A DOCTORED PHOTO IN THE WASHINGTON POST: “The guy on the left is both behind and in front of Tiger Woods. Neat trick.”
UPDATE: Or not. It looks that way in the smaller version, but reader Don Hodun writes: “I greatly admire your work and perspective. If you return to the comments section of the post you linked to, the photo editor of Washington Post Express links to the original photo. Just a good tutorial on how not to use a long telephoto lens.” Yes, speaking of perspective . . . .
THE TOP TEN male-bashing ads. The Dairy Queen ad is particularly creepy. (Via who else?)
THOUGHTS ON DIESEL GENERATORS AND RESILIENCY. Thing is, a diesel engine can run on all kinds of fuel, from vegetable oil to unrefined crude. That helps, some.
THE KOZINSKI PORN KERFUFFLE: People want to know what I think. I don’t have much to say about this nonstory, except to offer this compelling legal analysis: Since it’s generally thought that men are disproportionate consumers of porn because of their gender, and because, hormonally, they’re driven to favor visual stimuli, then obviously punishing porn consumption constitutes sex discrimination, and is probably unconstitutional. Plus, research establishes that porn is good for America. You don’t hate America, do you?
IT’S NOT YOUR FATHER’S SPACE PROGRAM: I’ve got a piece on space tourism, the space movement, and more, over at The Atlantic Monthly. With Sergey Brin joining the ranks of space tourists, it just got a little more timely, so please check it out! (bumped)
IF YOU MISSED PJM POLITICAL ON XM Satellite Radio, you can listen online here.
WHO SAYS THAT BLOGGERS DON’T DO ORIGINAL REPORTING?
I THINK HE ALREADY DID: “God bless East Tennesseans.”
MORE ON THE CONTROVERSY over laptops in the classroom.
HEH: “PETA would never treat a cow that way, but I guess it’s OK for an intern.”
ALAN BOYLE REPORTS ON progress with Bussard Fusion. I’ve been very interested this project.
I CERTAINLY HOPE SO: ‘We’ve Lost the Battle on What the 2nd Amendment Means,’ Brady Campaign Head Says. I’ll wait to read the opinion before declaring victory, though. (Via SayUncle).
THE CARNIVAL OF THE RECIPES is up!
AT 6 P.M. EASTERN you can listen to PJM Political on XM Channel 130. Don’t miss it!
DAVID POST: “Really, our public infrastructure – our public life – is in the process of deteriorating, and we don’t seem to be able to summon up the energy required to do anything about it.”
It’s worse in Philadelphia where he lives — and I agree that it’s worse in the Northeast generally –but there’s something to his point on a broader scale. Bloated payrolls and inadequate performance are typical of government, of course, and there’s no reason why infrastructure should be different. What’s more, the broader the responsibilities of government, the worse job it tends to do at all of them.
UPDATE: Further thoughts here.
BRENDAN LOY: Are We In for a Busy 2008 Hurricane Season?
Douglas J. Feith served as Undersecretary of Defense for Policy from 2001 through 2005. His new book, War and Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism, looks at the response to the 9/11 attacks, the invasion of Afghanistan, and most significantly the Iraq war and its aftermath. Feith’s book is copiously documented, and he’s also made a lot of his documents available on his website. But the book, though selling well online, hasn’t gotten the kind of Big Media attention you’d expect. We talk to him about the war, the Bush Administration, the media, and whether the American political class is up to dealing with matters of national security. And we discover that he’s donating all proceeds to veterans’ support groups.
You can listen directly — no downloads needed — by going right here and clicking on the gray Flash player. You can also download the file and listen at your leisure by clicking right here. Plus, you can get a free subscription from iTunes and never miss an episode. Why not?
Show archives are at GlennandHelenShow.com. Music is by Mobius Dick.
DUDE, WHERE’S MY RECESSION? (CONT’D): Retail sales jump by largest amount in 6 months. And from the story:
Analysts were surprised by the solid increase in retail sales and noted that sales in April were also revised to show a respectable gain of 0.4 percent, instead of the original estimate that sales had fallen by 0.2 percent.
“Recession? What recession?” asked Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors. “Spending in April and May was solid in just about every category.”
Do we face possibly serious economic problems? Quite possibly. Are we in a recession now, as media folks keep claiming? It doesn’t look like it. On the other hand, Megan McArdle observes: “The rise is less impressive if you exclude gasoline.”
UPDATE: Reader George Zachar emails that “even without gasoline, sales were strong.” It does look that way.
MCCAIN ON GAS PRICES: “McCain should use the $4-a-gallon gas prices to pivot in favor of more drilling. Then, his people might have something more meaty to offer during these kind of calls.” If he actually visits ANWR, he’ll see that it’s hardly comparable to the Grand Canyon.
MORE ON CANADA’S “HUMAN RIGHTS” KANGAROO COURTS: Violating human rights in order to defend them.
MCCAIN AND OBAMA TAX PLANS COMPARED, at TaxProf.
DANIEL HENNINGER: DRILL! DRILL! DRILL! “Charles de Gaulle once wrote off the nation of Brazil in six words: ‘Brazil is not a serious country.’ How much time is left before someone says the same of the United States? . . . At this point in time, is there another country on the face of the earth that would possess the oil and gas reserves held by the United States and refuse to exploit them? Only technical incompetence, as in Mexico, would hold anyone back. But not us. We won’t drill.”
RON BAILEY: Can geoengineering save us from global warming?
POLITICO: Some Hill Dems Won’t Back Obama: “The presidential race may be topic A, B and C in Washington these days, but some people are just too busy to think about it — particularly, it seems, centrist Democrats from conservative districts, who aren’t exactly eager to align themselves with Sen. Barack Obama. ” As Gateway Pundit notes, this is the third story on Democrats pulling away from Obama since he clinched the nomination.
ZIMBABWE UPDATE: Robert Mugabe’s militia burn opponent’s wife alive. A reader emails: “Shooting’s too good for them.” She’s right, but note that there’s much less international call for military intervention in Zimbabwe than in Burma. Why is that?
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