Just a few links while I’m packing:

• Wired, “U.S. Sees Syria Prepping Chemical Weapons for Possible Attack” (h/t Josh) – not sure why this isn’t front page news.
• Oh wait, we’re busy putting this on the front page. Am I the only person who thinks the money the nypost makes off that issue blood money?
• Megan McArdle worries about Maxine Waters’ competence: “This is who the Democrats think should have the senior spot on the financial committee: someone who asks the head of State Street to raise his hand if they raised the interest rates on their consumer credit card business, of which they have none.  Neither, of course, does Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, or Bank of New York. Also someone who uses part of their five precious minutes to ask Ken Lewis whether he’s letting foreigners service his collections department.  Someone who doesn’t know the difference between the fed funds rate and the discount rate. And someone who asks questions that they don’t understand when it would have taken ten minutes or less to walk through the underlying issue.”
• Helen Vendler wrote this about Harvard admissions, and I’m still wondering about it. Part of her argument is anti-elitist (inasmuch we elitist in superficial ways nowadays), and I’m partial to that. I do like the expanded questioning she proposes for potential admits. At the same time, I just don’t know the value of trying to get geniuses admitted. When you want young people to grow and contribute, you want them to be sensitive to each other. I don’t think there’s a test for that.
• Addicted to this chamber ensemble lately; wish there were more recordings of them on youtube.