CHANGE: Democratic Senator Won’t Bash Tea Party In Debate.

NBC’s David Gregory gave appointed Colorado Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet the chance to bash the Tea Party movement during Sunday’s Meet the Press debate with his Tea Party-backed Republican opponent, but he didn’t take the bait.

“I haven’t seen a lot of that either,” Bennet said during a discussion about whether there are racist or extreme elements within the Tea Party movement.

Bennet appeared to agree on that issue with Ken Buck, the Republican nominee and Weld County district attorney who won his primary with the aid of Tea Party groups. “I find it offensive that people would try to label the Tea Party that way,” Buck said.

Read the whole thing.

WHAT A STROKE FEELS LIKE.

DON SURBER: Baghdad Bob Gibbs.

BRUCE BAWER: Wilders Is Right: Europe Needs a First Amendment. “The trial of Dutch MP Geert Wilders wasn’t really about him or about Islam. It was about individual liberty.” If our transnational elites wanted, they might find that in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But they don’t want.

MESSAGE TO MIKE HUCKABEE: Don’t Get Cocky. Indeed.

MARKDOWNS ON CAMERA AND PHOTO GEAR. And since people often ask me to recommend cameras under $100, note the sub-$90 price on the Panasonic Lumix F2. I haven’t used it, but I’ve had good luck with Lumixes, and the customer reviews are very good. I went ahead and ordered one for Helen.

GROUND GAME: I mentioned William Patterson’s new biography of Heinlein, earlier, but here’s a quote that’s particularly relevant with the election coming up. It’s from Heinlein’s post-mortem of his lost election for California State Assembly, which he lost by fewer than 400 votes:

In the post-mortem I was able to tabulate names of more people than that who were personal acquantances of mine, had promised me support — but did not vote . . . Forty election-day volunteers could have swung the district.

Boots on the ground . . . .

UPDATE: Five Reasons Not To Get Cocky.

TEA PARTY rocks the right and the left. “The irony is great here. A cadre of pundits cautioned the GOP after the 2008 wipeout to move to the center, to accommodate Obama’s agenda, and to recoil from the small-government philosophy that, the self-appointed gurus told us, had no sell with voters. With a big assist from Obama, the Tea Partiers have proved themselves much savvier than the punditocracy (damning with faint praise, I know). An entire populist movement built not on specific positions (e.g., anti-war) but on philosophical principles is a remarkable phenomenon; even more remarkable is the degree to which those principles have resonated with the public at large. . . . The left understood all too well what the Tea Party was about, tried its best to strangle it in its political crib, and now has seen its worst fears come true.”

MY LOVELY AND TALENTED COHOST, as we reprised the old Glenn & Helen show by substituting for George Korda this afternoon. Three hours of live talk radio is actually kind of hard work!

TRAPPED MINERS, LIBERTARIANISM, AND a response to Sandy Levinson.

Well, if you’re looking for counterexamples, I think the post 9/11 “American Dunkirk,” where roughly a million people were evacuated from lower Manhattan by private action seems pretty good:

People at Ground Zero, the Manhattan Waterfront, nearby New Jersey, Staten Island and Brooklyn waterfronts, and crews on the numerous vessels repeatedly used the phrases “just amazing,” “everyone cooperated, and “just doing what it took” to describe maritime community responses. Individuals stepped up and took charge of specific functions, and captains and crews from other companies took their direction. . . . Private maritime operators kept their vessels onsite and available until Friday, Day Four, when federal authorities took over.

Day Four, when federal authorities took over. ‘Nuff said.

Related: How American Industry Aided The Chilean Rescue.

UPDATE: Reader John Burgess writes: “Don’t forget US Airway Flt 1549, ditching into the Hudson. The 155 passengers and crew were rescued by commercial vessels, not the fire department, not the Coast Guard, not the NYPD.”

IS “ADULT” BECOMING A DIRTY WORD?

TRUTH, NOT IDEOLOGICAL BALANCE:

As the academy grows more stridently left wing, conservatives respond with calls for ideological affirmative action — for schools to hire more right-thinking faculty so students encounter intellectual diversity. This is a seductively alluring scheme, and thanks to wealthy donors, it is proliferating.

It is an ill-advised and ultimately anti-intellectual strategy, even in the unlikely event that it succeeds. The academy can not be, nor should it be, an intellectual version of Noah’s Ark.

Read the whole thing.

SETH BARRETT TILLMAN ON Impeachment And Assassination. Here’s the piece by Josh Chafetz he’s responding to.

FROM STEVE HENDRICKS, A STORY OF EXTRAORDINARY RENDITION: A Kidnapping in Milan: The CIA on Trial. I haven’t read the book yet, but I’ve known Steve for years and he’s a smart guy.

BARNEY FRANK, then and now.

HELEN AND I ARE STILL HOSTING GEORGE KORDA’S SHOW and this hour we’ll be to Julienne Davis and Maggie Arana, the authors of Stop Calling Him Honey and Start Having Sex.

You can listen live to the show here on NewsTalk 98.7 and call in with questions or comments at:

Talk Lines
865.656.TALK (8255) or 800.951.TALK (8255)

HELEN AND I WILL HAVE ANDREW KLAVAN ON THE RADIO in just a minute: You can listen live to the show here on NewsTalk 98.7 and call in with questions or comments at:

Talk Lines
865.656.TALK (8255) or 800.951.TALK (8255)

TRACY QUAN: A Miner, A Mistress, And Chile’s Etiquette Of Love. “While it’s tempting to believe that people in other countries are more open-minded about infidelity, it’s never simple.”

IN THE MAIL: From Ezra Levant, Ethical Oil: The Case for Canada’s Oil Sands.

THE GLENN AND HELEN SHOW RETURNS, KIND OF: Helen and I are hosting George Korda’s show, “State Your Case” for 3 hours today from 12-3:00 Eastern time. We will be talking to father’s rights activist and politician Stacey Campfield, to Julia Hurley who is running for State Representative in the 32nd district in Tennessee (where one of the big issues is an Internet tax), to Andrew Klavan from PJTV, and finally to Julienne Davis and Maggie Arana, the authors of Stop Calling Him Honey and Start Having Sex.

You can listen live to the show here on NewsTalk 98.7 and call in with questions or comments at:

Talk Lines
865.656.TALK (8255) or 800.951.TALK (8255)

DODD HARRIS: DON’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT HISTORY:

“Progressive” commentary about the Tea Party movement — such as E.J. Dionne’s assertion that it reflects the “anti-statism” of the Anti-Federalists who lost out at America’s founding — does more to illuminate the lack of knowledge of political history of the commentators than the reality of the movement.

Well, studying political history is almost as boring as reading that Hayek guy, whoever he was. Or knowing what Herbert Hoover actually did. Squaresville, man.

UPDATE: Yes, the Hayek thing is a reference to this: “He’s so unhip, when you talk about Dylan, he thinks you’re talking about Dylan Thomas. Whoever HE was. The man ain’t got no culture.” Now I’m going to have that going through my head for the rest of the day. Andy Warhol, won’t you please come home? Well, I learned the truth from Lenny Bruce . . . .

THE “D” STANDS FOR “DESPERATE:” Democrat Jack Conway attacks Rand Paul over religion in Kentucky senate race? “Here we have a doctrinaire liberal candidate who just a short time ago was a enthusiastic supporter of Obamacare and cap and trade legislation now trying to come off like an out-and-out bible thumper.”

TOM MAGUIRE: “Bitterly clinging to his pop psychology, First Sociologist Barack Obama regales a Democratic fundraising event with his latest insight into the minds of the Great Unwashed.”

Related: The Trauma Is Obama.

CHARLIE RANGEL UPDATE: ‘Influence-Peddling at Its Most Basic Level.’

MOSQUE VICTIMIZED by shameful “Bacon Attack.”

Can we get Pat Benatar to record Stop Using Pork As A Weapon? Bacon is supposed to be something . . . sacred. On the other hand, things could be worse.

It occurs to me that right after 9/11 we saw the beginning of anti-mosque demonstrations but those quickly dissipated. Why? Probably because right after this march, we had Bush’s WTC bullhorn speech and people started to feel confident that Bush would protect the country. With less confidence in Obama, are they resorting to self-help? It’s a long way from bacon to beheadings, of course, but a sense that the powers-that-be can’t be trusted to protect the country is dangerous and destabilizing.

UPDATE: Reader Steven Dzik writes:

The responsilibity for the bacon attack lies with the people who did the attack and the people who have whipped up hysteria against the Islamic religion. Obama’s appalling lack of leadership is not an excuse. I have been shocked at some of the anti-Moslem bigotry coming out of the conservative movement recently. Conservative leaders have to do what Bush did, explain the difference between Islam and Islamic fundamentalism to their followers.

Hmm. I don’t exactly disagree, but . . . if Obama’s “appalling lack of leadership” is not an excuse, then whence comes the responsibility for “conservative leaders?” I think a general lack of confidence in the ruling class is behind this, and I don’t think a just-words approach will do much good, though better ones would be a start.

A FOOD LOVER’S MOST VALUABLE TOOL? Then I’m well-equipped!

BARACK OBAMA and the Deathly Midterms.

HERE’S MORE on that Zel Custom .50 rifle I mentioned Friday. Considering its immense power and impressive size, it’s really pretty easy to shoot. Shouldering it is work, since it weighs something like 35-40 pounds. On the other hand, all that weight smooths out the recoil, too, so the felt kick isn’t so bad — roughly comparable to a 12 gauge shotgun, I’d say. And, of course, it’s not really meant to be fired from the shoulder. Note that it’s actually a bolt-action, with a side-mounted box magazine. Here’s a closeup:

The small cartridge is a .45 ACP — a pretty big pistol cartridge — added for scale. It’s hard to really tell about accuracy here — we only had a 300-yard range — but the gun’s reputed to shoot quite straight out past a kilometer. I suppose I could convince myself I had a use for it (there’s a thousand-meter rifle range near here where they have competitions) but I don’t think it’s worth the $1500-$2000 price tag to me. More serious shooters will probably feel differently.

More over at SayUncle and Les Jones’s place. And yeah, the ammo’s kinda price at three or four bucks a pop. But (1) this isn’t really a plinking rifle, and (2) the LuckyGunner folks were buying . . . .

SAME PLANET, DIFFERENT WORLDS.

CLIMATEGATE: A side scandal.

HOW STALIN AND HITLER enabled each other’s crimes. A review of Timothy Snyder’s Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin. Note this: “‘Bloodlands’ has aroused fierce criticism from those who believe that the Soviet Union, for all its flaws, cannot be compared to the Third Reich, which pioneered ethnic genocide.”

Bah. Comparing the Soviet Union to the Nazis only makes the Nazis look better if you don’t understand the truth about the Soviet Union. Communists are as bad as Nazis, and communist sympathizers and apologists are as bad as Nazi sympathizers and apologists.

This has been obvious for quite a while. Here’s what Robert Heinlein wrote in 1949:

Let me go on record that I regard communism as expressed by the U.S.S.R. and its friends here and elsewhere as a grisly horror, a tyranny maintained by force and terror, utterly subversive of human liberty, freedom of thought, and dignity. I regard it as Red fascism, distinguishable from black and brown fascism by differences of no importance to me nor to its victims.

That’s from a letter he wrote to Robert Bloch, quoted in William Patterson’s new biography of Heinlein, which I’m reading now. Heinlein held these anti-communist views even in the 1930s, when he was working as a leftist organizer for Upton Sinclair’s EPIC, an insurgent Democratic group that nonetheless had some Tea Party like elements.

“BURQA RAGE?” French Lady Not Sorry For Her “Burqa Rage” And Ripping The Veil Off A Muslim Woman. “To me wearing a full veil is an attack on being a woman. As a woman, I felt attacked.”

STEPHEN GREEN: Handicapping the House – Weekend Brief.

UH OH: Newspaper: Hinchey team’s lying about assault on reporter. Plus this: “The specific question that Mr. Kemble was asking prior to the incident and which apparently provoked the congressman involves Hinchey’s real estate interest in a commercial Saugerties development which was referenced in a congressional disclosure form for funding of a Hudson River ferry project. To our knowledge, Congressman Hinchey has never answered questions about that connection, which is why Mr. Kemble was posing the question to him.” Apparently, Hinchey didn’t want to answer.

Related: Hinchey Loses A Debate, Then Hits A Reporter. There seem to be a lot of angry Democrats lately. (Bumped).

NOT FITTING THE NARRATIVE: Reader Andrew Medina sends this: “Latino Tea Partiers? In my country? It’s more likely than you think. I should note that this sign sits in a Latino neighborhood right next to a Latino tire and muffler shop and about quarter mile away from a La Michoacana.”

I’m not the least bit surprised. This is from the Quincy, Illinois Tea Party last year.

Plenty of Latin American immigrants have first-hand experience with socialism, after all.

HMM: Bill Clinton back out campaigning ‘for everybody that helped Hillary run for president’ against Obama.

A BLOG WORTH READING: The Angry Pharmacist. Now featuring Angry TV! At least read The Price of Free.

REPORT FROM TODAY’S OBAMA RALLY IN MASSACHUSETTS: “Barack Obama, Deval Patrick and Barney Frank were unable on a Saturday 3 weeks before an election to outdraw Sarah Palin on the Boston Common in April on a Wednesday.”

SINCE YALE ISN’T NUMBER ONE, THESE ARE CLEARLY WRONG: Law School Rankings by BigLaw Partners.

FANNIE AND FREDDIE IN A MESS: “The foreclosure mess is now spreading to Fannie and Freddie, as our government-owned mortgage machines starts looking into what, exactly, its servicers have been doing with their loans. Meanwhile, I detect some overblown expectations on the part of various people; last night, after I gave a talk on a mostly unrelated subject, two different people asked me if this meant that they could simply walk away from their mortgages; it wasn’t clear if they were hoping, or horrified.”

JAMES LILEKS: Roy Rogers’ Empire Is Distinctly American. Plus, how to recruit gullible sailors.

HOW TO SHARPEN A KNIFE WITH A STONE.

THE MOST EXPENSIVE on-the-job training in history?

HOPE: Anti-Obama Billboard Taken Down After Owner Gets Death Threats.

Well, hell, I already get death threats so I guess it’s time for me to step up. I don’t have a picture of the billboard, but I’ll just repost this. It’s all about incentives.

UPDATE: Hey, it’s a theme!

ANOTHER UPDATE: Why am I not deterred? Read this advice to “Be afraid — be very afraid — of Glenn Reynolds.” Heh. Indeed.

Oh, and here’s that billboard. I think it lacks the artistic qualities of the pic above, but hey, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

It’s also here.

And here.

MORE: To be clear, while I’ve gotten death threats, I don’t think they’re particularly inspired by the picture above. I just thought I’d defend the billboard folks by posting something that I knew the threateners would find irritating.

CHANGE: Attempts to build a multicultural society in Germany have “utterly failed”, Chancellor Angela Merkel says.

THE OBAMA PRESIDENCY AS Mass Extinction Event for Democrats? Haven’t I been saying “don’t get cocky?” I believe that I have.

HOW TO clean up bread-dough mess.

HEH: Just Four Dudes Jamming On The Subway — With Their iPhones As Instruments [Video].

DID OBAMA toss Manchin under the bus? How big is that bus, anyway?

HEH: Praise The Blogger And Pass The Ammunition! Indeed.

LAPTOPS for under $500.

WAIT, HERBERT HOOVER WASN’T A LIBERTARIAN? Correcting an embarrassing historical error by The Atlantic’s Joshua Green.

FORBES: How To Beat A Speeding Ticket. On the other hand, it contains a blatant lie: “Swoboda says speeding tickets are not issued to make up for police-department budget deficits. It’s about safety, he says.” No, it’s about revenue.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Liberal Arts, Post-Recession.

CHANGE: Meet the Vermont Phone Company That Wants to Kill Cable TV. “Flush With Federal Funds, Green Mountain Cable Provider Tells Customers Paying For 250 Channels Is ‘Obsolete’.”

CHANGE: 85% of College Grads Move Back Into Their Parents’ Home.

WHO SUFFERS FROM THE FORECLOSURE MESS? Just about everyone.

Already, it’s apparently impossible to sell a foreclosure–and people who have bought foreclosed homes are starting to sweat, wondering if they’re going to get embroiled in a lawsuit. But what about short sales? Again, if a company doesn’t have the authority to foreclose, it doesn’t have the authority to authorize you to sell it for less than the value of the mortgage. Things seem cleaner with ordinary sales, but what if some other company comes out of the woodwork to claim that the note wasn’t properly registered, and you paid the wrong guy? Does the lien go back on the house? Who owes the money?

This is why people are worried that the title-insurance system will break down. We finally closed on our house last Friday, and though it was a straight sale, I have been comforted all week with the knowledge that if something goes desperately wrong with the old mortgage, at least the title insurance will make us whole. But if I were a title insurer, that would make me kind of reluctant to write new policies. . . .

All this uncertainty is ultimately going to be terrible for both the housing market, and the broader economy. We’d better work hard at crafting legislative and judicial remedies–more about which later.

Indeed. The mess is bigger, and deeper, than it seemed in 2008.

DAVID WARREN ON the historic problems of universities. “The great majority of the universities — founded since the Second World War to bureaucratically process and credentialize a large part of the general population, as a matter of ‘right’ and regardless of their intellectual capacities — are in effect ‘community colleges’ or trade schools.”

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: The Problem With J Street. “During the Cold War, Americans gradually got into the habit of considering Israel one of our most valuable and reliable allies. In recent years this longstanding association has been substantially strengthened by the widespread public belief that the same people who most hate Israel and want to bring it down are the bitter enemies of the United States and will stop at nothing to kill as many American civilians as they possibly can. . . . If the Jews of Hollywood, Wall Street and the mainstream media were as powerful and clannish as European anti-Semitic legend has it, Europe would actually like America’s Middle East policies much more than it does.” These days, the Baptists support Israel more than the Jews.

IN THE MAIL: From Poul Anderson, The High Crusade.

FROM ANNE MCKINNEY, See You In November.

And don’t miss her 1.3 million-view bombshell, The Ballad of Timothy Geithner.

KEN LANGONE: Stop Bashing Business, Mr. President.

A little more than 30 years ago, Bernie Marcus, Arthur Blank, Pat Farrah and I got together and founded The Home Depot. Our dream was to create (memo to DNC activists: that’s build, not take or coerce) a new kind of home-improvement center catering to do-it-yourselfers. The concept was to have a wide assortment, a high level of service, and the lowest pricing possible.

We opened the front door in 1979, also a time of severe economic slowdown. Yet today, Home Depot is staffed by more than 325,000 dedicated, well-trained, and highly motivated people offering outstanding service and knowledge to millions of consumers.

If we tried to start Home Depot today, under the kind of onerous regulatory controls that you have advocated, it’s a stone cold certainty that our business would never get off the ground, much less thrive.

Read the whole thing.

JAMES JOYNER: Politicians And The Soft Bigotry Of Low Expectations. “The point seems to be, not that Angle wasn’t as awful as everyone figured she’d be but that she was every bit as good — or, should I say, every bit as bad — as Harry Reid. Reid has been in the Senate 23 years and the leader of the Senate Democrats since 2005. So, to the extent that these faux debates are a measure of competence to hold the office in question, holding her own against the veteran incumbent demonstrated that she was up to the task. Or, at least, as up to it as Reid.” The country’s in the very best of hands!

WHEN STUDENT LOANS BECOME golden handcuffs. “In the end, the new student loan program will hit the economy hard. Young people who chose to go into the public sector will find themselves ‘job locked,’ with few opportunities to leave the public sector without suffering a large financial loss. This will increase labor market rigidity and drive talent away from the private sector, resulting in a slower economic growth. Meanwhile, taxpayers will continue to be hit with ever increasing tabs for government payrolls, employee benefits and student loans.”

RAHM PROTECTION FALLOUT: Arrest Warrant Filed for CBS Reporter Jay Levine.

IOWAHAWK: Playing “Beltway Adventure.”

A ONE-DAY SALE ON Sirius/XM Satellite Radio Receivers. You can use it to listen to PJM Political! Or Howard Stern. Your choice.

POLIWOOD: “Gerrymandering,” A Documentary That Needs to Have Its Maps Redrawn.

MICKEY KAUS: Barbara Boxer In Trouble?

THE CORRECT ANSWER ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, OF COURSE is that it depends on who the perpetrator is. Just like sexual harassment. Come on, this is an easy question. Just follow the news!

Plus this: “Here in Minnesota, we are experiencing a remarkable instance of how discreet liberals can be when it comes to a candidate’s personal life. Mark Dayton is running for Governor of this state, and his history of mental illness and substance abuse is hiding in plain sight–he has freely acknowledged these problems to almost-complete strangers, yet Minnesota’s reporters and editors have carefully avoided confusing the voters with information that might not reflect well on a Democrat. Somehow one senses a pattern here.”

BRYAN PRESTON: Democrats’ Online Phone Bank System Compromises Americans’ Identity Security. “Obama’s personal political army posts information on thousands of American voters all over the country online, with no safeguards in place to protect them or their data.”

CHARLIE ROSE DESCENDS into an existential void.

J. CHRISTIAN ADAMS: Congress Catches On to DOJ’s Keystone Kops Show. “Friday was a very bad day for the people responsible for the Keystone Kops operation protecting military voting rights inside the Justice Department. The three ranking members of the House of Representatives with oversight over military voting issues and the Justice Department sent a devastating letter to Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez. The curtain has been pulled back, and the DOJ spin that they are doing everything they can to protect military voters has become a laugh line.”

TRANSPARENCY: Eizo’s X-ray pin-up calendar.

MATTHEW CONTINETTI: FIVE MYTHS ABOUT SARAH PALIN.

STOCKHOLM SYNDROME.

MORE ON THIS LATER, but had fun shooting this afternoon with SayUncle, Les Jones, and some guys from LuckyGunner.com, an ammo company started by some of my law students. Among other things, I fired an AR-15 modified to shoot a .50 BMG round, from Zel Custom. Kinda heavy, and almost as tall as Helen, but fun. And I was able to fire it from the shoulder. Perfect for home defense — if you’re defending your home from Terminator robots!

Note the helping hand with some rounds of ammo . . . .

UPDATE: Frank Wilson emails: “Good heavens … law professors clinging to their guns!” You have to admit, though, that I don’t look even a little bit bitter.

And Charles Oliva emails: “Good finger discipline.” I was well trained.

MORE: Reader Pat Gang writes: “Glenn, that picture gives me new hope for our country.” Heh. Well, the culture has changed a lot on guns, that’s for sure, and to a degree that would have seemed — heck, did seem — unthinkable less than twenty years ago.

HERITAGE 1, MEDIA MATTERS 0: A fish, a barrel, a smoking gun.

LOSING IT? Maurice Hinchey allegedly assaults reporter. Nah. It was just a “Weigel hug.”

READER JOHN MACDONALD WARNS TEA PARTIERS NOT TO GET COCKY:

Never underestimate the opposition , the polls haven’t closed. military ballots AWOL, the union/ACORN ground team has lots of experience GOTV..the dirty tricks will increase in intensity…and MSM will put out early polling results during Election day to try to derpess the GOP voters- ..and the candidates leading slightly need even more to win- at least 3-5% above the fraud factor- Remember Franken.So it’s all hands on deck for the next couple of weeks. Focus on the fact that the major legislation has already been passed to make the U.S. into a socialist country. The ideologues will continue their path unless they lose handily on Nov 2…and that means getting your family and friends and their friends to the voting booths.

I keep saying it, too. Don’t get cocky. It’s not over yet, and it won’t be over on November 3.

TABLOID BLOGOSPHERE NEWS: Ed Driscoll and Hugh Hewitt photographed with Playboy Bunnies in Las Vegas!

POWER LINE: They Ignored Us.

CONTEST: Guess Which One Is Ahmadinejad’s Wife?

ACADEMIA, WHERE DISSENT FLOURISHES: “Hilton told the Telegram Leader that he had worded his e-mail ‘very badly’ and said that he was sorry and would cooperate if the university punishes him.”

THINGS I DIDN’T KNOW: Amazon has a Bondage And Fetish section. They pretty much carry everything these days. . .

But there looks to be a lot of overlap with the sexy Halloween costumes. What does that say?

UPDATE: Reader Howard Isaacs writes:

Thanks for the link to Amazon’s bondage section. What you neglected to point out though, are the product reviews. E.g., Mark Twain MT (“see all my reviews”) is less than thrilled with the Fetish Fantasy O-ring Gag With Nipple Clamps, Black . Titling his review, “It does not work,” he says, “The picture is not the real product, which only has the ring and chains. The leather around neck and breasts are not part of the product. It won’t stay in your partner’s mouth. Simply put, it is not working as it appears and I would highly recommend you not waste your money on it.” In all, highly educational.

Heh.

BETTER LIVING THROUGH SELF-DECEPTION: Many Obese People Don’t Want to Lose Weight:

A substantial proportion of obese people don’t think they’re too fat, new research shows.

Among more than 2,000 obese Dallas County residents surveyed in 2000-2002, 14 percent of African Americans and 11 percent of Hispanics — but just 2 percent of whites — believed that they needed to lose weight, Dr. Tiffany M. Powell of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and her colleagues found.

People who misperceived their body size were happier with their health, and felt healthier, than those who did recognize their obesity; they were also more likely to think they were at low risk of developing high blood pressure or diabetes or having a heart attack during their lifetimes. In fact, two-thirds of people with body size misperception thought they were at low risk of becoming obese.

On the upside, at least they’re experiencing less stress. That’s got to be good for their health, right?

WHAT’S WRONG WITH airline baggage fees.

THE POETRY OF ECONOMIC LIBERTY.

WALKING CAN CUT AGE-RELATED MEMORY DECLINE.

PREDICTIONS ARE HARD, especially about the future.

FROM ASTROTURFING to OprahTurfing. “Oprah surprised the entire Daily Show audience today (October 14) with a promise to fly the audience out to Washington, D.C. for the Rally to Restore Sanity and put them all up in hotels!”

AT AMAZON, it’s the Friday Sale.

WALTER OLSON: Andrew Cuomo and the Gunmaker Litigation.

BILL WHITTLE: WHAT WE BELIEVE, PART 2.

OUCH: “First, I can’t believe he said ‘you look like a student’ to a woman who identified herself as a member of a university faculty. That is an irrelevant and, I would say, sexist remark. Not only is it equivalent to saying “gee, you’re pretty,” but it’s revealing that you have a picture of what professors are supposed to look like and you don’t mind derailing the conversation to say she doesn’t look like one. I know it’s supposed to be a compliment, but it’s really clueless.”

“You know, you don’t act like a President. You’re more like a . . . game-show host.”

LAS VEGAS SLOTS vs. Electronic Voting Machines.

UPDATE: Reader Pierre Honeyman says this is wrong:

I used to work for Diebold Elections Systems/Premier Election Solutions. I’ve been through the entire certification process with them and I’m quite familiar with it. Anyhow:

1) Software:

For all certified (certified by the FEC) software the source code is submitted for review to a certified independent testing authority. When software is tested by them the ITA uses a “trusted build”, that is, they use a build from the source code that they’ve reviewed, that they’ve built from vendor documentation, and digitally signed (signatures are kept on file with the FEC). It is this software, and only this software, that is considered to be certified by the FEC.

2) Spot Checking:

It is certainly possible for election officials to spot check vendor equipment. Hardware and software signatures are available with the certification documentation. Only hardware/software that meets that configuration is considered certified by the FEC.

3) Background scrutiny:

I don’t know what federal law requires but all software programmers at Premier had to undergo a background check, including criminal records check, before being hired.

4) Equipment Certification:

Equipment and software certification is done to standards set by the FEC, using test plans approved by the FEC, at test facilities independent from the vendor. For profit? Please. Is “For Profit” suddenly evil?

5) Handling disputes:

That will vary by jurisdiction and is, for the most part, out of the hands of the vendor.

I still like paper ballots.

ED MORRISSEY: Will NOW fire its California president? “Honestly, as I wrote the first time, it’s not a great idea for Whitman to play a victim card in an election. This, however, is different. NOW routinely plays victim cards, and has done so explicitly on this kind of rhetoric. Now they have been ‘hoist with their own petard,’ and should be held accountable to their own standards.”

Feminism died in 1998, and so obviously that even Maureen Dowd noticed. Now it’s just about protecting and supporting your political masters, even if doing so turns you into a Groper’s Support Group.

“SHE’S COMING OFF AS FAKE. Not a good sign.”

IS THIS HOPE, OR CHANGE? Don’t Worry! The 2011 Deficit Should Be The Biggest Ever!

WINNING FRIENDS AND INFLUENCING PEOPLE: My Redneck Constituents. I just want to stress that Mike Reynolds is no relation. . . .