Can I Live? -- Later this week in an MTV studio in Times Square, Nick Cannon will premiere his latest video. Appearing on Total Request Live with host Carson Daly, one of the idiots from Jackass, and a roomful of adoring pubescent girls, Cannon will unveil his autobiographical song/video in which he details how his mother saved his life…by walking out of an abortion clinic.

The video is directed by Cannon and co-stars Anthony Hamilton (one of my favorite R&B artists), Tatyana Ali, and Cannon’s own mother. Catch it while you can. It’s probably the first time (and likely the last) that a pro-life video has appeared on MTV. (HT: Apologia Christi)

[Update: John Coleman pointed out that "Brick" by Ben Folds Five was (it seems) the last popular song that was at least ambivalent about abortion. The narrator of the song and his girlfriend go to get an abortion, something it seems like he is against. At one point he talks to the child ("it's not me your dying for"), and the "brick" in the song is the girl.]

Inconceivable! -- Imagine if they remade The Princess Bride. With rubber sharks. This is what the movie trailer would look like.

RINOs Unite! -- As an addition to the excellent new TTLB community section, the Commissar has created a group for “Raging RINOS” -- Republicans / Independents Not Overdosed (on the Party Kool Aid):

Are you looking for secular conservative, or moderate blogs? RINO's, if you will. Are RINO's an endangered species? How can Conservative bloggers who might not want to drink the Party Kool-Aid on every single issue (ESCR, Schiavo, small government, fiscal responsibility, senatorial compromises, free markets/trade, pandering to Creationists, etc.) find each other?

The Commissar is a master of parody so I can only assume that his classification of items that would define “conservative” Republican bloggers as, well, Democrats, is intended as a prank. If its a joke it's fairly amusing; if its serious its even funnier.

It Takes Two -- Researchers at the University of Washington and Columbia University believe that may have inadvertently stumbled upon a way to reduce the out-of-wedlock births: toughen child-support laws.

States with the most stringent laws and strict enforcement have the power to reduce single parenthood by up to 20 percent. Researchers said their study “recognizes the father's responsibility.” "Decisions about sexual intercourse and marriage involve two people," said study co-author Irwin Garfinkel. True enough. But let’s not forget that the decision process only involves one person after the woman becomes pregant...right?

Release the Suckers – At a Hacker’s Conference is 1984 Stewart Brand uttered the now famous claim,

“On the one hand information wants to be expensive, because it's so valuable. The right information in the right place just changes your life. On the other hand, information wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out is getting lower and lower all the time. So you have these two fighting against each other."

If that’s true then I guess Esther Dyson’s newsletter Release 1.0 won the fight. What in the world could she have to say that would be worth paying $795 a year? For that price you could not only get a subscription to Wired but would be able to give one to 78 of your closest friends. Is Release 1.0 truly 79.5 times more informative than Wired? Or are there simply an inordinate number of suckers in the IT industry that have too much money? (Note to techno-nerds: For the low, low price of $595 a year, I’ll not only fill you in on the future of IT but throw in the secrets of life (i.e., the thing that happens away from your keyboard) for free.)