The ‘objectivity’ of the BBC has been a joke for years, but it’s taken its ludicrous coverage of the Iraq war to bring this to a wider audience. Josh Chafetz has more.

For more on how the BBC’s TV tax works, check in with Big Brother here.

According to at least one poll, Bustamante is now ahead of Schwarzenegger in the California race. Blogger Calblog reckons that this may even overstate Arnold’s support, as, judging by some recent developments, the Terminator seems intent on alienating the G.O.P. base. Who’s to blame? Calblog has a theory:

“Since Shriver assumed a central role, the campaign ... has allowed Warren Buffet and Rob Lowe to associate themselves with the campaign.

Now I would expect the Republican operatives in the campaign to know that Republicans dislike Lowe and Buffet. These are things that Republicans just know. No one has to tell us or teach us. It's almost assumed… “

Looking at the campaign from the outside, it is, of course, impossible to know who is responsible for this fiasco. The damage caused by the Rob Lowe appointment (which is just a nod to Hollywood orthodoxy) shouldn't be overstated but the arrival of Buffett looks like a major blunder. The tax-loving, faux populist sage of Omaha is as bad an economist as he is good an investor. He should have no part - ever – to play in any supposedly Republican campaign, liberal, moderate or conservative.

A number of readers have written to say that Brit villain Hugo Drax was, in fact, um, French. Well, certainly that’s true of the actor who played him, but Drax (who sported a knighthood) was, I thought, British.

Any clues?

An obviously nauseating individual by the name of Michael Martin is planning to introduce a smoking ban in Ireland's pubs, bars and restaurants.

His job description? 'Minister for health and children' proving once again the truth of these two rules:

Rule 1: When someone talks about 'the children' watch out for your wallet.

Rule 2: When someone talks about 'the children' watch out for your freedoms.

Gratifyingly, however, Mr. Martin is encountering opposition from an unexpected source. Ireland's environment minister, Martin Cullen, has (the Financial Times reports) denounced the plan as "American political correctness." Mr. Cullen is, the Financial Times notes, a heavy smoker.

Splendid. If there must be environment ministers this is the sort of thing they should be doing - fighting to preserve the atmosphere (if not exactly the air) in a good smoky pub.

Apologies for reverting to this topic, but one reader’s contribution was too good not to pass on:

"Deliverance redneck villain: "Squeal like a pig, boy!"

Hugo Drax [archetypical British villain]: "James Bond. You reappear with the tedious inevitability of an unloved season."”

We’re often hearing about the phenomenon of ‘ostalgie’, nostalgia for East Germany.

Here’s a cure.

K-Lo,

Maybe it's because we think we're in the "flyover" states, but people down here in Memphis, Tenn. are snickering at the "yankees" without electricity. The talk in the hallways and elevators is, "Where were they three weeks ago?"

Let me explain: about three weeks ago straight-line winds ripped through the Mid-South. The winds were clocked at 100-plus miles per hour. About 1.5 million people in Tennessee, Arkansas and North Mississippi went without electricity for weeks. Some were without electricity for nearly three weeks. Tree crews are still cutting up 100-year-old oak trees and removing them from the middle of people's living rooms.

All of this received little or no coverage in the national media.

Our Memphis AP reporter filed a half-dozen stories, but nobody in the national media picked them up (for some strange reason Drudge ran a follow-up story two weeks later...leave it to Drudge).

I'm not foolish enough to compare the plight of 30 million people to a million people. But the national media only mentions Memphis in the same sentence with "Elvis" and "barbecue," and anything about the South is tied to cotton fields and the Confederacy.

So...with that in mind...I don't have much sympathy for your situation, and I agree with the assessment that the national media is reporting about what happened to "us," not what happened to the citizens of NY, Canada and the Midwest.

Still...I admit I was worried that the Corner would be delayed when I got to work this morning (some Yankee inventions are worthwhile, I guess). -BD

Sign outside a local bar (Second Avenue, NYC):

"Hooray!

The lights are back.

The bar is open.

The air is on."

Canadians cried "don't blame us" as the search for the cause of the massive blackout resulted in finger-pointing across the border. ... Canadians were defensive at earlier suggestions from New York City officials that the problem had started with Canada. "They always want to blame someone else, now don't they," Jean Macklin, a toy store owner, said a bit archly. "Canadians aren't doing too well with Americans this year," mused Rebecca Eckler, 30. "We have SARS, we opposed the war, and now we've blown out their lights."

Thank you for your recent e-mail expressing concern about my tax returns.

I understand your feelings, and your confusion. Unfortunately press reports have not provided a full picture of the situation. Let me clarify.

I released the last two years of my tax returns voluntarily because of my campaign's commitment to transparency. I also wanted, once and for all, to dispel the public perception that I am a very wealthy woman. Unlike what some people might think, I didn't receive an enormous divorce settlement. I got a beautiful home and a large child-support agreement. And that was it.

I am a working woman whose income fluctuates depending on whether this is a year of researching and writing a book or a year of publishing and promoting a book. The two years of tax returns that I released were years when I was researching and writing Pigs at the Trough. The book was published this year, became a New York Times bestseller, and was followed by a $1 million contract for a new book. So 2003 is a year where I look forward to making a profit and paying my taxes on it.

A few other points:

During the two years in question, I paid $98,042 in property taxes, and $44,216 in employer payroll taxes. And the majority of my business expenses went to salaries - salaries on which my employees paid taxes.

In addition, almost a quarter of my income during these years went to charitable contributions.

Thanks again for letting me know how you feel -- I hope this helps clear things up for you.

All the best,

Arianna

Does anyone else find it offensive that Mayor Bloomberg rang the opening bell on the NYSE today to show that everything was "OK"?

There are massive blackouts, no commuter rails, no subways, very limited bus service, leaving driving the only option. However, the traffic lights are out making driving tremendously unsafe. The governors of New York and New Jersey are urging non-essential employees to stay home and people are being asked not to enter NYC unless absolutely necessary. I thought they were joking when those announcements were followed by the notification that the financial markets would be opening on time.

I think this shows a general contempt for the employees of the financial markets and reduces them to pawns in a dangerous game to give the impression that it's business as usual in New York.

By ringing the bell on the NYSE, Mayor Bloomberg is complicit in this charade. After nearly being killed getting to my trading post by a truck that was going through an intersection without a traffic light, I found the mayor's thumbs up gesture while ringing the bell particularly offensive.

Revealing the long-standing nature of their prescription -- tell starving people they ought to consider dieting:

“Many of the conservation measures temporarily undertaken when the mini-crisis was in its acute stage—lowered speed limits, car-pools, reset thermostats, etc.—should be instituted on a permanent basis. . . . In the long run, energy should be made expensive, especially for large users, as an incentive to conservation.” - Paul Ehrlich and Anne Ehrlich, The End of Affluence (Riverside, Mass: Rivercity Press, 1974, 1975), p. 48.

“Except in special circumstances, all construction of power generating facilities should cease immediately. . . . Power is much too cheap. It should certainly be made more expensive and perhaps rationed, in order to reduce its frivolous use. - Paul Ehrlich and Richard Harriman, How To Be A Survivor (Rivercity, Mass.: Rivercity Press, 1971, 1975), p. 72.

My take on the political issue arising from yesterday/today is that yes, pressure will build for "an energy bill." Pressure should instead build for an an energy bill doing what Pres. Bush proposed; that is, Bush should be able to demand a good bill from conference and quickly in Sept. Instead, already the assumption is that the opponents of building out our energy infrastructute will turn this incident on its head through their own guile and the admin.'s refusal to fight for principle over "checking the box for each campaign promise" (mindset of "get me 'a bill'"). Ds with the help of liberal Rs will play into this and indeed demand "a bill!" asap, while illogically and cyncially holding firm to their anti-energy provisions (the windmill mandate of anywhere from 10-20%, global warming titles, etc.), claiming that R insistence on jettisoning this junk is holding back enactment. Guess who blinks. Clever, if typical.

Pentagon officials met Thursday with reporters to "put to rest" a "burgeoning rumor" that the defense department is planning to reduce compensation for those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. "That is not true. We are not going to reduce their compensation," said David Chu, under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness.

“There is an open issue about how we're going to do that which depends on exactly how the conference report in the Congress comes out on some technical allowance issues…

The department has a variety of pay and allowance powers already with which it plans to maintain the compensation of those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan should the current allowance provisions expire.

“Whether they expire or not is a question which we don't have the answer to. But actually we would prefer, and I think that's how this rumor got started, we would prefer to use those other compensation powers as our way of ensuring that we target these compensation benefits on the troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan," Chu said.

Mayor Bloomberg is just terrible. He sounds like a fussy little old woman. Not even one from New York.

And last night he was on the Brooklyn Bridge, greeting people as they made their way across. But he can't do anything right. He was blocking off part of the bridge, because he was standing in it. People booed.

He seems to have a leaden touch.

Unless Congress and President Bush take quick action when Congress returns after Labor Day, the uniformed Americans in Iraq and the 9,000 in Afghanistan will lose a pay increase approved last April of $75 a month in "imminent danger pay" and $150 a month in "family separation allowances."

As they do not see, behind the benefits of civilisation, marvels of invention and construction which can only be maintained by great effort and foresight, they imagine that their role is limited to demanding these benefits peremptorily, as if they were natural rights.

His thoughts on the blackout?

"They say Toronto is like New York, but run by the Swiss..it was a striking contrast...everyone was calm and orderly...'Joe Citizen' was directing traffic."

So, were there any problems ?

"Oh, 38 smash and grabs."

Like clockwork, I guess.

Although I believe the Ten Commandments are the cornerstone of our legal heritage and that they can be displayed constitutionally as they are in the U. S. Supreme Court building, I will not violate nor assist any person in the violation of this injunction. As Attorney General, I have a duty to obey all orders of courts even when I disagree with those orders. In this controversy, I will strive to uphold the rule of law. We have a government of laws, not of men. I will exercise any authority provided to me, under Alabama law, to bring the State into compliance with the injunction of the federal court, unless and until the Supreme Court of the United States rules in favor of Chief Justice Moore.

1) A bit past 6:30pm EDT, less than three hours into the blackout in some parts of the Northeast, CBS's Dan Rather wanted to know if "any serious thought" had been given to canceling Bush's appearance a few hours later at a San Diego fundraiser, "given the fact that so many millions of people are going through this in the Northeast?" When Bush spoke about the blackout, CBS stuck with "Amazing Race 4."

2) At about 7:45pm EDT on ABC, Ted Koppel highlighted a "happy note," from California Governor Gray Davis, about how "the power outages on the East Coast pose no threat to the California power grid." Who thought otherwise?

3) Without any balancing political guests, several of the networks gave a platform throughout the evening to former Clinton Energy Secretary Bill Richardson and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, both of whom criticized Bush administration energy policy. Hillary resurrected anti- Enron talking points, denounced deregulation, castigated President Bush and even defended California Governor Gray Davis. She got time on ABC and CNN and on MSNBC.

4) Thanks to the blackout, we got to see the real Diane Sawyer, Paula Zahn and Elizabeth Vargas sans benefit of blow drying their hair.

You ask where was the current energy sec? Do you think he might have been a little busy coping w/ the current crisis?

By the way, most of us here in the rest of the US were getting very tired of all the coverage for Pete's sakes. After it was obvious there was no terror attack and that it was just a matter of time to fix it, the saturation of coverage was quite boring and most Americans turned to other things.

Sometimes it seems like people in the NE think the world turns around them. Pardon me if the rest of us decline to agree.

….The recent release of British nationals, who say they were tortured into confessing bomb attacks in the kingdom, has highlighted the fact that the Saudi authorities still have not confronted the threat posed by al-Qa'eda. Their attitude is at best ambiguous, at worst duplicitous.

In America and elsewhere, evidence is accumulating that Saudi charitable foundations are still the main source of funds for Islamist terrorism. How much the Saudi regime knew in advance about the attacks of September 11 is still unclear, but the fact that they were ordered and carried out by Saudi terrorists speaks for itself.

Incitement to jihad against the Anglo-American infidel is the staple of many Wahhabicontrolled mosques and schools, whose influence is powerful throughout the Islamic world.

The House of Saud itself is implicated in some of these hostile activities, and appears to be in denial about the threat of its own overthrow. Mass arrests and executions of terrorists are only the public face of Saudi policy towards al-Qa'eda; privately, the emphasis has been on appeasement.

Under these circumstances, Britain and America would be wise to prepare for the possibility of regime change in Saudi Arabia. The Foreign Office and the State Department have a vested interest in preserving the House of Saud, despite the many odious aspects of its rule.

There is, however, a real danger that the royal family's traditionally pro-Western stance may obscure the hollowing-out of the Saudi regime by Islamist elements. A hollowed-out Saudi Arabia could become the vehicle for Osama bin Laden's dream to restore the Caliphate, claiming jurisdiction over Muslims from Bethlehem to Bali.

LIFE may not be predictable, but Europeans are. If we criticize them publicly, they splutter, outraged that we don't recognize their perfection. They can dish it out abundantly, but continental Europeans can no more take criticism than their welfare armies could have taken Baghdad.

The only thing you can get for free from Europeans is advice. And they're always ready to give us plenty of it, as they've been doing for more than two centuries.

Still, behind the easy pleasure of poking fun at European pretensions, there are serious - and hardening - differences between Americans, who embrace the future, and the French or Germans or Belgians who cling to the past.

None of those differences go so deep as our opposing concepts of freedom. . . .

From a February 2001 interview with Arianna Huffington in the Boston Globe:

"I advocate tithing, giving 10 percent of one's income, for those who can afford it, to poverty-fighting specifically...I give 10 percent of my gross income to poverty-fighting."

From the LA TImes today:

Huffington's tax form lists $46,763 in contributions to charity in 2002. Those were not deductible because she had no taxable income.

The contributions include payments to three prominent private schools on Los Angeles' Westside — the Archer School, Crossroads and New Roads. They also include payments of $6,675 to the Church of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness and a related foundation.

The church, founded by John-Roger, describes itself as designed to "teach Soul Transcendence, which is becoming aware of yourself as a Soul and as one with God, not as a theory but as a living reality.""

Republicans Introduce Economic Equality Bill For Fun Of Shooting It Down
WASHINGTON, DC—Republicans in the House of Representatives proposed H.R. 2093: the Economic Equality Initiative, with the express purpose of shooting it down "just for kicks" Tuesday. "H.R. 2093 will level the economic playing field, spreading the wealth among the rich and poor," said Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-TX), visibly fighting back snickers. "We must pass this bill to stop the fat cats from getting fatter while the average Joe struggles to make ends meet. Also, I'm the Queen of Bavaria." Following 10 minutes of uproarious laughter, the congressmen stepped out of the chamber to smoke cigars lit with a bill that would allocate $115 million to clean up hazardous waste sites.

Here’s a comment from a reader who (judging by my e-mails) is far from alone in this opinion:

“This is all going to go badly. Davis and California should have to live with each other; the recall is going to let the real villains off the hook and the people of California will continue on their merry spendthrift way.”

I understand the point, but it’s too late to make it. Like it or not, there is going to be a recall vote. If Gray survives, he will still be a lousy governor, but he would be a politically strengthened lousy governor.

No-one should wish that on California.

Arnold Schwarzenegger:

"There comes a point when the people must demand more of our elected officials than just showing up."

The response from one Texan (suffering through the spectacle of his elected representatives holed up in New Mexico and Oklahoma).

“Oh, dare to dream.”

Los Angeles County's punch card ballots can carry only 48 candidate names per card, meaning English-speaking voters must be given three ballots apiece in order to accommodate the 135 certified candidates running for governor.

”Iraq is the nexus where many issues are coming together — Islam versus democracy, the West versus the axis of evil, Arab nationalism versus some different types of political culture," said Barham Saleh, the prime minister of this Kurdish-controlled part of northern Iraq. "If the Americans succeed here, this will be a monumental blow to everything the terrorists stand for."

My 11-month old son is named D____ Ronald G____ [first and last names deleted to respect the writer's privacy]. He is named after you-know-whom (being Jewish, his first name was reserved for his grandpa) at my Soviet-born wife's insistence. You see, she was a young girl in the Soviet Union who listened on the Voice of America to the "Evil Empire" speech with her family huddled around a radio. She remembers her parents crying because finally the West understood. Her Dad was a dissident playwright who eventually joined the Moldovan "Freedom Parliament" where he signed Moldova's Declaration of Independence from the USSR. He quit politics immediately and has been editor of a pro-democracy newspaper, when not writing his plays. These are the people who understand that Ronald Reagan was a gift to all mankind, they know that their freedom today is a result of his courage yesterday. In the 1940s and 50's, until he died, my wife's grandpa used to listen to the VoA and BBC hoping that the "Americans will come back and drive these Russians out". Thanks to Mr. Reagan his unknown great-grandson was born in liberty. I guess I'm saying, there are millions of lives that Mr. Reagan changed and you are blessed for having known him.

Rule 1: When someone talks about 'the children' watch out for your wallet.

Rule 2: When someone talks about 'the children' watch out for your freedoms.

Here's an example of Rule 2 from Texas. In September, 1999 Jesus Castillo sold a copy of an 'adults only' comic book to an undercover cop who clearly had nothing better to do with his time. The cop was an adult and the comic book was stocked in an adult section of the store. 'Demon Beast Invasion: The Fallen' may or may not have had its artistic or other merits (part of its plot included women having sex with, um, trees), but that apparently did not worry the prosecuting attorney. He "didn't care what kind of testimony [was] out there" because the store was across from an elementary school and "comic books, traditionally...are for kids" and that, apparently, was that.

A dumb jury agreed and now, apparently, so has the Supreme Court.

Ridiculous.