VACCINATION UPDATE: Tightening up in Britain? "Children who have not received all their vaccinations should not be allowed to start school, a Labour MP has suggested."

Meanwhile, in the United States: Bay Area School Closed Due to Whooping Cough. "The state averages a 99 percent immunization rate. But at East Bay Waldorf School, health officials say less than 50 percent are protected from the disease and say that's why it was able to spread so easily. . . . The Waldorf School System was founded by Rudolph Steiner in 1919. He believed children were made stronger through illness and believed in a holistic approach to medicine. A school spokesperson says they do not make recommendations to parents regarding immunizations."

I do. My recommendation is, get the shots. Meanwhile, has McCain ever backtracked from his Imus-inspired anti-vaccine talk? According to this report from Farhad Manjoo he hasn't, and Clinton and Obama seem to be on board too. However: "McCain and Obama are the worst offenders."

THE FIVE BEST movie-star Gap commercials. My favorite is the one with Scarlett Johansson and the bicycle.

FROM THE "CAN OF WORMS" DEPARTMENT: Pastors to Challenge Ban on Political Activity by Endorsing Candidates From Pulpit on Sept. 28. Can the I.R.S. audit them all? Yes they can!

HILLARY'S STILL GOT HER FANS: "Pundits marvel at how and why Hillary Clinton would keep going when her chances of winning the nomination are now essentially nonexistent. We can all examine the psychological and political motives that keep her going long past the point when common sense would dictate that she throw in the towel. But they underestimate the fervor of her support, and perhaps the difficulty many Democrats will have in moving on to support Barack Obama."

WELL, WE'VE GOT IT: Obama's new Kentucky ad focuses on coal.

OOPS (CONT'D): Second McCain aide quits. "The second McCain aide in as many days has left the campaign over ties to a public relations firm that once represented the Burmese junta."

TIPS FOR TAMING RISING GROCERY PRICES, plus some perspective: "Food prices have actually been fairly stable for more than a decade. According to the latest Department of Agriculture figures (from 2006), American households spend less than 6 percent of their income on food -- that's less than in any other country."

SINCE COOKWARE IS A FREQUENT TOPIC AROUND HERE, I should note that they're having a 50% off sale over at Amazon. I guess, post-Mother's Day, they're trying to clear stuff out.

MORE ON PROBLEMS WITH IMPORTED ELECTRONICS: "Are chip makers building electronic trapdoors in key military hardware? The Pentagon is making its biggest effort yet to find out."

Commercial hardware tends to turn over pretty fast, reducing this risk somewhat. Military hardware tends to stay in service for a long time, making the hazard greater.

LOTS ON LEBANON at MichaelTotten.com. And here's Michael's piece on Lebanon's Third Civil War, for Commentary.

MORE VITAMIN D NEWS: "New research shows that people who regularly use sunscreen and avoiding sunlight may be sacrificing important vitamin D, which is made by the skin when it's exposed to sunlight. Now, the recommendation is to get 15 minutes of sun at the peak of the day three times a week to help avoid a vitamin D deficiency. . . . For years, Americans have been taught that as summer approaches, they should reach for sunscreen to protect themselves from a scorching burn - and the skin cancer it might trigger. But new research shows that by covering up, they may be sacrificing important vitamin D, which is made by the skin when it's exposed to sunlight. . . . Vitamin D deficiency is associated with reduced bone strength and risk of fracture; a twofold increased risk of some cancers such as colon, breast and prostate; an increased risk of both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes; worse control of diabetes for those who have it; decreased immune function; and possibly also heart disease."

A GREEN TAX REVOLT IN BRITAIN: It seems large majorities of voters believe that climate-change talk is mostly an excuse to raise taxes. So is this in spite of all the PR about global warming, or because of all the PR about global warming? It's been pretty heavy-handed. Anyway, as I've said before, this is why if you want to implement carbon taxes, etc., they need to be revenue-neutral. And it's also why, if our "leaders" want us to treat this as a crisis justifying public sacrifice, those leaders need to act as if it's such a crisis themselves, instead of treating it as an opportunity.

RON ROSENBAUM ON AVOIDING inadvertent nuclear war. Yeah, we've got that to worry about again, thanks to Putin.

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