FAITH-BASED INITIATIVES: Once scary, now not.

NOAH POLLAK: Who Is Human Rights Watch’s Joe Stork? Further devaluing the term “human rights.”

RADLEY BALKO: “I plan to do a lot more shopping at Whole Foods in the coming weeks. Mostly in response to the moronic boycott of the store now gaining momentum on the left. . . . Whole Foods is everything leftists talk about when they talk about ‘corporate responsibility.’ . . . Is this really the state of debate on the left, now? ‘Agree with us, or we’ll crush you?’ These people don’t want a discussion. They don’t want to hear ideas. They want you to shut up and do what they say, or they’re going to punish you.”

My thoughts on the boycott are here. And it’s cute that Radley thinks this attitude is something new.

ASTROTURF IN PORTSMOUTH:

I was in Portsmouth on Tuesday broadcasting “On The Air With Jennifer Horn” live from outside President Barack Obama’s town hall at Portsmouth High School. I had a firsthand view of the protests that took place, and there is no question that there is a certain “Astroturf” sensibility to some of these protests.

But, at least in Portsmouth, it was not the anti-government, health care protest that looked manufactured. With charter buses dropping off crowds of protesters from other states, professionally printed signs and an AFL-CIO banner, it was the smaller group of pro-government health care protesters that had the appearance of corporate organization.

Since when have we, as a nation, demonized the expression of free speech? For the past few weeks, citizens across the country have been attending the town halls of their elected representatives to express their concerns about the massive redefinition of health care delivery contained in H.R. 3200, and they have been excoriated and attacked for doing so.

Since when? I think it was January 20, 2009. That’s when dissent stopped being the highest form of patriotism. Related thoughts here. “Michael Crowley, although white and a man, and rather angry at the Angry White Men who are angry at Obama, is not an Angry White Man. That’s because he’s on the Left and an Obama supporter, so that makes him immune to the charge.”

UPDATE: Here’s Sissy Willis’s blog report from Portsmouth, with lots of pictures.

JAY COST: Obama misread his mandate.

QUESTIONS ON Robin Givhan and men’s suits. The media has certainly set up a nice double-bind for the Town Hall crowds: Show up in a suit and you’re phony. Show up in casual clothes and you’re a bunch of dumb hicks. The question is whether anyone cares anymore.

Plus, Geraldo loses it. He probably looks down on mere Brooks Brothers — for him, it’s got to be Brioni or Zegna all the way! I still miss his Katrina coverage, though.

LIFE IMITATES Westlaw Natural Language Search.

HEH: “After news broke that music legend Bob Dylan was picked up by a New Jersey cop who failed to recognize him, President Barack Obama has invited the duo to the White House for what aides are calling a ‘bong summit.'”

A NEW INFECTIOUS THREAT: George W. Bush-by-Proxy Syndrome. Can we model it like Zombie infestations?

APPARENTLY, A CANADIAN-STYLE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM DOESN’T SOLVE THE HEALTH CRISIS. At least, not in Canada.

The incoming president of the Canadian Medical Association says this country’s health-care system is sick and doctors need to develop a plan to cure it.

Dr. Anne Doig says patients are getting less than optimal care and she adds that physicians from across the country – who will gather in Saskatoon on Sunday for their annual meeting – recognize that changes must be made.

“We all agree that the system is imploding, we all agree that things are more precarious than perhaps Canadians realize,” Doing said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

“We know that there must be change,” she said. “We’re all running flat out, we’re all just trying to stay ahead of the immediate day-to-day demands.”

Hey, here’s a thought: Try this newfangled free-market thing. It’s an idea so crazy it just might work!