JUST WORDS — that are hard to find. “You know things are getting really bad when you have to go to the Free Republic to find the text of what’s on the front page of the Philadelphia Inquirer!”

Plus, “it’s not about the bitter!” “Over the last twenty-four hours though, Sen. Clinton has refocused her attacks on the faith angle, on which Sen. Obama is vastly more vulnerable.”

WITH A BULLET: Michael Yon’s book is now up to #258 #252 #167 #158 #139 #79 #75 #64 #43 #42 on Amazon.

UPDATE AND BUMP: I just finished the book. It’s terrific, and if you care about the war you should buy it, and read it.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Liz Eagan emails: “May I suggest that in your reviews that you should also suggest that readers should contact their local libraries to encourage them to buy it. In my library system (metro ,Oklahoma City), there is a ‘suggest a title’ page. You can include a web reference for the book. I just suggested Michael’s book – hey it increases book sales…..”

Good idea. Or just donate one.

MORE: Various librarian-readers suggest that you’re better off requesting it than donating it, at least where public libraries are concerned.

FREE SPEECH in an age of Jihad. And here’s video of Mark Steyn’s speech.

PERRY DE HAVILLAND: “The western media are not demonising China because China’s demons are generally home grown.”

WELL, GOOD: African AIDS is Defeatable.

FAUX TIBETANS? Charges of Chinese provocateurs at protests.

BOB OWENS: For Obama, Not All Hateful Rhetoric Is Equal.

That’s clearly true.

THEY TOLD ME THAT IF GEORGE W. BUSH WERE REELECTED, we’d see people arrested for dancing in public.

And they were right!

SHAMING THE GRANNY-MUGGERS.

THE REACTION TO THIS WILL BE FUN TO WATCH: Pope will pray for terrorists at Ground Zero. “The pontiff will call for terrorists to convert to Christianity, saying: ‘Turn to Your way of love those whose hearts and minds are consumed with hatred.'”

Not being as good a Christian as the Pope, my feelings are more along these lines. But this is funny: “The prayer is likely to further incense the Muslim world.” There’s no pleasing some people.

A REVIEW OF THE MARINES’ NEW MRAP COMBAT VEHICLE, and it’s kinda lukewarm: “On the good side, it is obviously better equipped to resist blast-type mines and IEDs than any other vehicle in the inventory. On top of the increased protection, the MRAP has a fantastic communications system installed, much better than what we had in our Humvee. . . . For a motorized infantry mission, however, the MRAP’s shortcomings are many. . . . The MRAP is a vehicle that is well-suited for a particular niche, but due to pressure from people such as our lawmakers in Congress, it has been pressed into service in roles that it is not suited for.”

HERE’S MORE ON THE DUMB Colorado College censorship affair. An obvious parody is a “threat.” Feminist flyer on castration, okay. “The whole process was a punishment. I was subjected to an ideological witch hunt and interrogated about my political beliefs beyond what was in the satire.”

F.I.R.E. is involved. Ace has a PDF of the offending flyer, and it looks tame enough.

CONTEXT: “The silliest thing I have read today comes from the Big Tent Democrat, who takes up otherwise useful space at Jeralyn Merritt’s TalkLeft.”

QUOTE OF THE DAY: Heh.

PERFECT HARMONY: Heh.

MICHAEL SILENCE: Obama’s campaign rescue plan.

HEH: Hillary: Practically A Redneck Pennsylbaman Herself.

JENNIFER RUBIN SAYS THE PRESS CAN’T SAVE OBAMA FROM HIMSELF:

Much has been said about (and several Saturday Night Live skits have lampooned) the media’s infatuation with Barack Obama. But sometimes a gaffe is so revealing and so encapsulates a candidate’s underlying fault lines (”I actually did vote for the $87M before I voted against it.”) that a sympathetic media can’t spin it away.

I think that’s right. And Jonathan Martin writes: “This story may only gain steam in the days ahead. . . . Obama’s comments play directly into an already-established narrative about his candidacy. “

This seems to be the story line: “A political tempest over Barack Obama’s comments about bitter voters in small towns has given rival Hillary Rodham Clinton a new opening to court working class Democrats 10 days before Pennsylvanians hold a primary that she must win to keep her presidential campaign alive.”

Though the “bitter” bit is the least of it. Obama’s self-contradiction on trade, guns, and religion is really the more damning part. And Taylor Marsh comments: “I’d say Obama made an amateur slip of the tongue, however, something about this statement, the glib nature of it combined with its specificity, makes me believe he actually feels this way.”

UPDATE: A photo essay, of sorts.

OBESE FEEL MORE DISCRIMINATION: On the one hand, since they’ll soon outnumber the rest of us, that’s hard to believe. On the other hand, we’re more likely to elect a black president than a fat one. I don’t think William Howard Taft would have a chance today.

UPDATE: Reader Don Wolff writes:

If you look at photographs from a hundred years ago, you’ll see the rich, powerful and elite were often overweight. The poor and working class, then synonymous, were thin. The social critics of the day were outraged by this divide demanding justice to resolve it. America applied itself to correct that issue. Today, the rich, powerful and elite are thin. It is the working class and poor who are overweight. The critics are still unhappy.

Well, being unhappy is their job.

SCIENCE FICTION RECOMMENDATIONS: My bleg the other day in response to a reader question produced a number of responses. Here are some.

Reader Merrijane Rice emails: “My all-time favorite sci-fi author is Orson Scott Card, beginning with his Hugo and Nebula award winning Ender’s Game. It’s a really good read for teens and adults alike. Card not only creates engrossing characters and storylines, but has the knack of presenting complex scientific ideas in easy (or easier) to understand ways.” Yes, it’s a good book. We had a podcast interview with Card last year.

Reader Eric Roush emails: “I would add Lois McMaster Bujold to your list. Although perhaps not as ‘hard SF’ as many of the authors you have already mentioned, she is an excellent storyteller and does a good job at exploring the ramifications of the potential technologies that she does focus on, such as uterine replicators.” Yes, her Barrayar books — Shards of Honor and Barrayar start the series, then Miles Vorkosigan appears to carry the ball — are good fun, and her Sharing Knife fantasy sequence, starting with Beguilement, is top-notch.

Reader Tom Grant emails: “Everyone will say that you have missed out on a number of ‘BEST’ science fiction, but I will also add my two cents: Armor by John Steakley. (one of the best ever — ‘You are what you do, when it counts.’) The Dosadi Experiment another one of the same caliber.” Yes, I’ve been meaning to reread The Dosadi Experiment, whose legal innovations I think I’d appreciate in a different way now than when I read it for the first time, serialized in Galaxy.

David Masceri writes:

I whole-heartedly recommend the “Book of the New Sun” series by Gene Wolfe. It’s a science fiction/fantasy series divided into four volumes spread over two books: “Shadow and Claw” and “Sword and Citadel.” I would go so far as to say that it ranks as one of my favorite novels of all time; I would definitely consider it my favorite science fiction book. My recommendation to sci-fi newbies would come with this disclaimer: This is not an easy read. The narrative is first-person and lacks explanation of the dominant technology, politics, or the society as a whole, and Wolfe will use an alien word and never explain it. If a reader likes his/her science fiction prose encyclopedic is in specificity, they won’t the “Book of the New Sun.” If he/she really enjoys the ability of good science fiction to confront its readers with a completely unheard of reality, I would say “you need to go get this book…now.”

I had an idea for a piece on legal education based on a Gene Wolfe story that’s a subset of the above — The Shadow of the Torturer, in which the education of apprentice-torturer Severian struck me as surprisingly similar to the education of budding lawyers, right down to how the professional ethics involved seem to have little to do with client welfare . . . . I had a lengthy conversation with Janet Halley about that some years ago and then never got around to actually writing it. I was busy with Is Democracy Like Sex? then, I think.

Hank Shelton offers a reminder: “Don’t forget the Internet Top 100 Science Fiction Books list, (Link). It’s been dead for five years or so, but I found a lot of great books there I’d never read. ”

Meanwhile, Mark Whittington has his own list of recommended science fiction — recommended for the Presidential candidates. I certainly agree with his inclusion of Robert Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and Starship Troopers. And Poul Anderson’s Van Rijn stories are good, though I suspect few politicians would appreciate them.

Reader Solomon Foster emails:

he most interesting new project I’ve been following is Shadow Unit: http://www.shadowunit.org

It’s a completely on-line shared world writing project, with old pros Emma Bull and Will Shetterly joined by relative newcomers Elizabeth Bear, Sarah Monette, and Amanda Downum. It’s done TV series style, with a series bible and all — in Emma’s words, “A mystery/suspense show, a cop show, a profiler show–but with a science-fictional problem at its heart.” They’ve released four novellas to the web so far this year, all great reads, with three more and a novel scheduled in the next two months.

Also highly recommended is Elizabeth Bear’s recent novel Dust, technology that’s hard to distinguish from the usual fantasy tropes. And Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series, whichi s basically Patrick O’Brien with dragons added.

Yeah, but that moves us more into the fantasy realm. Good books, though — I’ve read ’em all, and that nutshell description is about right.

Several readers point to Vernor Vinge’s Rainbows End — and we had a podcast interview with Vinge, too, a while back, and that has links to other works of his that are worth your time.

Also, unless you’re a robophobic type like Matt Yglesias, Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot is still good — the InstaWife, who doesn’t care that much for science fiction, liked these stories a lot. And, of course, the Foundation trilogy, despite having allegedly inspired both Osama bin Laden and the Aum Shinriyko cult, is still a classic. And while we’re talking classics, there’s always Arthur C. Clarke’s Childhood’s End.

That’s probably enough for now. I’ll try to put up some more later. And if you missed it, there are more links to recommendations here.

UPDATE: Up for like two minutes and I’m already getting criticism. M. Simon emails:

Any list that does not have at least one of the Dorsai novels is not serious.

The Tactics of Mistake is a good one.

Yeah, it is. I met Dickson once — I think it was when he was guest of honor at Satyricon in Knoxville — and he was a nice guy, though obviously not too healthy even then.

CORRECTING GARRY WILLS.

HAPPY YURI’S NIGHT! “Party like it’s 1961.”

HYPOCRITICAL CLAIMS OF BIAS. My sense is that they’re not working as well as they used to.

THE ABSOLUT STORY, and the Skyy Vodka response, has reached the cocktailosphere.

ED DRISCOLL: “Leave it to Obama to make John Kerry’s Brahmin hauteur seem earnestly goofy in retrospect.”

UPDATE: “We’re better than you — and we know it!” You just gotta hate yourself enough to make the change.