Here's James Taranto from the Wall Street Journal on the US Supreme Court and abortion. Also from the WSJ, here's Dan Gerstein, a moderate Democrat, on the Senate hearings on the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. Europeans interested in the American judicial system might want to read both of them.

Here's one from Foreign Policy on why America's necessary even if you don't like it.

From the London Review of Books, a review of two new books on the Google phenomenon.

Don Feder tears up Hollywood's mushy Leftism at Frontpage magazine. This one is a must for movie fans. Also indispensable for movie fans is Edward Jay Epstein's regular column on the Hollywood business world. This one is on the enormous salaries paid to top directors like Peter Jackson, who got $20 million for King Kong.

Another regular column in Slate is on "the economic mysteries of everyday life" by Tim Harford. This one is on why his local restaurant has a rude waiter. Based on some of the service I've gotten around here, I'd say the answer is "Because he's Spanish," but I might be prejudiced.

Here's Mark Steyn on the Canadian election. Aren't you already excited and just quivering to click on the link? One result is likely to be Canada's moving closer to US foreign policy, as western Canada's relative power increases.

This is British gay Bush-hating conservative Andrew Sullivan on Hillary Clinton in the Australian.