STACY MCCAIN: To use a social science term: Your data is obviously fucked up. “I don’t want to start a fight, but if somebody tells you West Virginia is a glory land of economic opportunity, this is obviously somebody who never set foot in West Virginia. I don’t give a damn what they tell you after that, their credibility is shot.”

AT AMAZON, up to 25% off on Good-For-You Groceries.

Plus, up to 75% off on select watches. Valentine’s Day is coming.

Also, deals in Home Gyms and strength-training equipment.

NEW FRONTIERS IN “IRISH DEMOCRACY:” My USA Today column is on how passive resistance is killing ObamaCare and the Drug War.

I BLAME JENNY MCCARTHY: How Vaccine Fears Fueled The Resurgence Of Preventable Diseases.

IN JUST A FEW MINUTES ON AMY ALKON’S RADIO SHOW: Dr. Jesse Bering on sex, what’s “normal,” and the sexual deviant in all of us.

SO DO I, SOMETIMES. BUT CHANGE HAPPENS. Will Wilkinson Misses Old School Blogging. And, to be fair, my blog hasn’t changed all that much. Like a shark, it fits its niche too perfectly to evolve. Er, or a cockroach, I guess. . . .

21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: I Look Down On Young Women With Husbands And Kids And I’m Not Sorry. “Every time I hear someone say that feminism is about validating every choice a woman makes I have to fight back vomit. Do people really think that a stay at home mom is really on equal footing with a woman who works and takes care of herself?” Meh. If you’re like most feminists, you’ve just substituted the state for a husband.

APPARATCHIK DAVID GREGORY tries to drag Rand Paul into the “War on Women,” but it doesn’t work.

Gregory tries to drag Paul back to the question — whether the GOP should be talking about “women’s health, women’s bodies.” And Paul goes through the same tactics: cooling things off with a joke (“I try never to have discussions of anatomy unless I’m at a medical conference”), saying that the whole subject is “dumbed down” and political, and observing that way women are doing well. He adds another compliment, that the women he knows are “conquering the world,” not complaining about how “terrible” and “misogynist” it is. He never says one thing about birth control, women’s bodies, or the unfortunate locutions of other members of his party.

So that’s how Paul is going to deal with the media efforts to lure Republicans into playing the Democrats’ war on women game.

There are a number of other topics in the interview, but Gregory puts another woman topic at the end. He’s got an interview from Vogue in which Rand Paul joked about the polls that show Hillary Clinton beating every GOP opponent, and Paul’s wife Kelley burst in with: “Bill Clinton’s relationship with Monica Lewinsky should complicate his return to the White House, even as first spouse. I would say his behavior was predatory, offensive to women.”

Gregory asks if Paul thinks that “will be fair game and an appropriate part of a campaign” against Hillary. Paul says:

Well, you know, I mean, the Democrats, one of their big issues is they have concocted and said Republicans are committing a war on women.

If our opponents are going to do gender politics, he implies, it’s fair for us to do it too.

One of the workplace laws and rules that I think are good is that bosses shouldn’t prey on young interns in their office.

Good. Sexual harassment law is serious, and it matters.

Well, only when it’s convenient to the narrative. But every time this happens, it’s fair to bring up Clinton, Filner, Weiner, John Edwards, et al. Make it unpleasant for them, spoil their narrative, and they’ll stop. But read the whole thing.

UPDATE: Reader Michael Schrage writes: “Good God, man! Why are you leaving out Spitzer?” There are so many, it’s hard to keep track. Say, speaking of Spitzer, did you know that Ashley Dupre got married?

I’M NOT WORRIED. WE’LL HANDLE THIS WITH SMART DIPLOMACY!^TM Someone Just Said Something About The Japan-China Conflict That Scared The Crap Out Of Everyone.

During the dinner, the hosts passed a microphone around the table and asked guests to speak briefly about something that they thought would interest the group.

One of the guests, an influential Chinese professional, talked about the simmering conflict between China and Japan over a group of tiny islands in the Pacific.

China and Japan, you may recall, each claim ownership of these islands, which are little more than a handful of uninhabited rocks between Japan and Taiwan. Recently, the Japan-China tension around the islands has increased, and has led many analysts, including Ian Bremmer of the Eurasia Group, to worry aloud about the potential for a military conflict.

The Chinese professional at dinner last night did not seem so much worried about a military conflict as convinced that one was inevitable. And not because of any strategic value of the islands themselves (they’re basically worthless), but because China and Japan increasingly hate each other. . . .

He then explained that the general sense in China is that China and Japan have never really settled their World War 2 conflict. Japan and America settled their conflict, he explained, and as a result, the fighting stopped. But China and Japan have never really put the war behind them.

The Chinese professional acknowledged that if China asserted control over the disputed islands by attacking Japan, America would have to stand with Japan. And he acknowledged that China did not want to provoke America.

But then he said that many in China believe that China can accomplish its goals — smacking down Japan, demonstrating its military superiority in the region, and establishing full control over the symbolic islands — with a surgical invasion.

What could go wrong?

HOW TO BE HAPPIER: “As people age, they are more likely to appreciate ordinary experiences whereas, in the past, they were prone to be forward-looking and to seek extraordinary experiences to imbue their young lives with meaning.” By definition, if you seek extraordinary experiences, you’ll mostly be disappointed, while if you’re happy with ordinary experiences, you’ll usually be pleased.

THIS IS NEWS: Senate Challenger Milton Wolf Ties Incumbent Roberts in Straw Poll at Kansas GOP Convention.

HISTORY: “Let’s review. Caro says LBJ was a unique genius, Dallek says times have changed and a President can’t make the kind of deals that used to be made, and Obama says LBJ wasn’t really all that special.” Best not to imagine what LBJ’s evaluation of Obama would sound like.

THAT DIDN’T TAKE LONG: Furious Backlash Forces HSBC To Scrap Large Cash Withdrawal Limit. Probably worried that the news would lead to a run, but I imagine they’ll see some large cash withdrawals anyway.

I’M NOT GIVING UP MY DAYQUIL: Treating Flu Symptoms May Create More Cases. But this is good advice: “If you decide to take drugs to make yourself feel better, just recognize that you should still consider staying home or not sending kids to school. Even though they feel better, they might be more likely to transmit to others.”

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Also, Top Valentine’s Day Gifts.

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WELL, THERE’S ROOM FOR THAT: Toyota ready to design more heart-racing Prius.

VIDEO: This short film is two minutes of C2 Corvette porn.

HMM: Mobile Software Learns Your Phone’s Habits to Catch New Malware.

BOB ZUBRIN: Why And How We Should Break OPEC Now.

I NOTICE THIS IS WHAT THE GUYS WHO WORK OUT IN THE COLD ALL DAY WEAR: Worth The Money: Carhartt Quilt-Lined Coveralls.

PUNCHING BACK TWICE AS HARD: Rand Paul on Lewinsky Scandal: Dems ‘Have the Gall’ to Accuse GOP of War on Women? “Predatory behavior.”

THIS WAS ONCE THE PARTY OF FDR: Conspiracy alert: Greg Abbott ‘wheelchair truthers’ actually exist.

TAXPROF: The IRS Scandal, Day 262.

OOPS: Russian rubbish? India reportedly disappointed with stealth fighters from Moscow.

Is the Russian arms industry getting soft?

Despite initial high expectations, the Indian Air Force appears to be souring on a joint development deal with Russia for a new fifth-generation fighter jet, according to the Business Standard, a major Indian business publication. The Russian prototype is “unreliable, its radar inadequate, its stealth features badly engineered,” said Indian Air Force Deputy Air Marshall S Sukumar at a Jan. 15 meeting, according to minutes obtained by the Business Standard.

That contrasts sharply with high hopes voiced by the Indian government when the joint project, to which the Indian government has contributed $6 billion, began. . . .

India is the largest arms importer in world, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, and its military import large amounts from both Russia and western countries.

“The Indians for a long time have split their fighter industry between western work and Russian work,” Laird said.

“Clearly they want to go more Western because they recognize that the Russian stuff just isn’t up to the western standards. You only have so much money to go around, and like everybody else they’ve got financial pressures,” he added.

Other security experts said that India has a history of incompetence when it comes to military procurement, and so it did not necessarily reflect badly on Russia.

Hmm.