Pun Salad

• Dave Barry is going to Denver for the Democratic National Convention. His first report is right here. His reporting may not be, technically, "accurate"…

  Already there has been sporadic gunfire between the Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton delegates. Political observers see this as indication that there is still some underlying tension between the two sides. Yes, Clinton has been making speeches urging her supporters to work for Obama; but at the same time she has also been using what one Obama adviser described as ``a lot of air quotes.''

  … but I'm sure it will hit on deeper truths than you're likely to get from CNN or MSNBC.

• George Will is merciless toward Obama's grand schemes to completely rework the economy via government fiat:

  Obama has also promised that "we will get 1 million 150-mile-per-gallon plug-in hybrids on our roads within six years." What a tranquilizing verb "get" is. This senator, who has never run so much as a Dairy Queen, is going to get a huge, complex industry to produce, and is going to get a million consumers to buy, these cars. How? Almost certainly by federal financial incentives for both -- billions of dollars of tax subsidies for automakers, and billions more to bribe customers to buy these cars they otherwise would spurn.

  Conservatives are sometimes justly accused of ascribing magic powers to money and markets: Increase the monetary demand for anything and the supply of it will expand. But it is liberals like Obama who think that any new technological marvel or other social delight can be summoned into existence by a sufficient appropriation. Once they thought "model cities" could be, too.

  It's magical thinking from people who aren't exactly clear on what a "fossil fuel" is.

• But if you liked George excoriating the Dems, you should probably also check out Don Boudreaux's letter in response, in which he deems McCain's ideas to be "equally moronic".

  Washington is no less diligent than is Hollywood at satisfying the public's demand for heroic adventures, epic fantasies, and fairy tales. Each production stars supercilious superstars portraying characters boasting magical powers and godly goodness.

  The only difference between Hollywood and Washington is that, while audiences understand Hollywood's leading men and women to be acting, this same ability to distinguish fantasy from fact disappears when the executive producer is Uncle Sam.

  An easy thing to forget in these partisan times. Which is why I look to Dave Barry for the straight scoop.

Patterico noted Nancy Pelosi's Meet the Press interview yesterday, where Tom Brokaw challenged her on investing in T. Boone Pickens' natural gas plans.

REP. PELOSI: […] This is the package we sign up for, this is what they invest in. But that's not the point. I'm, I'm, I'm investing in something I believe in. I believe in natural gas as a clean, cheap alternative to fossil fuels.

Why yes, this is the second movie in a row I watched about bullied high school students where the title is the name of one of the characters. Good catch.

There are important differences, however. There are three kids beset by bullies, not just one. And instead of turning to drug-dealing and amateur psychiatry like Charlie Bartlett, the students decide to hire a bodyguard, the eponymous Drillbit. He is (unbeknownst to the kids) a homeless bum, looking to make a quick score so he can start a new life in Nunavut.

Although the overall shape of the movie is very predictable, the details are engagingly quirky, and everyone involved does a fine job. Although Judd Apatow produced it, and Seth Rogan had a hand in the screenplay, it's not as filthy as some of their other movie work, earning a solid PG-13. Although it's a little long, I laughed all the way through.

I liked this bit of IMDB trivia:

Adam Baldwin has a cameo as a bodyguard being interviewed. During the interview, he comments on how stupid it is for a bodyguard to protect kids from bullies, while wearing an identical costume to the one he wore in the movie My Bodyguard (1980) (where he played a bodyguard to protect a fellow student from a bully).