BUT DON’T EXPECT ANYONE TO, YOU KNOW, APOLOGIZE OR ANYTHING: “Twenty years later, [Dan] Quayle’s words seem less controversial than prophetic.”

Ann Althouse pushes back, and she has a point. But watch a few episodes of 16 and Pregnant, and you might think that “it’s wrong” is a useful heuristic for people incapable of fully understanding what “it will be hard” actually means. At any rate, after twenty years of hearing SUV drivers described in terms more applicable to Himmler, the 1992 condemnations of moralistic language from political leaders ring particularly hollow.

Of course, contra the Quayle argument is Jim Bennett’s observation that people who breed without thinking of the consequences are turning out to be demographic heroes.

PUNCHING BACK TWICE AS HARD: John Wolfe Sues Arkansas Dems For Delegates Won In Primary Against Obama.

AT AMAZON, a sale on Levis for men.

RON RADOSH: The New York Times Runs A Hit Job On Ann Romney.

Funny, when Bruce Springsteen was opining on the evils of the 1%, they weren’t talking about Jessica Springsteen’s equestrianism. Equestrianism that involves lawsuits over $850,000 horses.

DON’T GET COCKY, KID: “One sign that Wisconsin governor Scott Walker is likely to win the election on June 5 is the sudden disappearance of national media attention to the race.”

DAVID BROOKS: Obama Campaign “Demeaned Itself” By Lying About Romney, Bain.

Plus this: “I don’t think, if you are a liberal Democrat, you want to be seen attacking business. People may not love business. They like it a lot better than government. And they don’t want to see an anti-business Democrat.”

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD:

I’ve been in Germany visiting Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Nuremberg and Frankfurt am Main, and from every outward sign, things look great. Cranes are at work building new buildings; late model cars swoop along the autobahns, the restaurants and the shops are full, and tourists swarm in and around the famous sights.

But when you talk to them, you hear a new note of worry in Germany. As a journalist told me yesterday, he worries whether the money in his pocket will be worth anything a year from now. Others worry about Germany’s increasingly negative image among recession-hit southern and eastern Europeans. Americans will understand this feeling well: you pay and pay to help others, only to have them turn on you in hatred and wrath, accusing you of horrible hidden motives and denouncing your selfishness.

Indeed.

MIKE MOLLENHOUR: Who Wears the Harness? Who Holds its Reins? “For those not raised in farm country, ‘harness’ is more than a verb implying a general, cooperative marshaling of talent. . . . Who do you think wears this harness, the one our president imagines using? Remember: this is his word.”

HAPPY 97TH BIRTHDAY to Herman Wouk.

WAS THE FACEBOOK IPO BROUGHT DOWN by a rogue trading algorithm?

HAPPY TENTH BLOGGIVERSARY to Power Line.

THIS WEEK in the future.

AT AMAZON, markdowns on Men’s Shavers.

SWATTING: Bogus Call Sends Police to Erick Erickson’s House.

He reports here. Really, if the goal is to keep people from writing about Brett Kimberlin, this doesn’t seem like the way to do it. It was smart of Erickson to call his local Sheriff ahead of time. I did the same thing.

UPDATE: Stacy McCain looks at where Brett Kimberlin gets his money.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Prof. Jacobson: Solidarity.

HASHTAG HILARITY CONTINUES: #DescribeObamaInThreeWords.

ANDREW MCCARTHY: Christie Administration in NJ Concludes NYPD Surveillance Was Legal.

A LOT GOING ON FOR ELON MUSK: Tesla To Launch New Electric Sedan June 22.

Related: Building Tesla.

CHANGE: Center Of Gravity In Oil World Shifts to Americas.

From Canada to Colombia to Brazil, oil and gas production in the Western Hemisphere is booming, with the United States emerging less dependent on supplies from an unstable Middle East. Central to the new energy equation is the United States itself, which has ramped up production and is now churning out 1.7 million more barrels of oil and liquid fuel per day than in 2005.

“There are new players and drivers in the world,” said Ruben Etcheverry, chief executive of Gas and Oil of Neuquen, a state-owned energy firm that is positioning itself to develop oil and gas fields here in Patagonia. “There is a new geopolitical shift, and those countries that never provided oil and gas can now do so. For the United States, there is a glimmer of the possibility of self-sufficiency.”

Oil produced in Persian Gulf countries — notably Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Iraq — will remain vital to the world’s energy picture. But what was once a seemingly unalterable truth — that American oil production would steadily fall while the United States remained heavily reliant on Middle Eastern supplies — is being turned on its head.

Good.

Related: New And Frozen Frontier Awaits Offshore Drilling. “Barring a successful last-minute legal challenge by environmental groups, Shell will begin drilling test wells off the coast of northern Alaska in July, opening a new frontier in domestic oil exploration and accelerating a global rush to tap the untold resources beneath the frozen ocean.”

WSJ: SPACE-CHASE BILLIONAIRES.

CERTAIN PERSONALITY GENES may correlate with longevity.

DR. MANHATTAN: Wall Street’s Obama Fury: Sometimes Even Spoiled Brats Have a Point.

ONLINE EDUCATION: Bigger Than Facebook? “Let’s put it this way: if you can build a $100 billion company by using the Internet to replace the college yearbook–imagine what you can do if you use the Internet to replace college.”

Plus this: “I just came across an argument that it’s immoral to offer unpaid internships, which actually prepare young people for a career. Yet somehow it’s considered perfectly normal to charge someone $100,000 or more for a degree from a college that has deliberately neglected to ensure that its service has any marketable value.” If only someone addressed this problem at more length.

RACISM AND SEXISM from the University of Wisconsin administration.

READER BOOK PLUG: Charles Heard writes: “Would you please consider plugging my novel, Joe Shrugged? It is a very modest reprise of Atlas Shrugged, written some years ago but still very topical. Many of your readers would enjoy it, I believe.”

A lot of Joes are shrugging these days, I think.

TEEN SEX AND DRUGS: 5 classic media freakouts. Congratulate Danielle Crittenden for her service to science in debunking one of these.

DOING THE MATH: How Many People Are At Least 1/32 Native American? It turns out to be surprisingly hard to determine.

IN THE MAIL: From Timothy Matthew Slemmons, Year D: A Quadrennial Supplement to the Revised Common Lectionary.

A LOOK AT all those racists in the Democratic primaries:

Wait a minute. Haven’t I been told for 30 years now — and by such media eminences as the longtime Washington Postie Thomas B. Edsall — that dastardly Democratic racists in Southern states had left their party for the more cruelly Caucasian climes of the GOP and had thereby turned Dixie into a Republican stronghold?

Why, yes I have. But despite the theory that the GOP had sucked in all the available racists in a 12-state area over the past 30 years, apparently there are still melanin-hating meshugenahs in the Democratic camp. It took having a black president to smoke them out at last. They were so clever at hiding their tracks that they probably even voted for the black candidate in 2008.

Only rather than switching parties like a normal evil racist would do, they chose to stay Democrats in 2012 just so they could embarrass and humiliate Obama.

Those who assert that Obama’s poor showing among voters in his own party is due to the one factor he can’t control are not doing him any favors. They are, instead, helping create a smoke screen of self-delusion.

Yeah, but on the other hand I’m kind of enjoying the show.

Related: Nobody Is The Most Racist Guy In America.

CHARLIE MARTIN: Don’t blame Elizabeth Warren for believing her family. Save the blame for “diversity” rules that made her great-grandmother so important. Indeed.

SHOCKER: Green energy jobs far short of Obama goal.

President Obama has made much of his commitment to green energy as he launches his re-election bid, but the nascent industry has produced far fewer jobs than the president promised, despite massive, repeated infusions of taxpayer dollars.

Since taking office more than three years ago, Obama has routinely promoted wind, solar and other green energy efforts, touring factories — often the beneficiaries of federal grants — and touting the manufacturers as cutting-edge job producers who are leading America’s transition to energy independence. He had promised in 2008 to help those companies create millions of jobs.

“We can invest $15 billion a year in renewable sources of energy … to create 5 million new jobs, new energy jobs, all across [the] country, jobs that pay well, jobs that can’t be outsourced,” Obama, the candidate, told an Ohio crowd.

But the president has fallen far short of his own mark.

The wind industry has actually lost about 10,000 jobs since 2009, even though it doubled its domestic production, the American Wind Energy Association reports. And Republicans were quick to point out that as Obama blocks the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to Texas, the oil and gas industry has added 75,000 jobs since the start of his term.

Obama spent $90 billion of his stimulus package on green energy projects, including weatherization of buildings and development of electric vehicles. Yet, by the end of last year, just 16,100 people landed new jobs in the so-called green industry, Labor Department statistics show, far short of the 200,000 jobs the White House projected it would help create each year.

It’s like the whole thing was really just about funneling money to cronies and contributors.

GOLF: The Hill: President Plays Golf, Press Pool Gets Left Behind. “In a breach of long-held tradition, however, Obama’s motorcade left Andrews without the reporters in tow. The president returned to the White House shortly before 6 p.m., according to the administration, and the press vans got there about 15 minutes later.”

MARK STEYN: What Do Facebook And Egypt’s Elections Have In Common?

AT AMAZON, new releases in DVD and Blu-Ray.

MATTHEW FEENEY: A TALE OF TWO DEFICITS. “Europe’s democratic deficits are just as morally distasteful and ruinous as the economic deficits. The President of The European Commission is José Barroso, who never had to stand in a public election for the position. The twenty-seven commissioners who represent the constituent nations of the EU are all unelected.”

KATHLEEN PARKER: Cory Booker’s Truth And Its Consequences. “Booker has gained much unwelcome attention from his own political party, while being nearly sanctified by Republicans, for the singular offense of telling the truth. And then untelling the truth. And then . . . stay tuned.”

FROM BILL QUICK, thoughts on overcoming evil.

Plus, from the comments: “Being a Christian doesn’t mean being a wimp.” Just ask Pizarro.

IT’S A GOOD ARGUMENT, AND IT HAS THE ADVANTAGE OF BEING TRUE: Super-PAC ads look to tie Obama to Wall Street and turn off his supporters.

Hey, they don’t call him President Goldman Sachs for nothing.

MEGAN FOX: 7 Laws for Public Decency When I Rule the World.

FROM “BIRTHERS” TO “GIRTHERS:” Meet The Weiner Truthers: One year later, a dogged handful still believe that Anthony Weiner was framed.

DATECHGUY IS HOSTING THE MORNING DRIVE ON WCRN. Follow the link to listen live online.

GALLERY: BEAUTIFUL AND SCARY ROADS FOR DRIVING.

SIGN OF THE TIMES: “Boy, people hate the government.”

AN AFTER-ACTION REPORT on Everybody Blog Brett Kimberlin Day.

READER DEIRDRE MUNDY WRITES: “It’s probably time for a zombie preparedness post. Patient zero has appeared in Miami.”

A Miami police officer on Saturday fatally shot a naked man who was chewing on the face of another man on a downtown causeway off-ramp, police and witnesses said.

If you want to be prepared, you might go here. And here.

AT AMAZON, summer deals from Cuisinart.

STACY MCCAIN: Kimberlin v. Walker Hearing Scheduled: 8:30 a.m. Tuesday in Rockville, Maryland. I wonder if it would help for Walker supporters to show up at the hearing?

“CHOOMAQUIDDICK” BLOG COMMENT OF THE DAY:

If you exhaled prematurely when you were with the Choom Gang, “you were assessed a penalty and your turn was skipped the next time.”

Before there were Death Panels, there were Doob Panels.

Heh. Thanks to reader Missy Nelson for the tip.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: ‘The Only Defense Against Evil, Violent People is Good People Who Are More Skilled at Violence.’

I WONDER IF HE MISSES CHER? Gregg Allman: Engaged to 24-year-old girlfriend.

POPULAR MECHANICS VISITS the top of World Trade Center 1. Plus, pictures from the top.

THE TELEGRAPH: Barack Obama Is Facing His Jimmy Carter Moment.

Obama’s re-election is no longer guaranteed; some pollsters think it is unlikely. Day by day, the odds are improving that Mitt Romney will be the next President of the United States.

What changed? For a start, voters are getting gloomier about the economy. Joblessness remains high and debt is out of control. According to one poll released this week, only 33 per cent of Americans expect the economy to improve in the coming months and only 43 per cent approve of the way that the president has handled it. Voters think Obama has made the debt situation and health care worse. The man who conducted the poll – Democrat Peter Hart – concluded that “Obama’s chances for re-election… are no better than 50-50.”

The president has tried to distract from America’s economic misery by playing up the so-called culture war. Earlier in the year he decided that he would force Catholic employers to provide contraception to their employees through their insurance plans, and he followed that swipe at social traditionalism by endorsing gay marriage. This embrace of Sixties liberalism has backfired.

Plus this:

But it isn’t just Obama’s flaws that are making this race interesting. Mitt Romney might not be the most charismatic candidate, but that’s a hidden strength in an election that’s all about competence and getting back to the basics of what once made America work so well. This week, the pro-Obama journalist Andrew Sullivan wrote that with his wealth, good looks and apple-pie conservatism, Romney is like “a focus-group tested model president from 1965”. Sullivan obviously doesn’t realise how popular the TV show Mad Men is. Who wouldn’t warm to a candidate that represents an age marked by low unemployment, stable families and a laissez-faire attitude towards drinking at work?

Poor Obama. He’s on the wrong side of history, at both ends.

HEY, KIDS, STAY OFF MY LAWN: NASA Asks Future Moon Visitors to Respect Its Stuff.

In the next few years a slew of countries, including China, India, and Japan, are looking to put unmanned probes on the lunar surface. But more unprecedented are the 26 teams currently racing to win the Google Lunar X Prize – a contest that will award $20 million to the first private company to land a robot on the lunar surface, travel a third of a mile, and send back a high-definition image before 2015.

With all this activity, NASA is somewhat nervous about its own lunar history. The agency recently released a set of guidelines that aim to preserve important heritage locations such as the Apollo landing and Ranger impact sites. The report, available since 2011 to members of the private spaceflight community, was publicly posted at NASA’s website and officially accepted by the X Prize foundation on May 24.

“NASA has recognized that these sites are important to mankind and have to be protected to make sure there’s no undue damage done to them,” said John Thornton, president of Astrobotic Technology Inc., a company competing for the prize.

Though NASA has no way of enforcing the requirements, they are designed to protect materials and scientific equipment at historical lunar sites as well as future landing sites. The guidelines have been made available internationally, and the agency welcomes other nations to participate in and improve upon them, said NASA spokesperson Joshua Buck in an e-mail.

NASA is asking anyone that makes it to the lunar surface to keep their landing at least 1.2 miles away from any Apollo site and about 1,600 feet from the five Ranger impact sites. The distance should keep the old equipment safe from a terrible accident or collision. It will also would put the new equipment “over the lunar horizon” relative to the relics, and prevent any moon dust – known to be a highly abrasive material – from sandblasting NASA’s old machines.

Much more interesting stuff at the link.

SOUND INCREASES THE EFFICIENCY OF BOILING: “Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology achieved a 17-percent increase in boiling efficiency by using an acoustic field to enhance heat transfer. The acoustic field does this by efficiently removing vapor bubbles from the heated surface and suppressing the formation of an insulating vapor film.”

21T CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: Man sues ex-fiancée after she breaks off engagement.

TYLER COWEN: There is no serious evidence that GMOs are harmful.

AT AMAZON, warehouse deals in grilling.

Also, generators and inverters.

REASON TV: Bob Zubrin talks about his new book, Merchants of Despair: Radical Environmentalists, Criminal Pseudo-Scientists, and the Fatal Cult of Antihumanism.

IN INDIA, MORE WOMEN ARE PACKING HEAT:

“I don’t have faith in the police to protect me. There are so many attacks on women these days. It’s everybody’s right to defend themselves. I think all women who are vulnerable should be carrying guns,” Sidhu said. She is not alone. A growing number of well-off, educated Indian women are turning to firearms for protection.

It’s nice to see civilization spreading.

READER JEFF TAYLOR WRITES: “Before anyone starts off with ‘Choomgate,’ can we get ahead of the curve with ‘Choomaquiddick?’”

DON’T STEP OFF THE PLANTATION: Democrats Now Mad At Cory Booker.

MICHAEL LEDEEN: Modern Times.

REVIEW: The 2013 Nissan Altima. “With the redesigned 2013 Altima, Nissan will be happy if potential buyers learn only one thing about the car, its EPA rating of 38 MPG highway. No one else’s midsize sedan comes close without burning oil or discharging batteries.”

HUMAN STEM CELLS GROW IN HEART MUSCLE. “Human skin tissue, genetically reprogrammed into human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs), was able to inject the cells into rat hearts and get new heart tissue integrated to the rat hearts.”

Plus this: “I think we need a legal environment that allows a more aggressive approach to human trials. For someone within 5 years of dying from heart failure the risks (notably cancer) of therapy using hiPSC should be weighed against otherwise inevitable death from heart failure.” Indeed.

UNSUSTAINABLE: Study: Alt-fuel cars unsustainable without government assistance.

IN THE MAIL: Me the People: One Man’s Selfless Quest to Rewrite the Constitution of the United States of America.

ONLY THREE? WaPo: Three Pinocchios to WH over their defense of Obama spending. “In FY2008, federal spending equaled 20.8% of GDP. In FY2009, it jumped to 25.4% — an increase of 22% in the rate of spending. Where did Kessler come up with this data? From the White House, where Jay Carney presumably has just as much access to it.”

Related: Byron York: Two Years Ago Today: Obama Celebrates Solyndra.

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: California City Saves Itself By Ditching Blue Model. “Cities and towns all over the country should take a close look at these ideas, especially those in dire financial straits. The trick, however, is to do these things before going bankrupt, to provide better government at a lower price. Then you can cut taxes, attract new industry and businesses—and give your residents a better life with more money and lower taxes. It’s simple really, but it involves breaking some blue taboos.”

TWEET OF THE DAY, FROM SPACEX: Astronauts on the space station say the air on ‪#Dragon‬ has a “new car smell.” Thanks to reader Douglas Bass for the tip.

DO TELL: Study: Most Tariff Bills Would Count As “Earmarks.”

TOM BLUMER: Nuts to Nutting: Under Obama, Real Spending Has Exploded.

BUT YOU CAN TRUST THEM WITH YOUR MEDICAL RECORDS: Federal employee financial information hacked. “According to the FBI, in 2011, a hacker gained access to a computer that held the financial information of 123,201 federal employees who participate in the Thrift Savings retirement program. . . . The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board sent letters on Friday to everyone whose information was in the affected files.” A bit late now, isn’t it?

MARKDOWNS: Father’s Day Gift Ideas in Computers, Office & Software.

Also, today only: Jabra CLIPPER Bluetooth Stereo Headset, $26.99.

FROM BILL WHITTLE: Afterburner: Into The Sea.

SHAMING the Guy Brain.

WELL, GOOD: The Hill: Opposition to Law of the Sea Treaty heats up.

MATT CONTINETTI: Obama Campaign Team’s Prowess Vastly Overrated.

I think Obama’s big problem for 2012 is summed up in this quote from Salena Zito:

Richard Furillo stood with his son Matthew at his son’s workplace; a lifelong Democrat, he voted for Obama in 2008 but won’t again. “I don’t know why I did it but I cannot stand any more ‘change,’” he said, referring to the president’s old campaign slogan.

I don’t know why I did it but I cannot stand any more ‘change’ may turn out to describe a lot of people who voted for Obama in 2008 and aren’t so happy now. At least, that would be my worry if I were on Team Obama.

JOHN HAWKINS INTERVIEWS STACY MCCAIN.

VOTING WITH THEIR WALLETS: With the election of the Socialist François Hollande as president this month, the wealthy in France are suddenly scrambling for places to stash their money for a while. “Well-heeled French citizens are scouring real estate opportunities in neighboring countries like Britain and Switzerland. The United States — particularly New York and Miami — is also drawing French investors looking to pick up rental properties or pieds-à-terre, brokers say. In recent months, as Mr. Hollande’s victory appeared more possible, the French stepped up their house-hunting visits to New York, several brokers said.”

Fine for them, but where do we go?

WHY ARE THE BEST COMPETITIVE EATERS SO SKINNY? Mostly so they don’t die.

Meanwhile, great book title: Horsemen of the Esophagus: Competitive Eating and the Big Fat American Dream. As I recall, the book isn’t as good as the title.

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): Number of high-school students with jobs hits 20-year low. “Sectors that traditionally have offered teens their first paying gig — fast-food chains, movie theaters, malls and big-box retailers — have now become the last resorts for out-of-work college graduates or older Americans forced back into the labor force out of sheer financial necessity. The resulting squeeze has left students on the outside looking in. . . . Some may interpret the NCES numbers as a sign that today’s generation of young people simply has grown lazier, but analysts say that’s not necessarily the case. It’s their opportunity to work, not their desire, that has fallen off a cliff.”

JIM TREACHER: Why does Donald Trump keep saying Obama was born in Kenya, when even Obama has stopped claiming that?

JAY COST: How Patronage Ruined The Democratic Party.

An extract from his new book, Spoiled Rotten: How the Politics of Patronage Corrupted the Once Noble Democratic Party and Now Threatens the American Republic.

ANSWER: CHOOM. Question: What’s the sound of David Axelrod’s weekend getting ruined?

JOHN HAYWARD: Romney, Obama, and the 2012 preference cascade: You are not alone.

POINTING OUT BULLSHIT FROM MARKOS MOULITSAS. I remember when he sort of mattered. But it’s not surprising that he resurfaces to defend Brett Kimberlin.

AT AMAZON, bestsellers in Science Fiction.

PATRICK RICHARDSON: Self-Sufficiency: Preparing For Severe Weather Season.

WHO’S MEGHAN MCCAIN? OH, RIGHT. GOProud slams Meghan McCain for calling Breitbart ‘extremist.’ “She went on a liberal network with a liberal host and demonized Andrew Breitbart. During his life, Andrew Breitbart did more for gay people, and showed more political courage on behalf of gay people, than Meghan McCain could ever dream of.”

I’m glad they did, although I can’t imagine anybody much cares what Meghan McCain thinks about anything.

HEH: “There’s diversity at Harvard?”

AT AMAZON, Warehouse Deals in Lawn & Garden.

ANN ALTHOUSE IS Live-blogging the Scott Walker/Tom Barrett Wisconsin recall debate.

UPDATE: Bottom line: “There was a glaring question that was never asked, which was what would Barrett do to solve the state’s budget problems. He’s never been specific, and he totally got away with it (unless the home viewers noticed it on their own).”

SMALLEST ARTIFICIAL HEART keeps baby alive.

JIM TREACHER: Jon Stewart, 2000: “I think I would say I’m more of a socialist.” Funny how in the Age Of Obama that’s become a dirty word.

MEMORIAL DAY: Take the Memorial Day Challenge and Watch “Honor Flight” Trailer!

IN THE PAST I’VE PRAISED BARKEEPER’S FRIEND and the other night I used it to clean out an All-Clad pan that had some nasty burned-on stuff and in 30 seconds it was like-new. It’s good for rejuvenating stoneware with knifemarks, too.

Just more of my rampant hypermasculinity.

STEPHEN L. CARTER: Hey, don’t blame faculty lounges for Obama. “If you think President Obama has bad ideas, say so. If you want to criticize his record, go ahead. All of that is politics as usual. Please don’t drag the faculty lounge into it.”

HEH: Did Salon Just Call Someone Else “Middlebrow?”

Middlebrow is essentially a derogatory label for the aspirational middle class. Who do you people think you are, learning shit on your own, watching TED videos and skimming Wikipedia on your lunch break?

Don’t you know there’s only one acceptable way to learn things? If it didn’t cost you $40K in student loan debt then it’s not real learning. You honestly think the average undergrad survey course is deeper than a TED talk?

Just shut up and pay your taxes. And read Salon, of course.

Did I really just see Salon Magazine call somebody else “middlebrow?” Let he who is without a trash can full of Starbucks cups cast the first stone.

Heh.

21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: My Boyfriend Isn’t Ready to Be My Daughter’s Dad.

TERROR IN THE TIDES: Ezra Levant interviews Matt Vadum about Brett Kimberlin.

UPDATE: Kimberlin Funders Stunned to Discover They Fund Kimberlin.

SHOCKINGLY, THIS CUNNING PLAN FAILED: Man ties himself to tree, puts on a blindfold, exposes genitals and waits for some anonymous sex.