

WHEN NONDISCLOSURE AGREEMENTS don’t work.

POWER LINE: Why won’t the Washington Post review War and Decision?

MICKEY KAUS makes a prediction: “Clinton by 8 in Indiana. Obama by 3 or less in N.C.”

HOW’S THE BAKKEN OIL STUFF PLAYING OUT? Bryan Wang has been paying attention.

IN THE MUSEUM: “Everybody you see in that picture is probably dead. Except one.”

A GOOD REVIEW FOR IRON MAN from Stephen Gordon.

NORTH CAROLINA PREDICTION: Obama by double digits.

A MARKET BUBBLE in student loans? I wonder if it’s a student-loan bubble — or a higher-education bubble? Bubbles are usually inflated by easy credit, and usually end when the credit market gets less generous. I suspect that runups in higher education costs have been underwritten by the availability of easy credit to students and parents, and I wonder if colleges and universities won’t meet a lot more market resistance if that credit dries up even partially.

UPDATE: Reader John Costello sends this bit of anecdotage: ‘My girlfriend works for a bank that bundles student loans. They just let most of their people go. She reports that many people who had gotten loans for their first two or three years are now unable to get loans to continue (which means, of course, they are likely to default on the loans for their uncompleted educations.)”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Dean Esmay writes: “I think it’s probably true. The market of easy credit for student loans has resulted in a glut of people demanding to go to school and thus lowered the value of a college degree. I went to school for four years and in my heart of hearts I truly wish I’d never done it.”

I’D SAY YES: Should prosecutors who withhold exculpatory evidence face criminal charges?

KATHLEEN PARKER: Fox defines fatherhood down.

THEY SAY THAT LIKE IT’S A BAD THING: “Bible Theme Park backer photographed women for adult magazines.”

BOB CORKER IS RIGHT: Corker calls gas tax suspension “pandering extraordinaire.”

AND IT’S NOT A PRETTY PICTURE: Peter Wehner reports from Europe.

DUMB, BUT NOT SURPRISING: “Apparently, Mothers Against Drunk Driving aren’t busy enough wagging their fingers at people who drive drunk in real life. Now they’re going after sloshed speedsters in virtual reality!”

BOB ZUBRIN reviews Robert Bryce’s Gusher of Lies over at NRO. Bob’s a smart guy, but calling Bryce the Saudis’ Lord Haw Haw seems a bit harsh.

DETROIT NEWS: Market trumps Congress when it comes to fuel economy.

MICKEY KAUS: “McCain didn’t vote for Bush in 2000?”

Hey, neither did I.

UPDATE: Is this a pro-McCain leak?