LARRY TRIBE: Thanks for boning, ma and pa. Um, ditto, I guess. More here. It’s really just a variation on the Neal Stephenson “stupendous badass” point.

AUSTIN BAY: Dictatorships kill. And steal.

A WINDFALL PROFITS TAX FOR FARMERS? Heavens No!

MICKEY KAUS: “HuffPo Off Message: Rachel Sklar comes dangerously close to Fisking the NYT’s book-length Pentagon Message Machine scoop.”

CALLING AHMADINEJAD SWEETIE? Actually, that could be fun.

OUCH: “Robert Samuelson’s argument is so self-evident no politician can ever state it.”

BRAZILIAN BABES FOR dropping the ethanol tariff.

BACK HOME, after six hours at the Children’s E.R. Things turned out about as well as could be, considering. Blogging may be a bit, er, sparse in the morning, though.

UPDATE: Thanks to all the people who sent thoughts and prayers. Doesn’t appear to have been anything serious. Alas, I didn’t get six hours of sleep to make up for the E.R. time.

HOW TO BECOME A CULT LEADER.

AN INTERVIEW WITH Tom Wolfe.

And some useful background here.

SPACE NEWS: SpaceX Claims Crew Transfer Ability by 2011.

CROSS-CULTURAL PROCRASTINATION STUDIES. I wonder why no one got around to that before . . . .?

TEST-DRIVING THE 2008 Porsche 911. How come I never get assignments like that?

MEGAN MCARDLE: Democrats: the party of . . . rich farmers? That would explain the ethanol enthusiasm . . . .

A STEAMPUNK ROUNDUP.

SOME CIVIL RIGHTS PROGRESS IN GEORGIA: “Georgians with carry licenses will be able to tote their concealed guns on public transportation, in restaurants that serve alcohol and in state parks under legislation signed by Gov. Sonny Perdue on Wednesday.”

A REPORT FROM the Maker Faire.

SHOULD LIBERALS SUPPORT THE DEATH PENALTY?

HMM: Nanotechnology to kill bacteria OK in hospitals but suspect in commercial products.

AT NEWSWEEK, a discussion of ethanol, energy, and Bob Zubrin’s plan.

DOES THIS MEAN THE RECESSION-TALK IS RIGHT? Lamborghini working on a certified pre-owned program. Or is it a sign of trickle-down prosperity?

KATIE GRANJU: THE POST-FEMINIST FUTURE IS NOW: “The nation’s most prominent pro-choice lobby has decided against endorsing the first truly viable female presidential contender.”

CAR LUST: The McLaren F1.

HEH: “Remember (Gov.) Mike Huckabee’s supposed subliminal cross in his Christmas campaign ad? Well, Obama campaign ditches the subliminal and goes for the in your face cross.”

CREDIT WHERE IT’S DUE: Thoughts on disaster relief:

THERE is a certain familiarity to the concomitant series of actions and reactions when disaster strikes in the world. The US stands ready, willing and able to offer assistance. It is often the first country to send in millions of dollars, navy strike groups loaded with food and medical supplies, and transport planes, helicopters and floating hospitals to help those devastated by natural disaster.

Then, just as swift and with equal predictability, those wedded to the Great Satan view of the US begin to carp, drawing on a potent mixture of cynicism and conspiracy theories to criticise the last remaining superpower. When the US keeps doing so much of the heavy lifting to alleviate suffering, you’d figure that the anti-Americans might eventually revise their view of the US. But they never do. And coming under constant attack even when helping others, you’d figure that Americans would eventually draw the curtains on world crises. But they haven’t. At least not yet.

So it was last week. The US stood ready to help the cyclone-ravaged Burmese people. It did not matter that Burma’s ruling junta was no friend of the Americans. With more than 100,000 people feared dead and many more hundreds of thousands left destitute, US Air Force cargo planes loaded with supplies and personnel started arriving in nearby Thailand to begin humanitarian operations in Burma. . . . The resentment that comes from needing the military and economic might of the US translated into the most absurd criticism. Jan Egeland, the former UN boss of humanitarian affairs, cavilled about the stinginess of certain Western nations. His eye was on the US. Former British minister Claire Short was equally miffed, describing the initiative by the US and other countries as “yet another attempt to undermine the UN”, which was, according to her, the “only body that has the moral authority” to help.

I love moral authority as much as the next guy, but the UN’s moral authority is a mighty hard sell given that the UN club includes the most odious regimes in the world, such as Burma. And notice how the UN’s moral authority did not quickly translate into helicopters laden with food and water?

It never does. More like briefcases full of untraceable cash, in the wrong hands.