HMM: Claims that the Sun-Sentinel is rigging an online poll on guns. That’s certainly happened elsewhere in the past, but there may be another reason.

Here’s the poll in question. I’ve emailed the Sun-Sentinel folks to ask for an explanation.

UPDATE: Still haven’t heard back.

HOLLYWOOD won’t give up on Bush.

ROGER KIMBALL: Sanity and Principle at Ford Motor Company: “Will wonders never cease? The head of a major (well, formerly major) American company has said No to a government hand out! Yes, really. Well, sort of.” Read the whole thing.

JOHN STOSSEL: Don’t Panic! “Have we become so fragile that we can’t handle any recession?”

A BAILOUT FOR JOURNALISM: In France. “Would subsidizing the consumption of VHS tapes be a good way to help the movie industry?” Danger, Will Robinson!

HOPE THEY TURN OUT TO BE RIGHT: Air Travel Won’t Suck in 2093.

ROGER SIMON: Gaza Aftermath: Dinner With Friends in Dark Times.

JOHN AND BARACK AND TED AND CAROLINE.

UPDATE: What Maureen Dowd misses is that both Blagojevich and Paterson rolled Obama on Senate picks. And rubbed it in, hard.

Related thoughts from Don Surber: “Sen. Gillibrand’s major crime seems to be that she is 15 years younger and better looking than Miss Dowd. The biggest obstacle a woman faces in seeking a high office is other women.” Speaking of rubbing it in.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Kennedy Family “Furious” with Paterson.

IN THE MAIL: Samuel Huntington’s Who Are We: The Challenges to America’s National Identity.

IT TAKES A WHILE TO GET USED TO A NEW HOUSE: “Some beginnings are easier than others — for the Obama team, getting in is half the battle… Shortly after 4 p.m., the stench of smoke began filtering back to the press booths in the White House. . . . The culprit? None other than Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton who — on his third day in the White House — was still having a little trouble working the door. Trying to get into the briefing room from the outside, Burton inadvertently short circuited the electronic door opener, causing small plumes of smoke to fill into the inside of the briefing room.”

UPDATE: An amusing Far Side angle.

FAMILY AFFAIR: “Dismissed for 175 years as a fake, a letter threatening the assassination of President Andrew Jackson has been found to be authentic. And, says the director of the Andrew Jackson Papers Project at the University of Tennessee, the writer was none other than Junius Brutus Booth, father of Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth.”

DAVE KOPEL looks at inaugural coverage.

WHAT WOULD GOOGLE DO? In today’s New York Post, I’ve got a review of Jeff Jarvis’s new book.

HEH. I almost went with this take, too.

TALKLEFT: Obama’s Phony Ban on Lobbyists.

IF THERE’S GOING TO BE A FAIRNESS DOCTRINE, should it apply to Whitehouse.gov? “Whitehouse.gov is a primary means of communication from the federal government to citizens, and is a tax-funded resource. Of all places that should be subject to federal speech requirements, shouldn’t it be at the top of the list?”

TOM SMITH: Who will bail out the Fed?

Related item here.

25 PEOPLE AT THE HEART OF THE MELTDOWN: Including this one:

Christopher Dodd, chairman, Senate banking committee (Democrat)
Consistently resisted efforts to tighten regulation on the mortgage finance firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He pushed to broaden their role to dodgier mortgages in an effort to help home ownership for the poor. Received $165,000 in donations from Fannie and Freddie from 1989 to 2008, more than anyone else in Congress.

Plus, the sweetheart deal from Countrywide. Don’t forget that . . . . Oh, wait, here it is:

Angelo Mozilo, Countrywide Financial
Known as “the orange one” for his luminous tan, Mozilo was the chairman and chief executive of the biggest American sub-prime mortgage lender, which was saved from bankruptcy by Bank of America. BoA recently paid billions to settle investigations by various attorney generals for Countrywide’s mis-selling of risky loans to thousands who could not afford them. The company ran a “VIP programme” that provided loans on favourable terms to influential figures including Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Senate banking committee, the heads of the federal-backed mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and former assistant secretary of state Richard Holbrooke.

Good thing none of these “Friends of Angelo” are in important positions now!

VITAMIN D UPDATE: Elderly people with cognitive impairment have less vitamin D in their bodies than the non-cognitively impaired.

I should plan another Cayman trip, just to be on the safe side. What, you want me to take a pill?

STILL MORE on Robert Reich’s racial views. “Mr. Reich’s comments–and the culture of coercive political correctness out of which they emerged–deserve much more public exposure and criticism than they have yet received.”

HMM: Unsuccessful Iowa Legal Writing Faculty Candidate Sues, Claiming Discrimination Due to Her Conservative Views.

BLOWHARDS: Wind Power on Nantucket Sound.

ANOTHER ONE: “The former Senate Majority Leader for New York, Joseph L. Bruno, was charged with mail and wire fraud in an eight count Indictment.”

People pretty much agree that politicians are crooks — and then somehow think they can be trusted with money and power more than folks in the private sector. Uh huh.

POLITICO: Bush’s legal foes now Obama’s legal team. I just hope that Justice Department hiring in general won’t be politicized like it was under Bush.

GET USED TO IT: Dolls Resembling Daughters Displease First Lady.