ARNOLD IN OHIO: Work on those pecs, Barack.

THE INSTAPUNDIT TAKE ON TAXES: With all the talk about spreading the wealth around, let’s revisit this Robert Heinlein quote:

Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.

This is known as “bad luck.”

I’m just, you know, sayin’ . . . . (Bumped).

MORE ON THOSE SUSPICIOUS JOE THE PLUMBER BACKGROUND CHECKS: It’s not the crime, it’s the coverup:

Vanessa Niekamp said that when was asked to run a child-support check on Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher on Oct. 16, she thought it routine. A supervisor told her the man had contacted the state agency about his case.

Niekamp didn’t know she just had checked on “Joe the Plumber,” who was elevated the night before to presidential politics prominence as Republican John McCain’s example in a debate of an average American.

The senior manager would not learn about “Joe” for another week, when she said her boss informed her and directed her to write an e-mail stating her computer check was a legitimate inquiry.

The reason Niekamp said she was given for checking if there was a child-support case on Wurzelbacher does not match the reason given by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

Keep digging, guys.

THE POLIWOOD SHOW: Looking at Woody Allen’s decline. Free to everybody.

CURRENTLY ON DRUDGE: “ZOGBY SATURDAY: McCain outpolled Obama 48% to 47% in Friday, one day, polling. He is beginning to cut into Obama’s lead among independents, is now leading among blue collar voters, has strengthened his lead among investors and among men, and is walloping Obama among NASCAR voters. Joe the Plumber may get his license after all.”

Hmm. Polls sure do seem volatile this season.

MICHAEL MALONE: Note To The President: The Care And Feeding Of Entrepreneurship.

ANN ALTHOUSE is liveblogging Halloween.

THE 900 CLUB: Pictures of the world’s heaviest people.

ADVICE ON making every dollar count in tough economic times. Of course, if you make every dollar count when times aren’t so tough, you can save more money to tide you over when they are . . . .

IT’S COMPLEX: Melatonin and aging.

A ROUNDUP: The Pension Fund Problem to Come. Some places, it’s already arrived. And this part seems right to me: “Americans and politicians have an erroneous view that stocks are for ‘rich people’ and not them. Wall Street remains a mysterious world, operated largely behind closed doors by mad scientist math wizards. The pension problem proves nothing could be farther from the truth. The teachers, cops and other government workers who trust their retirement to companies such as CalPERs may suddenly take a keen interest in equities.”

Plus this: Colo. public employee pension fund plunges $10B. “Colorado PERA had been hoping that investment gains would help resolve its long-term underfunding problem.” I’ll bet they had. Hope is not a plan.

UPDATE: Taxpayers To Fund Public Pension Shortfalls. “While most people have watched their 401K values drop with the stock market over the past several weeks, taxpayers may have spend millions more propping up pensions paid to county and state retirees.” I don’t think that will play well, politically.

SPY ROBOTS in California prisons. At least they don’t draw expensive pensions.

COMING: A Caracas on the Potomac? Let’s hope not.

POLISHING UP the Apple TV.

CAR LUST: Remembering the Lotus Esprit S1/S2. With James Bond video that’s not bad, though it would be better if it had more Barbara Bach.

THIS SOUNDS PROMISING: Ethanol Innovation Turns Wood Into Sugar at Room Temperature.

I MENTIONED SARAH HOYT’S NEW BOOK earlier, only to find out she’s a regular InstaPundit reader. Now reader Mark Lardas sends his review of the book in The Galveston Daily News. Apparently, it’s Sarah Hoyt’s world. I’m just blogging in it . . . .

I’M GUESSING THAT CITY-PROVIDED CARS FOR BIGSHOTS ARE STILL THERE, THOUGH: California Cities Cut Police Budgets. Note the pressure from overly generous pension benefits they now can’t afford. Oh, well: If they loosen their gun laws maybe they won’t need as many police.

More on those underfunded public pensions here.

DINING AT the taxpayer buffet.

MEGAN MCARDLE: “One of the continuing problems with trying to straighten out the mortgage mess is that it’s really hard to arrange a workout on a securitized mortgage, because the organization that collects the payment is not the organization that ultimately owns the payment stream; its just a hired manager.”

FIGURING OUT EXTRATERRESTRIALS with lessons from Neanderthals.

KARL OKAMOTO: After the Bailout: Regulating Systemic Moral Hazard.

WHY THE REALLY RICH LOVE SOCIALISTS: “The ugly truth is that the really wealthy can manipulate the political system to their own ends better than ordinary people. They can lobby for specific tax breaks that only they can take advantage of. They can get government trade protection for their companies. They can get bailouts.”

FROM REP. CHRIS CARNEY, a ringing defense of earmarks!

NANOTECHNOLOGY UPDATE: Research challenges for the diamondoid mechanosynthesis path to advanced nanotechnology.