AMERICAN ANCHOR QUITS AL JAZEERA: “The English-language channel started to more closely resemble its larger sibling, the prominent Arabic-language channel Al Jazeera, he said.”

A FREE ONLINE VERSION OF PHOTOSHOP that’s accessible from your web browser. That’s cool. Anybody tried it yet?

UPDATE: Christopher Johnson emails: “I took it out for a spin last evening. It’s okay. It’s limited and it’s not going to replace the real one but if you need to do some really basic photo editing, it’s pretty good for the price.” On the other hand, the terms of service seem rather grabby. However, the license appears only to apply to stuff you voluntarily make public on their site. It could be better drafted, though.

ANOTHER UPDATE: A reader recommends Picnik.com and I tried it out. Works fine!

ANNIE JACOBSEN ON Harvard’s segregated gym.

HMM: “2008 marks the end of liberalism as a governing force in the same way that 1968 marked the end of liberalism as a political doctrine.” I’m not so sure.

ANOTHER MOVE TOWARD SHOWING speed traps on GPS.

But what’s much, much cooler is this two-way, internet-connected GPS. This is the start of something big, though some people may find the networking aspect a bit creepy.

IN THE MAIL: Securing Democracy: Why We Have An Electoral College. Worthwhile reading in light of all the popular-vote enthusiasm we’re likely to face over the next few months.

SADR AT BAY: Mohammed Fadhil reports from Iraq.

UPDATE: Questions about CNN’s analysis from The Belmont Club.

CUPCAKE CUTTHROATS: From BoingBoing TV, a cakesploitation film.

Thanks to Lady Buttercream, whose transfats run free. She promised the most ridiculous thing I’d see all week and — well, you can decide if she delivered, but I think it beats even the unexpected competition from Gloria Allred, below.

UPDATE: Reader Will Cate emails: “This week? Hell, Glenn, that’s the silliest thing I’ve seen so far this year!” Glad to be of service.

THOUGHTS ON A MCCAIN-ROMNEY TICKET: “I think they look great together. They seem to loosen each other up. They’re sort of a cute odd couple.”

OOPS: “Barack Obama faced fresh controversy yesterday over the anti-Israel views propagated by his former pastor even as he was being welcomed to New York by Michael Bloomberg, the city’s Jewish Mayor.” Funny that some of the hardest-hitting Obama reporting is coming from the London Times.

THE AL GORE JUGGERNAUT is picking up speed.

IS IT JUST ME, or is this photo of Gloria Allred kind of disturbing?

I think it’s the expression, coupled with the pliers, that does it.

INSTAPUNDIT’S IRAQ CORRESPONDENT, Major John Tammes, emails:

Things have been really busy lately – as you know, events rush onward here. However, I did want to pass along to you what I have learned from the best ambassadors Australia has ever sent abroad. I don’t mean her Foreign Service, but her Army.

What I have learned so far about Australians, from her Army: they are an awful friendly bunch and always seem to be helping someone; they make friends with Americans quite easily; and they are very professional, yet not uptight about things (“no worries” is a favorite expression of theirs, and it seems to be catching on with some of the American contingent).

Oh, and one more thing – they have really cool vehicles, I attached a picture of one of their Bushmasters. For those of us old enough to remember cramming into M-113s, the Bushmaster is a dream ride.

Who wouldn’t want one?

SADDAM’S AGENT, at work in America.

ROSS DOUTHAT ON HOLLYWOOD: The Return of the Paranoid Style. “We expected John Wayne; we got Jason Bourne instead. . . . Even in films that aren’t taking thinly veiled jabs at the Bush administration, terrorist baddies turn out to be Eurotrash arms dealers (2006’s Casino Royale), disgruntled hackers (2007’s Live Free or Die Hard), a sinister air marshal (2005’s Flightplan), or the handsome white guy sitting next to you in the airport lounge (2005’s Red Eye). Anyone and anybody, in other words, except the sort of people who actually attacked the United States on 9/11.”

DEFAMING A hometown hero. More here.

UPDATE: More from The Mudville Gazette, including a question about when, exactly, desiring victory became a Republican characteristic: “I’m not saying it is – but there are certainly a lot of non-Republicans out there who believe it without question or hesitation.”

BARACK OBAMA SAYS REV. WRIGHT HAS APOLOGIZED for his racist sermons. Tom Maguire wonders how he missed it. Maguire’s post will not make comforting reading for the Obama campaign. “So, when did Wright acknowledge that what he had said was deeply offensive and inappropriate? The AP story recounts some of Wright’s controversial comments but oddly omits to mention his apology, as does all other news coverage with which I am familiar. And I am strangely certain that a Wright apology would have made the news.”

And Don Surber comments: “This is hilarious. . . . When it came time to leave the church, Obama voted present.”

UPDATE: In an update, Tom Maguire notes that Obama’s people are saying that the apology was hypothetical, or something. Read it and see for yourself.

HOW TO ATTRACT MORE TALENT into teaching!

MEGAN MCARDLE ON body-counting and dubious numbers.

SKIN IN THE GAME: Obama is not part of the investor class. Except for real estate, of course.

THERE’S NO HYPOCRISY: This isn’t “middle classism,” it’s upper classism.

MORE ON THE Puerto Rico primary.

GEERT WILDERS’ FILM, FITNA IS NOW ONLINE, and Eugene Volokh posts a rather positive review. “Wilders is arguing against an important and dangerous ideological movement; my sense is that his approach is well within bounds of legitimate criticism. So I think this is a significant contribution to the ideological debate, and it seems to me that we — and especially Wilders’ fellow Dutch, to whom he is speaking most specifically — should take it seriously, naturally together with whatever responses might come out.” Plus, further thoughts from Michael van der Galien. The film itself is here.

SOME PEOPLE ARE MAKING A LOT OUT OF THIS MICHELLE OBAMA VIDEO, but this time I don’t really see it. Yeah, she talks about ignorance and comfort zones in America, but she’s talking to what appears to be a largely black audience, and I think she’s challenging them to get out of their comfort zone. So I’m just not seeing this clip as anti-American, anti-white, or whatever. I think she’s trying to get people together.