• Orin Kerr at the Volokh Conspiracy puts his last nickel into a rigged slot machine when he calls the following item from Time magazine “intriguing”: “Previewing the final quarter of Bush’s presidency, [administration] officials disclosed to Time that the administration is formulating a huge energy initiative designed to ‘change the whole nature of the discussion’ and challenge the G.O.P., Democrats, the oil and electricity industries, and environmentalists. An adviser said Bush’s views about global warming have evolved. ‘Only Nixon could go to China, and only Bush and Cheney–two oilmen–can bring all these parties kicking and screaming to the table,’ the adviser said.” For pity’s sake, just admit the guy is a loser and go home. He hasn’t evolved since the Devonian Era. Besides, you’d need an extra universe full of electrons to list all the Nixon-goes-to-China moments Bush has blown.

  • Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution nails Blurb.com, a self-publishing enterprise soliciting vain bloggers to compile their posts into books: “Translating good blog ideas into book format is best done by people who . . . have experience writing books, or who have journalistic experience, not by people who have large staplers.”

  • Brendan Nyhan’s mental health is better for not knowing that the Chicago Tribune still uses ink on Charles Krauthammer. Here Nyhan finds that Krauthammer has invoked not merely the Munich analogy but the exact same quotation with regard to China in 1989, North Korea in 1994, Russia in 1994, and Iran last month. (Of course the analogy is sometimes appropriate–even a blind squirrel finds an acorn now and then.)

  • Ed Brayton calls attention to a Toledo Blade story about a proposal that originated in the Catholic Church and was furthered by Ohio’s Republican attorney general: “An Ohio legislative panel yesterday rubber-stamped an unprecedented process that would allow sex offenders to be publicly identified and tracked even if they’ve never been charged with a crime.” Anybody can be so labeled without any smidgen of due process. You know what everybody thinks of when you say “Salem, Massachusetts,” even after 300 years? Try saying “Ohio” in 2306.