TOM MAGUIRE NOTICES the New York Times noticing the Annenberg Challenge. So does Steve Diamond.

FROM JOE PAPPALARDO, the top 6 Neal Stephenson heroes.

MORE ON THE SARAH PALIN PER DIEM STORY at the Workplace Law Profs blog.

Plus, ABC News on Palin’s record on pork. Less there than some claim.

UPDATE: Some tax issues. More specific facts and law would be helpful, though.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Bruce Bridges emails:

I understand your caution in busting out the champagne with Palin because of course politics are all about cycles and we should expect that things are going to turn towards the negative for her before we reach the election, but you seem to be determined to give credence to criticisms that are baseless. From everything I’ve read, Palin not only vastly under-spent her predecessors in per diem, and we’re talking huge numbers, she acted in accordance with the law. The woman already canned the cook, the driver and the plane, and you still want to fault her for not going above, beyond behind and beside the law on per diem? Give her a break why don’t you.

Every day I’m bombarded by liberal friends with the latest Palin scandal. Each time I reply that I’ll let the facts ultimately tell the story. And every time so far their facts have been proven wrong. I don’t think Palin is a saint but she does seem to be a damned good person.

Could be. So far the “scandals” have been pretty thin gruel.

OKAY, IN CASE YOU THINK I BLOG TOO MUCH ABOUT HYBRIDS, electric cars, and the like, here’s something completely different. With room for a keg or two in back!

WISH I COULD GO: Singularity Summit 2008, October 25.

MORE ON THE UNDERFUNDED PUBLIC PENSION PROBLEM:

Pension spiking (e.g., retroactive increases in pension benefits or pre-retirement promotions that qualify workers for bigger pension benefits), has been a major trend in California since our dot-com boom. . . . In June, it was reported that San Pablo proposed reducing police officers’ retirement age from 55 to 50, with members supposedly to contribute 3.3 percent of their payroll to partly cover the costs. But four days after the pension deal, San Pablo’s new police contract included an additional 3.3 percent raise to offset the payroll deduction, making the pension spike free to employees. This is just one illustration of combining government union power with politicians’ short-term bias, due to re-election campaigns that come before all the effects of their policies become apparent.

The logic for such a back-loaded compensation approach is obvious, despite its harm to citizens. Public employee groups are well-informed about their compensation packages, and do not hesitate to use their political clout to expand them. In contrast, citizens who know their votes won’t alter election outcomes pay little attention. But mushrooming budgets, which become scandals, can get their interest. The political solution has been to reward the influential generously, but dodge public scrutiny by deferring the big bills until retirement. When those obligations come due, politicians will have moved on or be able to hide behind the fait accompli with “there’s nothing we can do now.”

Don’t say you weren’t warned.

EARMARKING PAIN BEGINS TO HIT HOME: “For years members of Congress have been diverting money from their states transportation budgets to pay for their own vanity projects. But now that budgets are tight, states are beginning to miss that money that they need for more essential infrastructure.”

CONTROVERSY OVER hybrid taxis in New York. Seems kind of silly to me.

JEFFREY ROSEN: “The Obama-Biden slate is historic in many ways, but for law professors it has a special cachet: It’s the first time that professors of constitutional law have occupied both slots on a ticket. . . . As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the veteran of some of the most bruising Supreme Court confirmation battles, Biden did more than champion civil liberties. He developed an uncanny knack for making them politically palatable to Middle America. In fact, during the Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas hearings, he shepherded a new and expansive conception of privacy into public discourse. This gift for marketing civil liberties won’t just serve Obama well as he rebuts Republican attacks during the campaign; if the ticket prevails, Biden’s instincts will help guide the selection of judges and the challenging task of reconstructing civil liberties after the assault of the last eight years.”

MY COLLEAGUE BEN BARTON’S ARTICLE ON SCHOLARSHIP AND TEACHING among law professors inspires some comments from Ilya Somin. (Bumped).

MICHAEL TOTTEN: From Baku to Russian-occupied Georgia.

THE SARAH PALIN PER DIEM STORY: This didn’t get much traction, as it turned out that her travel expenses were legal, and much lower than Murkowski’s:

Gov. Palin has spent far less on her personal travel than her predecessor: $93,000 on airfare in 2007, compared with $463,000 spent the year before by her predecessor, Frank Murkowski. He traveled often in an executive jet that Palin called an extravagance during her campaign. She sold it after she was sworn into office.

On the other hand, as a colleague of mine emails:

Would you ever consider billing the state for taking your family on a business trip? If you decided to move to Nashville, would you really expect a per diem for the time you were there? The fact that it may be legal is relevant, but it doesn’t mean it’s right.

And, bottom line, when part of your defense is “I wasn’t as bad as Frank Murkowski” isn’t that a real sign of trouble?

Well, that’s gotta hurt. Though I believe that our state legislators in Tennessee do claim a per diem whenever they’re in Nashville, though I don’t think they get anything for their spouses or kids. The legal-vs.-right distinction is an important one, though it’s one that’s usually missed in political discourse today. Somebody should write a book on that phenomenon. Meanwhile, just remember what I got fussed at for pointing out yesterday: Like everybody else in the running, she’s a politician, not a saint.

UPDATE: Alaska reader Steven Wells writes:

I’ve lived in Wasilla for several years and in Alaska for longer than that. I appreciate your focus on Palin’s record and the political comments. Politically, I am libertarian and I don’t always vote. I did not vote for Sarah Palin because one of the big issues in the 2006 was the gas pipeline. I figured that Tony Knowles had better experience for handling such matters. Palin so far has handled the matter fairly well to my opinion. It is very dangerous to underestimate her. She has handled the Alaska legislature (which is rather like herding cats) and Big Oil deftly and capably.

One matter that has not gotten a great deal of coverage has been Palin’s judicial selections. Alaska follows the Missouri plan, so Palin’s picks for judges are not on a blank slate. Nonetheless, she has appointed a number of women to the bench, including some current and former public defenders. She has not seemed to really push a strong conservative agenda regarding her judicial appointments.

One other interesting matter: McCain has risen about 7 – 8 points on intrade.com in the last week. It’s been fairly consistent with Obama at ~60%, McCain at about 40% until the last couple of days. Now, Obama’s about 51% and McCain’s at about 48%.

I live up here because Alaska is very different and much more free than the lower 48 and I’m not sure I like the attention we’re getting with Palin’s candidacy. I’m also not convinced I am going to vote, let along vote for her ticket, but it is interesting to watch this political dynamic. Thanks for the updates. Keep up the good work.

Yes, as I’ve mentioned before, a year or two ago it looked like we’d be seeing a grim slugfest between Rudy and Hillary. Say what you will, this election has been a lot more entertaining.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Edward Tabakin emails:

The “I wasn’t as bad as Frank Murkowski” defense? 93,000/463,000 is 20%. Could a bean counter go over Palin’s charges and find a few that are questionable. Probably. But is that the standard you want? As you say, she’s a politician, not a saint. But the bean counter is applying a saint’s standard. Dismissing, as your colleague did, the difference between Palin and Murkowski’s pre diem charges throws out the main point, that Palin traveled at 1/5th the cost of her predecessor.

Bottom line: I think your “ouch” was unwarranted.

Could be. The “scandals” have been pretty thin gruel.

WELL, GOOD: “Iraq is poised to receive a flood of foreign investment, thanks to improved security. More than $74 billion in projects have been submitted for government approval in just the past five months, according to Iraq’s state investment regulator. The investors include companies from the U.S., Europe, and Gulf Arab states. Their proposals all involve sectors other than oil, including a $13 billion new port for the southern city of Basra, several hotels and thousands of housing units nationwide, says Ahmed Ridha, the chairman of Iraq’s National Investment Commission.”

But there’s also this: Pentagon chief cites caution on U.S. troop pullout. “Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told Congress Wednesday that the United States has entered the ‘end game’ in Iraq, but cautioned that the next president should expect to be in Iraq ‘for years to come.'” This is more troubling, though: “Mullen told the panel that while he is not convinced the coalition is winning in Afghanistan, ‘I am convinced we can.'”

The upside, I guess, is that he’s sounding like Michael Yon, meaning that the message has been received. The downside is that . . . the message is, we’re not winning now.

PROGRESS AT THE OAK RIDGE uranium fortress.

IN THE MAIL: Fatal Vows: The Tragic Wives of Sergeant Drew Peterson.

JAMES LILEKS gets screedy. “Bronze that paragraph!”

INSTA-POLL: The “Lipstick on a Pig” comment.

FRIENDLY FIRE at The Washington Post.

GOOD THING THAT DOESN’T HAPPEN HERE: Iraqi politicians saying one thing and doing another.

ROGER KIMBALL: Give the Pig Thing a Rest. And reader Gary Lamontagne writes:

Look, I’m not voting for Obama in any universe, but I just can’t believe the guy would make that kind of statement or insinuation regarding McCain and Palin. I mean, at the height of the Democratic Palin frenzy after her announcement, wasn’t he the voice of reason? Didn’t he say in his convention speech something to the effect “John McCain loves this country…” as a show of respect?

I’m sure it won’t happen, but wouldn’t it be nice if McCain had instead a) ignored the remarks, or b) basically made a statement that he did not interpret the remarks as offensive and the matter should be
dropped.

I know the race is close, but, man another 60 or so days of THIS?? How many hours is that…

It’ll get worse before it gets better, or I miss my guess.

DAVID PLOTZ: I dream of Sarah Palin. Do you?

A LOOK AT law professor campaign contributions. Democrats are heavily favored over Republicans. But then, Obama and Biden are both law professors, while McCain and Palin aren’t even lawyers.

UPDATE: Obama is also the third highest recipient of Fannie Mae money in the Senate, after John Kerry and, of course, Chris Dodd.

TURNS OUT THAT THE SCOTT CROSSFIELD BOOK that I mentioned yesterday is available for free online from the Scott Crossfield Foundation. Cool.

I’M NOT SEEING A LOT OF TRACTION HERE: Libertarian VP candidate wants Barack Obama to release his grades.

REBOOTING AMERICA is out from the Personal Democracy Forum. I’ve got a chapter in it.