TIGERHAWK: “The editors of the New York Times are beginning to worry that they are the rubes.”

FOR THE MEDIA, converging curves of diminution.

THEY’RE OBSERVING INDEPENDENCE DAY at Google.

UPDATE: Also at Ask.com, and Yahoo!

GOOD NEWS FOR SOME: A record-setting drop in student loan interest rates. I credit the Obama Presidency!

KATIE GRANJU looks at the race for First Lady. “I suspect that the ‘Hillary Clinton factor’ may be at play as part of the reason folks aren’t digging Michelle Obama.”

A LOOK AT rejuvenation research.

REPUBLICANS SAY OBAMA VOTED TO RAISE TAXES 94 TIMES: FactCheck says they’ve overcounted and it’s only 54. And some of those votes are iffy. “Most of those were measures to tax the rich or corporations; many aimed to fund government programs; and most didn’t actually raise taxes in and of themselves.”

OKAY, THIS OBAMA FLIPFLOP SHIFT IN NUANCE DOESN’T DO ANYTHING FOR ME: Obama: Mental distress can’t justify late abortion: “Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says ‘mental distress’ should not qualify as a justification for late-term abortions, a key distinction not embraced by many supporters of abortion rights.” I’m pro-choice, after all.

Boy, they’re sure pumping these things out for the Independence Day weekend, though.

UPDATE: TalkLeft: “NARAL leaders ought to feel like idiots. . . . As I’ve said all along about his religious outreach, you don’t get something for nothing and if he wants the evangelical vote, he’s going to have to offer them something. Is this it?”

MICKEY KAUS:

Instapundit does a much more effective job clearing Obama on the issue of home mortgage favoritism than Obama’s own clumsy web site. …

I do try. Especially as I ponder an Obama endorsement, in anticipation of his refined position on the war . . . .

DOG BITES MAN: “Wire services cozy with terrorists.”

HERE COMES THE PIVOT!

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) promised primary voters a swift withdrawal from Iraq, in clear language still on his website: “Obama will immediately begin to remove our troops from Iraq. He will remove one to two combat brigades each month and have all of our combat brigades out of Iraq within 16 months.”

Not anymore. Heading into the holiday weekend, Obama and his advisers repudiated that pledge, saying he is reevaluating his plan and will incorporate advice from commanders on the ground when he visits Iraq later this month.

A top Obama adviser said he is not “wedded” to a specific timeline, and Obama said Thursday he plans to “refine” his plan.

You could see this one coming. Hmm. With all these changes, Obama’s morphing into a candidate I could support!

UPDATE: Obama denies altering proposed Iraq withdrawal timeline.

But, at ABC, Obama’s Iraq Quagmire.

And John McGinnis emails: “You can wait for the Obama Pivot. I want to watch the Olbermann Squirm!”

Olbermann will praise Obama’s “manly firmness” in deciding to keep troops in Iraq.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Ann Althouse: “This is what I was expecting. Weren’t you?”

MORE: A clarification. This should resolve all doubt.

And TigerHawk asks the eternal question.

STILL MORE: Remembering Samantha Power.

NEWS FROM IRAQ: Analysis: Sadr movement, Mahdi Army shrink under pressure.

QUESTION: “Do you think that the netroots support the Democratic Party in the same way that I was a New York Mets fan, growing up? Because damned if I can see how they’re getting any practical return on their money, particularly when it comes to foreign policy.”

LONGEVITY UPDATE: SIRT-1 activators may have a downside.

MY LITTLE CTHULHU? Who says evil can’t be cuddly?

PLAYING BOTH SIDES AGAINST THE MIDDLE, on McCain’s military record?

WHEN POLICE DON’T LIKE SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS:

Last year, New York police officers were seen dancing in the streets just before arresting four men in a city nightclub on charges of selling $100 worth of cocaine. It took six months and the men’s life savings, but their names were finally cleared when prosecutors took the unusual step of announcing in court that the men had committed no crime.

That’s because club surveillance video shows that the undercover cops had no contact with the accused men in the two hours they were in the club.

Now, club owner Eduardo Espinoza says the police are retaliating against him.

Jeez. They’d better get used to it — surveillance is a two-way street now, and that phenomenon is only going to increase.

OMAR FADHIL: How Iran plans to drag the U.S. into war if Israel dares to attack its nuclear program. We should make sure they regret that, if it happens.

JACOB SULLUM: Obama’s Toothless Second Amendment. “The senator defends the right to whatever arms the government decides to allow.”

ADVICE FOR OBAMA: “Obama Should Embrace His Muslim Heritage.” That hasn’t been the strategy so far. In fact, that’s the complaint: “He vociferously denies being a Muslim as if it were a slur.”

UPDATE: Bill Bradley thinks this post suggests that Obama is a Muslim. I told him that anyone who’s been paying attention — which certainly includes InstaPundit readers — knows that Obama has a Muslim heritage but isn’t a Muslim now. Indeed, that’s the point of the linked article. But the sensitivity on this question does suggest that Obama and his supporters think there’s something wrong with being a Muslim, which was also the point of the linked article.

ANOTHER UPDATE: So thinking about this, is it just out-of-bounds to use the words “Obama” and “Muslim” in the same sentence? Does that join the ever-lengthening list of things we’re not allowed to talk about?

DISNEY IS CLAIMING AN EXEMPTION from a new Florida gun-rights law. But only as to its employees, apparently.

CULTURAL SUICIDE: “If you see trouble, walk away.” (Via Hot Air).

WHILE FEDERAL COURTS ARE SCRUTINIZING SURVEILLANCE OF ISLAMIC CHARITIES by the U.S. government, they’re also opening the door to massive domestic surveillance by corporations:

Google must divulge the viewing habits of every user who has ever watched any video on YouTube, a US court has ruled.

The ruling comes as part of Google’s legal battle with Viacom over allegations of copyright infringement.

Digital rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) called the ruling a “set-back to privacy rights”.

The viewing log, which will be handed to Viacom, contains the log-in ID of users, the computer IP address (online identifier) and video clip details.

Who do you trust less? Viacom, or the NSA?

UPDATE: More on the Google story here.

IF YOU MISSED IT ON XM SATELLITE RADIO YESTERDAY, you can still hear the latest PJM Political online. Download it and listen in the car on your Fourth of July travels!

MORE ON OBAMA’S MORTGAGE DEAL: “What could Sen. Barack Obama do for a lender in exchange for more than $100,000? Plenty.”

Remember when Democrats were all about ending the “culture of corruption?” Now that sounds so 2006.

UPDATE: A reader who asks anonymity — but he’s a guy who’s written me before — emails:

I’m hesitant to add to this story, but I obtained a mortgage from Northern Trust in Chicago for my client at roughly the same time as Obama. The mortgage terms I got for my client were materially better than Obama’s–a 30 year fixed at almost a full percent less than Obama’s mortgage with a much larger principal amount.

Northern is an unusual bank that specializes in cases that require more attention and analysis than a typical bank will provide. I don’t find Obama’s mortgage to be anything special or unusual in the context of Northern’s very competent Chicago office, though I could see how his situation and unusual income stream would make Northern pretty attractive to him.

This mortgage story is not even remotely comparable to the congressmen like Dodd who solicited what can only be called “constructive bribes” from Countrywide’s CEO. The Tony Rezko aspect of Obama’s home purchase is sleazy enough without drawing hyperbolic conclusions about his mortgage.

Yeah, I agree it’s different from Dodd et al., but these members of Congress always seem to be getting some kind of good deal. Still, it’s good to get an inside opinion.