JERRY POURNELLE: “Apparently the Tea Parties were a success: at least they seem to have upset Pelosi and Company. The media doesn’t quite know what to make of all that.” That’s not really the goal, but it’s a bonus.

Plus this advice, in case things don’t work out as we hope: “The way things are headed now, the best career is a government job. Use the time you have to put in to learn how to do something you want to do, then use your retirement time to do it. It’s not spectacular, and having the best and the brightest become government time servers won’t do much for the economy, but you won’t have to work very hard and you can retire without having to scrabble for your next meal. At my age that seems far more attractive than it did thirty years ago. Given the economy and the war on business and success ushered in the last election — and the steps now being taken to make the new trend toward Europeanization of America permanent and irreversible — young people ought to think hard about where they will be in thirty or forty years. Live long and prosper. But do not take the government as an example. Save, be thrifty, and do all your paperwork. Your real life will begin when you retire.”