Re: comments, personally I find the two strategies of either no comments, or comments only with some kind of registration that rules out most spam but no censoring to be acceptable. I find those to be much preferable to the nasty tendency on many blogs to censor comments with which they disagree, even without any sort of objectionable content. The illusion of free debate is worse than honestly not having comments. Brad DeLong is a particularly bad offender in this regard. On his blog, a thoughtful and polite but effective comment disagreeing with him is much more likely to be sent to the memory hole than an abusive, rude, or ill-argued opposing point that can easily be ignored or pointed to as evidence of how unintelligent the opposition is. It sounds like he's not alone in his strategy.

I mean, someone somewhere might try to sell a rhinestone on Craigslist: http://thehill.com/business--lobby/rhinestone-industry-takes-dim-view-of-consumer-safety-bill-2009-07-26.html http://www.projo.com/business/content/CRYSTAL_BAN_07-26-09_8HF5JJ5_v20.31d315a.html Or someone might try to sell a children's book printed before 1985, which will be illegal. Or an old bicycle or four-wheeler that a 17 year old might ride, and try to lick the tire valves. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/23/AR2009032301764.html?sid=ST2009032302266 This applies to anyone selling such items. Sounds like Craigslist needs another page like the Fair Housing page.

"This helps protect the public from abusive businesses." Yep, like Craigslist. A bunch of people on Craigslist break the law by reselling goods deemed dangerous by the CPSC, even unknowingly. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/226/story/74102.html

Nice to know that the third Raleigh-Charlotte train is still being planned. It was announced a year and a month ago in June 2008, and when announced they said it would take six months to a year to get it ready. Nothing's been said since. The other question is what sort of rail funds is the NCDOT Train Division applying for the HSR program. The Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor Tier 2 Environmental Impact Statement for restoring the S-line (think US-1) from Raleigh to Richmond isn't quite finished. That's more complicated because it's restoring a line that isn't used now. But the environmental work is finished for the Raleigh-Charlotte portion. So it seems like NCDOT could at least apply for some funds to speed up Raleigh-Charlotte travel, since it's useful for SEHSR, while waiting on the EIS.

As far as I can reckon, the closest argument someone could make is that "well, he's doing what Bush and Paulson did." But I wouldn't call their actions in the crisis "conservative," either.

The gun control lobby will have a field day with this, while the NRA will likely emphasize (thanks, Jacco, for changing my mind about this) the kid's immigrant status and the fact that it wasn't the gun who killed those people, but an immigrant on a visa. The NRA will likely emphasize that the incident took place in one of the few places in Virginia where it is illegal to carry a gun, regardless of whether one has a permit, and that a bill to legalize carrying on campus failed in the Virginia legislature due in part to Virginia Tech's loud opposition. They will also point out that some school shootings-- such as the one at the Appalachian School of Law in 2002-- were stopped by people with their own guns confronting the shooter. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_School_of_Law_shooting