BOTTLING AND SELLING morality.

JOHN TIERNEY: Is nutrition science really science?

PUTIN HAS “just stopped pretending.”

EDWARDS BREAKS HIS YES-OR-NO RULE — by 88 words.

IRAQ fading as a campaign issue? “Fareed Zakaria of Newsweek noted that a new poll by his magzine showed only 19 percent say Iraq will most influence their choice for president. That’s way down and falling.”

This should be good for Democrats, but only if they can execute a (second) pivot on the war, and start talking appealingly about other topics. Hilary’s been ready for this all along; Edwards and Obama not so much. And it only increases the GOP’s vulnerability on the corruption issue.

SO THIS WEEKEND I TRAVELED TO NASHVILLE to attend a law clerks’ reunion marking Judge Merritt’s 30th anniversary on the bench. It was a good time, and the Judge looked great.

There wasn’t a lot of political talk, but I heard a long-term “yellow dog” Democrat say that he would never vote for Hillary no matter what. “I’d sooner vote for a third term for George W. Bush.” And another person said that she was hearing a lot of anti-Hillary talk in Boston, which should be pretty Hillary-friendly territory.

I’m not crazy about Hilary, but I don’t feel the visceral hatred that some people do. But some people really do feel that visceral hatred, and interestingly quite a few of them are Democrats.

UPDATE: Ed Cone: “Yep. Last night I saw a genuine Upper West Side liberal literally shudder at the mention of Hillary’s name.”

Plus this: “I don’t really get the whole visceral hatred thing, but I guess I’m less inclined to personalize my relationships with politicians than some folks.” Me too.

MORE: Some people, on the other hand, personalize everything. Whatever.

SAUDI ARABIA: Hub of world terror.

PAUL KRUGMAN as Hari Seldon.

REPORTING FROM THE At-Home Dad Convention.

GARRY WILLS: “Harvesting carrots, on a consistent pro-life hypothesis, would constitute something of a massacre.”

Ramesh Ponnuru thinks this is crazy, but that’s just because Ponnuru is unfamiliar with the argument. “Carrot juice constitutes murder — V8’s genocide!”

“Salads are only for murderers,
Cole slaw’s a fascist regime,
Don’t think that they don’t have feelings,
Just ’cause a radish can’t scream?”

FALLOUT FROM THE HOLLYWOOD WRITERS’ STRIKE: Reality Talk Shows?

ROBOT RACING: Erik Sofge reports on the DARPA Urban Challenge.

Winner announced here. More background here.

Plus, much more from Joe Katzman.

AN EMBARRASSMENT FOR THE THOMPSON CAMPAIGN, but Jules Crittenden draws a distinction: “Martin has a criminal past. Hsu’s is a criminal present.”

Meanwhile, here’s video of Fred Thompson on Meet the Press.

UPDATE: What it takes for Thompson to get front-page attention from the Washington Post.

MUKASEY: Interested in going after “mainstream obscenity?”

I’d prefer they go after terrorists. However, my guess is that he was just humoring Orrin Hatch, the way you do with Uncle Fred after Thanksgiving dinner . . . . “Great stock tip, Uncle Fred. Yeah, I’ll definitely look into it.”

“POSTER-CLOWNS” AND “SELECTIVE JOB DEDICATION,” at the State Department. The State Department’s performance — never great in my lifetime — seems to have been particularly unimpressive in recent years.

YOUR DONATIONS AT WORK: Michael Yon’s posts are now being made available in German. He’s adding other languages, to help get the word out around the somewhat tendentious foreign media.

QUESTION: So why don’t you have a Playstation 3? My answer: I’m afraid I might like it.

VIDEO: Michael Yon on Iraq, on CNN — with Jamie McIntyre.

ANOTHER U.N. PEACEKEEPER SEX SCANDAL, this time involving underage girls in Haiti.

If American troops had the kind of sex-scandal track record that U.N. peacekeepers do, we’d never hear the end of it. Since it’s the U.N., though, we barely hear the beginning.

GIZMODO VS. ENGADGET.

Lexis vs. Westlaw.

LGF vs. Brussels Journal.

Can’t we all just get along?

UPDATE: Apparently not. Now it’s Manolo vs. the Weblog Awards.

PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: More military earmarks:

Even though members of Congress cut back their pork barrel spending this year, House lawmakers still tacked on to the military appropriations bill $1.8 billion to pay 580 private companies for projects the Pentagon did not request.

Twenty-one members were responsible for about $1 billion in earmarks, or financing for pet projects, according to data lawmakers were required to disclose for the first time this year. Each asked for more than $20 million for businesses mostly in their districts, ranging from major military contractors to little known start-ups.

You’ll be shocked to hear that John Murtha is involved.

IN THE MAIL: Sam Martin’s The Curious Boy’s Book of Adventure: 100 Hijinks and Escapades. Lots of advice on things like building radios, how to juggle, lighting a fire without matches, etc.

Some people will see this as a me-too response to The Dangerous Book for Boys, and I suppose there’s probably something to that. But it’s also evidence that the Dangerous Book has opened up a previously dormant genre and gotten it a lot more attention.

SO NO NEWS, THEN: Michael Yon emails: “I’ve been down town on the streets of Baghdad most of Sunday morning and afternoon. Didn’t hear a shot fired, but did see a new road being built.”

But, actually, he was on CNN.

ANOTHER GRIM MILESTONE: Iraqis returning to Baghdad. Well, it’s grim for some people.

OBAMA: “Black enough for me!”

But not funny enough for Extreme Mortman.

UPDATE: Video.