JEFFREY GOLDBERG: Does Zakaria Misinterpret Iranian Intentions? “When ayatollahs start talking about Islamic morality, I run for the exits. Their ideas about what constitute moral acts are not, generally speaking, ours.” Run for the exits, reach for your revolver. Whatever.

ANOTHER OPRAH-STYLE MEDIA PANIC IMPLODES: ‘Sexting’ no worse than spin-the-bottle: study.

CHRIS DODD UPDATE: Angelo Mozilo’s defensive options.

As the man allegedly behind an unofficial effort to provide discounted loans to favored borrowers, which is now under federal scrutiny, he knows which politicians and others may have received special treatment. He could use that information to bargain with prosecutors. . . . Salerno said the Justice Department appeared to be investigating whether the program amounted to improper influence peddling by Countrywide and whether the politicians had failed to publicly report favors from Mozilo.

And that, legal experts said, could give Mozilo another strategy: a chance to cut a deal with prosecutors in exchange for his testimony. “He’s in a position, potentially, to say who else Congress had their hands out to,” Levenson said.

Which could be interesting.

NEW JERSEY’S public pension bomb.

EURABIA in Rotterdam.

SOME QUESTIONS FOR SOTOMAYOR, from George Mason University law professor Neomi Rao. And some more from Coast Guard Academy law professor Glenn Sulmasy.

SOTOMAYOR’S APPOINTMENT AS A consolation prize for the abandonment of comprehensive immigration reform?

BANNING KEBABS BECAUSE OF THEIR OVERSIZED CARBON FOOTPRINT?

Then why can’t we do the same thing with politicians and bureaucrats?

FRED KAPLAN: “Obama shouldn’t respond too quickly, or too aggressively, to the North Korean nuclear test.” I don’t think he needs to worry . . . .

THEY AREN’T CALLING IT “GOVERNMENT MOTORS” FOR NOTHING: U.S. Expected to Own 70% of Restructured G.M.

TENNESSEE’S SICK NUCLEAR WORKERS HAVE GOTTEN A BILLION DOLLARS, but there’s a catch: “Bell said much more money has been spent on compensation than on medical benefits. That probably means the program came too late to help many sick workers when they really needed it and it went to their survivors instead, he said.”

UPDATE: A former student emails:

The EEOICPA pays up to $400,000 per family. To collect, workers have to have certain types of illnesses and must have worked in specific locations during specific times. Workers must prove their degree of disability in order to collect. My step-father was diagnosed in early 2006 with a qualifying-type of cancer after working at ORNL during qualifying windows of time. I went around and around with the Departments of Energy and Labor, who each have a hand in administering the program. By the end of 2006, it was clear that he was not going to make it, and the DOL finally agreed that he was fully disabled. They approved him in early January for compensation. The last time he signed his name was on that paperwork. He died two weeks later. The funds appeared in the bank two weeks after that. Once the government realized he had died before the check arrived, they reversed the payment. They eventually paid my mother a survivor’s benefit, which was $100k less than they would have had to pay.

They have everything to gain and nothing to lose by dragging their feet until the worker dies, because survivors can’t collect as much as an injured worker.

If a private company did this it would be a big media scandal. But since it’s the government . . . .

CONOR CLARKE: Why are women better off, but less happy?

UPDATE: On Bloggingheads TV, Ann Althouse’s theory on why women are unhappy.

THE CHICAGO WAY: Burris on tape offering a check for Blagojevich.

HOUSES: A crappy long-term investment. “Since 1987, when the Case-Shiller index of 10 major cities begins, it’s risen from an index value of 63 to 151. Annual return: Just 4.1% a year. During that period, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, consumer prices rose by 3% a year. Net result: Home prices produced a real return of just 1.15% a year over inflation over that time.” That’s certainly been my experience. I bought my first house going on 20 years ago, and over all those years I’ve never made much money.

But people around here are still asking ridiculous prices — I see houses bought in 2005 or 2006, at the peak of the market, offered at prices that assume 10% annual appreciation when in fact the owners should be thrilled to unload them for what they paid. That suggests to me that, as the article suggests, we’re a long way from market capitulation outside the big bubble markets.

IN CANADA: Plagiarizing copyright materials.

INTERNET ACCELERATING SPEED CAMERA FOES. Well, good.

L.A. TIMES: How Obama’s team ensures his messages get delivered properly. Besides, you know, JournoList and the like.

MORE ON SOTOMAYOR: Damon Root writes on Why libertarians—and everyone who believes in limited government—should worry about Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee.

Plus, a roundup from The Anchoress, and a debate on Judge Sotomayor’s savings between Greg Mankiw and Tom Smith.

And, Jan Crawford Greenburg on how it happened.

Also, Kerry Howley on the cruel tyranny of wise Latinas.

TED OLSON goes to court on behalf of gay marriage.

MORE LOCAL ACTION BY TEA PARTY FOLKS: “Sen. Mike Crapo says he understands the frustrations of those that have been protesting federal spending and rising national debt. The Idaho Republican met Monday in Idaho Falls with organizers of the local anti-tax Tea Party protest, held last month in cities across the state and nation. The Boise rally drew an estimated 2,500 people.”

GOING AFTER A.I.G. HYPOCRISY. Heh.

A NEW ION-POWERED NETBOOK from Lenovo.

DAHLIA LITHWICK, now and then. We have always never been at war with the misogynists!

HOPE AND CHANGE! Army chief says US ready to be in Iraq 10 years. “The Pentagon is prepared to leave fighting forces in Iraq for as long as a decade despite an agreement between the United States and Iraq that would bring all American troops home by 2012, the top U.S. Army officer said Tuesday. . . . He spoke at an invitation-only briefing to a dozen journalists and policy analysts from Washington-based think-tanks. He said his planning envisions combat troops in Iraq and Afghanistan for a decade as part of a sustained U.S. commitment to fighting extremism and terrorism in the Middle East.” They told me if I voted for McCain we might still be in Iraq in 2020 — and they were right!

A SUPREME COURT THAT LOOKS LIKE AMERICA: If America were 2/3 Catholic.

UPDATE: Er, no. “Think we’ll see a cartoon like this regarding the Sotomayor appointment?”