BLACKFIVE: Why McCain’s Captivity Matters.

OUCH: TV viewers’ average age hits 50.

HOPE, CHANGE, AND A NEW KIND OF POLITICS:

Barack Obama “had nothing to do” with Gen. Wesley Clark’s curt dismissal of John McCain’s military record, the retired Army officer wants everyone to know.

“I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president,” Clark said of McCain on “Face the Nation” – and then repeated it on several nationally broadcast venues.

But Obama’s not about to stop using Clark as a campaign surrogate.

I don’t think being booted from your NATO command is a qualification to talk about other people’s military careers, either . . . .

And if, as Rand Beers says, the fact that McCain missed out on the 60s antiwar protests by being in a POW camp means he’s “isolated” on national security issues, then what of Obama, who was attending elementary school in Indonesia at the same time?

UPDATE: Rick Moran: Wesley Clark and the Unbearable Banality of Campaign ‘08.

ANOTHER UPDATE: James Webb flipflops on military service.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU reply to all your spam. Kids, don’t try this at home!

DAVID WEIGEL ON Swift Boat Derangement Syndrome: “This is why, when today’s Democrats talk about John McCain, they can sound incredulous. After all the crap they took, why is he able to ride his Vietnam record to the GOP nomination? ”

Maybe because it wasn’t a lie?

UPDATE: Weigel emails: “I hope it’s clear that the graf was written from the voice of an angry Democrat… and not me. I found the Swift Boat stuff distracting (was ANYONE happy that 2 months of that campaign was about Vietnam?) but Kerry lied about Cambodia and opened the floodgates.”

It was clear to me. And it seems the Obama campaign wants this election to be about Vietnam, too, for some reason. That doesn’t really seem to work for the Democrats . . . .

HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY: “The latest surveys, taken in the United States and in several developing countries, showed increased happiness from 1981 to 2007 in 45 of 52 countries for which substantial time series data was available.”

Plus this:

“Though by no means the happiest country in the world, from a global perspective the U.S. looks pretty good,” says Ronald Inglehart, a political scientist at the university, who directs the study. “The country is not only prosperous; it ranks relatively high in gender equality, tolerance of ethnic and social diversity and has high levels of political freedom.”

They told me that if George W. Bush were re-elected, we’d see — oh, hell, no they didn’t.

EUGENE VOLOKH: “Yet another study — which I learned about because it was cited to me by a fellow academic — that shows a correlation between home gun ownership and homicide and suicide risk to occupants without controlling for some obvious confounding factors. . . . The failure to control for the obvious criminal history variable strikes me as especially glaring. And yet such studies are read, reported on, and believed.”

FRUIT, CUT AND DRIED: How does dried fruit compare with fresh fruit in nutritional value?

MARTIN FELDSTEIN: We Can Lower Oil Prices Now.

DEMOCRACY, WHISKEY, SEXY: “Alcohol is flowing again in Baghdad.”

HIT HIM AGAIN, HARDER: Angry McCain grabbed Sandinista official at talks.

“You won’t like me when I’m angry.”

THOUGHTS ON PATRIOTISM, from Jonah Goldberg: “In part because liberal commentators have such a hard time grasping why patriotism should be an issue at all, and the GOP is so clumsy explaining why it’s important, the debate often gets boiled down to symbols. . . . Definitions of patriotism proliferate, but in the American context patriotism must involve not only devotion to American texts (something that distinguishes our patriotism from European nationalism) but also an abiding belief in the inherent and enduring goodness of the American nation. We might need to change this or that policy or law, fix this or that problem, but at the end of the day the patriotic American believes that America is fundamentally good as it is.”

DIG IT!

A “CHILLING COMMONALITY.”

PROGRESS REPORT: New Iraq report: 15 of 18 benchmarks satisfactory.

LAURA LEE DONOHO: “I’ll Tell You What’s ‘Inartful!'”

YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP:

Muslims have complained over a police advert featuring a puppy sitting in an officer’s hat. A police force has apologised to Islamic leaders for the “offensive” postcard advertising a new non-emergency telephone number, which shows a six-month-old trainee police dog named Rebel. The German shepherd puppy has proved hugely popular with the public, hundreds of who have logged on to the force’s website to read his online training diary. But some Muslims in the Dundee area have reportedly been upset by the image because they consider dogs to be “ritually unclean.”

Sadly, you don’t have to. It’s amazing what a combination of PC multi-culti guilt and a credible threat of violence will get you, though I’m guessing that it’s mostly the credible threat of violence that’s doing the work here. Nice incentive structure they’re setting up.

NIFONG SUPPORTER charged with sex crimes.

MEGAN MCARDLE: Should I Call Myself a Feminist? I didn’t realize you had to get approval from the Membership Committee.

I’LL BE ON HUGH HEWITT’S SHOW WITH MICKEY KAUS in a minute, talking about this story. Key bit: “No one should have to live like this, and no one did anything about it.” Kaus’s take is here.

WELL, WHO WOULDN’T WANT TO DRIVE ONE? “Gutless, tawdry, disappointing (and, to me, stunningly desirable).”

UPDATE: Reader Debbie Ebberts emails:

Thanks for the link to the Chevrolet Malibu blog entry. My very first car was a 1976 Chevrolet Malibu Classic – I inherited it from my mom in 1981. I loved that car. It was silver with a hideous red interior and I called it “The Beast”. It was heavy & bulky but had an amazing engine and therefore lots of power. Guys loved it – but I’m sure that had nothing to do with my fondness for it. And, it kept me very safe – I had a few fender benders when I first started driving and The Beast never got a scratch, but did some serious damage to some, um, smaller cars. Oops. I drove it until my sophomore year in college. I still miss that car. Thanks for the memories!

Better than my friend Griff’s memories — his sporty ’77 Rabbit had an unfortunate run-in with a brown Malibu.

BRENDAN LOY is photoblogging East Tennessee.

BANNING HATS to make things easier for surveillance cameras.

UPDATE: Reader Craig Good emails: “What about burqas?” Banning those would be racist. Or something.

SYMPATHY FOR WILL SMITH: Oh, the burdens of cruising the French Riviera while feeling ashamed of your country and president!

MARKOS MOULITSAS UNHAPPY WITH OBAMA: “So many of you are upset that I pulled back my credit card last night, making a last minute decision to hold back on a $2,300 contribution to Obama.” (Via LGF).

Plus this: “Now I know there’s a contingent around here that thin[k]s Obama can do no wrong, and he must never be criticized, and if you do, well f*ck you!”

UPDATE: Rand Simberg emails: “I don’t think he’s saying f**k you to the Obama-can-do-no-wrongers. I think that he’s saying that that’s their attitude toward people who criticize Obama.” Yeah, I know. That’s what’s so funny.