WHY DOESN’T PLAGIARISM matter? I think the moral currency has been devalued by too many bogus plagiarism scandals. That’s a risk that someone should write a book on. Oh, wait . . . .

A GRAND SLAM LAST NIGHT AT THE DNC? “After a couple of uneven nights, the Democrats really hit their stride Wednesday. When even John Kerry can give a strong, forceful speech (including a line that was a hard jab at John McCain and a self-deprecating comment — really, see for yourself), it would be hard to have a bad night.” He’s right about Bill Clinton’s performance, too.

A WELL-ROUNDED EDUCATION doesn’t have to start with college. College is swell, but it’s not for everyone. And even those going to college might benefit from taking a year or two off to do something else first.

SO IS THIS GOOD NEWS OR BAD? The Ranks of the Ultrawealthy Grow.

THE L.A. TIMES on the McCain campaign’s rapid-response program. I expect the Obama campaign will do the same thing next week during the Republican convention. The McCain campaign hasn’t been sending me this stuff, though — I’ve had to go to The Corner to find it. Obama campaign folks — next week, feel free to send your responses directly!

UPDATE: Patrick Hynes emails that I should have been getting stuff. But while I get emails from him occasionally, I haven’t been getting those “official statement” emails. Or maybe they’re being spam-filtered? Just remember, you can’t spell “socialism” without “cialis!” It’s okay, I get enough email, really, but I would like to have ’em. And the ones from Obama, too, if anyone there is reading this.

MATT WELCH ON THE DEMOCRATS’ new hawkish foreign policy. “You’d think that such a disconnect between anti-war base and pro-interventionist leadership would cause a few brains to explode, but the only people who seem to be hearing the dissonance in Denver are journalists. . . . This is not necessarily change that war-weary Obama supporters can believe in, and in fact it’s much less change than a restoration of the liberal interventionism of Bill Clinton’s second term.”

UPDATE: So what do I think? I’m not sure. I’m relieved that the Dems aren’t going all dove on us, but I’m not particularly impressed with Madeleine Albright, et al. On foreign policy and defense, I suspect an Obama Administration would feature a lot of familiar faces from the Clinton era. We could do worse, I suppose, but I wonder if the habits of mind formed during the 1990s holiday from history will serve us well now.

GUSTAV UPDATE: Nagin Discusses Possible Evacuation Plans. If things turn nasty, let’s use those school buses this time.

OKAY, BIDEN STARTED OFF STRONG, but ran long. The Obama folks may want to persuade him that less is more — but I suspect that his own staffers tried that earlier in this election season. Still, a good performance, though not in Bill Clinton’s league by any means. It certainly supports this theory of why Biden was chosen.

UPDATE: The McCain campaign responds.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Coming out after Biden, Barack Obama demonstrates that he, at least, understands the “less is more” principle.

A SHOUTING MATCH among Tennessee delegates in Denver. Michael Silence observes: “Geez. They’re sounding like Knox County Republicans.” Ouch.

MORE ON THE ARREST OF THAT ABC NEWS CREW outside of the Brown Palace, from Ronald Coleman.

And here’s more from The Washington Post.

UPDATE: It wasn’t just news people who had problems with the Brown Palace. Thanks to reader Roscoe Shrewsbury for the link.

MICKEY KAUS says that Obama campaign manager David Plouffe is “whistling past the graveyard” on polling numbers. I don’t know if that’s right — I think that everyone, including me, expected Obama to be polling better at this point. The Bush Administration is unpopular, and the Republican Congress — witness Ted Stevens’ primary win — has been dreadful. Given that, it’s surprising that things are in a statistical tie.

On the other hand, elections are won by those who show up, and I think Plouffe is right that Democratic constituencies have more “fire in the belly” than Republican constituencies. What’ll be interesting is to see if Obama can keep Republicans from getting negative enough about his prospects to motivate them, while keeping Democrats motivated enough to sustain that edge — while McCain tries to do the opposite, of course. I suspect that turnout will be the deciding factor here, and reports seem to suggest that the Democrats have a better ground game. Will that be true? Stay tuned, I guess.

UPDATE: Reader David Ragsdale sends a correction:

Um…it’s actually a Democratic Congress now.

Or maybe you meant to write “The Republicans in Congress” …but given that it’s only been in the past few weeks that at least 50% of Americans know that the Democrats control Congress you should be more clear.

Yeah, I really meant the Republican delegation in Congress. I stand corrected.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Jonathan Limebrook emails:

I hate pork nearly as much as you do, but I think you condemn Ted Stevens, and with him the politics of Alaska, without truly understanding the relationship between Alaskans and the federal government. The state is virtually owned by the federal government– I believe Nevada is the only state with more federal ownership– and Alaskans are pretty inured to having the feds run roughshod over them. I lived there from 1974 to 1984. The most salient event in turning me from a liberal into a libertarian was when James Earl Carter, unhappy with the state’s land claims after the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, high-handedly turned vast swaths of the state into national monuments to punish Mike Gravel for his recalcitrance in accepting the fiats of an imperial government.

Alaskans are smart enough to know that, ignored as an electorate, they have to keep returning their representatives to Congress so that their seniority will eventually avail Alaskans of some political clout. If Stevens appears to you to be a dinosaur, well, he is, but there is method in his longevity. When the federal government, under the sway of Greenpeace and the Sierra Club, routinely and without a second thought restricts the livelihoods of Alaskans in their own home, they willl fight back in the onlly way available to them. Alaskans feel that every dime they can wring out of the federal government is theirs by right.

Which brings us to the infamous “bridge to nowhere” whose $250 million price tag shocks you so. By the way, federal spending in Tennesee is over four times that on food stamps alone (http://www.statehealthfacts.org/profileind.jsp?rgn=44&ind=25&cat=1. Bridges are expensive to build, and especially so in Alaska when the rust belt is not just up the river. As for it being a bridge to nowhere, did it ever occur to you that after it was built, it would be a bridge to somewhere? That little island would have become a place people where could live and without having to take their kids to school by boat in a snowstorm.

Thanks for letting me have my say.

You’re welcome, but I still think the arrogance and entitlement of Ted Stevens is both disgraceful in itself, and a blot on the honor of the Republicans. Trent Lott, after saying he was “damn tired” of the Porkbusters effort, has finally come around on the pork issue. Stevens hasn’t.

STEPHEN GREEN POSTS a wrapup on Bill Clinton’s speech.

POLITICO: Obama camp blasts National Review writer as “slimy character assassin.”

OBAMA AS Jackie Robinson.

BILL CLINTON JUST DEMONSTRATED that he’s still the best the Democrats have. And — wonder of wonders — he kept it short.

UPDATE: More: “Bill Clinton finally did what no one else has done effectively in the first two and a half days of the convention: He articulated a clear rationale for supporting Barack Obama, while also pointedly attacking McCain.”

TOM MAGUIRE CRITICIZES McCain’s new “Tiny” ad: “Obama is murky enough on Iran without McCain stirring more mud into the mix. . . . The truth ought to be effective enough – when this bubbled up in May even the Times was willing to present McCain’s side fairly.”

UPDATE: ABC News says the ad “crosses the line into dishonesty.”

ANN ALTHOUSE IS liveblogging Clinton’s speech and tonight’s convention coverage generally. Boy, Bill’s sure getting a big ovation at the start.

OBAMA KEEPS PUSHING BACK ON THE AYERS AD, ensuring that it gets further attention. Though it’s called a “smear,” aren’t smears supposed to be, you know, false? The answer: “If the point is to Islamicize Obama for the ignorant wingnut masses, why include any photos of Ayers? He doesn’t fit the profile of an Islamic terrorist; he fits the profile of what he actually is, a domestic terrorist. They could have easily dirtied this up by not showing his picture or mentioning his name to seed doubt about who Obama’s mystery pal might be. As it is, the narrator specifically refers to the Weather Underground as an ‘American terrorist group.’ Beyond that, though, the left usually loves to point out that domestic terrorists like abortion clinic bombers are every bit as evil as the jihadist movement that so worries hysterical fearmongers like you and me. Which is true: There aren’t as many of them and they don’t have as many apologists, but a truck bomb is a truck bomb is a truck bomb. Morally, they’re equivalent. Just don’t point out that equivalence when you’re criticizing Barack Obama; that turns it into a smear.”

Meanwhile, more on who the Weathermen really were:

During the April 16 debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, moderator George Stephanopoulos brought up “a gentleman named William Ayers,” who “was part of the Weather Underground in the 1970s. They bombed the Pentagon, the Capitol, and other buildings. He’s never apologized for that.” Stephanopoulos then asked Obama to explain his relationship with Ayers. Obama’s answer: “The notion that somehow as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was eight years old, somehow reflects on me and my values, doesn’t make much sense, George.” Obama was indeed only eight in early 1970. I was only nine then, the year Ayers’s Weathermen tried to murder me.

Read the whole thing.

RASMUSSEN: McCain Gains Another Point. A statistically insignificant move, but certainly not a bounce for Obama.

On the other hand, Jim Lindgren sees hints of an Obama bounce in the Gallup numbers.

TALKLEFT: HOWARD WOLFSON slams MSNBC, Keith Olbermann, and Chris Matthews.

BUSH’S TEMPLE? I dunno, this looks more like a game show set. I don’t know if anyone made much of it in 2004, but then after Kerry’s grandiloquent naval display it probably seemed understated by comparison. (Thanks to reader Bill Jones for the link).

Meanwhile, Tom Maguire wonders if the “Greek Temple” is supposed to echo the Lincoln Memorial. “Anyway, King will double-surely be invoked in The Speech, so I am sticking with the Lincoln Memorial motif.” So does positioning himself as Martin Luther King’s successor make Obama look more, or less, grandiose?

UPDATE: Reader Wayne Kimbell emails: “Glenn— Of course, George W. Bush was President of the United States at the time…the set is appropriate to his Office, unlike O’s stagecraft.” Well, I dunno. I’m still going with “game show.”

DAVE STEWART’S OBAMA MUSIC VIDEO:

ANN ALTHOUSE: “So…. what the hell? I’m sitting here, eating my arugula salad and zucchini ‘pasta,’ catching up on last night’s ‘Daily Show,’ sipping my chardonnay, waiting for it to be late enough to bother to start watching the proceedings at the Democratic National Convention, and suddenly Barack Obama has been nominated by acclamation. The ostensible point of the convention, choosing the nominee, occurs more than an hour outside of prime time? WTF?!” I liked the roll call of the states when I was a kid. Oh, well.

MORE: “This convention is all about the Clintons, isn’t it? She dominated last night. She controls the nomination tonight. And the rest of the evening is the lead-up to Bill. How awful for Barack… in his moment of triumph.”

GUSTAV THREATENS THE CAYMANS: “I think it is plausible that Gustav could intensify further, to Category 4 strength, before hitting the Caymans, though the most likely intensity is Category 2. Keep in mind that our skill forecasting intensity changes is poor. If you have plans to be on the northern Cayman Islands–Cayman Brac or Little Cayman Island–on Friday, be prepared to be stuck there for several days, as Gustav may heavily damage these islands. Grand Cayman Island is also at risk–the HWRF model predicts Gustav will pass over Grand Cayman on Friday afternoon.”

UPDATE: Preparing for Gustav in New Orleans by buying guns. At least this time, the police won’t be able to confiscate ’em.

MORE THOUGHTS ON problems recruiting men for college.