PHIL SPECTOR found guilty.

BAINBRIDGE ON ORNSTEIN ON BAINBRIDGE ON KOH.

SQUEEZING OUT SUPREME COURT JUSTICES? The timing of this proposal is suspiciously convenient.

BARACK OBAMA’S India-Pakistan Mess.

CHRIS STIREWALT:

It hasn’t taken long for Democrats to succumb to the same arrogance that helped tank Republicans last year.

Just as conservatives once mocked the online wave that helped Barack Obama surf into the White House, liberals are now heaping scorn on the tea party movement. This Web phenomenon may bring tens of thousands of small-government conservatives to tax day rallies across the country Wednesday. . . . It’s an outgrowth of the tax-revolt movement that has been simmering on the libertarian right for years.

Indeed.

FISKING A Supreme Court Justice? Pretty much.

CARBON TAXES TO hit big coal electric states hardest.

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES: The Seat Belt Taught Us How Safety Promotes Risk. I had some related thoughts on this subject here.

THE SEVEN WORDS YOU CAN’T SAY on Saudi license plates.

KIDS, DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME. Er, or anywhere else. . . Smoking Smarties candy.

JUST BECAUSE THERE’S A FINANCIAL CRISIS doesn’t mean we can’t afford fancy bathrooms for politicians. We’re never that broke!

IN BED with an ACORN affiliate.

CENTAURI DREAMS: Friedwardt Winterberg on Starship Design. But is Icarus a good name for a fusion-powered starship? . . . .

NANOTECHNOLOGY UPDATE: Cellulose Airplanes? “A Canadian research organization says wood could be incorporated into next-generation aircraft designs, but don’t expect to see two-by-fours in the bulkheads. In his technology blog , Seattle Times writer Brier Dudley reports that a technology forum recently heard from FP Innovations President Jim Dangerfield, who said the firm has applied nanotechnology to cellulose and can extract nanomaterials that, in combination with other materials, could find their way into aircraft.”

TEA PARTIES AND REVISIONISM: Jon Henke corrects Paul Krugman on the difference between “astroturf” and “grassroots organizing.”

If I said Paul Krugman was a plagiarist because he quoted other people in his columns (with attribution), that would be ridiculous. I would owe him a correction. And possibly monetary damages. Words mean things.

Yet, in today’s New York Times column (in which he makes some reasonable points about the sad state of the Republican Party), Paul Krugman grossly misuses a term to libel a variety of people. What Freedomworks and various other organizations are doing is not “astroturf” any more than the anti-war protests of some years back were astroturf because ANSWER and Moveon.org helped organize people around those events. Astroturfing is paid activism by an organization; it is not genuine grassroots activism that funded groups are simply helping to organize.

The Center for American Progress & Think Progress, of all groups, should know better than to use the word “astroturf” against funded, ideological 501c(4) organizations that are trying to organize activists. Especially considering how many funded, ideological 501c(4) organizations they have trying to organize activists.

Read the whole thing.

UPDATE: Related item here. Yes, the irony of Jane “where’s my cut?” Hamsher calling people astroturf is . . . well, pretty predictable, actually.

GEORGE WILL ON THE EMPRESS CASINO TAKINGS CASE. Plus some corrections and amplifications by Ilya Somin.

THE TOP 10 TELESCOPES of all time.

THE CARNIVAL OF THE CAPITALISTS IS UP!

AS SEEN ON TV: Testing out the Grill Daddy Pro.

ELECTRIC CARS COULD BRING problems to the grid. “When a Chevrolet Volt is plugged into a 240-volt outlet, it will use about 3.3 kilowatts of power, or about the same amount of power as a dishwasher or air conditioner. Most people are already familiar with what can happen when thousands of air conditioners are plugged in and running at the same time during the summer: brownouts.” Setting things up for off-peak charging can fix this, and there are even prospects for turning this bug into a feature, but . . . . (Via The Blogging Prof). I had a post on this problem a while back.

IN THE MAIL: By David Marsh, The Euro: The Politics of the New Global Currency. You’ll never guess who gives it a stellar cover blurb. Well, okay, you might.

HMM: White House Mum On Legislation That Would Nix Bush “State Secrets Privilege”. “The White House’s silence on the bill will give more fodder to critics who charge that Obama has broken a campaign promise to dramatically scale back use of the Bush legal maneuver and wants the latitude to use it himself.” Meet the new boss, yada yada.

EVERYONE SHOULD PAY INCOME TAXES. Well, everyone or no one. . . .

MICKEY KAUS: “Why might the Obama administration want to raise the topic of possible immigrant mass legalization even if it’s not going to happen this year? Even if you assume such talk encourages more people to come here illegally–in the hope of qualifying for the amnesty–or at least discourages illegals currently in the country from going home during the recession, what good would that do Democrats? Illegal immigrants can’t vote. … It’s not as if there is a once-every-10-years Census starting up in which areas with more illegals will get more money and representation!”

CELLPHONE TAXES IN NEW YORK amount to over 20% of the bill. More if you’re poor.