TUNKU VARADARAJAN: Carlos Slim and the New York Times. “Slim is here to bring them down to earth.”

JULES CRITTENDEN ON Responsible, Professional, Fact-Based, Emotion-Free Blogging.

KARL ROVE goes on tour.

ANCIENT ARMORED WHALES.

THOUSANDS OF PAKISTANI ISLAMISTS protest Barack Obama. Guess he’s not change they can believe in!

FASTER, PLEASE: A virus that rebuilds damaged nerves?

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS is coming to DVD.

REPLACING BILL KRISTOL with Ann Althouse? They could do worse. And probably will!

UNDERFUNDED / OVERGENEROUS PENSIONS pit taxpayers against state workers in Illinois. “If you think Bernie Madoff had a Ponzi scheme going, wait until the wave of boomer retirement hits the reality of pension underfunding.”

DAMON ROOT: FDR’s court-packing plan and the temptations of executive power.

E.U. OFFICIAL: Hamas Responsible for Gaza.

COLBERT KING: I was in Geithner shoes and . . .

WELCOMING OUR NEW FEDERALIST OVERLORDS: Bill Quick looks at Obama’s plan to let states set emission levels and suggests letting states “set their own, more liberal gun ownership policies.” I think Tennessee might legalize full-auto if allowed . . . .

ADVICE TO HOME SELLERS: “If you want to sell your house in the foreseeable future, ask your agent to pull all the competing listings in your price range and neighborhood and then go see them. If you are capable of employing an objective eye and you see a better house priced lower than yours, cut your price. Right away.”

HEH.

OBAMA’S “Graciousness Deficit.”

NETBOOK CARNAGE: $200 Laptops Break a Business Model.

IN THE MAIL: Heart and Soul, by Sarah Hoyt. Along with Heart of Light, and Soul of Fire.

As I learned earlier, she’s an InstaPundit reader!

MICKEY KAUS:

On Wednesday, UAW President Ron Gettelfinger predicted there would be no wage cuts as part of the union’s concessions to GM and Chrysler. Gettelfinger argued Toyota’s workers actually make $2-per-hour more than UAW workers, if you count bonuses. But … but. … Toyota did not go bankrupt. … Toyota hasn’t had to be rescued with $17.4 billion of taxpayer money. … If Toyota can afford to pay its workers $2/hour more than UAW workers–perhaps because it doesn’t have to build cars under the union’s legalistic work rule system–that’s great. It doesn’t mean Gettelfinger’s workers have a right to $28/hour if at that wage their employers can’t stay in business without an ongoing multi-billion dollar subsidy. I’m sorry if this seems obvious. It’s apparently not obvious enough.

As Fran Ansley once told me about law teaching “you can never be too obvious.”

CHARLES RANGEL UPDATE: Rangel ethics inquiries vex House leaders. “A renewed ethics probe of Rep. Charles B. Rangel of New York poses an embarrassing distraction for House Democrats, as the Ways and Means Committee that he leads will oversee House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s plans for an $825 billion economic rescue and a tax increase on wealthy Americans. . . . Mrs. Pelosi resisted calls for the long-serving New York Democrat to give up the chairmanship, despite revelations that Mr. Rangel failed to pay more than $10,000 in taxes on rental income from his villa in the Dominican Republic and may have received an improper financial benefit from leasing four rent-stabilized New York apartments for use as a residence and a campaign office.”

SKATEBOARDING in Kabul.

FABIUS MAXIMUS on security theater.

COULD BLACK HOLES FROM THE LARGE HADRON COLLIDER last longer than expected? (Via Kurzweil).

MORE ON lowering the drinking age.

POST: KENNEDYS LIVID AS GOV ASKED CAROLINE TO ‘LIE’. Say what you will about having governors fill vacant Senate seats, but it certainly has high entertainment value.