ECONOMIC ILLITERACY FOR LIBERALS: A pair of researchers have concluded that when it comes to grasping basic economic concepts, liberals and Democrats are significantly less "enlightened" than conservatives and libertarians.

But, but ... being “enlightened” is the sole province of liberalism.

SINCE THE CONSTITUTION is more and more in the news these days, here’s a fascinating primer on constitutional law. With the emphasis on the Constitution this election cycle, this could prove interesting. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not a lawyer, but I’m slowly making my way through the pdf (download by following the links).

THE ANCHORESS is scathing in her comments about Obama. This post is over a month old, and the “slow but continual drip of bad-to-worse news” continues.

NO REPRESENTATION WITHOUT TAXATION

[I]t is a very bad thing — politically and morally as well as economically — that so many tax payers in the U.S. pay no income tax at all. Some public-spirited lawyer should bring a class-action suit on their behalf, asking why so many people have been denied this essential perquisite of citizenship simply because they are of (relatively) modest means. It is an outrage (this counsellor should argue) that this not-so-hidden half of the population be treated as second-class citizens and be deprived of a stake in the future of our commonweal.

It’s a pleasant thought, but there’s no evidence to support the thesis that tax payers make better voting choices than tax recipients. And if you’re a net tax recipient, is it not a rational choice to go with the party that promises more (What’s the Matter with Kansas?)?

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON on saving Obama from himself.

My question: why?

WHEN WILL THE “EDUBUBBLE” BURST? Soon, thinks Glenn Reynolds (Instapundit) who thinks that for many institutions and many majors, the value received is no longer worth the cost.

Post-bubble, perhaps students ... will focus instead on education that fosters economic value. And that is likely to press colleges to focus more on providing useful majors.... My question is whether traditional academic institutions will be able to keep up with the times, or whether -- as Anya Kamenetz suggests in her new book, "DIY U" -- the real pioneering will be in online education ....

Glenn is betting on the latter. I agree.

THE CHIEF FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT for ABC news, Martha Raddatz, delivers herself of the following opinion concerning American fighting forces and drone warfare:

Traditionally, when a nation went to war, it had to invest its blood and treasure, but today’s joystick-wielding drone pilots can launch a missile strike from here at home, then hop in the minivan to meet the wife and kids for dinner. War couldn’t get any more impersonal.

And this is bad? Perhaps Ms. Raddatz should remind herself of this quotation from General George S. Patton: “No poor bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making other bastards die for their country.”

Or buy a burqa.

HMM. There is a ‘reasonably high’ chance BP will file for bankruptcy, something I commented on over a month ago.

It would be a mistake ... to view BP as a political piñata that can be beat around the head repeatedly without consequences. It's not reasonable to expect BP to pay unlimited liabilities and face criminal charges, and the United States needs to understand the size of the gun BP can pull.

And so now officials in Mississippi, Louisana, Florida, and Alabama have asked BP PLC for millions of dollars to pay for mental health outreach and service programs related to the oil spill disaster.

Are learning disabilities required to run for public office?

A SACK OF SACROSANCT: Ann Coulter unloads on liberal “thought”.

[W]hatever liberals disapprove of, they want banned (smoking, guns, practicing Christianity, ROTC, the Pledge of Allegiance) and whatever they approve of, they make mandatory (abortion-on-demand, gay marriage, pornography, condom distribution in public schools, screenings of "An Inconvenient Truth").

Read it all.

OIL MESSED UP: Anger grows along the Gulf Coast at the Obama administration’s pathetic response to the largest oil spill in U.S. history.

[T]his government ... has created a perfect storm of bureaucratic and regulatory gridlock around the Deep-water Horizon disaster. Whatever is done to prevent the oil from coming ashore must be approved by the EPA, OSHA, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Coast Guard, and a host of lesser bureaucracies.

And so nothing gets done. As Norman Augustine put it in Augustine’s Laws, “If a sufficient number of management layers are superimposed on top of each other, it can be assured that disaster is not left to chance (Law XXVI).”

WASHINGTON HAS BECOME A SYSTEMIC RISK: Government 'too big to fail' and too big to succeed.

Read it all.

OBAMACARE: another preview.