THEY TOLD ME THAT IF GEORGE W. BUSH WERE RE-ELECTED, the bluenoses would have so much power that even innocent remarks would be prosecuted by the sex police. And they were right!

DAVE KOPEL defends Joe Biden in response to negative reporting from Al Jazeera.

THE RISE OF THE political donor class: “The new donor class is ‘disproportionately wealthy, urban, highly educated, and employed in elite occupations.'”

HERE’S THE BILL AYERS AD that Barack Obama is trying to silence. Though you actually have to wonder if he isn’t really trying to get it more viewers, since that’s the inevitable result. I thought he was supposed to be the hip young candidate who understands the Internet!

UPDATE: Jonah Goldberg: “I am amazed, simply amazed, at the amazement of many liberals that Ayers and Dohrn should matter to anyone.”

3 A.M. — ADVANTAGE: Ed Driscoll.

HEH: “Anyone who thought the Democratic Convention was perfectly planned and scripted never ran into the Clintons. Especially when they’re mad.”

PAJAMAS TV: “KILL MICHELLE MALKIN!”

These people are seriously unhinged.

Is it just me, or does Alex Jones look and sound like the deranged brother of the Skipper from Gilligan’s Island?

UPDATE: Alex Jones gets another bad review. (Bumped).

BEWARE: In America, racism is everywhere! Everywhere people don’t support Obama, anyway . . . .

JAMES KIRCHICK: Jonathan Crutchley discovers how intolerant the gay community can be. Is it just me, or does it seem that the people who are the most demanding of tolerance tend to be those least likely to display it themselves?

BIDEN AND OBAMA: Bad for Dads?

GALLUP: No Bounce for Obama in Post-Biden Tracking. “Gallup Poll Daily tracking from Aug. 23-25, the first three-day period falling entirely after Obama’s Saturday morning vice presidential announcement, shows 46% of national registered voters backing John McCain and 44% supporting Obama.” A statistically insignificant difference, but no comfort for Obama.

THE HILL: Bill Clinton in Denver again undercuts Obama.

UPDATE: Beware the lizard people!

GAMING NEWS: A roundup from the Penny Arcade Expo.

CHRIS MUIR IS DOING A DAY BY DAY CARTOON FUNDRAISER. If you’ve enjoyed his work, drop by. I donated.

I AM THE SURGE:

JOE BIDEN on Presidential War Powers.

RASMUSSEN: Obama drops three points on start of Democratic Convention. “Obama’s support has declined in each of the last three individual nights of polling. This may be either statistical noise or a reaction to the selection of Biden.” Upside: If he just gets back to where he was last week, he can claim a convention bounce!

IS MADONNA HAVING A MIDLIFE CRISIS? I would have thought she was a decade or more past that . . . . I, on the other hand, being the same age as Barack Obama, am by definition too youthful and dynamic to even think about a midlife crisis!

SOME GOOD NEWS FROM MICHAEL SILENCE:

WASHINGTON — The Census Bureau reported Tuesday that the number of people lacking health insurance dropped by more than 1 million in 2007, the first annual decline since the Bush administration took office in 2000.

WASHINGTON – Sales of new homes posted an unexpected gain in July as heavily discounted properties enticed cautious house hunters to become home buyers.

NEW YORK – Americans became more optimistic in the economy amid declining gas prices in August, marking the biggest jump in two years.

But it’s bad news for the Democrats, I guess.

ENJOYING THE SHOW at the DNC.

A WINNING STRATEGY FOR OBAMA: Attack the media over the Bill Ayers ad.

MEGAN MCARDLE: “According to Nielsen, none of you are watching the conventions. An even lower none than in 2004, which was itself a dramatic decline from the lackluster ratings of 2000.” So is it the conventions themselves, or the tiredness of the network coverage?

UPDATE: A good question from Ed Driscoll: “Why watch it on TV when there’s wall-to-wall Blogosphere coverage—particularly firsthand reporting of the action outside the hall?”

Good point. Here’s some of that.

MEETING PEAK ELECTRICAL DEMANDS with compressed-air turbines.

THEY TOLD ME THAT IF GEORGE W. BUSH WERE RE-ELECTED, people who said the wrong things about terrorism would be threatened with prosecution. And they were right!

MICHAEL TOTTEN: The Truth About Russia in Georgia. I got home from the gym the other day and there was a message on my answering machine — it was Michael Yon, calling from Afghanistan on satphone to make sure I’d seen Michael Totten’s latest report. That tells you how good he is, doesn’t it? . . . So read it, and learn that much of what was reported was wrong.

Remember, like Michael Yon he’s supported by his readers.

UPDATE: By a curious coincidence, Totten’s site appears to be under cyber-attack. He emails that they’re working on it, and I’ll make sure it gets a new link when it’s fixed. He adds: “I do suspect this is a Russian cyber attack. The hate mail I received from the piece I published at City Journal was absolutely unbelievable, more vicious than anything I have ever received when writing about any topic whatsoever. And that piece was very very mild compared to this one.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Seems to be working now, so I’m bumping it.