Links and Minifeatures 2008 07 18 Friday

I just went into the email for the Consumer Focused Carnival of Real Estate. Everything submitted with had errors too big to ignore or was basically vapid spam, chumming for a link. Therefore, consumer focused Carnival of Real Estate will be delayed by two weeks, and henceforth is reduced to monthly.

Obama's latest ad: More of the same. Vague platitudes, overstatement of accomplishment, no taking of positions.

More airbrushing of history.

Classical Values makes several good points about the oil supply.

People Unclear on the Concept Department: Joseph Heller sued the District of Columbia over its handgun ban. He went all the way to the Supreme Court and won. His application for a handgun permit was denied.

President Bush can't catch a break.

President Bush kills the Executive Order prohibiting drilling. Oil prices recede 10% within three days. Part of it was a smallish supply windfall, but the largest part was some optimism on behalf of futures markets that the regulatory equation may be changing.

There's still the Congressional ban, of course, and Ms. Pelosi has said there will be no drilling so long as she is speaker, which is one more reason why rational Americans should vote for Republican candidates. Unlike most such issues, however, it's so easily understood that a good number of our less rational Americans may follow us. If she doesn't moderate her opposition, she could find her Democratic congressional cohorts pulling a "Gingrich" on her, and for far better reasons.

Israel makes arrests in alleged plot against Bush

Israel's Shin Bet counter-intelligence agency said one of the suspects had used his mobile phone to film helicopters at a sports stadium in Jerusalem that was used as a landing site for Bush's delegation.

The suspect then posted queries on Web sites frequented by al Qaeda operatives, asking for guidance on how to shoot down the helicopters, the agency said in a statement.

Of course, to many on the political left, it's just performance art!

Finally got the dang tooth taken out on Wednesday, and feeling much better, even though my sleep cycle is completely messed up. Should be back to normal by the end of the weekend. I'm thinking I'll likely have mostly normal article schedule next week.