IN THE MAIL: Real Change: From the World That Fails to the World That Works, by Newt Gingrich.

VIDEO: Islam’s Advance.

QUESTIONS FOR THE DEMOCRATS ABOUT THE ZUBRIN SPACE PLAN, at tonight’s debate? Meanwhile, I’m hearing rumors of interest in the Zubrin energy plan from the UAW, which would make sense. (Edited to clarify which plan is which. Zubrin’s got a lot of ’em. And they’re mostly good!)

UH OH: Sun’s low magnetic activity may portend an ice age. I think one’s already started — it’s just been our greenhouse emissions holding it at bay!

Yeah, I know, I stole that idea.

HMM: Clinton aide caught up in funding scandal. Huh. Go figure.

THE FREDHEADS haven’t given up.

MARK STEYN: “I’m getting a bit tired of Senator McCain’s anti-business shtick. The line about serving ‘for patriotism, not for profit’ is pathetic. America spends more on its military than the next 35-40 biggest military spenders on the planet combined: Where does he think the money for that comes from? . . . If greed is to be punishable, why doesn’t he start with a pilot program applied to, say, the United States Senate and report back to us in five years how that’s going?”

Indeed.

MAX BOOT ON IRAQ: We are winning. We haven’t won.

I agree.

RALPH NADER says his candidacy is as urgent as ever. It’s hard to argue with that!

AT THE MICHIGAN LAW REVIEW’S ONLINE EDITION, a look at recent proposals for electoral college reform. Does the electoral college need reforming?

Get the whole thing in one big PDF here.

MORE ON THAT BLOWN DRUG RAID in Chesapeake that got a cop killed and a homeowner who was defending his home against unidentified intruders charged — wrongly, it seems to me — with murder.

BERKELEY HATEWATCH UPDATE: The Marines are “unwelcome intruders.”

Yeah, it’s been a while since I did one of these, though not for lack of material, really.

WHY A DUCK?

OBAMA BACKER TONY REZKO’S solid gold faucets. (Via NewsAlert).

A BUSH RALLY? Well, this political season has already demonstrated that anything can happen.

THE HILLARY CAMPAIGN CAN’T BE HAPPY ABOUT THIS REPORT: “Unlike more established competitors, Mr. Giustra was a newcomer to uranium mining in Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic. But what his fledgling company lacked in experience, it made up for in connections. Accompanying Mr. Giustra on his luxuriously appointed MD-87 jet that day was a former president of the United States, Bill Clinton. . . . Within two days, corporate records show that Mr. Giustra also came up a winner when his company signed preliminary agreements giving it the right to buy into three uranium projects controlled by Kazakhstan’s state-owned uranium agency, Kazatomprom. The monster deal stunned the mining industry, turning an unknown shell company into one of the world’s largest uranium producers in a transaction ultimately worth tens of millions of dollars to Mr. Giustra, analysts said.”

BRUCE SCHNEIER on the politics of security.

MORE PROBLEMS AT THE STATE DEPARTMENT.

BOB KRUMM: I don’t get the McCainimosity. I get it a bit more after last night’s debate, where McCain was something of a jerk. But still . . . Read the whole thing.

WHAT’S WRONG WITH STARBUCKS? “Starbucks used to seem like a luxury brand, and now it feels like a fallback when you can’t get to the real thing.”

TOP FOUR TIPS FOR DRIVING LIKE A PRO: I always admired Jackie Stewart. On the other hand, the braking advice, while good, is . . . well . . . you’ll see.

A DEBATE WRAPUP from Stephen Green.

OBAMA CALLS CLINTON A DIVISIVE FIGURE. It’s hard to argue with that.

REGARDING MY EARLIER POST, reader Don MacRae emails:

Long time daily reader, first time writer. I have noticed the Fred Thompson comments as well; file under “You Don’t Know What You Got ‘Til It’s Gone”. For the record, not only did I donate to his campaign, I went door to door to get signatures so he could be on the ballot here in Ohio and my wife was a state delegate to boot. I have been wondering who to support since Fred dropped out of the race and I am now fairly certain that I am going to vote for Fred anyway. Screw John McCain!

Fred may do surprisingly well, for a guy who’s not running . . . .

BILL ROGGIO ON the Mosul offensive.