GALLUP POLL AGREES WITH RASMUSSEN: Support for Gun Control at New Low.

CHRIS DODD UPDATE: Dodd tops Politico’s list of Senators Who Could Lose in 2010.

WHAT MASSACHUSETTS CAN TEACH US ABOUT health care costs.

KAUSFILES: A Cesspool Of Corruption. Nobody tell the FTC!

THE TUCSON TEA PARTY FOLKS are planning a big event for tomorrow.

FAKE ART, and patronizing criticism.

Plus, from the comments, “It’s not a copy copy.” In Roman Polanski’s hometown, it’s called homage.

MESSAGE TO BLOOMBERG: Butt out.

JOHN HINDERAKER ON THE POLLS: “What is striking to me is that the Democrats seem to be doubling down: the stimulus bill on top of TARP; government medicine; cap and trade, still not dead; and now talk of Stimulus II. The Democrats are averting their eyes from the popular outcry against their policies and are hoping–somehow–to escape retribution at the polls. I liken them to a canoeist braving the rapids with his eyes closed, hoping for the best.”

NASA PROBE smacks Moon.

HEH: “Riddle: Why Didn’t Obama Win The Nobel Prize For Literature? Answer: He wrote two books.”

JACK SHAFER on the FTC’s mad power grab. “The guidelines have to be read to be believed. They are written so broadly that if you blog about a good and service in such a way that the FTC construes as an endorsement, the commission has a predicate to investigate. The only way to stay on the FTC’s good side is with a ‘clearly and conspicuously’ posted disclosure of the ‘sponsors’ who provided you with the good or service (or money) to blog about the good or service. As I read the guidelines, the FTC could investigate you if you did disclose but it was not satisfied with the disclosure.”

CHANGE: World Economic Forum ranks U.S. financial stability 38th, currency stability 50th globally.

JOHN DERBYSHIRE HAS fond memories of Transylvania. Why am I not surprised. . . .?

MEGAN MCARDLE: “A reader asks me to blog about the FTC decision on blogger disclosure. The problem is, it’s so transparently stupid that I don’t even know what to say. . . . This is of a parcel with the ongoing regulatory process, whereby every trivial thing that is wrong with the world requires a rule to correct it.”

JULES CRITTENDEN ON WAR COVERAGE: A Tale of Two Bureaus.

Related: The Mother Of All Expiration Dates.

OBAMA WINS NOBEL PEACE PRIZE? “For what?”

UPDATE: What do Barack Obama and Yassir Arafat have in common?

Plus, Mickey Kaus: Turn It Down. “Say he’s honored but he hasn’t had the time yet to accomplish what he wants to accomplish.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Doug Mataconis on Facebook: “Teddy Roosevelt wins Peace Prize for stopping a war. Carter wins Peace Prize for a lifetime of work. Obama wins Peace prize for breathing.”

MORE: Heh.

I say, not bad for a guy who’s been acting like Bambi caught in the headlights of history.

STILL MORE: London Times: Absurd decision on Obama makes a mockery of the Nobel peace prize. Oh, it was already a mockery.

Meanwhile, Mataconis is on a roll on Facebook: “How can Obama win the Nobel Peace Prize on the same day that he’s becoming the first POTUS to bomb the Moon?”

It’s Frank J. Fleming’s world. The rest of us just live in it.

MORE STILL: Various reader comments:

“It’s a peace prize, not a peace peace prize.”

“How do you say ‘jumped the shark’ in Norwegian?”

“Today the Nobel Committee announced a posthumous Peace Prize for Neville Chamberlain.”

“Why not the Cy Young Award, too?”

“Let’s be fair . . . he did pull off the Beer Summit.”

Plus, Jacob T. Levy on Facebook: “The US border agent in Toronto– the armed representative of the state who was holding my passport– asked me what I thought of the Nobel, got angry when I was anything less than celebratory, and didn’t want to give my passport back– wanted to keep arguing.”

“Americans want to be loved.”

“The subprime Peace Prize.”

Salena Zito: “Well, this makes his meeting with his war team today awkward.”

HuffPo: Whatever Happened to Awarding For Deeds Actually Done?

Richard Cohen:

In a stunning announcement, Millard Fillmore Senior High School chose Shawn Rabinowitz, an incoming junior, as next year’s valedictorian. The award was made, the valedictorian committee announced from Norway of all places, on the basis of “Mr. Rabinowitz’s intention to ace every course and graduate number one in class.” In a prepared statement, young Shawn called the unprecedented award, “f—ing awesome.”

At the same time, and amazingly enough, the Pulitzer Prize for Literature went to Sarah Palin for her stated intention “to read a book someday.” The former Alaska governor was described as “floored” by the award, announced in Stockholm by nude Swedes beating themselves with birch branches, and insisted that while she was very busy right now, someday she would make good on her vow to read a book. “You’ll see,” she said from her winter home in San Diego.

And again in a stunning coincidence, the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences announced the Oscar for best picture will be given this year to the Vince Vaughn vehicle “Guys Weekend to Burp,” which is being story-boarded at the moment but looks very good indeed. Mr. Vaughn, speaking through his publicist, said was “touched and moved” by the award and would do everything in his power to see that the picture lives up to expectation and opens big sometime next March.

Heh.

CAN I JUST SAY that there’s nothing in the least stimulative about this photo on Drudge? Which I’m pretty sure is intentional on Drudge’s part . . . .

POLITICO: How long can Democrats stand by Charlie Rangel? “The House ethics committee expanded a sprawling investigation into Rangel Thursday, digging into allegations stemming from an August restatement of his personal finances, in which he under reported hundreds of thousands of dollars in assets. The ethics committee action – which was unanimous — came a day after House Democrats turned back a Republican attempt to force Rangel from his Ways and Means chairmanship while the investigation, now in its second year, is completed. . . . But even if Pelosi relented and asked Rangel to relinquish his gavel, there would be a political firestorm, as she would be moving to oust a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus from a chairmanship he waited nearly four decades to get.”

NOT-SO-MAGNIFICENT obsession. See, this is one reason why I don’t have comments: People will attribute them to you as they try to score a point.

Related: “Ann Althouse permitting free speech in her comments is no different than The Atlantic permitting Andrew Sullivan to repeatedly question Sarah Palin’s baby bump and when/where/how her water broke.” Except that David Bradley is actually paying Sullivan . . . .

FAIR AND DECENT?

UH OH: A Dave Letterman divorce?

PROVIDING INEXPENSIVE RURAL DENTAL CARE. There’s a lesson for the Obamacare debate here, too — high costs don’t come from evil insurance companies so much as from licensing regimes that keep out lower-cost competition.

DON DRAPER: Most influential guy of 2009? And he’s fictional. That must mean something . . . .

RON ZIEGLER’S Revenge!

TECHNOLOGIES MISSING from the “Clean Energy” bill.

SO I GUESS STEPHEN GREEN WAS UNAVAILABLE? Talking Cocktails With Danny Meyer.

AN INTERVIEW WITH Andrew Breitbart. “Even when he fights dishonest critics, the right’s New Media leader is of good cheer.” Indeed.

OH, GOOD GRIEF: French minister in ‘boy sex’ row.

France’s Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand is facing intense pressure over a book he wrote that described paying for “young boys” in Thailand.

The book was written four years ago, before he joined the government, but is back in the headlines following his impassioned support for Roman Polanski.

Polanski has been arrested in Switzerland on child sex charges.

Mr Mitterrand, nephew of late President Francois Mitterrand, is expected to defend himself on TV later on Thursday.

Passage from the book: “All these rituals of the market for youths, the slave market excited me enormously… the abundance of very attractive and immediately available young boys put me in a state of desire.” Really, you can’t make this stuff up. But he rejects “criticism from the far right!” (Via Ann Althouse).

UPDATE: Related: The Polanski Culture.

BUT THEY’RE SAVING THE PLANET, SO CUT THEM SOME SLACK: “Psychologists in Canada have revealed new research suggesting that people who become eco-conscious ‘green consumers’ are ‘more likely to steal and lie’ than others.”

AT BLOGCRITICS, an interview with Kevin Jackson, author of The Big Black Lie. He talks about the Tea Party movement, health care “reform,” and more.

A.P. ANALYSIS: Obama’s Woes Keep Piling Up Around The Globe.

SOME COOL KNOXVILLE PICS from George Fillmore.

BUSH SPEAKS, refrains from criticizing Obama.

RUSSIAN MERCENARIES: We’ll out-Blackwater Blackwater.

CATO: The Real Cost of the Baucus Bill: $2 Trillion+

CHANGE: Asian Banks Intervene to Try to Save Dollar. “The U.S. dollar continued to tumble Thursday, prompting a wave of foreign-exchange intervention by central banks in South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines and Thailand seeking to limit damage to their export industries.”

Is it a sneak attack?

STORIES ABOUT SUICIDE DOORS.

ANDREW KLAVAN: IS BARACK OBAMA JESUS CHRIST?

PEW POLL: 47% Oppose ObamaCare, 34% Favor.

That’s even worse than the Quinnipiac poll. And a reader points out: “And that’s even after Pew interviews a margin of 11% more democrats than republicans.”

TEN QUESTIONS for our future robot overlords.

I say, do not rage against the machine. Embrace the machine!

WELL, GOOD: Areas Hit Hard by Swine Flu in Spring See Little Now.

HOW ABOUT A Congressional “Clawback” for Taxpayers? “Obama’s pay czar proposes taking back monies already legally paid to executives. Why not try the same thing on congressmen?”

MORE ON THE FTC’S BLOGGER REGULATIONS from Walter Olson at Overlawyered.

GOOD GRIEF: Cross-Dressing Escort Registered by ACORN Imprisoned for Voter Fraud, ACORN Probe Continues in Ohio. “ACORN just can’t seem to stay away from hookers. The activist group, which has long worked with criminals as it preys on the weak and the troubled, is on the verge of yet another public relations catastrophe. That’s because a cross-dressing Ohio male escort whom ACORN registered multiple times to vote was convicted of full-fledged vote fraud in addition to the lesser crime of voter registration fraud. A spokesman for Cleveland prosecutor Bill Mason (an elected Democrat) confirmed yesterday that a local investigation of ACORN remains wide open.”

I’M SURPRISED IT WASN’T MORE: Politico: Roman Polanski Backers Gave $34K to Obama, DNC.

MOUNTAIN CLIMBING in the Chevy Volt.

TAXPROF: 80% Marginal Tax Rates After Health Care “Reform”?

QUINNIPIAC POLL: Americans oppose ObamaCare 47-40.

SIDE EFFECTS: Taking the pill for past 40 years ‘has put women off masculine men’. “Scientists say the hormones in the oral contraceptive suppress a woman’s interest in masculine men and make boyish men more attractive. Although the change occurs for just a few days each month, it may have been highly influential since use of the Pill began more than 40 years ago. . . . The changing fashions for film stars appear to show a shift from masculine men in the 1950s – before the advent of the Pill – to more baby-faced stars today.” I wonder how it affects voting . . . .

MEN: WANT TO LIVE LONGER? Marry A Highly Educated Woman. Good news for me!

IN THE MAIL: From William Stroock, A Line through the Desert: The First Gulf War.

ISAAC CORRE: Dealing With The Shadow Banking System.

DOUG BERMAN: Is Concern About Child Porn Distorting Normal Criminal Procedure Rules? Some questions answer themselves. Looking at this case, though, I’m not as shocked as Judge Moore.

NO DOUBT THERE’S AN N.E.A. GRANT COMING DOWN THE PIKE: Nina Carbone: Clothespins + Skin = Art (Really?)

As long as it’s got the right attitude.

WHAT COULD GO WRONG? Sending criminals door-to-door. But I thought Census had cut its ties with ACORN . . . .

CORZINE: I may be inept and corrupt, but you’re fat. In New Jersey, this might work . . . .

UPDATE: Heh: “Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine is outspending Republican Chris Christie 3 to 1 in an effort to persuade voters he’s the better choice to control spending and manage the state’s budget.”

But there are worries about blowback.

NOT GIVING UP: Women’s ski jumpers still hoping for flight in 2010 Games.

THE HIPKLIP: Audra Coldiron isn’t just a musician, she’s an inventor! I bought one of the prototypes, but the new version looks more rugged.

BUT DON’T WORRY, THEY’LL HANDLE HEALTH CARE JUST FINE: IRS Made Errors in Stimulus Payments to 400,000 Taxpayers.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: The Power Of Payback.

INSTAVISION: I talk with John Ondrasik of Five For Fighting about music, multiculturalism, support for the troops, and the politics of art. Plus, his new album, Slice. A very cool guy, and I wish more musicians were like him.

THE INSPECTOR-GENERAL SCANDAL THAT WON’T GO AWAY: The Return of Walpin-Gate: The White House tries a limited modified hangout.

CHANGE: “A decade ago, going public meant frothy tech IPOs. Now, it’s what private school kids do when their parents can no longer pay their tuition.”

AFGHANISTAN: A Month In Helmand: The Soldiers’ Stories. Recommended by Michael Yon.

TACTICAL CANNED BACON.

I think of this as more of a Strategic Bacon Reserve.

BAD MONEY AFTER BAD: Mickey Kaus: GM Bailout II Right On Track. Since our leaders have invested their prestige in saving GM, it must not be allowed to fail, at least until after the next election.

HMM: Durbin Amendment Calls for Review, Audit of ACORN and Affiliates.

CONFUSED: “The latest spin-filled explanation for the stalemate on our Afghanistan war strategy comes from the Washington Post. You see, the civilian leadership didn’t really understand that a full counterinsurgency strategy meant, well, a full counterinsurgency strategy. . . . If so, this is a fundamental breakdown in policy formulation and communication that makes the Guantanamo debacle look like small potatoes.”

WALL STREET JOURNAL: Intelligence Fiasco Footnote: The authors of the 2007 Iran NIE have some explaining to do. “When it comes to politicized intelligence in the Bush years, the critics may finally have a point. Perhaps the work of America’s intelligence agencies was manipulated to suit the convenience of a small group of willful officials, intent on getting their way against the better judgment of their colleagues. Except the intelligence was about Iran, not Iraq, and the manipulators weren’t conniving neocons but rather the Administration’s internal critics on the left.” As I said earlier, the purpose of the N.I.E. was to paralyze us until after the election, and it worked.

SOUNDS LIKE THESE FOLKS COULD HAVE USED A COMMUNITY ORGANIZER: Community Leaders Excluded from Duncan and Holder Meeting. “Community leaders and parents outside Fenger are in disbelief that they are not at the breakfast table with Arne Duncan and Eric Holder. Attorney General Holder and Secretary of Education Duncan are in town to speak, ostensibly, with the community about youth violence — a blight on Chicago neighborhoods so vividly brought to national attention by the videotaped beating of Derrion Albert.”

RON BAILEY: The Cultural Contradictions of Environmentalism: Fast Breeder Reactor Edition. “So here’s the aggravating aspect of Speth’s preening self-congratulation about being part of the effort to stop the commercialization of breeder reactors: in an alternative universe in which 200 reactors come online, U.S. greenhouse gas emissions would be about 35 percent lower than they currently are. In other words, the reactors that Speth opposed could have been a huge part of the solution to what Speth claims is humanity’s ‘biggest threat.’ Like I said, really annoying.”

And utterly predictable. The only technological innovation these guys ever really liked was the wet blanket . . . .

THIS DOESN’T FIT THE NARRATIVE. Neither does this.

LEDE OF THE DAY: “A gay man tried to poison his lesbian neighbours by putting slug pellets into their curry after he was accused of kidnapping their three-legged cat.”

WHEW: Big Asteroid Less Likely to Hit Earth. But it’s the ones you don’t see that get you . . . .

OKAY, MAYBE IT WOULD BE TOO MEAN TO ACTUALLY DO, but reading this report of the “stimulus” debacle in Detroit gave me an idea:

There was some confusion at the sites after word spread that checks for $3,000 were being given away. That was not the case. Only applications were handed out. In fact, because of the heavy demand, the city halls had to stop handing out applications.

If you really were a Merry Prankster type, it would be funny to spread rumors that the local member of Congress was handing out stimulus checks, then watch the ensuing confusion. . . .

But that would be wrong — though it’s fun to imagine.

UPDATE: No, no, I’m not raining on the idea of pranks in general. Just pranks that might produce a riot . . . .

IF TRUE, THIS’LL COST ‘EM: Senate GOP Folding Over Health Care Reform. I can think of no better way to spur a third-party challenge in 2012.

UPDATE: See the update on the post — they may have a backbone after all!

HOLD ‘EM RESPONSIBLE: How anti-nuclear power hysterics kill.

FORGET CHEESE AND WINE: Pairing books and beer.

ADVICE TO PRESIDENT OBAMA FROM JON STEWART: “You’re the President of America!”

But with certain tastes.

IT’S A LITERARY QUAGMIRE!

MORE CREEPINESS: School Kids Sing For Health Care Reform On Set Of CNN. “Kids from the Ron Clark Academy are on CNN singing for health care reform set to Miley Cyrus’ ‘Party in the USA.’ The song mentions ‘Obama says everyone needs health care now.’”

RESVERATROL UPDATE: “Resveratrol, a molecule found in red grapes, has been shown to improve diabetes when delivered orally to rodents. Until now, however, little has been known about how these beneficial changes are mediated in the body. A new study accepted for publication in Endocrinology, a journal of The Endocrine Society, shows that the brain plays a key role in mediating resveratrol’s anti-diabetic actions, potentially paving the way for future orally-delivered diabetes medications that target the brain.” Of course, the usual cautions about mice vs. people apply . . . .

OOPS: Chicago Violence Haunts Obama as Gun-Control Backers Left Cold.

PJTV SALUTES: Mr. Faithful-Like-A-Trial-Lawyer. “A man who knows that victory comes to those who are on the winning side.”

I have to say, though, that comparing Arlen Specter to trial lawyers is deeply unfair to trial lawyers. Once you hire trial lawyers, they stay on your side . . . .

ANDREW BREITBART: Shaping the Agenda!

QUERCETIN: Great for mice, not so great for people. That’s as a performance enhancer. Some are also pushing it as a longevity-promoter; these studies didn’t look at that, though they certainly underscore the iffy nature of extrapolation from mice.

CBO: Senate healthcare bill estimated to cost $829 billion over 10 years.

UPDATE: Financial Times: Alarm Over Debt Draws Together Diverse Coalition.

Plus, Obama Under Fire Over Falling Dollar.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Calls to bring back Gramm-Rudman?

FIGHTING BREAST CANCER at the Blogger Boobiethon.

FIGHTING COLONY COLLAPSE by breeding super-hygienic bees.

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: Black Tea-Partyer calls out Garofalo over ‘white power’ statement.

YOU CAN MOVE THINGS with the power of your mind! Use the Force, Luke.

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: Democrats defeat GOP attempt to remove Rangel.

WELL, AFTER ALL, BUSH ISN’T PRESIDENT ANY MORE: ‘Code Pink’ rethinks its call for Afghanistan pullout.

JAMES PETHOKOUKIS: Why The GOP Should Reject Calls For A VAT.

JACOB SULLUM: How a Second Amendment case can help restore economic liberty.

DON’T EXPECT SMALL BUSINESS to lead a recovery. No surprise there. Whether you call it “going Galt” or just hunkering down in a hostile and uncertain regulatory/tax environment, the result is the same.

A REAL-WORLD DEFINITION OF A ZEPTOSECOND: The interval between passage of a tax increase, and legislators starting to think about the next one . . . .

UPDATE: Reader Jonathan Bailey writes: “Are you sure that isn’t a ‘kleptosecond?’” I stand corrected!

OH, GOOD GRIEF: “Obama’s Revealing Taste In Art.”

MEDITERRANEAN DIET ASSOCIATED WITH reduced risk of depression. Sitting in the sun, drinking red wine, nibbling on olives — how could you be depressed? . . .

UPDATE: Related thoughts:

There may be a combination of factors at play here. Perhaps living in Spain is less depressing than living in Northern Europe regardless of diet. We need scientists to unravel the specific mechanisms which are responsible for these results. Until then, we can only speculate.

Vitamin D is called the “sunshine vitamin” for a reason, and people in Northern Europe may simply not be getting enough.

Indeed. Until then, I recommend sitting in the sunshine, sipping red wine, and nibbling olives.

ILYA SOMIN: Too Many Lawyers, or Too Many Laws?