This Was Never Smart

In this day and age, it is not a good idea to make jokes about terrorism when traveling. It is especially stupid to carry dangerous banned items when traveling. But carrying explosives on to a plane as "souvenirs" was never a good idea, even before the age of terrorism.

A grand jury returned a two-count indictment charging Howard MacFarland Fish, 21, with carrying an explosive on an aircraft and entering an airport in violation of security requirements, U.S. Attorney Don DeGabrielle said in a news release on Wednesday.

Fish, a student at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, was stopped at Houston Intercontinental Airport on August 25 on his way home from Argentina. Customs inspectors found a small stick of dynamite, a fuse and a blasting cap in his bags.

He told investigators he had picked up the items as souvenirs while visiting a silver mine in Argentina.

Carrying an explosive on an aircraft is a felony carrying maximum possible penalties of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 (132,544 pound) fine. Violating airport security is a misdemeanor carrying a maximum year in prison and a $100,000 fine,

I posted about this arrest back in August. This is a dumb, seriously dumb move.

Reversal Pending

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sent a pretty clear signal today that Judge Anna Diggs Taylor's decision about the constitutionality of the governments surveillance program will be overturned. The appeals court ruled the program can continue to operate pending the completion of the appeal, staying judge Taylor's order to cease the program.

The unanimous ruling from a three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals gave little explanation for the decision. In the three-paragraph ruling, judges said that they balanced the likelihood an appeal would succeed, the potential damage to both sides and the public interest.

U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit ruled Aug. 17 that the program was unconstitutional because it violates the rights to free speech and privacy and the separation of powers in the Constitution.

The Justice Department had urged the appeals court to allow it to keep the program in place while it argues its appeal, claiming that the nation faced "potential irreparable harm." The appeal is likely to take months.

"The country will be more vulnerable to a terrorist attack," the government motion said.

The program monitors international phone calls and e-mails to or from the United States involving people the government suspects have terrorist links. A secret court has been set up to grant warrants for such surveillance, but the government says it can't always wait for a court to take action.

Considering how badly judge Taylor's ruling was received by just about everyone because of its horribly twisted reasoning, this is no surprise to anyone. When even the Washington Post and the New York Times could not get behind what she wrote, it was a lost cause. Expect a long-winded gasket blow from all the usual suspects, however. 

How Not To Treat A Snakebite

You know all those movie Westerns where someone gets bitten by a rattlesnake? The hero always puts on a tourniquet, then slices ope the wound and sucks the venom out. All heroic and all, right? The best way to save someone's life, right?

More like the best way to kill the victim. Or cause an amputation.

Mike Edwards, 46, was bitten by a timber rattlesnake Saturday while working on his Rockvale farm. The bite was so severe that Edwards was kept at Vanderbilt University Medical Center until Monday.

The standard snakebite scene in many movies shows the victim applying a tourniquet to the limb and then cutting the wound and sucking out the venom.

As Edwards and his wife, Andrea, waited for the ambulance to arrive, a good Samaritan tried to help using advice gleaned from Hollywood.

"She put a tourniquet on his arm," Andrea Edwards said. "We were on the phone with the EMT who was on his way to us, and he said to take it off."

As the Edwards learned when they arrived at Vanderbilt, the tourniquet could have cost him his hand or arm.

"The toxicologist at Vanderbilt said the tourniquet just kept all of the venom in one place, and it swelled, which made it harder for the antivenin to get to it," Mike Edwards said.

Edwards' condition was critical by the time they arrived at the hospital and his blood pressure was dangerously low, his wife said. Mike said he lost vision at one point and was convulsively twitching.

"They told me another 10 minutes, and we could have lost him," she said.

Middle Tennessee Medical Center's Dr. Kevin Beier, who specializes in emergency treatment, said venom is used by snakes to break down the tissue of prey to make them easier to digest.

"When you trap the venom, it causes tissue damage and necrosis (tissue death)," Beier said.

Here's the FDA advice for treating snakebite and first aid. Basically, a band above the wound can be used but should be loose enough to slip a finger over. Commercial snakebite kits include suction devices, but no cuts should be made if you attempt to use them.

Shipwreck Identified

The remains of a ship found near Hawaii in the recently designated Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument have been identified. The ship was an iron-hulled sailing ship named the Dunnottar Castle which hit a reef and sank.

The remains, found at Kure Atoll, are those of the Dunnottar Castle, a 258-foot iron-hulled cargo ship built in 1874.

"The Dunnottar Castle is an incredible heritage resource from the days of the sailing ships like the Falls of Clyde, Balcalutha and Star of India, when our maritime commerce was driven by steel masts and canvas, and by wind power and human hands," said Hans Van Tilburg, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration marine archeologist.

NOAA researchers working from the ship Hi'ialakai confirmed the wreck's identity following its initial discovery by a volunteer with the state of Hawaii division of forestry and wildlife, Brad Vanderlip.

Home ported in Scotland, the Dunnottar Castle was bound from Sydney, Australia, to Wilmington, Calif., with a load of coal when it struck a reef at full speed.

I have been on the Star of India, which is at the San Diego Maritime Museum and is the same type of iron hulled sailing ship as the recent discovery. Here's the website for the museum which also has a virtual tour of the ship and videos.

FBI Executes Search Warrants On Spinach Companies

In the first indication that there may have been a crime involved, the FBI executed search warrants at two California produce companies that handle spinach. The raids follow an E. coli outbreak that hit numerous states, killed one person and sickened nearly 200. This is pretty big news.

Agents from the FBI and the Food and Drug Administration used warrants to search a Natural Selection Foods LLC plant in San Juan Bautista and a Growers Express plant in Salinas to determine whether they followed food safety procedures.

Federal health officials said early in their investigation that deliberate contamination was not suspected.

"We are investigating allegations that certain spinach growers and distributors may not have taken all necessary or appropriate steps to ensure that their spinach was safe before they were placed into interstate commerce," U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan said in a statement.

The searches were the first indication that authorities suspect a crime may have been committed in the outbreak that killed a Wisconsin woman, sickened people in 26 states and prompted the FDA to issue a two-week consumer warning on fresh spinach.

FBI spokesman Joe Schadler said authorities were investigating whether there was a criminal violation of federal environmental laws, which would be a felony.

He would not disclose what agents sought or seized at the two plants.

This is very interesting, indeed.

On The Jumping Of Sharks

Well, this unraveled faster than I believed possible. The left has overplayed the Foley hand to the point that there is now a brewing anti-homosexual witch hunt. Aimed at Republican staffers who happen to be gay. Gay Patriot takes a wee bit of exception to the whole matter.

Full citizen?  No party has the power or right to tell me I am a full citizen.  Supporting or opposing gay marriage does not make you a hypocrite.  It makes you question the policy on its face.  I am a full citizen thanks to the US Constitution.

Did it ever occur to Mr. Corn that the representatives and Senators he mentions that may or may not have gay staffers do not care about their sexual orientation yet value their participation as public servants?  Is it not rational that you can hire a gay staffer, but at the same time oppose PUBLIC POLICY POSITIONS that you are morally or philosophically opposed to without being labeled a homophobe?

Perhaps Mr. Corn is ignoring the fact that most gay conservatives identify more strongly in our American Identity than our Gay Identity.  Did that ever cross your mind, Mr. Corn?   Probably not since you seem to have had no problem outing a CIA agent and then letting others take the fall for your actions.

David Corn was the first person I read who mentioned this "list". I think the left is making a dreadful mistake and will pay for this one. Even though Mr. Corn denies the Foley matter is about homosexuality, this attempt to use the list as a political bludgeon makes the entire thing very much about homosexuality. And about the left's no longer secret loathing of gays. There are, after all, sharks to be jumped here. The left is busy doing so.

I have warned about this repeatedly, but I really never thought they would get to this point this quickly. Their October surprise is turning around on them with their help.

UPDATE: And we have a "Bingo!" The Radar website, really a gossip column in pixels as far as I can tell, has picked up the information that many conservatives had already noticed. There is a smoking gun out there with the bogus website that started the whole Foley flap. (Its funny, they call it an exclusive, but there have been any number of conservatives that noted this early on). But that info is going mainstream now. Shark jumped. Hand overplayed.

UPDATE: Others: American Digest - Masturgate (The word coined by Roger Simon), TRUA - betrayal, Townhall - never missing an opportunity, Classical Values,- rather big, Riehl World - on tolerance, Confederate Yankee - Big Tent or Large White Sheet? Ace - Good Times. James Joyner - Maybe not. Wizbang Politics - reach exceeds grasp. Flopping Aces - Uh Oh - Consenting Adults being outed? Sister Toldjah - Wear boots. (Also a very disturbing photo - taking telephoto pictures through Hastert's windows - NOT good, media. Really not good.). PJM - Big roundup.

Raise Your Hand If You Didn’t See This Coming

The new Microsoft Vista operating system will disable your computer if it decides you are running a pirated copy of the new system.

The world's largest software maker said Wednesday that people running a version of Windows Vista that it believes is pirated will initially be denied access to some of the most anticipated Vista features. That includes Windows Aero, an improved graphics technology.

If a legitimate copy is not bought within 30 days, the system will curtail functionality much further by restricting users to just the Web browser for an hour at a time, said Thomas Lindeman, Microsoft senior product manager.

Under that scenario, a person could use the browser to surf the Web, access documents on the hard drive or log onto Web-based e-mail. But the user would not be able to directly open documents from the computer desktop or run other programs such as Outlook e-mail software, Lindeman said.

Microsoft said it won't stop a computer running pirated Vista software from working completely, and it will continue to deliver critical security updates.

The company also said it has added more sophisticated technology for monitoring whether a system is pirated. For example, the system will be able to perform some piracy checks internally, without contacting Microsoft, Lindeman said.

Microsoft also is adding ways to more closely monitor for piracy among big corporate users, who tend to buy licenses in bulk.

Microsoft plans to take similar tough measures with the forthcoming version of its Windows server software, dubbed "Longhorn," and to incorporate it into other products down the road.

Which is one reason I'm looking into this right now. (That and the enormous expense of Microsoft software). I have an older computer kicking about that I can experiment with to see if I like Linux-based systems.

UPDATE: Already having had one comment that misunderstood me, all of my Microsoft software is legal. Period. But I take a bit of umbrage at a software company that thinks it has a right to do anything to my computer without my permission. I have absolutely no plans to upgrade to Vista - probably ever.

Have You Seen These Breasts?

German police have put out an all points bulletin on some missing breasts. While we here at Blue Crab Boulevard have been known to take a few minor liberties with some stories, we swear we are not making this up.

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German plastic surgeon who was cheated out of payment by several women has given pictures of their enlarged breasts to police, in the hope the photos will help trace them.

"The women registered under fake names," Michael Koenig, a surgeon in Cologne, told Bild newspaper. "After the operations, which lasted about an hour, they just ran away."

"Tanja" went out for "fresh air" after 8,000-euro ($10,000) surgery to enlarge her breasts. "She never came back and never paid," Koenig said. He now plans to demand payment in advance.

Bild published a five-column picture of Tanja's naked breasts. "It's probably the most unusual wanted poster police ever had," the newspaper wrote.

I suspect the doctor isn't the sharpest tool in the shed, however. Wouldn't a face shot be a bit more convenient for the police? I mean it's not as if the police are going to conduct a breast to breast search. At least we don't think they would. Oh, the Bild-Zeitung page is here. It is NOT in any way whatsoever safe for work. Well, the nose is. And the picture of the doctor. But the other part is right out. Incidentally, she's apparently not safe in traffic accidents.

Pandora And That Damnable Box

Pandora had repeatedly fancied that sounds like whispers issued from the box. The noise now seemed to increase, and she breathlessly applied her ear to the lid to ascertain whether it really proceeded from within. Imagine, therefore, her surprise when she distinctly heard these words, uttered in the most pitiful accents: " Pandora, dear Pandora, have pity upon us ! Free us from this gloomy prison! Open, open, we beseech you!"

Pandora's heart beat so fast and loud, that it seemed for a moment to drown all other sounds. Should she open the box ? Just then a familiar step outside made her start guiltily. Epimetheus was coming, and she knew he would urge her again to come out, and would prevent the gratification of her curiosity. Precipitately, therefore, she raised the lid to have one little peep before he came in.

Now, Jupiter had malignantly crammed into this box all the diseases, sorrows, vices, and crimes that afflict poor humanity; and the box was no sooner opened, than all these ills flew out, in the guise of horrid little brown-winged creatures, closely resembling moths. These little insects fluttered about, alighting, some upon Epimetheus, who had just entered, and some upon Pandora, pricking and stinging them most unmercifully. They then flew out through the open door and windows, and fastened upon the merrymakers without, whose shouts of joy were soon changed into wails of pain and anguish.

Taken from: The Myths of Greece and Rome by H.A. Guerber (G. Harrap & Co. 1907)

The Greek mythology of Pandora and the box of sorrows is one that has endured long after the civilization that produced it collapsed. There is something compelling about the tale, even though we know it is just a myth. The tale has become a commonly used metaphor for unanticipated consequences.

So the people who have wrought the dirtiest campaigning season I can recall have much to look forward to in the way of unanticipated consequences. For example, this item from the Washington Post.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A state senator said he is evaluating whether to continue his bid for a second term after a Charleston television station aired revealing pictures of him last week.

"My family has urged me not to withdraw from the election and I will work with them to make a decision in the immediate future," State Sen. Randy White, a Webster County Democrat, said in a letter to newspapers in his district.

An apologetic White also wrote that he was "shocked" and "horribly embarrassed" after WCHS-TV aired photos depicting him and at least two other men wearing only body paint.

"The pictures were taken approximately two years ago in private and were stolen from my personal computer," said White, 51, a married father of three. "I am not sure why they were given to the media, but I must assume for obvious political reasons."

I'm thoroughly disgusted with many of the campaigns this year. So is the Real Ugly American. I have to keep reminding myself of the end of the myth of Pandora and that damnable box:

It was well for Pandora that she opened the box a second time, for the gods, with a sudden impulse of compassion, had concealed among the evil spirits one kindly creature, Hope, whose mission was to heal the wounds inflicted by her fellow prisoners.

Airships In Space

Well, okay, near space, not actually in it. But still, having an airship that is actually a huge sensor for tracking ground and aerial targets is a pretty interesting gizmo. Especially since it could stay aloft for a year at a time.

Several companies have begun design work on a prototype airship that could hover at an altitude near space where it would be able to track ground and aerial targets for up to a year at a time. Whether the program, known as Integrated Sensor is Structure (ISIS), moves beyond the design stage any time soon, however, will depend on the final version of the 2007 defense budget.

The U.S. House of Representatives funded the full $16.3 million request for the effort in its version of the 2007 Defense Appropriations Act, which passed the House in June. The Senate Appropriations Committee, however, has recommended denying the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s entire $16.3 million budget request for the program in 2007. The bill is currently awaiting a vote on the Senate floor.

The House and Senate will address the issue when they meet to resolve differences between their bills later this year.

Jenny Manley, a spokeswoman for the Senate Appropriations Committee, did not respond to a request for comment on the committee’s proposed cut to the ISIS program.

Jan Walker, a spokeswoman for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, said that program officials declined to comment on the ISIS effort at this time.

The Air Force Research Laboratory of Rome, N.Y., has awarded several contracts to industry to begin work on various aspects of the ISIS program. The lab awarded a two-year, $10.3 million contract to Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems and Sensors of Akron, Ohio, in June to begin work on the airship platform.

The lab awarded two contracts earlier this year to Northrop Grumman Corp. for the ISIS effort. Northrop Grumman Space Technology of Redondo Beach, Calif., will develop a transmit-and-receive module for the radar sensor that is expected to be lightweight and extremely power efficient under a $6.8 million contract awarded in April. Northrop Grumman’s Electronic Systems sector, which is based in Linthicum, Md., is developing an antenna that can handle radar as well as transmit data simultaneously under an $8 million contract. Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems of El Segundo, Calif., also is working on a design for the antenna under an $8 million contract.

This article is from August, so now I have to find out whether this puppy got cut from the budget or not.

Revulsion

In what may turn out to be another twisted publicity stunt, there are reports that the Westboro Hate Cult is planning to protest at a memorial service for the little Amish girls murdered by a psychopath on Monday. If you read the whole entry over at Euphoric Reality, you'll see an update which indicates the venomous scum never actually intended to do this, just to use it to get more publicity.

Which is a danger whenever you discuss groups as twisted as this one is. Of course, ignoring them leads them to even greater vileness on their part to try to garner attention to their sickness. So it's a delicate balance.

On the other hand, It gives us a chance to show what we suspect will be the destination for old Freddy when he kicks off. Bon voyage.

The Danger Of Overplaying A Hand - Part Two

Jim Hoft has a roundup of some things that probably should be making a few people nervous about the whole Foley matter. Not the people the left and the Dems would have you believe should be nervous, either. One bit he quotes from Mac's Mind stands out:

"However, I do know that the specific focus of the FBI at this point is to determine who knew about Foley’s activities, when they knew it and specifically who withheld evidence in what may be a Federal Crime. Yet like in many investigations, there is sometimes the uncovering of other crimes that takes place. It should be said at this point that the attempt to extort or influence, or threaten a US congressman, in order to influence legislation, or an election is a Federal Crime, and if in fact principals were involved in such an orchestrated plan it will be discovered."

Again, I must point out that even as a constituent of former Representative Foley, I detest his actions, and do not condone and accept them in anyway. In fact I support his prosecution if applicable laws have been broken. But again, those who participated before the fact in the “outing” of Foley, seem to have had at this point specific knowledge of his activities and if proven at the least are guilty of conspiracy to withhold evidence, and obstruction of justice.

Foley was properly run out of office for his behavior. But if there was evidence withheld to try to influence the election, there may yet be hell to pay in this. Just not the way some people think.

UPDATE: Confederate Yankee would like some answers.

EU Negotiator Admits Obvious

Javier Solana, the European Union's negotiator in charge of talks with Iran has finally told the EU the truth. The endless hours of negotiations are going nowhere and are pointless unless Iran changes its stance (which the Iranian president made plain he will not allow). Solana said it's time to send the matter to the UN if Iran won't be moved in negotiations.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana told the European Parliament that Iran must decide whether it wants to continue the negotiations about suspending enrichment.

"Today, Iran has made no commitment to suspend" enrichment, Solana said.

"This dialogue I am maintaining cannot last forever and it is up to Iranians now to decide whether its time has come to end," he said.

He suggested if that was the case, the standoff over Iran should be moved to the U.N. Security Council.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned the West that any possible sanctions would not stop his government from uranium enrichment.

"It's been 27 years that they (the West) haven't allowed us to use technologies that they possess," he told a large crowd gathered in Hashtgerd, outside Iran's capital of Tehran.

Solana has been leading talks with Iran's top negotiator, Ali Larijani, on behalf of Britain, France, Germany, China, the United States and Russia, which are seeking to persuade Iran to suspend work on processing uranium in return for a package of incentives.

Solana told the lawmakers that his "endless hours" of talks with Larijani have not made any progress.

"We have reached common ground only on a number of issues, an important number of issues, but we have not agreed in what is the key point, which is the question of suspension of activities before the start of the negotiations" with the West on Iran's use of nuclear technology.

Solana stressed that "the door to negotiations will always remain open" with Tehran.

"I am convinced that (the) Iranian dossier can only be solved through negotiations," Solana told EU lawmakers.

He urged Iran to continue the talks to prevent the threat of U.N. sanctions, which are now being considered by the U.N. Security Council's five permanent members.

Sanctions backed by a threat of force are the only thing that could make Iran move. Since it is improbable that the European powers will back such a move, the West may well have lost any chance of averting the crisis.

Still More On Stillmore

It's an illegal immigrant bonanza today with the Christian Science Monitor now weighing in on the story about Stillmore, Georgia and the "crackdown" on the illegal immigrants working at a food processing plant there. I have been posting about this town since the first AP story broke on it.

Many of those who weren't arrested fled, some to Kentucky. One family hid for two nights in a tree. As night sets now, a sprinkling of solitary lights glow from once-crowded trailer parks. Since the Labor Day raid, Stillmore, where the wishful sign at the city limit reads "A town that is still growing," has shrunk by at least a third after more than 120 people were arrested and perhaps as many as 300 others disappeared.

"It's a ghost town," says resident Bennett Byrd.

As federal, state, and local officials crack down on illegal immigrants across the country, attitudes continue to harden among those who want them to stay and those who want them to go. In places like Stillmore, Ga., Arkadelphia, Ark., and Charlotte, N.C., raids and crackdowns have uncorked a phenomenon for those left behind: a sense of moral confusion about mass roundups and midnight raids.

"There's a tension between working alongside these people, understanding their impact on the economy, and then some of the issues of a community being able or not able to sustain this kind of immigration," says Allan Burns, an anthropologist at the University of Florida in Gainesville. "People are divided."

In Stillmore, the Crider plant does everything from poultry processing to packing M&Ms for the military to grilling the ribs for restaurant franchises, employees say. In a town of about 1,000 people, more than half of them were working there. The plant's success was driven by a hardworking labor supply that began arriving about four years ago.

After reading the AP story and this one, the Christian Science Monitor does a better job of neutral reporting, by far and away. The AP quoted a lot of people who were upset by the personal financial losses they had incurred when all the illegals fled. The CSM has both sides presented. But they also note the one overarching truth of the result of the crackdown: Wages rose for legal workers afterward.

In Stillmore, the raids forced Americans to confront their own beliefs. Residents such as Larry Hadden saw friendly and "clean" people invigorating the town's economy. To see them chased "like rabbits" through the underbrush troubled him, as did watching as women and children were left behind without resources.

Others, including resident Carolyn Byrd, see the ICE roundup as justified. Her son, Bennett, was a manager of the Crider plant for years. He said that Hispanics worked harder than anyone else. But they also took jobs, including his.

Now the plant is paying a dollar more an hour than before the raid, to draw new workers from neighboring counties. "With the illegals gone, Americans have a chance to make more money," says Mr. Byrd.

The flood of illegal labor drove wages down and cost higher paid workers their jobs. When the illegals left, wages had to rise to attract workers. Stillmore can look forward to growing with legal residents since the work at higher wages is there.

Maybe it's just because I've been covering this pretty extensively but I see a definite pattern here in the media. There are essentially two stories that are being regurgitated by multiple media outlets: Stillmore, Georgia and California growers not having enough illegal workers. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Strategies For Winning - In 2008

John Fund tells us we're all freaks. Well, not really. He's actually reviewing a book by Mark Halperin, the political director of ABC News, and John Harris, the political editor for the Washington Post, titled The Way to Win. They argue that the internet has become a freak show that distracts from the old media gatekeeper model.

Whoever runs in 2008, according to Messrs. Halperin and Harris, will have to recognize that the Old Media of TV networks and prestige publications now suffer from "fading power and diminishing options." The New Media of cable news and the Internet are creating a "Freak Show," they say, stripping away the restraints and minor courtesies that used to govern campaigns and public debate. In a chapter called "How Matt Drudge Rules Our World," the authors declare that Mr. Drudge's simple Internet operation has made him "the Walter Cronkite of his era" because what he posts "instantly commands the attention and energies" of Old Media outlets. The authors disdain Mr. Drudge–"salacious, reckless, superficial and unfair"–but they concede that no 2008 candidate will succeed unless he understands the Drudge Report's "singular power" and the related power of sites such as (from the left) the Daily Kos.

Messrs. Halperin and Harris also concede that, whatever the excesses of the New Media, the Old Media are not exactly a pristine and objective force. By deciding which stories to cover and which to ignore, they play favorites, too. The authors believe that the emergence in 2004 of outside political groups funded by left-leaning billionaires such as George Soros was an undercovered story; it would have received saturation levels of scrutiny if the financiers hailed from the right. Similarly, the media dwell endlessly on GOP candidates who make direct appeals to religious groups, but in 2004 reporters yawned as John Kerry and John Edwards "routinely went into houses of worship and served notice that righteous voters would be for the Democrats."

Sounds a bit like sour grapes, doesn't it? Well, that's because it is. They bemoan the loss of their traditional media control of what gets debated and discussed. Fund notes that the two authors do actually have a few interesting insights and strategies for potential candidates.

And what about 2008? Hillary Clinton has studied the practices and principles of both the Bush team and those of her husband, gleaning what the authors call Trade Secrets. These include such Machiavellian precepts as "do opposition research–on yourself" and "compile a mental enemies list of people who have crossed you. Never write it down. Make sure people are afraid to be added to the list." The Trade Secret for answering media questions is to give "an immaculate version of the exact same rehearsed response, every time."

By applying such Trade Secrets, the authors say, Ms. Clinton has been able to alter her image with some voters. She is no longer an "arrogant, power-hungry, corrupt, harsh, hypocritical liberal"; she is a "competent, thoughtful, hardworking, determined, principled role model." She recognizes that Al Gore and John Kerry lost their elections in large part because they "lost control of their public image" and let the opposition set the terms of debate.

Well, it may prove a bit difficult to maintain control of public image with the freak show in the picture now. But we'll likely accommodate all the candidates. Step right up, ladies and gentlemen.