IRAQIS ARE UPSET:

The overall level of violence in the country continues to decline, despite the occasional terrorist bombing. This has led to continued economic growth, and more Iraqis are using their freedom of movement, and action, to protest government incompetence. The inept performance of elected and appointed officials is more stark in Iraq, where economic freedom has created many spectacularly successful entrepreneurs, and a growing middle class. Thus it is obvious that Iraqis can get things done, and more Iraqis are openly upset at the poor performance of their elected officials.

I guess that’s why our own government is trying to stifle entrepreneurship — to get rid of that embarrassing contrast . . . .

WEAPONS FAILURES IN AFGHANISTAN. “A small but vocal number of troops in Afghanistan and Iraq has complained that the standard-issue M4 rifles need too much maintenance and jam at the worst possible times.”

MARK TAPSCOTT: The Truth About The Baucus Bill — Part 1.

MANDATORY Flu Vaccinations.

SPIN: GOP loses, blame Bush’s unpopularity; Dems lose, blame Obama’s popularity?

MARGE SIMPSON poses for Playboy.

CHECK OUT THIS LIST OF “census partners.” This is looking like a train wreck.

NEXT YEAR, will there be a place for Linux on the desktop?

FINED FOR inadequate health insurance.

MAYBE MY PRAISE FOR OBAMA’S GAY SPEECH CAME TOO SOON: At least the gay community is more skeptical. “Forgive me for not being excited by promises. Forgive me for not feeling as hopeful as I was on November 4, 2008.”

Plus, “We don’t need a cheerleader. We need a President.”

Also, “Is President Obama a Sissy?” “I fear he’s too stuck in the past with what happened to Bill Clinton in 1993 and Rahm Emanuel is standing right there by his side confirming that fear.”

And John Aravosis writes: “Where’s the beef? . . . Obama repeated his campaign promises. That was it.”

UPDATE: More criticism rounded up here: “It appears that the gay community is holding Obama to a higher standard than the Nobel committee. Obama’s past approach – Let’s divide this up; I’ll talk, you swoon – isn’t working.” Apparently, I let my reflexive Obama-optimism get ahead of me here . . . .

NEWSWEEK: Obama as Gorbachev. “Granted, the comparison is more than a little overripe, even alarmist–the United States is still the world’s most powerful country, and it is in no danger of collapsing like the Soviet Union. But there are disturbing parallels. . . . As Obama finds himself bogged down in one nearly impossible issue after another—financial reform, health care, budget deficits, Afghanistan—while meeting with a solid wall of GOP opposition, some around the world wonder whether the America everyone used to look to for leadership is unreformable itself.”

Hey — I predicted “thumbsucker columns on whether America is ‘ungovernable!'” Right on schedule!

And I’ll repeat my earlier question: If Obama is America’s Gorbachev, who will be America’s Putin?

UPDATE: A reader emails:

Aren’t you missing a step? Isn’t the more relevant question at this point: “Who will be America’s Yeltsin?” That is, who will steward the post-“reform” America into such comprehensive ruin that we actively long for a return to the glory of the recent past, no matter how ghastly the baggage that goes with that?

America’s Putin? Who can say? That’s a beast slouching toward Bethlehem waiting to be born. But America’s Yeltsin? I definitely think Joe Biden is up to the task. Mitt Romney, too. Does anyone have Jerry Brown’s email address? Teddy Kennedy would have been perfect for the role, and there’s nothing that says he can’t do it posthumously. There’s no shortage of candidates for the Yeltsin role.

Yeah, the Yeltsin slot’s one for which most of the Senate is suited. Hence my skipping a step . . . .

Okay, actually that’s not quite fair. Yeltsin did actually demonstrate courage a time or two.

UPDATE: Reader Douglas McRae writes that ungovernability isn’t a bug, it’s a feature!

How do I personally go about making this country ungovernable in a thousand small instances of civil misobedience? Some ideas would be file my income tax forms on April 15th on paper by mail, listing my race as NOYB (none of your business), weekly emails to my legislators, etc.

Civil “misobedience”? I like that. Sounds like some sort of work-to-rule campaign . . .

A “PINCH-SULZBERGER-APPROVED REPUBLICAN” running against Chris Dodd? If so, that suggests that the Dems are really worried about that seat . . . .

FINED FOR inadequate insurance.

BOB KERREY: “No serious leader in Kabul is asking us to leave. Instead we are being asked to withdraw by American leaders who begin their analysis with the presumption that victory is not possible. They seem to want to ensure defeat by leaving at the very moment when our military leader on the ground has laid out a coherent and compelling strategy for victory.”

(Via Ann Althouse).

MATT WELCH ON THE NOBEL: “Giving Americans trophies is a funny way of punishing us for being self-centered. Particularly when the accomplishment being rewarded is mere existence.”

STATING THE OBVIOUS: Top Judge Calls Calif. Government ‘Dysfunctional’.

UPDATE: Reader William Harrington emails:

In your post you comment that the judge is stating the obvious in calling California government dysfunctional. But it’s important to note that he apparently doesn’t consider the elected officials to be dysfunctional. Instead, he blames the voters. Government is dysfunctional in the judge’s eyes principally because California voters, using the referendum process, created a requirement of a supermajority to raise taxes and consequently “California’s lawmakers, and the state itself, have been placed in a fiscal straitjacket by a steep two-thirds-vote requirement — imposed at the ballot box — for raising taxes.”

It apparently didn’t occur to the judge that Californians might not want to make it easy for their legislature to enact confiscatory taxes, or that California’s fiscal mess could be resolved through cuts to profligate spending rather than to continue to shovel ever-increasing amounts of taxpayer dollars into government’s gaping maw. Rather, he sees the voters and the referendum process as impediments to unrestrained government spending.

It’s astonishing to see how many of our public officials appear to be firmly convinced that the people work for the government, and not the other way around.

Excellent point. And it would seem that Justice Ronald George has raised questions about his ability to rule fairly in questions involving ballot initiatives.

GLOBAL WARMING UPDATE: Game 3 of the Phillies-Rockies playoff on Saturday night has been postponed because of cold, snowy weather.

OKAY, SO I WROTE ABOUT these Sony noise-cancelling headphones a couple of weeks ago, but now I see that they’re vastly cheaper in white. Go figure.

UPDATE: Okay, it’s $39.95, which is 20 bucks less than I paid, and 25 bucks less than they’re asking for the ones I bought now. And the only difference is color.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Geez, that was fast. They’ve already raised the price — in less than half an hour. This is like some kind of Heisenberg-pricing, where if I point it out, it changes . . . .

MORE VETTING PROBLEMS.

“I’M AN OLD, HORNY WOMAN.”

THEY STILL SPELL IT “AMERIKA.”

WELL, GOOD: Obama to end Clinton’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Policy. (Via Gateway Pundit). He’s also calling for an end to the Defense Of Marriage Act.

UPDATE: Obama deserves extra credit for bucking the prejudices of African-Americans on gay rights.

MORE: Reader David Cho thinks I’m overoptimistic: “You don’t actually expect Obama to keep his word, do you? This will end up like his promise to close Gitmo. I’m amazed anyone believes anything he says.” Well, we’ll see.

STILL MORE: Thoughts from Don Surber.

BYRON YORK: Support for tougher gun laws at lowest point in decades.

TUCSON TEA PARTY UPDATE: “About 6,000 people descended Saturday on Tucson Electric Park for the Tucson Tea Party event, billed as Tucson’s Last Stand. The event kicked off with Tucson Tea Party organizer Trent Humphries expressing his own brand of hope for the future: ‘I love the smell of freedom in the morning.’ By 8:07 a.m., nearly two hours before the speeches began, the main parking lot of the Tucson Electric Park was filling up.”

THE ZOOM Q3: A pocket camcorder with stereo sound.