DOUBLE STANDARDS ON POLYGAMY VS. INFIDELITY: What If Hugh Hefner Were Mitt Romney’s Great-Grandfather. “Why are polygamy and promiscuity treated so differently? Does it make sense that we don’t penalize a man for living with many partners, but we do if he wants to marry them? If Hefner tried to make honest women out of his bunnies, he’d go from celebrity to outlaw.”

No, he donates to the right politicians, and entertains the right journalists. I think he’d turn out to be “boldly transgressive” or something. . . .

DATA ANALYSIS FOR THE PEOPLE: “Wolfram Alpha can now analyze data you provide, so you can do things like map out your e-mail relationships.”

MORE ORWELLIAN JUSTICE AT YALE: “After a complaint was lodged against a Yale professor, a meeting to discuss the matter occurred between university administrators, the accusing professor, and both professors’ department chair. But the accused professor was never informed of the existence of the complaint, much less given a chance to defend himself.”

GAS 2.ORG: It’s Time To Pull The Plug On Fisker. “Last night it was reported that Fisker, builder of the sleek-yet-expensive “subcompact” Karma sedan has laid off some 66 workers, and the predictable cries for blood from the right, and mis-guided defense of all things green from the left were out in full force. It’s all become a bunch of blah blah blah, and honestly, I think it’s time to pull the plug on Fisker’s government loans.”

But it’s so pretty. On the other hand: “Fisker has broken a lot of promises, and there are only so many lies a guy can forgive, no matter how pretty the lie may be.”

WIDENER LAW SCANDAL UPDATE: Widener Law settles with Prof. Lawrence Connell.

ELECTRIC VEHICLE UPDATE: Electric vehicles spur concerns over range, fire, Consumer Reports says.

DOOMSDAY FLU UPDATE: Reader Donald Burden writes with this cheerful information: “I’m currently teaching a Topics in Biochemistry course and we’re discussing this right now. The Dutch group has pointed out that their survey of the literature indicates there are labs out there unwittingly working with strains of H5N1 that are anywhere from 1(!) to 3 mutations away from becoming transmissible from human to human. They’re unwittingly doing so, because of course they don’t know what mutations are necessary to make H5N1 transmissible (since the results are currently under wraps).”

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: If You’re Going to Accept Direct Loans and Pell Grants, You Should Tell Us If Students Are Actually Learning Something.

ROBERT REICH: “Obama Has Handed The Election Over To The Super Rich.”

AND WE WOULD HAVE GOTTEN AWAY WITH IT, IF IT WEREN’T FOR THOSE MEDDLING KIDS: RIAA Chief Whines That SOPA Opponents Were “Unfair.”

IN THE MAIL: Back to the Moon.

ELON MUSK ON SpaceX’s Reusable Rocket Plans.

LIFE AMONG THE RICH: Stanford Campaign Brings In $6.2-Billion, a Record for Higher Education.

Meanwhile, in other higher-education news: Bankruptcy Lawyers Warn of Student-Loan ‘Debt Bomb’ as Client Caseloads Rise.

WILL THE GOVERNMENT PUT MONEY MARKET FUNDS OUT OF BUSINESS? Well, that’s the pattern lately.

SUDAFED SUPPORTERS PUSH BACK:

West Virginia is not the only place in the United States where law enforcement officials are blaming the law-abiding people for a meth problem that already has pushed behind-the-counter Sudafed and other pseudoephedrine-based over-the-counter medications. You have to sign a log and you are limited as to how many Sudafed packets you can have. It is like buying rubbers in the old days.

This is akin to gun control

In 2005, West Virginia adopted these restrictions under the promise that this would end the meth labs. The meth labs grew. Now the state government wants more control — more regulations — more pushing around people whose only “crime” is to have a cold or allergy.

This craziness is spreading.

Doubling down on failure — it’s the government way! But why put up with it?

AT AMAZON, new releases in Camera & Photo. Lots of interesting stuff there. I haven’t bought a new digital camera in a while. I probably should, just to see how the latest stuff stacks up.

Also, today only: SanDisk Cruzer 32 GB USB Flash Drive for $22.99.

MICKEY KAUS: Ending Unionism As We Know It. “The problem with Wagner Act unionism isn’t necessarily that unions aren’t democratic. It’s that they are granted a power–mainly the power to go on strike as the sole and exclusive bargaining agent of a firm’s workers without the strikers getting fired–that maybe they shouldn’t have. The UAW is a democratic union. That didn’t stop it from crippling the auto industry. The problem is that the wrong people voted in the UAW’s democratic elections–not the suppliers who would be hurt when UAW members decided democratically to win themselves inefficient work rules, not the mayors whose towns were decimated, not the taxpayers who had to bail them out (in part to save the suppliers and mayors), and certainly not the customers.”

Well, the customers voted with their wallets and bought Toyotas.

AT RICE UNIVERSITY, free open-source textbooks.

JOSEPH NOCERA: Boy, that Keystone Pipeline decision was a stinker, wasn’t it? But it’s not Obama’s fault. It’s America’s. “I realize that President Obama rejected Keystone because, politically, he had no choice. My guess is that, in his centrist heart of hearts, the president wanted to approve it. But to give the go-ahead before the election was to risk losing the support of the environmentalists who make up an important part of his base. . . . Surely, though, what the Keystone decision really represents is the way our poisoned politics damages the country.”

I WAS ON SHANA PEETE’S SPREECAST last night, talking about the Prop. 8 decision.

MICHAEL BARONE: GOP must show young it’s a party of options.

HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: Clint Eastwood’s Chrysler Super Bowl Ad: The Untold Obama Connection. I think Clint may have damaged his brand here. Plus this: “Chrysler’s spot, moreover, wasn’t the only Super Bowl ad that seemed to adopt themes from the Obama reelection campaign’s playbook. GE’s advertisement showed American workers once more on the assembly line turning out industrial projects for domestic consumption, something the president hopes to encourage with his policies. Both ads sounded themes similar to Obama’s in front of the largest audience ever to watch an American television broadcast—111.3 million people.”

Bail ‘em out, then they support you. Nice work if you can get it.

GOOD GRIEF: Presidential historian pleads guilty to document theft.

SUSANNAH BRESLIN: How To Get A Freelance Job.

Here’s what emails I get from young men asking for advice are like: self-assured, to the point, confident. Here’s what emails I get from young women asking for advice are like: supplicating, meandering, questioning.

You want to know why women are having a hard time getting ahead? They ask for favors like they don’t deserve them, they don’t know what they want even when they ask for it, they let everyone know that what they’re very, very unsure about is themselves.

Here’s where that gets you: nowhere.

If you don’t act like you believe in yourself, why should someone else?

CHANGE: House Panel Approves Keystone Pipeline Bill. “The bill is the latest GOP-led effort to advance the Alberta-to-Texas pipeline. Republicans are also trying to punish Obama politically ahead of the 2012 election for failing to greenlight the project that GOP lawmakers call a way to create jobs and boost energy security.”

BRYAN PRESTON: It was a good night for Rick Santorum.

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: WaPo: Some legislators send millions to groups connected to their relatives.

IT’S LIKE THESE PEOPLE JUST HAVE IT IN FOR THE INTERNET OR SOMETHING: Democrats to continue Internet coup with new cyber bill. “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, following a recent anti-piracy legislative debacle with SOPA and PIPA, will lead his second effort of 2012 to push Internet-regulating legislation, this time in the form of a new cybersecurity bill. The expected bill is the latest attempt by the Democrats to broadly expand the authority of executive branch agencies over the Internet.”

CHINA’S ACHILLES HEEL: With little in the way of force projection, China’s dependence on natural resources in unstable parts of the world could undercut its economic ambitions. There are limits to freeriding.

FREE SPEECH: Government Employer Free to Fire Human Resources Officials Who Publicly Criticize the Propriety of Gay Rights Laws. See, once we stopped persecuting commies, the value of dissent quickly became unappreciated.

EATING LIKE A CAVEMAN. It’s the latest thing!

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): Fisker Automotive lays off workers while renegotiating government loan.

MESSAGE: Evil Republicans Will Steal Your Ladyparts!!!! Seems to be a recurring theme.

WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY: Online Belly Dance Classes.

TEN YEARS AGO ON INSTAPUNDIT: A kid with a gun saves a life. “If he’d shot his grandmother, it would be all over the news as a cautionary tale. Since he shot a knife-wielding drug dealer and thus saved her life, it barely makes the South Bend Tribune. Happily, the boy isn’t plagued by guilt. He feels proud of himself. And he should.”

LIST: Zombie Preparedness. I certainly agree that you can never have too much duct tape.

NRC’S PUBLIC FUKUSHIMA ASSURANCES contradicted by internal emails.

DON SURBER: Mitt Did It All Wrong.

No matter who you support this year, you have to admit Mitt Romney went about becoming president the wrong way. Instead of wasting his time learning how business works and building a multi-billion-dollar company that really did save or create hundreds of thousands of jobs, Mitt should have lived off his daddy’s fortune like Jack Kennedy. Chasing skirts and molesting teenage virgin is a lot more fun than figuring out how to revive an old business.

Instead, Mitt Romney gave his inheritance to charity. Who does that anymore?

The press loves the kids of privilege — Bobby Kennedy, Ted Kennedy, Jay Rockefeller and the rest of the trust fund babies — but only if they support huge government programs that transfer wealth from workers to non-workers. Remember, the press says liberals win despite their wealth while the press says conservatives win because of their wealth. The press never inquires into the manipulation of the tax code that allows wealth to transfer on to the fifth generation of a 19th century robber baron or 20th century bootlegger.

Read the whole thing.

ARMAGEDDON AT THE STRIP MALL.

MAYBE IT’S THE ARICEPT: Chris Matthews has a moment of clarity.

SANTORUM WINS IN Missouri.

UPDATE: Missourian Prof. Stephen Clark writes: “Don’t put too much stock in the Missouri primary. Turnout was low. Even the candidates showed good sense in ignoring it: No tv ads or robocalls. Pretty much a farce, but an expensive one: Our little town spent $58K for nothing. Another bureaucratic boondoggle.”

HALFTIME IN AMERICA: Remy Chrysler Ad Parody.

JONAH GOLDBERG:

If you’re not with us, you’re against us. President Bush popularized this expression after 9/11 to describe his foreign policy doctrine: Countries couldn’t support or indulge terrorists and be our friends at the same time. But his detractors quickly turned it into a fairly paranoid vision of domestic political life, as if Bush had been talking about domestic opponents and dissenters.

The irony is that few worldviews better describe the general liberal orientation to public policy and the culture war. The left often complains about the culture war as if it’s a war they don’t want to fight. They insist they just want to follow “sound science” or “what works” when it comes to public policy, but those crazy knuckle-dragging right-wingers constantly want to talk about gays and abortion and other hot-button issues.

It’s all a farce. Liberals are the aggressors in the culture war (and not always for the worse, as the civil rights movement demonstrates). What they object to isn’t so much the government imposing its values on people — heck, they love that. They see nothing wrong with imposing their views about diet, exercise, sex, race and the environment on Americans. What outrages them is resistance, or even non-compliance with their agenda. “Why are you making such a scene?” progressives complain. “Just do what we want and there will be no fuss.”

Kind of like an abusive spouse.

UPDATE: Somewhat related item here.

SPECIAL TREATMENT?

Suspected marijuana was found by three police officers at the home of the director of the state Alcoholic Beverage Commission, whose mission is to eradicate marijuana.

A Channel 4 I-Team investigation found the drugs were never seized or investigated.

An employee of the ABC, who agreed to speak with the Channel 4 I-Team if we hid his identity, said if suspected drugs were found at his house, he would expect to be arrested or at the very least, interrogated.

“I grant you, if that had happened to any of us (ABC employees), we would have been made an example of. We would have been in headlines in the papers, the news, and everywhere else,” the ABC employee said.

Hmm.

FAIRNESS: “Is it fair that some of Mr. Obama’s largest campaign contributors received federal loan guarantees?”

CONSERVATIVE LESBIAN CYNTHIA YOCKEY is asking for help getting to CPAC.

DAN BURTON FALLS VICTIM TO the Campaign For Primary Accountability.

NAZI FAMILY VALUES: Totalitarian regimes readily embraced art, propaganda, and cinema, turning them into veritable weapons of mass destruction. “Many Nazi officials came from the educated middle class of German society, and in his comments on the trial of Einsatzgruppen members in Nuremberg after the war, the British historian Gerald Reitlinger (author of The SS, Alibi of a Nation, a superb study of the SS) observed of the defendants that ‘the only common denominator was that nearly all had been to a university and the majority had achieved the doctorate so dear to the German middle class.’ The idea of Nazi intellectuals may be troubling to some, but as has long been known, intellectuals rose to power in the systems of both fascism (meaning both Nazi Germany and Mussolini’s Italy) and the Leninist-Stalinist version of communism. Hitler and Stalin required the talents of writers, organizers, and, yes, artists to accomplish their ends.”

CHANGE: Sixteen year old Cuban dissident calls for end of Castro dictatorship.

WHY BANK WEBSITES are suddenly less secure:

Throwing another lock on seems like the most logical way to secure an apartment—or a website. But a new attack called “Man in the Browser” allows attackers who have infected a computer with malicious software to get around the bank website security systems that demand, for example, a pin in addition to a password.

I only access my accounts through an old Macbook Pro that I don’t use for anything else. But that’s probably overkill.

DOOMSDAY FLU decision time. “Last year, two flu research groups created what could be extremely dangerous viruses through their research into bird flu. Both studies will be censored when they are published, and all similar work has been put on hold – unprecedented actions in biomedical research. Ahead of a World Health Organization meeting to plot a way ahead, New Scientist explains how we have arrived in these uncharted waters.”

UPDATE: Reader Patrick Anders writes:

Frank Herbert’s The White Plague, written over 30 years ago, predicted that some day all it would take would be one mentally disturbed scientist and a small lab to create a disease capable of wrecking civilization. That day is now, or ten years from now. If A.Q. Khan could run a covert network teaching the North Koreans how to create nuclear weapons, why haven’t we had a plan to deal with research into genetic modification of diseases since, I dunno, the minute A.Q. Khan was discovered?

Perhaps we could do with fewer Georgetown Foreign Service grads in the government, and more science fiction readers. The notion has been out there for decades, and yet the powers that be were caught with their pants down by a medical paper.

Obligatory Amazon link.

Well, it’s not obligatory, but it’s appreciated. And yeah. I think we’re seriously underprepared for this kind of thing.

BRIAN NOGGLE: It’s Not Takers vs. Makers, It’s Fraggles vs. Doozers. Not so sure I buy this analogy, but it’s cute.

SHATTERING PYREX to show a massive weakness in trademark law.

SCIENCE: Entire genome of extinct human decoded from fossil. “The genome represents the first high-coverage, complete genome sequence of an archaic human group – a leap in the study of extinct forms of humans.”

AT AMAZON, markdowns on Swarovski jewelry.

SCIENCE: Fallout From Fatigue Syndrome Retraction Is Wide. “As the published evidence for the hypothesis fell apart, a legal melodrama erupted, dismaying and demoralizing patients and many members of the scientific community. Dr. Mikovits was even briefly jailed in California on charges of theft made by the institute.”

NEW MEDIA: Matt Continetti’s Washington Free Beacon.

CHANGE: Obama Girl Amber Lee Ettinger says she’s not sure how she’ll vote this time. “I want what this country wants. I want this country to be better. I want everyone to have jobs and for gas prices to go down.” Plus, he never calls.

Related: The screwed generation: Libertarian, not liberal.

NINE WAYS TO CUT YOUR HOME HEATING BILLS.

WHY PEOPLE LOVE granite countertops.

MILESTONE: The Very Last World War I Veteran Has Died.

GO AHEAD: Make My Halftime.

Link was bad before. Fixed now. Sorry!

HEH: Menino and Bloomberg: The Lost First Take.

NINTH CIRCUIT holds Proposition 8 unconstitutional.

ENRON-QUALITY ACCOUNTING WITHOUT THE ACCOUNTABILITY: Independent auditor finds $10 billion in HHS discrepancies.

More here: “Two lawmakers have asked the Health and Human Services Department to explain financial management problems flagged in a recent audit, including violations of the Anti-Deficiency Act, which bars agencies from obligating funds without a congressional authorization or appropriation.”

HYBRID UPDATE: January U.S. alt-fuel vehicle sales: Prius leaves other hybrids in the dust.

Toyota, whose Prius generally accounts for about half of the hybrids sold in the U.S., sold 11,555 units of the model, up 8.7 percent from a year earlier after sales fell 3.2 percent for all of 2011. Meanwhile, Toyota, which didn’t disclose figures for any other individual hybrid models, boosted sales of its non-Prius hybrids by 54 percent from a year earlier to 3,087 vehicles, indicating that buyers appear to be taking to the Camry Hybrid that debuted late last year. And Toyota’s Lexus luxury badge increased January sales by 60 percent to 1,963 vehicles, likely a reflection of demand for the Lexus CT 200h hatchback that launched last year.

Other automakers weren’t so fortunate.

To put it mildly. I drove the CT 200h and liked it.

CHICAGO PAYS UP, with a big, fat check to the Second Amendment Foundation.

VOTER FRAUD UPDATE: Tim Tebow and Tom Brady Register to Vote in Minnesota.

IN THE MAIL: From David Drake, Voyage Across the Stars.

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Turning Up The Heat In Gibraltar. “With British-Argentine tensions escalating in the South Atlantic over the barren Falkland Islands, many observers, Via Meadia included, have predicted a similar confrontation over Gibraltar, Britain’s other controversial possession. Now this very scenario appears to be playing out, as Gibraltar’s new Chief Minister had scarcely ascended to his chair when Spain intensified its claim to the tiny peninsula—which, like the Falklands, happens to be full of people happy to remain British citizens. . . . Many may be surprised by the sudden interest in a centuries-old dispute between (mostly) friendly countries, but the timing is hardly surprising. Indeed, both David Cameron and Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy have much to gain from the conflict, which promises to distract from faltering economies and stubborn high unemployment (youth unemployment in Spain recently topped 50 percent).”

Hmm. What issue might our government use as a similar distraction?

CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: Virginia Handgun Limit On Its Way Out.

UPDATE: The WaPo has an online poll on whether the one-gun-a-month limit should be continued. So far the “no” vote seems to be way ahead.

TED NUGENT: The Great Keystone XL Pipeline Massacre.

BUT OF COURSE: D.C. accuses 130 of its own workers of fraud.

About 90 current District employees face dismissal and criminal prosecution after collecting unemployment benefits while on the government’s payroll, the city announced Monday.

An additional 40 former D.C. workers are also facing the possibility of a criminal probe for their role in the scheme that cost taxpayers up to $800,000. “It is unconscionable for anyone — and particularly District of Columbia employees, who should have high ethical standards — to be fraudulently collecting unemployment insurance to which they are not entitled,” D.C. Attorney General Irvin Nathan said in a statement.

“District of Columbia employees, who should have high ethical standards” — you gotta admire a guy who can say that with a straight face. Some are closer to reality, though:

But Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans, the longest-serving member of the D.C. Council, said fraud has deep roots in District government.

“The city has a problem with this. Some of it’s money management, but some of it’s this culture of, ‘I can steal from the government, and I’m a government employee,’” Evans said. “It’s just a culture that has to stop, and I’m not sure how you make that stop other than to set an example.”

It won’t last.

AT AMAZON, a sale on Levi’s for men.

IT’S A TERRIBLE TREATY: Europeans Protest Anti-Piracy Treaty: Opponents say ACTA would curtail Internet freedom. I think to some people that’s not a bug, but a feature.

PUBLIC PENSION UPDATE: The unions may be dead set against it, but New Yorkers overwhelmingly support a new pension system for future government employees.

NO, WE DON’T. NEXT QUESTION. Do We Need Even Tighter Controls on Sudafed?

What really bothers me is the way that Humphreys–and others who show up in the comments–regard the rather extraordinary cost of making PSE prescription-only as too trivial to mention.

Let’s return to those 15 million cold sufferers. Assume that on average, they want one box a year. That’s going to require a visit to the doctor. At an average copay of $20, their costs alone would be $300 million a year, but of course, the health care system is also paying a substantial amount for the doctor’s visit. The average reimbursement from private insurance is $130; for Medicare, it’s about $60. Medicaid pays less, but that’s why people on Medicaid have such a hard time finding a doctor. So average those two together, and add the copays, and you’ve got at least $1.5 billion in direct costs to obtain a simple decongestant. But that doesn’t include the hassle and possibly lost wages for the doctor’s visits. Nor the possible secondary effects of putting more demands on an already none-too-plentiful supply of primary care physicians.

Of course, those wouldn’t be the real costs, because lots of people wouldn’t be able to take the time for a doctor’s visit. So they’d just be more miserable while their colds last. What’s the cost of that–in suffering, in lost productivity?

Perhaps it would be simpler to just raise the price of a box of Sudafed to $100. Surely that would make meth labs unprofitable–and save us the annoyance of a doctor’s visit.

I think these people should be exposed to toddler snot, then locked in a freezing basement with a bag of ragweed pollen tied over their head until they develop a proper appreciation for the consequences of their policies. Judging by what I’m reading in comments, quite a few allergy sufferers agree.

HMM: Major Obama Donors Tied To Fugitive Who Fled To Mexico. “Two American brothers of a Mexican casino magnate who fled drug and fraud charges in the United States and has been seeking a pardon enabling him to return have emerged as major fund-raisers and donors for President Obama’s re-election campaign.”

INDEED: Groups urge Congress to take it slow on piracy.

A coalition of about 70 advocacy groups and companies sent a letter to Congress on Monday urging lawmakers to take their time in drafting anti-piracy legislation.

“Now is the time for Congress to take a breath, step back, and approach the issues from a fresh perspective,” the groups wrote. “The concerns are too fundamental and too numerous to be fully addressed through hasty revisions to these bills. Nor can they be addressed by closed door negotiations among a small set of inside the-beltway stakeholders.”The letter was signed by advocacy groups including Public Knowledge, the Center for Democracy and Technology, Free Press, Amnesty International and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Companies such as Mozilla, reddit and Twitpic also signed the letter.

Support for two anti-piracy bills, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA), evaporated last month after thousands of websites staged a massive protest. Lawmakers said they plan to re-work the legislation before moving forward.

Wait until after the election. And ponder why we protect intellectual property rights so much more . . . vigorously than we do other kinds of property right. What gives?

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: Congressional earmarks sometimes used to fund projects near lawmakers’ properties. “Under the ethics rules Congress has written for itself, this is both legal and undisclosed. . . . The congressional financial disclosure system obscures certain relationships. Lawmakers are not required to disclose the addresses of their personal residences or the employment of their children and parents. The lawmakers are also allowed to put properties in holding companies without disclosing the properties’ locations. Current versions of the Stock Act would not change that.”

BOB OWENS: Fast And Furious: Three Questions Not Asked. “Whether Operation Fast and Furious was a legitimate law enforcement operation, as the Department of Justice claims, or was part of a plot to impose gun control, it was radically different from all other border gun operations in one crucial way. Operation Fast and Furious was the only border gun operation that was undertaken with the full intention of the straw-purchased guns leaving the control of law enforcement officers and reaching the armories of drug cartel murderers. That fact alone should lead to the impeachment or administrative removal of everyone, from field agents to political appointees and elected officials that knew or should have known about the plot. But that is only half of the horror story.”

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): ‘We the People’ Loses Appeal With People Around the World.

COULD THE HOUSING BUST LEAD TO A BABY BUST? It seems to me that as houses get cheaper, more people should want to have kids. I don’t understand why the research points the other way.

UPDATE: Dave Price emails:

We’re buying (or trying to buy, at least, it’s a short sale so who knows) a 5-bedroom house with the expectation of having at least 3 and maybe as many as 5-7 kids (our first was born a couple weeks ago). We never would have dreamed we could ever afford a house like this in 2007, and if we were staying in this townhouse we might have stuck with only one child.

OTOH I suppose the other side of that equation is the millions of people who can’t afford to buy anything, because they’re left the labor force.

Yeah, there is that.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Jim Bennett emails:

European economics brings European demographics.

I agree with Dave Price’s last comment. I suspect most people in the family-starting age groups are finding it hard to get house loans right now. Also, the “reforms” on mortgages since 2009 have had the effect of making it harder for anybody getting income reported on a 1099 rather than a W-2 to get a mortgage. Another front in the war against the self-employed. And more and more young people are going to have to be self-employed.

Indeed.

HOW’S THAT “SMART DIPLOMACY” WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): White House ramps up criticism of China, Russia following Syria veto.

Related: Special Relationship? Britain had to plead with US to take part in Iran flotilla. “Defence sources have revealed that the Americans only relented and allowed a Royal Navy frigate to join the mission following an intervention from Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president.”

LIST: How To Repair Anything In Your House Like A Pro.

REVOLVING DOOR: Obama Nominates Lawyer From AT&T Merger Firm To Lead DOJ Antitrust Division.

THE COURT THAT broke New Jersey.

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN: Bernanke Plan To Exterminate Savers Is Unsustainable.

TEN YEARS AGO ON INSTAPUNDIT: The Resurgence Of Anti-Semitism In Europe.

Plus this: “I’m deeply worried about where Europe is headed. I hope I’m wrong, of course, but I fear otherwise. I suppose the only safe thing to do is to get the French running as much of Europe as possible, so that whatever delusion sets in will be ineptly managed.”

YEAH, THERE’S A WINNING SLOGAN: Obama 2012: He’ll Do Better This Time, Honest.

LEGAL EDUCATION UPDATE: Stanford Law School Hosts Leading 9/11 Truther Tonight.

IS THE SIERRA CLUB in the pocket of the Gas Lobby?

HOW MASSAGE heals sore muscles.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Beware the Nympho Librarian. The illustration is classic.

AT AMAZON, top deals on printers.

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Beyond Blue Part Three: The Power of Infostructure.

The quest for a new social model has to start with economics. America could survive without growing prosperity and rising standards of living, but it would not flourish — and it would not be living up to its potential to create a better life not only for Americans but for people all over the world. Green dreamers and communitarians disagree, often eloquently but always futilely; the drive for economic prosperity is deeply planted in American politics and society. When the economy isn’t performing well, politicians lose their jobs while the public looks for alternative ideas.

The quest for economic prosperity helped make the blue social model, and the failure of that model to deliver continuing prosperity in contemporary conditions is both a symptom of and a leading reason for its decline.

Read the whole thing.

HOW TO HIDE FROM GOOGLE.

UPDATE: Note that the article’s reference to Scroogle.com seems to be wrong. I believe it should be Scroogle.org.

AT YALE, it’s Sex Week vs. True Love Week.

LESBIAN DIVORCE SHOCKER: Same-sex marriages between women are considerably more likely to end in divorce than either same-sex male marriages or heterosexual marriages, according to a study of Norway and Sweden. Well, women initiate divorce twice as often as men, so it stands to reason that a marriage composed of nothing but women would be more likely to split.

SCIENCE: To Compare Human and Monkey Brains, Humans and Monkeys Watch a Clint Eastwood Film. Sadly, it wasn’t one of the ones with the orangutuan.