HONDA TO LAUNCH hybrid motorcycle by 2011.

THIS SEEMS SILLY: Insurer excludes nanotechnology risks from coverage.

VOLT BEATS TESLA? “A senior economist at the Argonne National Laboratory has come to an interesting conclusion: vehicles that rely on internal combustion engines are superior to electric vehicles in terms of what consumers would buy and what would save significant fuel. . . . By relying less on batteries, the cost of the batteries becomes less of a factor, while having a combustion engine that uses an established distribution system as a backup gives the owner the freedom to drive wherever they want.” So plug-in or series hybrids make better transition vehicles than pure electrics. Makes sense to me.

RAND SIMBERG: NASA Turns 50: Now What? And, from the comments: “The state of our space program highlights how little anyone is seriously concerned with the ultimate survival of humanity.”

SOME DESIGN CHANGES for the Aptera electric car. For what it’s worth, I think the new design looks a bit better, and I liked the old one a lot. I’d like to drive one of these.

IN THE MAIL: Philip Hamburger’s Law and Judicial Duty. “In the Mail” is usually just a books-received thing, but I spent some time looking through this book, and it’s very interesting and likely to prove very important. Modern judges and academics will particularly benefit from his discussion of 17th-century judges’ conscience-wrestling over bias and neutrality.

INSTA-POLL:

THE EXAMINER:

The 2008 budget year ended yesterday, but Congress hasn’t approved a single one of a dozen annual appropriations bills needed to keep the federal government functioning on a day-to-day basis. Hence the $630 billion stop-gap measure, nearly the size of the failed Wall Street bailout. It passed the House on a 370-68 vote even though, as Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., candidly admitted, “very few people have any idea what’s in it.” Cornered House members had less than 24 hours to review the 357-page bill and 752 pages of accompanying material before being forced to either pass it – or shut down most of the federal government today.

One thing the continuing resolution is full of is earmarks, none of which were debated or voted on in public. The House Budget Committee’s final tally is 2,760 earmarks totaling $19.1 billion (including presidential requests). None were publicly vetted through the regular legislative process or even posted on the committee’s web site prior to the vote. And, since this temporary spending bill expires in five months, the whole dysfunctional process will begin anew in March – unless there’s a major shakeup of Congress in November.

I’m not expecting that, whatever happens.

A CRACK IN the dominance of the LSAT? Or just law schools gaming the rankings?

NOBEL PRIZE COMMITTEE TO UNITED STATES: Drop Dead.

UPDATE: Tam finds an American the Nobel folks will respect . . . .

BILL CLINTON VS. BARACK OBAMA on bank regulation. “Barack Obama has been selling this line every day. Bill Clinton signed that ‘deregulation’ bill into law, and he knows better.”

THE CHINESE TAINTED-MILK SCANDAL keeps growing.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST: There’s clearly a different standard for the press. At least, in the opinion of the press . . . .

UPDATE: Reader Paul Jackson writes:

This revelation made me wonder something I’ve thought about for many months; how many of the reporters following either campaign (but primarily Obama’s) have book deals or are planning on writing books about his “historic candidacy”? It would seem to me that we as consumers of news have a right to know this. I doubt seriously that they can maintain impartiality when they may reap fortunes only if Obama wins…….as who is going to buy their books should he lose?

News reporters have become sportswriters………they root for their “team” just like the rest of us. Think of the lost book royalties of the beat reporters for last year’s New England Patriots who no doubt were planning on cashing in on the Pats perfect season. Funny thing happened though………….wonder if the same will occur this time!!

Yeah, but the sportswriters have higher standards.

OUCH:

Pelosi deserves no praise for her leadership on Monday. Even stipulating that we are in the closing weeks of one of the most important political campaigns in a generation, her inability to rise above the tendency to score political points was inexcusable. Monday’s vote was a moment to set aside those instincts and talk about the package as an example of Washington’s ability to work cooperatively in a time of crisis.

Instead, Pelosi accused Bush of economic policies that create “budgetary recklessness” and “an anything-goes mentality.” And she closed with a partisan call to arms.

(Via Extreme Mortman). Plus this conclusion: “For the next president and the next Congress, whatever its makeup, Monday’s performance should be looked at as an example of what it was, a performance designed to undermine the public’s confidence in its elected leadership.” Strikingly, these criticisms come from The Washington Post, not some right-leaning publication.

MICKEY KAUS on turning a profit on the bailout.

Did I say “bailout?” I meant “rescue.”

DEMANDING A SARAH PALIN PRESS CONFERENCE: Sure, bring it on — right after Obama takes questions from Bob Owens, Stanley Kurtz, David Freddoso, the Powerline guys, and Hugh Hewitt on the Bill Ayers/Annenberg business.

Oh, and maybe a discussion of his Columbia and Harvard transcripts. Only one candidate is being sheltered from tough press questions with the active complicity of the press.

HEH:

Remember, when Wall Street falls hundreds of billions of dollars short, it is called a “massive crisis”. But when Washington, DC falls hundreds of billions of dollars short, it is called “2008”.

Indeed. Fundamentally, the collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is a crisis of government, not of capitalism. Capitalism is just collateral damage.

SARAH PALIN ON HER GAY FRIEND: “She is not my ‘gay’ friend, she is one of my best friends.” Funny that she and John McCain get so little credit from the gay community for what have actually been quite progressive attitudes.

TIGHTENING UP ON THE SMITH COLLEGE CONVOCATION, for fear of embarrassing YouTube videos. They don’t exactly convey the impression of elite academia. “And this is supposed to be a formal event, too. It doesn’t feel like a formal event.”

HEH: I love the Monty Pythonesque graphic.

DID BLACK AFRICANS really admire the U.S. more in the 1950s than today? Hmm. Assume it’s true. What was different then?

QUESTIONS ABOUT DEBATE MODERATOR Gwen Ifill.

UPDATE: More questions here.

UNITED: Obama, McCain urge revival of bailout. As one of my colleagues noted today, they’re giving each other cover on this.

A TRAITOR in Williamsburg.

TRAFFIC: More than 12 Million in September. Thanks for stopping by!