DEBTORS’ PRISON not entirely extinct.

AT AMAZON, it’s the DVD Outlet Sale.

Plus, the DVD Deal of the Week: Gods And Generals.

JOHN HINDERAKER spots some encouraging poll data.

THIS DOESN’T INSPIRE CONFIDENCE: Germany Considers Ban On Sovereign Bond Sales? “Ms Merkel said she would consider calls from her party colleagues for legislation to bar institutional investors such as insurance companies from selling bonds when ratings were downgraded, or fell below investment grade.” One hopes this never passes, because it’s idiotic — but I suspect rational bondholders will begin dumping bonds now just in case, which makes the statement itself idiotic.

On the other hand, perhaps she simply meant changing the rules so that they won’t have to sell bonds when they’re downgraded below investment grade. That might actually make sense, but it’s not what the report says.

UPDATE: This report suggests the latter:

Meanwhile, in a move to circumvent their influence, Germany’s Merkel backed a proposal to reduce the reliance of institutional investors on ratings agencies, which some of her allies say are politically driven.

The idea would be to introduce legislation to allow institutional investors to evaluate risk themselves and make decisions independent from the U.S.-based agencies.

So it sounds like they’re trying to arrange things so a downgrade doesn’t immediately force massive sell-offs, rather than actually banning such sales.

FROM PEDAGOGY to “Peeragogy?”

MARGARET THATCHER ON SOCIALISM.

NANOTECHNOLOGY UPDATE: Advanced nanofactories in twenty years?

NITA GHEI: The Class Warfare Toxin.

HE’S JUST AFRAID OF GLENN GREENWALD’S WRATH: Leon Panetta Denies U.S. Involvment In Iran Nuclear Assassinations.

DAVID BERNSTEIN outperforms Tim Geithner. Yeah, that’s setting the bar low.

LEGAL EDUCATION UPDATE: While Law Schools Dither Over Reform, the Legal Profession May be Passing Them By.

WHEN TOO MUCH VITAMIN D is counterproductive.

UPDATE: Reader John Walker writes:

It’s worth noting that the research cited in the New York Times piece studied only a single aspect of the effects of vitamin D: the level of C-reactive protein (CRP) in the blood. But vitamin D has a long list of other well-documented effects, in particular upon the metabolism of calcium: insufficient levels of vitamin D can lead to low bone mineral density, risk of fractures in older people, and in extreme cases, rickets. There is evidence that calcium supplementation in the absence of adequate 25OHD levels in the blood may deposit calcium in soft tissues, including calcification of the arteries. Vitamin D is also linked to immune system performance.

It may be the case, as this research reports, that a serum 25OHD level of 21 ng/mL is optimal for CRP levels, but that says nothing about whether that level is optimal or even sufficient for its other functions. There are certainly indications that higher levels are beneficial in calcium metabolism. Hence choosing an optimum level for its overall effect on health and reducing mortality requires striking a balance among all of the effects of vitamin D, not just one.

As always, the authoritative reference for such matters is the indispensable “PDR for Nutritional Supplements.”

Excellent points.

JON HUNTSMAN’S MANDARIN MOMENTS FAIL TO IMPRESS: “And frankly, I think Huntsman’s stance toward China is — it’s almost like he’s an Obama plant.”

JIM TREACHER ON PISSGATE: Uh-oh… if we don’t watch out, the Taliban won’t like us anymore!

GERARD VAN DER LEUN: This is not a “Vote-For” election. This is a “Vote-Against” election. This is not a “Sit-It-Out-And-Pout” election. This is a “Get-Obama-Out” election. That is what it is about and that is all it is about.

UPDATE: Republican Primary Voters seem to get it: SC Republicans Boo Newt Gingrich Over Romney Attacks. 11th-commandment violations haven’t helped anyone this election cycle. Just ask Tim Pawlenty. (Bumped).

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Jody Green writes:

I am as disgusted as anyone at Newt going after Romney’s Bain record but I wanted to point to another made up press narrative. The only news was SC voters booed Newt but if you watch the whole question and answer, they only booed because of a process issue (Not allowed to mentioned other candidates) and not because of the answer. They actually clapped enthusiastically when he finished answering the question. You can see the whole thing starting at about the 4:14 mark of this video.

Noted.

TEN YEARS AGO ON INSTAPUNDIT: The Democrats’ Confused Response To Enron:

Democrats are divided on what to do. Jon Corzine (D -NJ) who got money from Enron, is taking a cautionary line. Henry Waxman, on the other hand (whom the Post describes accurately as “camera-hungry”) is raring to go (I’m still trying to find out if the “Lighthouse Energy Group” who donated to Waxman is connected to Enron, or one of its competitors, though either way it seems like a conflict of interest — but Waxman obviously isn’t concerned.) And Charles “was that a TV camera?” Schumer, who got the most money from Enron of any Democratic Senator is being most uncharacteristically silent.

Uncharacteristically, indeed. And now, 10 years later, Corzine is in the middle of an even bigger financial scandal.

AT AMAZON, up to 50% off on bestselling knives.

SOPA UPDATE: SOPA shelved until ‘consensus’ is found. “House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said early Saturday morning that Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) promised him the House will not vote on the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) unless there is consensus on the bill.”

The White House is looking wobbly, too. But Lamar Smith remains bought-and-paid-for.

UPDATE: Reader Thad Puckett says that former Sheriff Richard Mack is running against Smith in the primary, though the report he links — which is mostly about other stuff — only mentions in passing that Mack is planning to file. I couldn’t find any more recent reports. Anybody know anything? Puckett writes: “I’ll vote for Mack in the primary…Smith has not handled SOPA well at all.” No, he hasn’t.

EUROPE: Q4 Spanish Unemployment Soars By Most Since Lehman, Hits “Astronomical” 23.3%.

ARMED HOMEOWNER foils home invasion in Knoxville.

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Detroit just looking worse and worse. “Rampant incompetence, administrative chaos and clueless mismanagement have so disrupted the ruined city’s faltering attempts to maintain some kind of early childhood education program that the Obama administration is threatening to close down all federal funding for early education in the once-bustling metropolis. The city is too incompetent to spend money. . . . It is hard to see how a city recovers when things have fallen this far. Detroit’s voters do not seem interested in good governance, either unwilling or unable to penalize incompetence at the polls; the political class spouts blue liberal slogans but appears to have the compassion and generosity of a pack of velociraptors; the city’s core institutions have been so corroded and degraded after decades of decline that there is little hope for improvement anytime soon. The status quo cannot stand.”

UPDATE: Reader Lloyd Daub writes: “Detroit is North Korea … with the Unions holding the same pride of place as the North Korean Army—keep them happy and they keep the kleptocracy in power. No matter who else starves.”

AT AMAZON, it’s the Jewelry Clearance Event. Which is like a sale, I guess, only more . . . eventful.

FASTER, PLEASE: A Doctor in Your Pocket: What does the future of medicine hold? Tiny health monitors, tailored therapies—and the end of illness.

I had some thoughts on this a while back.

BEDBUG UPDATE: How to get rid of bloodsucking insects.

FEW things destroy the reputation of a high-class hotel faster than bed bugs. These vampiric arthropods, which almost disappeared from human dwellings with the introduction of synthetic insecticides after the second world war, are making a comeback. They can drink seven times their own weight in blood in a night, leaving itchy welts on the victim’s skin and blood spots on his sheets as they do so. That is enough to send anyone scurrying to hotel-rating internet sites—and even, possibly, to lawyers.

New York is worst-hit at the moment: neither five-star hotels nor top-notch apartments have been spared. But other places, too, are starting to panic. Hotel staff from Los Angeles to London are scrutinising the seams of mattresses and the backs of skirting boards, where the bugs often hide during the day, with more than usual zeal. But frequently this is to no avail. Bed bugs are hard to spot. Even trained pest-control inspectors can miss them. What is needed is a way to flush them into the open. And James Logan, Emma Weeks and their colleagues at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Rothamsted Research think they have one: a bed-bug trap baited with something the bugs find irresistible—the smell of their own droppings.

They sound kind of like politicians.

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