The Dish

Responding to Douthat's column, Massie worries:

[If] the Tories fail to win a majority then there'll be plenty of American conservatives who'll look at this election and conclude that updating the Republican party's message and modus operandi is a fool's mission that's as unnecessary as it would be bound to be counter-productive. 

Ross takes much the same view:

Whatever came of its exertions in the end, a Cameron government would at least put a particular set of right-of-center ideas to the test, and produce an actual record for American right-wingers to chew over. A hung Parliament, by contrast, will just confirm all the prejudices that stateside conservatives harbor about the Tories: Not only are they all Oxbridge squishes, but their squishiness doesn’t even win elections! (I see Jonah Goldberg is already striking this note.)

The trouble is: the energy in Britain is now for a third party that supports the euro, ending the nuclear deterrent and granting amnesty for illegals. The temptation to go very hard on immigration, or much tougher on spending, or opposed to climate change laws … could lead to disaster for the Tories. And yet, the Tory decisions to be an echo rather than a choice has opened the path for a third party that captures the mood for real change. I.e. to the liberaltarian left.

(Image: Creative Review)

Cowen continues the conversation over at his blog:

Maybe Arnold Kling won't like this column, but when I look around the globe for episodes of successful spending restraint I see Canada, Finland, Sweden, and now possibly (probably) Ireland, which is in the midst of fiscal restructuring.  I see change coming from elites and I see relatively left-wing governments (Ireland, admittedly, is harder to classify) which are trusted by their citizens.  The Greek government, in contrast, doesn't operate with the same level of social cohesion and thus it is likely to fail.

I believe the "social trust" scenario for spending cuts is overlooked because it raises the relative status of groups which people who favor spending cuts do not wish to raise.

Wilkinson focuses on another aspect of Cowen's article, whether the tea party movement will restore fiscal sanity. I cannot see how a movement that still supports George W Bush has much credibility on fiscal sanity. And the total absence of any proposals to, you know, cut spending or even, gasp, raise some taxes … well, it doesn't help prove they're not all just whiny, enraged utopians with a race problem, does it?

The cosmopolitanism of Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg, is perhaps best summed up by this simple news item:

Nick Clegg says he hopes his three young sons, Antonio, eight, Alberto, five and Miguel, one, will be able to return to UK tomorrow after being stranded in Spain due to the Iceland volcano ash. They were staying with the family of his wife, Miriam Gonzalez Durantez in Olmedo.

Clegg favors an amnesty for illegal immigrants, British adoption of the euro, an end to the UK's nuclear deterrent, withdrawal from Afghanistan, and beefing up civil liberties:

We will introduce a Freedom Bill to restore and protect our most important liberties. We will scrap expensive and unnecessary ID Cards; remove innocent people from the criminal DNA database; restore the right to protest and freedom of speech; and restore other vital freedoms. We will protect people’s privacy by strengthening data protection laws and stopping unnecessary state intervention in our lives.

The Lib-Dems want strong government intervention on environmental grounds:

Liberal Democrats will drive a massive programme of investment in renewable energy sources such as wind, wave and solar. We will also transform the National Grid into a smart decentralised grid which will respond dynamically to the changing patterns of energy demand. Smart metering and guaranteed prices will unlock the potential of local and community energy generation, giving people control over the energy they use.

They back cutting income tax for the poor, while raising it on the rich. They also backed the scientists over the government in assessing the social harm of marijuana and other soft drugs.

Labour in third place but with the most seats. Click on the Seat Forecast. Brown asks Clegg to form a government:

No.

Pont-à-Mousson, France, 3.57 pm

Jeffrey Rosen and Barry Friedman preview the battle over the next justice:

[A]ccording to Hatch and McConnell, judges are activist if they refuse to strike down federal laws that Republicans oppose. […] In other words, on the most pressing national disputes of our day—from campaign finance to health care reform and financial reform—conservatives are embracing the very definition of judicial activism they spent the past 40 years denouncing, asking unelected judges to reverse their defeats in the political arena and all the while redefining this strategy as judicial restraint.

[…D]uring the Warren era, activism usually meant asking the Supreme Court to bring a few state outliers into line with a national consensus—on racial discrimination, for example. By contrast, Roberts Court-era conservatives are urging unelected judges to strike down landmark federal laws that passed over their objections, at least some of which command broad national support.

Dan Choi and five other servicemembers chain themselves to the White House gates again. At some point, people will realize we're serious about civil rights.

Find it here. Foster Kamer calls Gizmodo's get "one of the biggest scoops in tech reporting history."

Mind-blowing footage. It would have creeped me out. TDW captions:

Scuba diving near the Wahine Memorial in Wellington, New Zealand, Victor Huang ran into a camera-thieving Kraken that made off with his brand new Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT2. Following a five minute chase, Victor was able to pry loose his prized possession from the mouth of the beast. The entire ordeal was captured on film, Jacques Cousteau-style, and set to the tune of Dalmatian Rex and the Eigentones’ “Octopus I Love You.”