BET Founder Slams Obama in South Carolina  —  COLUMBIA, S.C. — Robert L. Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television, who is campaigning today in South Carolina with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, just raised the specter of Barack Obama's past drug use.

Deplorable Campaigning  —  Mike Huckabee: “Many of us who have been Republicans out of conviction . . . the social conservatives,” he told reporters, “were welcomed in the party as long as we sort of kept our place, but Lord help us if we ever stood forward and said we would actually like to lead the party.”

The Noxious Fruits of Hate Speech laws  —  (updated below)  —  I've written several times before about the oppressive, dangerous hate speech laws which are common — increasingly so — in both Canada and Europe, whereby the Government is empowered to punish as criminals citizens …

Liberal Fascism And Its Critics  —  Here is some free advice for liberals who don't care much for Jonah Goldberg or his (bestselling) new volume: Either confine yourself to dismissive snark, of the sort perfected by my colleague Matt, or buckle down and actually read the damn thing.

A GOP Numbers Crunch  —  The first year of the 2008 campaign — think about that — has clearly established that the Republican Party's prospects are cloudy.  In the first two major contests, Mike Huckabee has finished first and third, John McCain fourth and first, Mitt Romney second twice.

Sex and the Teenage Girl  —  THE movie “Juno” is a fairy tale about a pregnant teenager who decides to have her baby, place it for adoption and then get on with her life.  For the most part, the tone of the movie is comedic and jolly, but there is a moment when Juno tells her father about her condition …

PLOT TO KILL QUEEN FOILED  —  AL Qaeda terrorists posing as TV crews planned to blow up the Queen by smuggling explosives into last year's Commonwealth summit.  —  Two huge outside broadcast vans belonging to the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation were seized after a tip-off from intelligence agents.

GOP CDU USA  —  Jonah's excellent piece in today's Washington Post is well worth a look.  When I look at this extract, I see something emerging that looks a lot like an American version of European Christian Democracy: … Hmmm

So We Thought.  But Then Again . . .  HARRY S TRUMAN once said he wanted to talk to a one-armed economist, “so that the guy could never make a statement and then say: ‘on the other hand.’ ” Yet economic knowledge continues to progress in unexpected ways.  Here are a few of the things we learned in the last 12 months:

Another Sign Edwards Will Throw Support to Obama  —  South Carolina may be the end for John Edwards if he comes in third.  It seems, once again, he's displaying his preference for Obama over Hillary.  At a campaign event at a predominantly black Baptist church today Edwards said : … and,

Snow Shrugs Off Post-War Failures: ‘Everybody Gets It Wrong At The Beginning Of A War’  —  Yesterday, former White House spokesperson Tony Snow was interviewed on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher.  —  Maher discussed how woefully unprepared the Bush administration was for post-invasion Iraq.

G.O.P. Voters, in Big Shift, Favor McCain Over His Rivals  —  WASHINGTON — Republican voters have sharply altered their views of their presidential candidates following the early contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, with Senator John McCain, widely written off just weeks ago …