AN UPDATE ON GUSTAV, from Brendan Loy.

THE WEEK THAT WAS: A new PJM Political is online, with Austin Bay, Stephen Green, James Lileks, Jennifer Rubin, and me.

GUSTAV BATTERS Cayman Brac and Little Cayman. But things don’t sound too bad.

VIDEO: Are you experienced?

BILL STUNTZ on Palin, Obama, and the experience issue. “Perhaps the jobs she has held are too small to count in a national presidential campaign. But that isn’t obvious, not yet anyway. What matters more, to me and I bet to more than a few others, is what she’s done in those jobs. The fact that her approval rating among Alaskans is in Mark Warner territory suggests that she might be the kind of governor Warner was in Virginia. If so, that should count for a lot–even if she hasn’t had much time in office. Because time-serving won’t count for much in the offices these four candidates are seeking.”

Plus, fellow lawprof Ann Bartow on sexism: “The Supposedly Liberal Doods threw the most disgusting sexism at Hillary Clinton and her supporters during the Democratic primary. Then Obama picks Joe ‘no friend of women’ Biden as his running mate, rather than choosing somebody who would help build party unity. Now the Supposedly Liberal Doods are back in gear, throwing disgusting sexism at Palin. Why does it have to be like this? Hey Supposedly Liberal Doods, if you want Obama elected, stop burning bridges with women voters and start building some.” Good advice. But is Biden really “no friend of women?”

More on experience, from Ross Douthat (“Yes, Joe Biden has more experience than Sarah Palin. But there’s a not-implausible case to be made that Sarah Palin has more experience than … Barack Obama!”), Jonathan Adler (“Sure, Sarah Palin was a ‘hockey mom’ before her entry into politics, but Barack Obama has never held a single full-time job for more than three years.”) and Tyler Cowen (“Around the blogosphere you will see many left-wing writers criticizing Palin for lack of experience. Maybe this criticism is correct, but these commentators are falling into The Trap.”)

But from Ramesh Ponnuru, cold water. Eric Scheie, meanwhile, comments: “I wonder whether a media analysis would reveal whether ‘inexperienced’ Republicans draw more media criticism than ‘inexperienced’ Democrats.” Yes, as noted at TalkLeft, the Tim Kaine double-standard appears. Though that’s more a case, perhaps, of a gender double-standard.

UPDATE: Via Ann Bartow, this post on the Palin pick: “It will complete the alienation of the rest of the Hillary supporters from the Obama camp. How? That’s easy — the Obamabots will do it themselves. Go read the Washington Post blog or anywhere online where the Palin pick is being discussed, and you’ll see the trademark Obama misogyny already out in full force. She’s been on the ticket for two seconds and already the Obamabots are saying she ‘looks like a porn star,’ they’re making rude remarks about her childbearing, they’re ridiculing her intelligence.”

Yeah, Obama’s supporters are his biggest weak point. Including the ones in the media.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Ann Althouse and Rachel Sklar on the Palin pick.

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: Swimsuit competition? Yeah, that’s a killer issue. “The Obamabots really aren’t going to try to reverse that reputation for misogyny any time soon.”

MORE: A different perspective: “Palin hasn’t been running for national office for 18 months. Obama has. Running a presidential campaign is a form of ‘executive experience.'”

BUT OF COURSE: A Christian version of Guitar Hero.

ADVICE: Time to leave New Orleans. Maybe too early for mandatory evacuation, but not too early to get out on your own if you can. I think I would. “It is still far more likely, percentage-wise, that a calamity won’t strike New Orleans than that one will. But alas, that’s no reason not to evacuate, whether today or tomorrow. Forecasting technology is such that a calamitous direct hit is always going to be ‘unlikely’ at the time when prudent evacuation decisions must be made in major cities. But the decisions still must be made.”

UPDATE: Turning toward Little Cayman and Cayman Brac.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Don Zeiter emails: “I just talked to my daughter who is in law school at Tulane. She is on her way to St. Louis because of the evacuation order and school is closed because of Gustav. But she said the locals down there are acting like it’s nothing to worry about, the same attitudes before Katrina hit. They keep saying we only get hit by female hurricanes and we go years between hurricanes hitting the city. Fortunately they have a better governor this time, though the same mayor.” That’s not encouraging.

MORE: New Orleans reader Beth Blankenship emails:

One of your readers quoted his daughter, a Tulane law school student, as saying “the locals down [in New Orleans] are acting like it’s nothing to worry about, the same attitudes before Katrina hit. They keep saying we only get hit by female hurricanes and we go years between hurricanes hitting the city.”

First, please note that “before Katrina hit” we evacuated about a million people from the entire New Orleans Metro area. Our city population was just around 450,000 and just over 30,000 did not, or could not evacuate. That’s far too many, but hardly indicative of a “nothing to worry about” attitude for the vast majority of New Orleanians.

I suspect she was getting a little bit of a run around — after all, understated humor is a good way to deal with fear and anxiety. I don’t anyone who isn’t taking it seriously, and preparing both to stay or to go, depending on what happens when it gets in the Gulf. I’ve been all over this town yesterday and today, getting my supplies together, tying up what needed doing at my workplace, the University of New Orleans, quizzing my students on their plans, those that haven’t already left. I’ve met up with folks of all stripes at the Walmart, the veterinary hospital, the snoball stand, several gas stations, my favorite Vietnamese restaurant (where I was asked four times by owners and waiters “when you go?” not “are you going?”), the pet store (yay! all the cages and aquariums were evacuated. Way to go, Petco!).

I take it that as an out-of-state student, she might have found it very easy to pack up and go quickly. Most of us here have houses and apartments to secure, jobs we had to go to right up through this afternoon, decisions to make, assistance to provide to elderly relatives…so no, we probably didn’t throw some books and flip-flops into the back pack, fire up the iPod and leave Looziana in the broad daylight.

But the roads are already starting to fill up — I-55 North was full this evening. I guess your friend’s daughter left ahead of the pack and missed the traffic. Tomorrow, busses are moving along announced routes to collect those who need assistance (an old man who makes a living pulling up weeds and selling stuff out of his grocery basket told me he knew where to go, and was checking his cell phone and the TV at the laundromat for when to get to the bus stop). We’ll probably head out in the cool of darkness late Saturday or in the wee hours of Sunday, when it’s less crowded we can avoid some hours spent inching along in stark sunlight and 90+ degree temps.

Anyway, I just wanted to respond to the would-be lawyer. I hope she learns to dig below the surface a bit as she continues in her studies. But I can’t blame her completely. No doubt there are some who aren’t taking things seriously. This is not a New Orleans-only trait, but a human one.

Also, we have a bit of a twisted sense of humor here and while we’re quite hospitable, it’s fun to pull a visitor’s leg now and then.

If you’re ever on Bourbon Street and a kid bets you he can tell where you got them shoes you’re wearing, don’t take him up on it. The answer is “On your feet.” Well, you do got ’em on your feet, doncha?

Heh. Well, I hope everybody is taking this seriously.

JOHN TIERNEY ON SPACE PROPERTY RIGHTS: For Sale: Moon and Mars. “I realize that lunar real estate is not a hot-button issue in Washington, but there is one great political merit to the authors’ proposed law: it would contribute nothing to the budget deficit, even if, as the authors also suggest, Congress also offered a monetary prize for future settlements.”

HOW YOU CAN help promote aging research.

KATIE GRANJU on picking your battles.

BARACK OBAMA as Cass Sunstein.

SOMEONE NEEDS TO TEACH A COURSE in tee-shirt law. It would actually be pretty interesting.

TREATING WOMEN AS “PRE-PREGNANT.” Is it good or bad? The tort system says good.

RON FOURNIER: Analysis: Palin’s age, inexperience rival Obama’s. That’s going to further endear him to the Netroots.

UPDATE: An Obama press shop in turmoil.

Plus, these thoughts: “The pick appeals to the Hillary independent voter and forces Obama to go easy, since he doesn’t want both a primary and general election in which liberal women thought he and his MSNBC media henchmen took the sexist, mean-spirited low road. Given McCain’s 72 years, women will realize that the role and future of this VP is no token appointment.” That’s why the initial Obama camp response was so unwise.

PHIL BREDESEN THINKS he could have beaten Lamar Alexander in this year’s Tennessee Senate race. I think he’s probably right. Indeed, for reasons spelled out here, I think that Bredesen would have been a good VP pick for Obama. There’s always 2012!

AT THE PAJAMAS TV TEST SITE: Stephen Green reports on the “March to the Future.”

GUSTAV IS A HURRICANE AGAIN, and Brendan Loy has the scoop. “After it exits Cuba, all bets are off. Intensification in the Gulf to Category 4 or 5 status is very much in the mix — though, if that happens, it would probably then weaken somewhat before landfall.”

AND I THOUGHT MY POLLS WERE SILLY: Poodle Defeats Terrier! Americans Elect Obama’s Dog.

TALKLEFT OFFERS SOUND ADVICE: “I would add that Obama does not need to be arguing how important experience is. Let me also add that when Tim Kaine, who has exactly the same experience as Palin, was treated by the Media and the Dems as a serious and acceptable potential pick, it opens up charges of a double standard.”

But not groovin’ on Palin much. “My first reaction to John McCain’s pick of Sarah Palin for VP: He just gave the election to Barack Obama.”

UPDATE: The ever-cheerful Allah offers one-stop shopping for Palin Pick Pessimism.

MORE: What Christian bloggers are saying.

STILL MORE: A look at the headlines.

Plus, when Hillarygate and Bittergate collide.

And some more thoughts from Aunt B.

MORE STILL: Hillary strikes back.

DAVID HARSANYI: The Libertarian VP Candidate. “I’m not sure if Palin makes sense politically, but, personally, I’d rather see her leading the Republican ticket than John McCain.”

WOULD YOU CHANGE YOUR mental identity?

MORE ON CELL TRANSFORMATION WITHOUT STEM CELLS: “Biologists at Harvard have converted cells from a mouse’s pancreas into the insulin-producing cells that are destroyed in diabetes, suggesting that the natural barriers between the body’s cell types may not be as immutable as supposed. This and other recent experiments raise the possibility that a patient’s healthy cells might be transformed into the type lost to a disease far more simply and cheaply than in the cumbersome proposals involving stem cells.” Faster, please.

JIM LINDGREN reports that Sarah Palin is playing well with Hillary supporters.

JEFFREY GOLDBERG takes on Jew-baiting.

SAVING WATER AND ENERGY WITH A FAKE LAWN:

Strangers pull vehicles over to examine Lee Miller’s forever green yard. Neighbors pause to touch, to step on the perfect front lawn.

Miller’s yard fools people who pass by her West Knoxville home in grass-growing months and puzzles them in the winter when it stays perfectly green. She doesn’t mow, water, fertilize or seed it. For three summers the 1 3/4-inch grass has neither grown nor gone brown. Her main maintenance tool is a leaf blower used to move twigs and leaves off her land.

Because this grass isn’t real.

Sign me up . . . .