SOME ANIMALS MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS: CBO: Federal workers better compensated than in private sector.

Not exactly a shocker, but more grist for the debate. 5% rollbacks on all federal spending, baby. Repeat until the budget is balanced.

ARE STUDENTS DROWNING IN DEBT? “Sure, but it’s from Obama’s policies, not student loans. . . . Instead of constantly pumping more money into an already distorted education market, government should do everything it can to get out of the way, allow free-market competition between lenders, schools, and students, and focus on the real student debt: the $48,000 Americans owe to the federal government at birth, twice the average debt owed by college graduates. It’s made worse every day by policies that have ballooned the national debt by trillions since Obama took office in 2009. President Obama’s focus on student debt is his attempt at a political sleight of hand with students: ignore the massive debt you already owe by no fault of your own, and focus on this debt half its size that you incurred by choice.”

MORE MEDIA HYPOCRISY: Wag The Finger: Williams Condemns Brewer, Confronted Bush With Same Gesture.

These people have no business lecturing anyone about decency, or decorum.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Rutgers law students protest merger plan. “The proposal to merge Rutgers University in Camden with Rowan University under Rowan’s name has been met with skepticism, bordering on disbelief, by alumni, faculty members and students at the Rutgers campus.”

RICHARD MINITER: Is Mitt Romney Actually Electable? Well, the theory is that (1) He’s not Obama; and (2) He’s not scary.

YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT IN EUROPE: Nothing to see here, move along.

OBAMA WON’T ANSWER a question about marijuana legalization.

ROSS DOUTHAT: Government And Its Rivals. “When government expands, it’s often at the expense of alternative expressions of community, alternative groups that seek to serve the common good. Unlike most communal organizations, the government has coercive power — the power to regulate, to mandate and to tax. These advantages make it all too easy for the state to gradually crowd out its rivals. The more things we ‘do together’ as a government, in many cases, the fewer things we’re allowed to do together in other spheres.”

TEN YEARS AGO ON INSTAPUNDIT: Explaining constitutional law to Jack Balkin.

AT AMAZON, Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Complete Series for $72.99.

UPDATE: Reader Blake Hiatt emails: “Buffy is available to Amazon Prime members, free via streaming. Along with Malcolm in the Middle, Angel, Arrested Development, etc. Thought you might want to plug Amazon Prime along with the Buffy DVD’s.”

THE NEW CIVILITY: Maher Mocks Gingrich’s Wife As A Martian.

CLOSE, BUT FOR A PROPER SPOCK IMPRESSION THE WORD SHOULD BE “FASCINATING:” Obama Tells Woman: “Interesting” Unemployed Husband Can’t Find Job.

IT’S ALWAYS ABOUT THE PURGES WITH THESE PEOPLE: Global warming activists seek to purge ‘deniers’ among local weathermen.

NORTH CAROLINA DIETETIC BOARD: If you blog about diet, you are acting as an unlicensed dietitian. Really, guys? Really? My advice to the people and legislature of North Carolina — save some money, abolish the board, and quit licensing dietitians anyway.

IF YOU THREW BACON AT MUSLIMS YOU’D BE A RACIST: Occupy Providence Throws Condoms At Catholic School Girls.

More here.

MARK LEVIN: Lay off Matt Drudge! The MSM hates his guts, remember? Audio at the link. Plus this: “Levin’s comments come as a refreshing reminder that, among conservatives who care deeply about this election, differences of opinion are often motivated by the same root concerns and desires.”

ON AMY ALKON’S ADVICE GODDESS RADIO AT THE TOP OF THE HOUR: Why are women more likely to become compulsive shoppers and men more likely to become addicted to pornography? Plus, “How come you have to buy her an engagement ring and she doesn’t have to buy you an engagement boat?”

PUNCHING BACK TWICE AS HARD: “Egyptian blogger and political activist Mahmoud Salem, more commonly known by his online persona Sandmonkey, filed a civil lawsuit on Thursday, January 26th against the well-known and influential Salafi preacher Yasser al-Bourhami for the latter’s incitement of violence against Coptic Christians. While the details of this suit are still emerging, they deserve serious domestic and global attention: if methodically pursued, the case could form an important challenge to Egypt’s still-persistent culture of legal impunity for violence and discrimination against members of the country’s significant Christian minority.”

#2 BUT NOT TRYING HARDER: Thoughts on the New York Times’ eclipse by the Daily Mail. “Oh, and one other reason why the Daily Mail is winning the newspaper war: it is willing to deflate the religious beliefs held most dear by the management and editorial bullpen of the New York Times.”

FASTER, PLEASE: Regrowing Your Own Teeth.

AT AMAZON, the Top 100 Android Apps.

THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN . . . OH, HELL, YOU KNOW THE REST: FDA staffers sue agency over surveillance of personal e-mail. “The Food and Drug Administration secretly monitored the personal e-mail of a group of its own scientists and doctors after they warned Congress that the agency was approving medical devices that they believed posed unacceptable risks to patients, government documents show. . . . Information garnered this way eventually contributed to the harassment or dismissal of all six of the FDA employees, the suit alleges. All had worked in an office responsible for reviewing devices for cancer screening and other purposes.”

MICKEY KAUS ON the demise of private-sector unions. “The most significant number in the recent Bureau of Labor Statistics release on unionization is probably this: Only 6.9 percent of private sector workers are in unions. That’s the same percent as last year. In the middle of the 20th century, it was 35%. … The number is significant because it suggests that labor’s much-publicized private sector organizing drives have failed. They appeared to be meeting with some success a few years ago–the private sector rate actually rose from 7.4% to 7.6% between 2006 and 2008. Those union gains have now apparently been lost, and the private sector unionization rate again asymptotically approaches zero. … Are Obama’s recess appointments to the NLRB labor’s last hurrah?”

BOINGBOING COMMITS RACIAL PROFILING.

ARTHUR CHRENKOFF’S NOVEL Night Trains is now out on Kindle. I read it when it first came out and it’s quite good.

UPDATE: Andrew Morriss writes:

Just a note to say how useful your book recommendations are – I’d estimate 20% or more of my fiction purchases result from a mention on InstaPundit (and I do try to go back and buy through your link, even if I don’t buy right away) – an excellent addition to the Amazon recommends method of finding new authors.

In particular, your readers who are authors and who offer cheap or free editions of books, are folks I consistently buy to try something new. Neil Gaiman has a great interview (linked on TigerHawk recently) on this point – he found giving away electronic editions of books boosted his sales. http://tigerhawk.blogspot.com/2012/01/neil-gaiman-on-copyright-and-piracy.html

Keep telling us when you read something good!

The biggest problem is finding time to read something good. I’ve been unusually busy lately and it’s really cut into my leisure reading. On the other hand, I find that if I don’t do enough leisure reading, my efficiency falls off anyway.