Around the Blogosphere This Week

Ed Morrissey and Jim Geraghty write that Senator Obama earmarked $1 million for the hospital employing his wife, who then received a salary increase of nearly $200,000 a year. Where's the mainstream media on this one?

Other bits of interesting reading I've come across this week:

Petition Seeks Rehearing in Homeschooling Case: This article at World Net Daily points out something I mentioned last week, that the recent anti-homeschooling court opinion causing such controversy is at odds with California laws. A petition for rehearing has been filed on that basis, as well as citing the court's reliance on outdated precedents.

No Small Plan: Public Boarding Schools for Chicago: Just...wow. They sound like orphanages...maybe there is a need for this for children from terrible circumstances, but what a commentary on the collapse of the family. And this raises some of the same issues as the California homeschooling controversy: do children belong to their families or the state?

ABC Finally IDs Spitzer as a Democrat: ABC finally identified disgraced New York Governor Eliot Spitzer as a Democrat Wednesday, but it took NBC until Thursday. You've got to love the way the networks have played Hide the Democratic Label.

Neighbors Have a Beef With In-N-Out: Long, snaking lines at In-N-Out Burger are really news? :)

Forbidden Hollywood, Volume 2: Glenn Erickson reviews the new set at DVD Savant. He tags all the movies as "Very Good" or "Excellent."

Gloria Shayne Baker, 84; Helped Write "Do You Hear What I Hear?": The Christmas carol Baker wrote with her husband, Noel Regney, first became a hit for Bing Crosby in 1963. It was one of the carols I most enjoyed performing back when I was in junior high and high school chorus.

St. Patrick's Day, Catholic Church March to Different Drummers: This is the first time St. Patrick's Day has fallen during Holy Week since 1940. It won't occur again until 2160. A fascinating bit of trivia.

A Polygamist State of Mind: Lisa Schiffren writes at National Review that New York welfare officials regularly turn a blind eye toward Muslim polygamy.

In Rural England, the Mail's Bad News: Hundreds of small village post offices are being closed down in England.

Full Stream Ahead for Lower Owens: A more cheerful story is the restoration of the Lower Owens River near Lone Pine, along California's Highway 395.

Our Daily Bread? It's Costing More: I've sure noticed the higher bills at the grocery store. I blame a lot of it on the ethanol folly diverting corn from food production. According to this article, there's also a wheat shortage.

'John Adams,' Second to None: The latest HBO miniseries produced by Tom Hanks is already sitting in my Netflix queue, awaiting the day it has a DVD release. It's based on David McCullough's great book.