SUSPICIOUSLY THUGGISH: CANADIAN BLOGGER ARRESTED FOR CRIMINAL LIBEL. “RCMP have laid five charges against a Calgary man related to the operation of a website highly critical of Calgary police officers.”

MATT WELCH: Loathsome Columnist of the Month: Courtland Milloy. It’s a first-rate rant about the ruining of DC’s educational system, and more.

LISA MURKOWSKI: The Face Of The Combine. “In the final analysis, The Combine’s allegiance is not to a party, but to their pocketbooks. They’re about making money off the taxpayers. . . . Lisa Murkowski’s family, and her career, exist because of the Combine. Her interest is in preserving the existing game. She is preserving her stake and her family’s stake in a game they have benefitted from. There is no mystery about this at all. There is no need for psychiatry to understand why she is trying to stop Joe Miller. He threatens the game.”

DOCTOR ZERO ON HOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED:

Let me put this bluntly: virtually no one in America gives a damn what Barack Obama says about anything at this point. What could be more predictable, and less interesting, than Obama’s opinion on any given subject? Who wants to contemplate the economic wisdom of a guy who looted the Treasury for a trillion dollars, with less benefit than we could have achieved by stuffing hundred dollar bills into random cereal boxes? Who’s excited to hear about the next plan to convert taxpayer dollars into Democrat campaign funds? Who’s hungry for another hour of tedious excuses about permanently broken markets and the titanic dead hand of George W. Bush? Who wants a lecture on ethical business practices from the titular head of the party that gave us Charlie Rangel and Maxine Waters? What use is another hollow foreign-policy speech from a man who sees no global adversary to rival the menace of Arizona? Even Obama’s supporters don’t hear anything he says any more. There’s nothing left to hear.

Ouch.

FROM THE GALLERY OF unfortunate business names. But memorable!

MARKDOWNS ON DVD and Blu-Ray.

WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Memo to GOP: Don’t drop earmark ban.

In March, House Republicans made an important move to restore their credibility as the party of fiscal discipline when every one of them voted to ban earmarks. “Now House Republicans are going to the American people and saying we want a clean break from the runaway spending in the past. And that’s going to be quite a contrast from this Congress and the administration,” House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence crowed.

That was then. This is apparently now: “With their eyes on a House majority, Republicans are leaving the door open to allowing earmarks after a one-year party-imposed moratorium,” reported Politico on Friday. Republican leaders such as House Minority Leader John Boehner and Whip Eric Cantor are suddenly hedging on the issue. Perhaps we need to remind the would-be House leadership why they should continue to steer clear of earmarks.

Besides the obvious — earmarks lead to corruption — I should note that if the GOP leadership had paid attention to the PorkBusters movement back in 2005, they might not have lost the Congress in 2006. But they were too busy stuffing their pockets to do that, with predictable results. What kind of fools are these people? First class . . . .

Republicans have one last chance to save themselves, or Americans’ growing enthusiasm for a third party will catch up to them — not only in the 2012 presidential elections, but in a lot of Congressional districts. And Democrats, don’t get too excited about that, because you’re not very popular, either . . . .

PUNISHED: Missouri State Auditor Defunds Speed Trap City. “A notorious Missouri speed trap town was busted Wednesday by the state auditor for violating the law. Randolph, Missouri has a population of just 47 people, but the police department last year dished out 3132 fines — nearly all speeding tickets issued to motorists passing through on Highway 210. A formal examination of the city’s book uncovered the fact that Randolph made more than thirty-five percent of its revenue from freeway traffic ticket, in violation of the Macks Creek law, an anti-speed trap statute named for a town that went bankrupt after its ability to issue speeding tickets was revoked.” All you need is a law providing that ticket revenue goes to the state’s general fund. . . .

WHAT CAUSED San Francisco’s Gas Pipeline Explosion?

SPEEDING TRAFFIC ALONG with adaptive stoplights.

HOW NOT TO HANDLE A TRAFFIC STOP.

LIST: Best Missing TV Shows On DVD.

ROSS DOUTHAT: Do Reporters Know How To Write About Religion? Not so much.

Journalists are more skeptical — and often less religious — than the average American, Douthat said in a conversation with Diane Winston, the Knight Chair in Media and Religion at Annenberg. That skepticism helps reporters cover politics, business and local government. But that same skepticism hinders them from understanding, let alone covering, the religion beat.

“It would be odd for business reporters to think that balance sheets are silly, or to not believe in Wall Street,” Douthat said. “But in religion, you get that all the time.”

This may be too charitable to business reporters, but he has a point. Plus this:

Journalistic ignorance about religion is only matched by religious institutions’ distrust of the American media, he said. And the result is a gaping divide between two main American institutions. Douthat’s suggestion: get educated. Treat the beat the same you would any other. Pick up a book or five, read different viewpoints, learn about religious organizations and how they work. Come prepared.

Good advice on any subject, but all too often ignored.

WASHINGTON POST: Was politics behind the government’s decision to preserve the UAW’s pensions? Yes. Next question?

JIMI HENDRIX DIED 40 years ago today.

ALZHEIMER’S DRUG improves perceptual learning in healthy adults.

IF IT’S FROM A GAS GIANT, WOULD YOU USE LIQUID METHANE? Pope’s astronomer would be pleased to baptize an alien “no matter how many tentacles it has”.

THE WAR AGAINST PHOTOGRAPHY GOES UNDERSEA! Giant Manta Ray swipes $5k camera rig from diver, shoots some video. Or maybe the manta just wanted to join in . . . .

CHANGE: Wide GOP Lead Among Interested Voters; Obama Job Approval Hits New Low.

THE CARNIVAL OF NUCLEAR ENERGY IS UP!

IN THE MAIL: From Ron Paul, End The Fed.

CALLING ALL LOBBYISTS! “Less than an hour before Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski planned to announce a write-in campaign to retain her seat, her top aide e-mailed scores of the most prominent lobbyists in Washington to ask them to join a Saturday conference call with the senator.”

The Murkowski story embodies what’s wrong with the traditional GOP: Self-centered, dynastic, and looking to lobbyists as primary allies.

UPDATE: Roger Simon: Murkowski The Jerk. “Unlike Joe Lieberman, who ran successfully as an independent in Connecticut, she has no cause, other than herself.”

Plus, some advice: “One last word to the lobbyists (Chevron, Conoco Phillips and Marathon Oil, etc) who apparently received email from Murkowski’s chief of staff, alerting them an hour early to her imminent campaign. We live in a New Media Age where your behavior is being watched as never before. And, as you know, you have already been outed in this instance. Karen Knutson, Murkowski’s chief of staff, showed herself to be a trigger-happy dolt by sending that premature email. One of you probably leaked it. Signing on for the Murkowski campaign is now bad news for your company. Stay away.”

I wonder if these companies are hearing from customers or shareholders about this?

ANOTHER UPDATE: Jonah Goldberg: “On what grounds should she run as independent? Because she really likes being a senator? Because she’s bummed the seat-for-life her father gave her turned out to be more temporary? I think independent campaigns or party switches are forgivable or understandable on some grand issue of principle. Joe Lieberman’s steadfast support for the war comes to mind. But reading this, it sounds like Murkowski thinks she should run because the people who like her have told her what she wants to hear. How is she anything more than Arlen Specter in a dress?”

MORE: A reader emails: “She’s worse: Specter was never a spoiler. At least he had the ‘dignity’ to switch parties, not run as an indie. And he did it BEFORE he lost his primary, not after. It’s hard to be a bigger creep than Arlen Specter, but I’ll be damned if she hasn’t done it.”

INTRODUCING THE PROFESSOR BAINBRIDGE STIMULUS PLAN. “Give me $420,000 and I’ll hire 10 unemployed law students to work as research assistants for a year. I’ve always wanted a few minions, after all.”

MARY KATHARINE HAM: “Can’t all us grizzlies get along?”

THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, WE’D SEE SLAVERY RETURN TO AMERICA. And they were right! “A Florida couple pleaded guilty to conspiring to hold 39 Filipino employees against their will working in country clubs and hotels, the US Justice Department said Friday.”

UPDATE: Yes, it’s all my fault.

TOM BLUMER: The Teen Workplace Disengagement Epidemic. “In July, far more than half weren’t even trying to find work. Why? . . . One obvious current factor is that those teens who are looking for work aren’t finding it thanks to the economy.”

L.A. TIMES: “First Lady Michelle Obama, who has been unable to convince the Smoker-in-Chief to give up that dreadful habit, now has some health suggestions for other American families and for restaurant menus across the country.” Gotta love the pics.

BEST BARGAIN NONSTICK SKILLETS.

SHIKHA DALMIA: Obama Is Not An Anticolonialist Kenyan. “But there is a problem more basic than factual inaccuracies with D’Souza’s thesis. If Obama were seriously motivated by a moral desire to protect poor countries from being ruined by excessive American consumption then his biggest priority would be to rein in this consumption. But that is the exact opposite of what he has done since assuming office. His entire economic agenda is one big and desperate attempt to boost American consumption.”

BARNEY FRANK GETTING WORRIED? “Both Democratic and Republican observers said the Clinton event suggests Frank – a part of the Democratic leadership now linked to the nation’s economic woes – might feel vulnerable.”

He’s got a motivated challenger, though Frank has a lot more cash.

JAMES TARANTO CORRECTS ME:

The Herald quotes Glenn Reynolds, a libertarian law professor whom the paper misidentifies as a “conservative gadfly”: “I think the Tea Party couldn’t ask for any better publicity than to be denounced by a millionaire who dodges paying taxes on his yacht.” Actually, make that a near-billionaire who married another man’s fortune.

I stand corrected.

JENNIFER RUBIN: Justice Department Forced To Investigate Self. “It is about to get harder for both the Obama administration and the mainstream media to downplay the New Black Panther party scandal.”

PEGGY NOONAN: WHY IT’S TIME FOR THE TEA PARTY: The populist movement is more a critique of the GOP than a wing of it. Well, that’s what it takes to make Peggy happy, apparently. Then again, she’s the one who told us Barack Obama was a moderate.

EVERYBODY’S BEEN SENDING ME THIS “White House Insider” report on Obama. Given the sourcing, I wouldn’t put too much credence in it.

CHANGE: Aug 2009– Pelosi Accuses Tea Partiers of Attending Nazi-Sign Rallies… **Sept. 2010– Top Pelosi Staffer Leads Nazi-Sign Rally. “Don’t expect to see this on your nightly news.”

SHOCKER: Economic stimulus turns into hindrance in Sevier County. “Businesses that boomed a year ago now are struggling for survival because a gauntlet of concrete barricades, orange barrels and confusing detours generated by the project are obstacles for tourists, according to local business owners. One fast-food restaurant that depended on its visibility and accessibility from the highway suffered a major drop in profits after concrete barricades and piles of rubble blocked the store’s main entrance and made its sign difficult to see. . . . However, only one on-site construction worker has been hired since September, confirmed Tennessee Department of Transportation Project Manager Jennifer Stone, while local retailers have had to cut back staffing and decrease work hours because of disruption from road construction.”

This story’s from back at the beginning of the summer, but it may explain why all that stimulus spending hasn’t translated into much progress. . . .

GREG SARGENT: “It isn’t every day that Democrats target Latino challengers with nasty anti-immigrant ads, but these are apparently desperate times for certain embattled Dems.”

HOW CONVENIENT: Ethics trial for Democrats Rangel, Waters unlikely before election.

DICK MORRIS: Congressional Candidates Who Urgently Need Help. David Kirkham writes in favor of Morgan Philpot, who is only three points behind the incumbent, Democrat Matheson.

UPDATE: Reader Vin Flynn writes:

Sam Caligiuri in CT 5 is one point behind Netroots liberal Chris Murphy. Murphy called criticism of Obamacare “lies and propaganda” so we really oughta want him to leave office. Sam, on the other hand, was the only CT state senator to oppose a budget that violated the state spending cap; so we need him in DC

Well, look at the list — and around the Web — and decide for yourself if there’s anyone you want to help.

MURKOWSKI UPDATE: Incumbent sore loser to launch desperate bid to keep power.

ROBERT GIBBS: Nice magazine you’ve got there Mr. Forbes. Be a shame if something were to happen to it…

MICKEY KAUS: It’s legal, guys.

OVER AT ITS TACTICAL, Debunking 9 Classic Myths and Whoppers about Firearms. There’s less flaming in the comments than I would have expected . . . .

HEY, BEARDED MARXISTS, THIS IS HOW COMMUNISM WORKS OUT:

“State retribution for tiny thefts, such as stealing a potato, even by a child, would include being tied up and thrown into a pond…”

“… parents were forced to bury their children alive or were doused in excrement and urine, others were set alight, or had a nose or ear cut off. One record shows how a man was branded with hot metal. People were forced to work naked in the middle of winter; 80 per cent of all the villagers in one region of a quarter of a million Chinese were banned from the official canteen because they were too old or ill to be effective workers, so were deliberately starved to death.”

Just another day on one of those big, friendly socialist plantations, where everyone gets free health care.

TV GONE TOO FAR? “Bridalplasty” Brides Compete For Plastic Surgery – Reveal At Wedding!

A ONE-DAY-ONLY SALE on this tabletop gas grill.

TODD HENDERSON: We Are The Super Rich. “I, like the president before me, am a law professor at the University of Chicago Law School, and my wife, like the first lady before her, works at the University of Chicago Hospitals, where she is a doctor who treats children with cancer. Our combined income exceeds the $250,000 threshold for the super rich (but not by that much), and the president plans on raising my taxes. After all, we can afford it, and the world we are now living in has that familiar Marxian tone of those who need take and those who can afford it pay. The problem is, we can’t afford it. Here is why.”

UPDATE: From the comments: “You should find no ear more empathetic than the President’s. The First Lady complained about the financial limits they faced living in your neighborhood and earning over $400K.”

Yes, yes she did:

“I know we’re spending — I added it up for the first time — we spend between the two kids, on extracurriculars outside the classroom, we’re spending about $10,000 a year on piano and dance and sports supplements and so on and so forth,” Mrs. Obama tells the women. “And summer programs. That’s the other huge cost. Barack is saying, ‘Whyyyyyy are we spending that?’ And I’m saying, ‘Do you know what summer camp costs?’”

Heh.

WHY CAN WE HAVE VIAGRA ADS, but not ads for female sex enhancers?

KEVIN WILLIAMSON: The Entitlement Bubble Bust Is Going To Be A Nightmare.

HEREDITARY BLOOD DISORDER CURED WITH GENE THERAPY. “A 21-year-old Frenchman is the first person in the world to be cured of the blood disorder beta-thalassaemia through gene therapy. But there is some confusion over what made the treatment work.”

NAZIS GATHERING AT REP. DEBBIE HALVORSON’S (D-IL) OFFICE IN CHICAGO? I hate Illinois Nazis. Shouldn’t Debbie Halvorson?

UPDATE: More on Halvorson’s Brown Shirts.

ANOTHER UPDATE: From Gateway Pundit, link above: “One of the protesters has been identified. She’s one of Obama’s Organizing for America staffers. They shipped her from Missouri to Chicago for their Hitler rally.”

Halvorson’s opponent is demanding an apology and turning it into a fundraising appeal. (Bumped).

OUCH: Home Depot founder rips Obama WH as “tenured” academics, apologizes for creating jobs. But hey, leave us tenured academics out of this — Obama never had tenure, and his longterm employment prospects look pretty shaky at present . . . .

Video at the link. Plus, from the comments: “Expect a tax audit from the IRS.” Ya think?

ARE WE HEADING FOR a space bubble?

AT AMAZON, it’s the Friday Sale.

TAKING ON THE TEA PARTY: T. Coddington Van Voorhees VII: If It Is a Fight These Jacobins Want, Then It Is a Fight They Shall Have.

BOB OWENS: Gunned Down in Vegas: What Really Happened to Erik Scott? “An accomplished young man is killed by police outside a Vegas Costco, and bystander accounts starkly contrast with official reports. . . . For the record, the Costco did not have signs posted prohibiting the carrying of concealed weapons. Scott did not violate any laws in carrying his weapon in the store. It is quite possible that Erik Scott was gunned down without having committed so much as a misdemeanor crime, and that the officers who shot him will be merely the latest exonerated in a long line from an apparently unaccountable police force.”

Here’s a statement from Scott’s father in the West Point Alumni class notes. (Bumped).

THE HILL: THE TEA PARTY’S ALREADY WON: “Even before Christine O’Donnell handily defeated Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.) in an epic upset Tuesday night, the Tea Parties, all of them, had already won. No matter what happens in the midterm elections on Nov. 2, the Tea Party has moved the Democrats to the right and the Republicans even more so, and President Obama’s agenda is dead. . . . What debuted in nationwide protests on April 15, 2009, has taken less than 18 months to become the current driving force in American politics.”

Hey, I told you so. On April 15, 2009.

THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, NEWSCASTERS WOULD BE FIRED FOR DARING TO SPEAK THE TRUTH: And they were right!

Amid the ongoing BP oil spill in July, McKelway covered a Capitol Hill demonstration by environmental groups protesting the influence of oil-industry contributions to members of Congress.

In his piece, McKelway said the sparsely attended event attracted protesters “largely representing far-left environmental groups.” He went on to say the protest “may be a risky strategy because the one man who has more campaign contributions from BP than anybody else in history is now sitting in the Oval Office, President Barack Obama, who accepted $77,051 in campaign contributions from BP.”

Now he’s been canned.

POPULAR SCIENCE tests the new iPods.

MAXINE WATERS UPDATE: OneUnited received more preferential treatment than first disclosed. “Maxine Waters and the Democrats may have thought that all of the bad news from her intervention with OneUnited bank had already been aired, but the Washington Post reports that the House Ethics Committee only scratched the surface. Far from a single intervention by Waters, the record shows an unprecedented effort conducted by Congress, Treasury, and its regulators to rescue the bank in which Waters’ husband had invested a significant amount of money. In 707 applications of TARP money, OneUnited got the most special attention.”

LAMINATED LINEN, the ancient world’s Kevlar. “Presented at the annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America in Anaheim, Calif., the study suggests that Alexander and his soldiers protected themselves with linothorax, a type of body armor made by laminating together layers of linen. . . . In order to determine how wearable this armor was, and how effective it would have been in protecting its wearer from arrows and other battlefield hazards, Aldrete and Bartell reconstructed several complete sets of linen armor using only material that were only available in the ancient world.”

UNEXPECTEDLY! Consumer sentiment weakest since August 2009. “Consumer sentiment unexpectedly worsened in early September to its weakest level in more than a year, as distress over jobs and finances intensified among upper-income families, a survey released on Friday showed.”

UPDATE: Americans’ wealth fell in spring as stocks tanked.

CHANGE: Forbes Will Rank Law Schools Based On Job Results.

HOW TO BREAK IN a new car.

DAVID FREDDOSO: If Delaware seemed like good news to Dems, Wisconsin is killing them now. “The significance here goes beyond this state.”

RESEARCHERS BUILD MOON GARDEN: “The Moon is not the most hospitable place for growing fruits and vegetables. The lack of atmosphere and natural water, extreme temperatures, and exposure to cosmic rays present some serious challenges for future inhabitants who want to pursue sustainable living on the Moon. With these challenges in mind, scientists have built a lunar greenhouse that is designed to grow plants such as potatoes, peanuts, tomatoes, and peppers under the Moon’s extreme conditions.”

TIME TO repeal the incandescent bulb ban.

MILD MEMORY LOSS is not a normal part of aging, new research finds. “According to Wilson, recognizing that the earliest changes in memory are related to Alzheimer’s pathology can lead to early diagnosis and will be critical information if a treatment is developed that can alter the pathologic course of the disease.”

I’LL BE DELIVERING THE POPE LECTURE AT CLEMSON next week, talking about “The Higher Education Bubble, And What Comes Next.”

IN THE MAIL: From Tanya Huff, The Truth of Valor.

MICHAEL CANNON: THE “U” WORD:

I grow increasingly amused at how some people carefully avoid saying that ObamaCare is unpopular. When Pollster.com aggregates all the various polls on ObamaCare’s popularity, it reveals that a plurality or majority of the public has consistently opposed the law since before the angry town-hall meetings of August 2009 . . .

It’s no surprise when HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius avoids the U-word by saying stuff like, “We have a lot of reeducation to do.” (To be clear, she’s talking about reeducating you, not herself.)

But it’s odd when a Washington Post news item describes the public as “profoundly ambivalent” toward the law.

Well, they’re both part of the Administration.

THE GREAT HOUSING BAMBOOZLE? How The Numbers Show Home Ownership Is A Terrible Investment.

VERONIQUE DE RUGY: Government, Get Out Of Our Business.

MATT WELCH TO TARP DEFENDERS: “When you assume as axiomatic both a looming ‘total financial meltdown’ and a presidential ability to ’save the economy,’ the only drama left is the final number of digits on the blank check.”

ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON: Telling People What I Said Is Wrong.

TIM CAVANAUGH: No Sympathy for the Deadbeat: Most Americans Reject Walking Away. “Is socially acceptable mortgage default another fake trend story? We’ve heard a lot about how deadbeating has become stylish in 2010, but a substantial majority of Americans still reject the notion of walking away on a loan.”

BYRON YORK: In Delaware, GOP Should Target Dems, Not O’Donnell. Gee, do you think?

THE HILL: Freshman Democrat blasts leadership for not holding vote on salary cut. “In a letter sent Thursday afternoon, Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-Ariz.) pressured Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) to hold a vote on her bill to cut congressional pay by five percent and save taxpayers $4.7 million next year before Congress breaks for its fall recess.”

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN: IS YOUR CHILD A “PREHOMOSEXUAL?”

TALKING ABOUT Omnivoracious Reading.

CLARITY: Justice Breyer Clarifies Earlier Remarks, Suggests Koran-Burning Is Constitutionally Protected After All.

MEGAN MCARDLE: “This is sort of impressive: Paul Krugman simultaneously castigates Republicans for the fiscal irresponsibility of wanting to extend tax cuts for the rich that cost about $700 billion–and for irresponsibly threatening the extension of tax cuts for the middle class which cost three times as much. Yet you could read the entire column and not realize that it’s the middle class tax cuts which are the really expensive, budget-busting bit.” Or you could just . . . skip the entire column and put your time to some productive or enjoyable use.

RIGHTS AND WRONGS at the U.N.

MARK TAPSCOTT: Save a mountain, build a windmill, freeze in the dark.

BUSTED: Ohio Republican candidate John Kasich caught telling a true story in governor’s debate. He’ll be drummed out of the politicians’ union for that!

SPREADING: Bed Bug Infestation At Catawba College.

Related: Bedbugs Found In College Dorms Across The Country.

WELL, YES: Cornyn: Independents keep telling me we should focus on fiscal, not social, issues. Small government is the big-tent issue. Forget that and you’ll blow it, big time.

MURTHA UPDATE: Not Even Death Can Stop Congress’s Pork King.

The former defense-appropriations chief in the House — who famously remarked, “If I’m a little corrupt, it’s because I take care of my district” — passed on in February. His successor, Rep. Mark Critz, gave Murtha an appropriate eulogy earlier this summer, slipping a $10 million earmark into the House version of next year’s defense funding bill to fund construction of a John P. Murtha Center for Public Service at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown. If the earmark survives the snail’s-pace process of passing the bill during the current election season — and its prognosis is good — Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell has pledged to match the cash with state money.

According to Critz’s explanation of the project, the 30,000 square-foot Center will primarily serve as a scholarly debating forum for policy issues and a repository for Murtha’s papers. But wait, you ask. How does the Murtha Center relate to the Department of Defense? Oh, it’ll inspire “students and the general public to become active in our communities, the military, and in public service.” See? Military applicability.

Good grief.

MICKEY KAUS: “Is it just me or are the ‘Craziest Things Christine O’Donnell Has Ever Said’ not really all that horrifying? I think my greatest-hits reel would be worse.”

FOX SUES ROBIN CARNAHAN FOR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT. Without seeing the video, it’s hard to know if this suit is solid or frivolous. In general, though, I think that fair use should be read especially broadly in the context of political communications.

CHANGE: Obama’s visit to Conyers Farm rakes in big bucks for Dems. “Obama hauled in $1 million at a $30,400-a-plate fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee at the Conyers Farm estate of real estate prospector Richard Richman and his wife Ellen Schapps Richman.” Sticking it to the rich!

UPDATE: Reader David McCune writes: “Seriously? Obama is now hanging out with Richie Richman? Was Scrooge McDuck busy?” Heh.

WHY DO THEY HATE US? Doctored Mubarak photo offers a clue. “The anti-Western and anti-Semitic propaganda put forth by many major news outlets in the Arab world is staggering. Sadly, the ‘Arab street’ buys into such nonsense, as it conveniently scapegoats others while sparing their leadership the direct anger felt throughout their incredibly rigid and intolerant societies.”

KENNETH ANDERSON: Agency Failure, Legal Liability and Jurisdiction, and International Organizations.

On occasion, I have lamented what I perceive as the lack of due attention in the scholarly literature to the actual circumstances of international organizations, starting with the UN. One of those fundamental issues concerns accountability, in the special sense that there is no obvious judicial forum for reviewing actions even of individuals alleged to have engaged in serious misconduct, such as fraud, embezzlement, etc.

On the one hand, the treaties put the organizations and their civil servants beyond the reach of national courts. On their face, they seem to leave at most, in some cases, the often highly unlikely possibility of a prosecution or civil action in the person’s national jurisdiction. Given the politics, let alone the legal questions, home jurisdiction prosecution of one’s own nationals is out of reach in many if not nearly all cases. On the other hand, such accountability as supposedly exists rests in various internal review processes. These internal review processes vacillate, however, between being tools by which senior managers are able to punish whistleblowers and so protect themselves or their underlings or their national confreres or what have you; or else being captured by the other side of the process through what amounts (in my jaundiced view, admittedly) to the world’s strongest public employee union.

It’s not really surprising that legal academics find it hard to get too interested in the hard material facts of UN budgets and fiscal accounting — although as Marx often advised, follow the money. But it is more surprising to me that so little attention has been paid to the legal issues involved in the accountability-jurisidiction questions.

Read the whole thing.

IN LOS ANGELES, $111 MILLION IN STIMULUS MONEY CREATES ONLY 55 JOBS. Plus, from the comments: “I didn’t know The Mayor had so many girl-friends.”

SHOCKER: Senior Voters Riled Up Over ObamaCare.

TEA PARTY MOVEMENT arrives in Australia. “’Basically it’s based around… three general propositions,’ Mr Goodridge said. ‘What should be the role of the government in the economy, what should be the role of government in people’s lives and do you believe that you can spend your money better than government’?”

DONATED BLOOD AGAIN TODAY for the Blue/Orange blood drive. The crowd was huge — I had to wait nearly an hour — and one of the students told me that donating blood is now “a fad.” Well, good.

And yeah, this is a recycled photo from a past donation, but it always looks about the same. Besides, recycling is in! And hey, at least I’m not using that photo of Ann Althouse studying that everyone keeps recycling . . . .

HATE-FILLED ELIMINATIONIST RHETORIC UPDATE: Maybe Cable TV does promote violence! Man Sentenced To Prison For Threatening Congresswoman.

A 66-year-old man was sentenced Thursday to more than two years in federal prison for threatening Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-Fla.) in the aftermath of the healthcare debate. . . .”I’m terribly sorry that it ever happened,” Pidrman said before his sentencing Thursday morning, according to the Tribune. “I very often watch the recycled news shows on MSNBC,” at the time at which he made the call, he said.

Inflammatory extremists!

THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, RACIST FEARS WOULD RULE. And they were right! “A lot has been made of the role of race in this campaign, and the sense that Fenty is the tool of white interlopers seeking to turn D.C. into Seattle. Fear of the oncoming white horde of gentrifiers is old in D.C. and I do not doubt that the paranoia was an integral part of the political landscape. But having understood that landscape, it’s a politician job to navigate it.”

RECYCLING: Remember Obama’s “Drinking Slurpees, Driving Economy Into Ditch” Speech? Well He Liked It So Much He Used it Again.