George Will is on the case.

The two real rationales for laws regulating political activity are incumbent protection and the convenience of government — discouraging the governed from activism. The proclaimed rationale is, however, the prevention of corruption or the appearance thereof. But corruption is understood in terms of quid pro quo transactions — candidates corrupted by contributions. So, there cannot be corruption in ballot issue elections because there are no candidates to corrupt.

Undeterred by this detail, advocates of political regulation say compulsory disclosure of involvement even in ballot issue campaigns — meaning compulsory denial of political privacy — is inherently good because information always is, too. The regulator’s motto is “Dirigo, ergo sum” — I boss people around, therefore I am.

Read it.

This is an excellent program, and slightly nicer to use than Google docs.

Read it.

Read it.

And rightly so.

Steampunk Alert.

This is a beautiful piece of work. Not the best I’ve ever seen, but far from the worst.

Read it.

This school also helps to give white parents one more reason for not sending their children to public school. “Public schools don’t have organic food, I can’t have my child eating pesticides. So I’m not racist, I’m just concerned over the food health of my child.”

The key seems to be a preschool conducted in a fashionable but useless language.

Read it.

Living the libertarian dream.

Read it.

More to the point, His CD collection?

Read it.

Barry Obama a psychopath?

And as someone who has studied psychopathy (I have a couple of academic journal articles on the subject) that is very familiar. Psychopaths also typically present a “nice guy” image — something that sucks in the females wholesale. The psychopath says and does all the right things and people promptly put their trust in him. And then when they least expect it, he “goes bad” on them. “Why did he do that?” is the typical distressed response, “He was so nice and then he went and did ….”.

Hmm.

Read it.

A phobia is an irrational fear.

Fear of Islam is completely rational and justified by 1400 years of history.

Read it.

But a vague commitment to multilateralism obscures one of the most difficult challenges the next president will face: While international institutions have never been more needed, they have seldom been less effective.

Well, that’s pretty plain: If international institutions suck (and they do), then it’s America’s fault.

Michael Gerson is obviously the Washington Post‘s idea of a conservative —  go ahead and criticize the left’s pets, so long as America ultimately takes the blame.

Read it.

Notice how Democrats aren’t really all that keen on democracy when it impairs the chances of the Overclass to get and keep power.

Read it.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government has supported environmental certification and carbon-trading programs, and last year offered land concessions throughout the Amazon to private logging companies that promised sustainable timber harvesting.

Apparently this eccentric definition of “capitalism” is what passes for science at the Washington Post.

Read it.

Read it.

Gee, it’s such a pity that Ireland is no longer the romantic  primitive backwater it used to be. Where will the Overclass go for its frisson of condescension now?

Read it.

From the outset, the program’s rocky path illustrated the collective political power of federal workers.

Whenever politics trumps economics, the taxpayer loses.

Read it.

Trees are the new potholes.

Read it.

Steve Sailer knows some very interesting people.

Read it.

David Friedman is always worth reading.

News stories on the FLDS case refer to them as polygamists but the legal arguments in the case seem to be based on the age of the wives, not their number. This raises an interesting question: In what sense is polygamy itself currently illegal?

Read it.

Because, you know, the best way to “twist” someone’s words is to quote them verbatim.

Read it.

Now if they can just get proper funding….

Read it.

Well, for one thing, it can tell us we’re getting pretty rusty at it.

Of course, this is Jared Diamond, so take it with a grain of salt. Or two.

Read it.

Actually, it sort of looks like an AlGore map of Europe after Global Warming has melted all of the ice and driven up the sea levels.

Read it.

The third theme is a changing balance between limbic/subcortical and frontal lobe functions that extends well into young adulthood as different cognitive and emotional systems mature at different rates. The cognitive and behavioral changes taking place during adolescence may be understood from the perspective of increased “executive” functioning, a term encompassing a broad array of abilities, including attention, response inhibition, regulation of emotion, organization and long-range planning.

This is why teens ought not to be allowed to do anything significant — like drive, vote, or touch someone of the opposite sex — without adult supervision.

Read it.

If you’re on the receiving end of a bomb, the answer is: The bombers.

Read it.

And how about sidewalks? They ought to have air bags too!

I’ve got an idea: Require the cyclists to wear an airbag suit. That will cover all contingencies, and put the responsibility (and the cost) where it belongs.

Read it.

Boy, the Department of Homeland Stupidity is making me feel more secure by the minute.

Also poorer.

Read it.

Whoa. The Washington Post decrying government spending? Hell has officially frozen over.

Kaus looks at the reality on the ground.

Read it.

Wonder whether the Usual Suspects will take a break from protesting American involvement in Iraq to complain about Chinese involvement in Zimbabwe. Somehow I doubt it.

Read it.

I wonder whether any of the Usual Suspects will take a break from their hand-wringing about Guantanamo to protest this.

Somehow I doubt it.

Inside Politics.

Inside the Beltway.

Read it.

Be careful what you wish for….

Read it.

Read it.

My, what a surprise. Aren’t you surprised? I’m sure surprised.

Whatever you may say about Republicans, at least they don’t have America’s enemies raising money for them.

Steve Sailer is always worth reading.

Like me, Obama is essentially a writer, not an extemporaneous speaker. He needs a few drafts to work things out. So, he developed a conversational style where he doesn’t try to persuade anybody in unscripted conversation of anything other than that “I have understood you,” knowing that most people assume that the only reason anybody disagrees with them is because they are too dumb to understand. Obama watched how fast people got sick of Newt Gingrich. Americans like to imagine their leaders know more than they are saying.

Read it.

Even Ruth Marcus can see that McCain doesn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground when it comes to economics.

The only thing that saves him is that Hillary and Barack are even worse.

Read it.

Okay, let’s see ’em duke it out….

Read it.

When you think about it, that makes a lot of sense.

Read it.

This is interesting of itself but also as an example of the wider implications of the “economics of abundance” concept.

Read it.

EACH YEAR, more than 1,200 women in the United States are killed by their husbands or boyfriends.

That’s … what … 24 per state? And Maryland is a small state, so it’s probably even less than that. Funny that the magnificant Washington Post couldn’t come up with an exact number for Maryland, the subject of the article.

Every year more than 40,000 people are killed in motor vehicle accidents. This is 30-35 times more than the “husbands and boyfriends” toll. And yet the Post doesn’t seem all that concerned about it.

Wonder why that is?

Read it.

The Washington Post  thinks that popular mythology trumps the Constitution. In that, they do not differ from regressives across the country.

Of course, if seats in Congress could be bought, Michael Huffington would be a Senator, and his ex-wife wouldn’t be such a pain in the ass. (Hm. Well, maybe she would be.)

Question: Is it that the Washington Post is put out by idiots, or is it that they assume that their readers are idiots?

Read it.

Two leading presidential candidates have now wandered into an exceptionally emotional medical debate in which they have no known scientific expertise.

Huh? Seems to me that that’s what presidential candidates — hell, candidates at any level — do best.

This is news?

Read it.

The Australian navy has been suffering from a serious geek shortage for several years now. With a total strength of 13,000, being short a few dozen people in some job categories can have serious repercussions, and that’s what happened to the submarine force. For example, the navy is short about a third of the marine engineering officers it needs. There are less serious shortages in officers specializing in electrical systems and weapons systems.  Australian warships have been active in the war on terror, resulting in many crews being away from home for up to six months at a time. There are shortages of both officers and sailors with technical skills. 

Read it.

All this is good news, meaning it’s not reported.

Read it.

Odds that this is true: Very small.

Note how nobody seems interested in the little detail “captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan in 2002”. What was he doing there that led to him being captured?

Read it.

When was the last time you saw the headline “[Non-Muslim nation name] Muslims Struggle With Fear After Slayings”?

Why, gee, that would be — never.

Funny how that works.

Read it.

Sometimes it is good to be the king.