IS THAT A BULLET in my blackened catfish? “Shh! Be quiet or everybody will want one.”

Amazingly, this didn’t even make the top 5 food-related threats list. Stephen Colbert, however, is #2.

AT TAXPROF, a comparison of law schools’ reputation with their overall U.S. News ranking. Unsurprisingly (since the U.S. News rankings are budget-driven), Tennessee does better in reputation than it does overall (though since reputation is a major component of the overall ranking, it’s hard to diverge too much). But if you look at scholarly impact, via SSRN, we’re currently at #16, much higher than the U.S. News rankings. (SSRN link may require login, so I’ve put a screenshot below).

All of these rankings are (highly) imperfect approximations of the “real” worth of a school, of course, even if that term has meaning. But this won’t stop schools from trumpeting the ones where they do best!

FOREIGN GIFTS to U.S. colleges.

COLUMBIA NOOSE INVESTIGATION TAKES A TWIST:

A Manhattan grand jury has subpoenaed the university records of the controversial black Columbia Teachers College professor who found a noose hanging from her office door – signaling that the investigation is broadening to examine possible links between the teacher, her closest friends and the racially charged incident, The Post has learned.

According to sources, the subpoenas obtained recently by the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force and prosecutors demanded the college hand over a laundry list of records pertaining to embattled professor Madonna Constantine, whose colleague found a 4-foot hangman’s noose on her office doorknob last October.

The incident happened at the height of the school’s probe of plagiarism charges against her.

(Via JWF, who offers a prediction).

STEVE GILL: Is Al Gore about to make his move?

TODAY IN ALTERNATIVE HISTORY: A look at what would be happening in Iraq today if Obama had gotten his way.

MAKE WAY FOR A FRESH CROP OF DAILYKOS DIARISTS: “The staff of Newsweek will shrink dramatically, after 111 staffers on its news and business sides accepted a buyout last week.”

UPDATE: Rebel Without a Kos. Heh.

WAS JOHN MCCAIN rescued by the blogosphere?

IN THE MAIL: Robert J. Sawyer’s Rollback.

JEREMIAH WRIGHT vs. The New York Times. Related item here.

A LOOK AT Clinton, Obama, and the racial divide. “The Democratic race is heavily racialized, and is perhaps becoming more so. Party leaders and pundits may be uncomfortable with that fact, but it’s a fact nonetheless.”

GOOD NEWS FOR FREE SPEECH: LiveLeak brings back Fitna.

EZRA KLEIN ON PRISON RAPE. “Prison rape occupies a fairly odd space in our culture. It is, all at once, a cherished source of humor, a tacitly accepted form of punishment and a broadly understood human rights abuse. . . . Although it would be unthinkable for the government today to institute corporal punishment in prisons, there is little or no outrage when the government interns prisoners in institutions where their fellow inmates will brutally violate them. We won’t touch you, but we can’t be held accountable for the behavior of Spike, now can we?”

UPDATE: Related thoughts from Ed Morrissey.

IT’S COME TO THIS: “Crop Rot Watch” at Kausfiles.

SHE IS STRONG, SHE IS INVINCIBLE: Hillary won’t be bullied by the big boys.

VIDEO: Joe Lieberman on the Democratic Party.

MICHAEL YON posts a new dispatch from Iraq, with many cool photos.

If you were away from the computer over the weekend, you may want to check out this phone interview I did with Michael. And his book will be out soon, but you can order an advance, signed copy and those will ship out starting today. (He’s also got a deal with his publisher where he gets more money for these advance sales, so if you want to help him stay in the field it’s not a bad way of doing it.) If you prefer, however, it’s also available via Amazon, though you’ll have to wait a few weeks. And check out the note from the publisher.

DAVE HARDY’S SECOND AMENDMENT DOCUMENTARY will have its film-festival debut this Saturday in Los Angeles.

POLITICO:

During his first run for elected office, Barack Obama played a greater role than his aides now acknowledge in crafting liberal stands on gun control, the death penalty and abortion– positions that appear at odds with the more moderate image he’s projected during his presidential campaign.

The evidence comes from an amended version of an Illinois voter group’s detailed questionnaire, filed under his name during his 1996 bid for a state Senate seat.

Late last year, in response to a Politico story about Obama’s answers to the original questionnaire, his aides said he “never saw or approved” the questionnaire.

They asserted the responses were filled out by a campaign aide who “unintentionally mischaracterize(d) his position.”

But a Politico examination determined that Obama was actually interviewed about the issues on the questionnaire by the liberal Chicago non-profit group that issued it. And it found that Obama – the day after sitting for the interview – filed an amended version of the questionnaire, which appears to contain Obama’s own handwritten notes adding to one answer.

Busted. (Via Hot Air, which notes “Those positions won’t even fly with a large number of Democrats, let alone in a general election. The Hillary Clinton campaign has already begun making the argument to superdelegates that Obama holds extremist views so out of touch with the American electorate that he can’t possibly win in November. The questionnaire will bolster that argument, especially on guns, where the Democrats had tried to soften their stance since Al Gore lost his home state of Tennessee in 2000.”) This also underscores Obama’s disturbing tendency to scapegoat his own staff rather than take responsibility, something he’s demonstrated on more than one occasion.

PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: Lawmakers tight-lipped on pet projects.

Congressional budget leaders are sifting through tens of thousands of requests submitted this week by House members seeking taxpayer money for projects back home.

These earmark requests are conducted in secret, reaching the light of day only when they are likely to get funded.

But a growing group of lawmakers and the three major presidential contenders are making earmark reform a campaign issue. More than 40 members of Congress have rejected these parochial projects outright, while at least 66 are voluntarily divulging what earmarks they are fighting for.

More, please. And consider contacting your own representatives and finding out whether they plan to disclose their earmark requests. If you hear anything interesting, let me know and I’ll post it.

A LOOK AT THE DNC credentials committee contest.

FROM ZOMBIETIME, a photo report from the pro-troops rally at the Berkeley Marine recruiting office.

DAVID BERNSTEIN NOTES a dubious speaker at George Mason law school.

BARACK OBAMA as Pierre Trudeau?

RARE MEDIA PRAISE for President Bush.