GOVERNMENT: How Does A Wine Monopoly Lose Money?

MICHAEL BARONE: Clarence Thomas: Liberal nightmare on Obamacare.

CHANGE: ‘Obama Clock’ climbs iPhone reference app chart.

MISJUDGING IRENE: Nature’s toll invariably recedes wherever wealth and technology advances. “The great cliché of our age is that the march of civilization is an act of hubris that invites nature’s terrible blowback. The reality is that nature’s toll invariably recedes wherever wealth and technology advance. I feel desperately sorry for the 37 people who lost their lives in the hurricane, and for their families. It’s remarkable the numbers weren’t higher. Would that all the world were as safe from nature’s fury as New York.”

THE CONFIDENCE RECESSION:

There is no way to sugarcoat this. The expectation of rotten times ahead colors purchasing and hiring decisions, leading to a further contraction of the economy. Low confidence begets low growth which in turn begets low confidence.

The president and the Democrats keep promising more spending and taxing. But that’s not a recipe to improve the outlook of investors, consumers and employers. . . The trap for many conservatives is to likewise fall into the habit of talking exclusively about budgets, debt and government spending. The missing element is growth. What should government be doing (or not doing) to promote the private sector job creation and bolster confidence? I don’t think Obama has a clue. Maybe one of the GOP presidential contenders has some ideas.

Let’s hope.

THE HILL: Perry pans Obama’s jobs policies as ‘dumb.’ “Policies from Obama that have driven the increased spending and the downgraded U.S. credit rating are what’s dumb, Perry said. He accused the president, who formerly lectured at the University of Chicago law school, of relying too much on the counsel of academics.”

Related: Politico: Perry Panic Fires Up Left. “Perry panic has spread from the conference rooms of Washington, D.C., to the coffee shops of Brooklyn, with the realization that the conservative Texan could conceivably become the 45th president of the United States, a wave of alarm centering around Perry’s drawling, small-town affect and stands on core cultural issues such as women’s rights, gun control, the death penalty, and the separation of church and state. The epidemic of lefty angst isn’t just a matter of specific Perry policies though; it goes to the heart of the liberal worldview. His smashing debut on the presidential stage suggests that the victory of an urban liberal Democrat, Barack Obama, wasn’t a step toward a more progressive nation, but just a leftward swing of an increasingly wild pendulum, now poised to rocket to the right.”

AT A.T.F., MEET THE NEW BOSS, YADA YADA. “Jones was appointed to chair the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee back in August of 2009, and was briefed in Gunwalker. According to Senator Charles Grassley’s June 15, 2011 congressional testimony attachment 4, the chair of AGAC (Jones) was a member of the Southwest Border Strategy Group and attended at least one briefing on Fast and Furious in October 2009. He appears to be complicit in the coverup, just like Melson.”

TRENDING AWAY: Rasmussen: Generic Republican Beats President Obama by Eight Points.

STANDING UP TO THE HATERS: Facebook phenom Stephen A. Burroughs announces Swagfest despite threats.

SAYUNCLE: The ATF is having a party to celebrate successfully breaking the law.

EVEN WITH CONTROVERSIAL COVERS, Newsweek Can’t Sell Magazines.

ANN ALTHOUSE: “I favor the bill myself, because people who are considering breaking into a house shouldn’t have a complicated set of risk/benefit factors to weigh. It should be really clear.”

MEDIA: NYT Shocker: ‘MSNBC Is Less a News Provider Than a Carousel of Liberal Opinion.’

OBVIOUSLY, SHE’S A RACIST: Daryl Hannah Arrested at White House. “Hannah was taking part in an ongoing protest against the unbuilt Keystone XL oil pipeline.”

ROBERT FARAGO: ATF Death Watch 66: Obama Fires Acting ATF Director Melson.

AT AMAZON, Warehouse Deals.

UPDATE: Link was bad before, fixed now. Sorry!

FUNDING STACY MCCAIN’S RETIREMENT: No Honor Among Thieves, No Curiosity Among Journalists: Perez Hilton Re-Pirates Video, CBS News Repeats Smear.

FACT CHECKING YOUR ASS: Ten Years Gone—Long Gone. Indeed.

Plus, the real breaking news: “Wonkette Is Still Online?”

UTAH TEA PARTY UPDATE: Kirkham Considering 2012 Run Against Hatch.

WHEN IS IT CLIMATE, AND WHEN IS IT WEATHER? Simple. Irene was Climate, a monster storm clearly brought about by human changes in the planet. Stories like this, on the other hand, are mere randomly-varying Weather: Parts of Britain suffer coldest summer for nearly two decades. Got it?