HEH: Che’s children tired of the use of revolutionary’s image for corporate profit.

I don’t know what they’re talking about.

AMAZON IS DOWN. I can’t reach it either.

BRUCE BAWER: Why We Need More Leaders Like Vaclav Havel.

CONTINUING PROBLEMS with Mississippi’s medical examiner. “Mississippi medical examiner Dr. Steven Hayne has corrupted the state’s criminal justice system. But he’s also done plenty of damage to the state’s tort system, particularly in the area of medical malpractice.”

MEGAN MCARDLE: “McCain wants to shut down Amtrak. Liberals are predictibly (and understandably) outraged. I’m not sure, however, that this is such a terrible idea, even environmentally. The lines that actually run at a profit–those in the Virginia-Massachussetts corridor–would still be profitable, and presumably operated by some private company. The other lines are a mixed bag, environmentally; it isn’t really good for the environment to run trains at low capacity. And the federal government, because of the EIS process, other procedural barriers, and a great deal of logrolling, has so far not succeeded in making sensible upgrades to the system. The Acela was announced in 1994, actually went live six years later despite the really rather minor infrastructure improvements required, and at lavish expense now gets passengers to Boston one half-hour quicker in slightly comfier seats.”

We took the Acela from New York to Boston a few years ago; First Class was as cheap as flying on the shuttle, and much, much nicer. But we were the only ones in First Class for much of the trip.

MORE ON EVENTS AT U.C. Irvine.

A PASSION FOR MAYONNAISE: Thou shalt have no other condiments before me.

At least it’s not ketchup-blogging.

REMEMBERING D-DAY.

FIGHTING GLOBAL WARMING with fake volcanoes and more.

IN THE MAIL: Valor’s Trial, by Tanya Huff. I’ve heard good things about her vampire books, starting with Blood Price, but I haven’t read them.

ME TOO: John McCain would like to see humans on Mars. Of course, somehow the Obama backers manage to make everything about Iraq: “So, to review: John McCain hates war, yet he wants to send a man to Mars, a planet which is named after… war.” Heh.

GLOBAL WARMING, SOLVED: “New Zealand scientists claim to have developed a ‘flatulence inoculation’ aimed at cutting down on the massive amount of methane produced by its sheep and cows.” (Via Blonde Sagacity, where skepticism is expressed).

ORIN KERR: Is the D.C. checkpoint plan unconstitutional?

CANADIAN KANGAROO COURT UPDATE: The Human Rights Jihad. Okay, it’s more background than update, but it’s important.

NEW YORK TIMES: 36 hours in Knoxville.

Several of the places they mention have recently been featured on InstaPundit. Here’s Vagabondia, here’s Bliss, and here’s a scene from Market Square. Plus, Sequoyah Park.

JONATHAN MARTIN: Is there a way John McCain can win the presidency without giving another speech?

That’s not the real question. The real question is whether McCain can win the presidency if he gives another speech like Tuesday’s. Okay, it wasn’t quite that bad a delivery, but it wasn’t very good for a Presidential nominee.

FABIUS MAXIMUS IS CRITICAL, in a thoughtful enough way, of the “Dude, where’s my recession?” line.

But I’ve already addressed the point two months ago. Are we in a recession? Possibly — it’s unknowable until the data come in. But that’s always true, since calling a recession is a retrospective act, and the media coverage — which is what I’m critiquing, remember — is all couched in terms that suggest that the data clearly indicate that we’re in a recession right now, or something more like the Great Depression, when that’s not what the data we have indicate so far. Meanwhile, contrary to his assertion, my posts aren’t just anecdotal, but point to data. As I’ve noted before, I can’t call the economy better than experts — who themselves can’t call the economy very well — but I can spot a media bulldozing operation when I see one, and I see one now.

That said, this is good advice: “Build savings. Be careful when starting new projects or switching jobs. Carefully watch the risk in their households’ balance sheets.” But, then, it’s always good advice, to be followed in good times and bad, regardless of what’s on the news. If you rely on media reports to set your household financial strategy, you’ll have the financial equivalent of bipolar disorder.

On the other hand — and here’s the really valuable part of his cautioning — as I’ve noted before, the mere fact that the media are pushing a problem with bogus claims doesn’t mean that there’s not a real problem somewhere. It’s easy to forget that, amid the fun of bursting their bubbles.

UPDATE: Well here’s an unemployment jump in the latest figures. To 5.5%. If it establishes a trend that would be bad. Scroll past the copious gloomy adjectives and you get this, though: “The 5.5 percent rate is relatively moderate judged by historical standards. Yet, there was no question that employers last month sharply cut jobs in manufacturing, construction, retailing and professional and businesses services. Those losses swamped gains elsewhere, including in the education and health fields, government, and leisure and hospitality.” What does it mean? I don’t know. Neither do they — but they’ll tell you they do.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Chris Baldwin emails: “While the tag line is somewhat recent, it is disingenuous to claim that this is all about Q1 and Q2 data. We’ve been told that we’re already *in* a recession for going on a full year now, when it is clearly nonsense. He’s right when he says that we might be in a recession in Q2, but we weren’t 10 months ago when all this doom mongering really kicked into high gear.”

PAT TOOMEY: Don Young embodies what is wrong with the GOP:

Over his 35 years in Congress, Mr. Young made himself into the most powerful Republican on the House Transportation Committee. But instead of using his power to steer Republicans down a principled, conservative track, he helped derail the GOP train in 2006.

Mr. Young spends taxpayer money so wastefully he could make a liberal Democrat blush. As chairman of the Transportation Committee (from 2001 to 2007), Mr. Young was directly responsible for one of the biggest boondoggles of the Republican majority – the 2005 highway bill. With a price tag of $296 billion, the highway bill contained a record 6,371 pork projects.

One of those projects was the $223 million Bridge to Nowhere, inserted by Mr. Young. The notorious bridge was meant to connect the city of Ketchikan, Alaska – population 8,000 – to an airport on Gravina Island – population 50. Instead, it came to symbolize Republican excess, and helped cost the GOP its majority.

But the bridge isn’t Mr. Young’s only earmark to draw negative attention. It seems the veteran lawmaker inserted a $10 million earmark into the 2006 transportation bill for a road project in Florida.

Of course, Florida is not exactly next door to Alaska, so more than a few people have wondered why Mr. Young pushed to fund the pork-barrel project. Among those inquiring into the matter is the Justice Department, which is looking at the fact that a Florida real estate developer, Daniel J. Aronoff, who stands to benefit from the federal earmark, has raised some $40,000 for Mr. Young’s campaign coffers.

Earmarks aren’t just about waste, they’re about corruption.

GAY-BASHING IN AMSTERDAM goes unnoticed in the United States.

HMM: The Case for Restricting the Charitable Deduction for Gifts to Universities with Excess Endowments.

BRENDAN LOY ON HILLARY AND OBAMA: Forgive and forget?

IS HILLARY THE SOLUTION to Obama’s Appalachian problem?

SWEDEN: Paradise, or Purgatory?

ADVICE TO LARRY JOHNSON, from Robert George.