THE SECOND COMING of Jimmy Carter. All Obama has to do is tell everyone to wear a sweater and we’ll officially return to Carter country.

FATHERHOOD.GOV. To which I say mind your own damn business. I’m tired of being treated like some schmuck who has to have help putting his pants on every morning.

And, by the way, where is MOTHERHOOD.GOV?

TEACHER’S UNION SHUNS OBAMA: “This is not the change I hoped for.”

SPIES WILL BE SPIES: The People’s Weekly Brief returns.

RAT DESERTING SINKING SHIP. Or is the sinking ship pushing the rat overboard?

More here.

UH-OH. HARRY REID’S SON RORY won’t campaign using the family name.

OF COURSE it’s a shakedown. What else could it be? And I’m still angry that Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) backed down.

MARK STEYN on presidential performance. Johnny Horton would be proud.

A MODEST PROPOSAL: in order to hold down health care expenses for “children” aged 21 to 26 who remain on their parents’ health insurance policies, ObamaCare may have to set some terms and conditions.

I would also suggest raising the voting age to that when they leave their parents’ policy.

HOIST WITH HIS OWN PETARD. “That old meany goddess Nemesis is at work again, causing havoc nearly in the identical spot as Katrina (but of course)— focusing on the young technocrat who so loudly blamed the “incompetence” of Bush during the New Orleans mess. Now our Oedipus is reduced to raging in his halls against BP, with thousands of hard-working Louisianans and other Gulfers the losers for this divine reminder about the wages of hubris.”

NEW MEDIA TAX confuses journalism with newspapers.

The fact that the internet threatens newspapers’ advertising income reminds me of Robert Heinlein's short story “Lifeline” in which the protagonist, Dr. Hugo Pinero, invents a machine that can accurately predict one’s date of death and thereby threatens the life insurance industry.

Link from Instapundit.

EVERYONE SHOULD have a retail job at least once. And for politicians, there should also be a requirement to clean bathrooms.

HUNDREDS OF FANS BOUND FOR DURBAN for the Germany-Spain World Cup semi final missed the game because their flights were unable to land, after air traffic authorities closed the city’s airport because of congestion on the runway caused by private aircraft.

Remember, these are the same international elites who lecture you about your “carbon footprint.”

MAKE LOUISANA A U.S. PROTECTORATE. The only problem is that to argue favorably, one must assume that the federal government is somehow less corrupt, venal, and incompetent.

That’s a hard pill to swallow.

SLAVERY: Were the Founders hypocrites?

A WAY WITH WORDS: Right now our beloved country is witnessing what Jon Justice, a Tucson talk show host, refers to as "the never-ending parade of stupid."

THE NEW YORK TIMES’ David Brooks writes on risk assessment. Having done a fair number of risk assessments myself, I can agree that much of what Brooks writes is true. However, he does fail the Goofus Test:

“A consultation with Goofus MacDuff. He loves to be called in consultation and really gives it his all and invariably comes up with the wrong answer. The trick is to get his recommendation and then do precisely the opposite.... Every now and then the genius part comes out and Goofus touches every base until he comes to home plate, which he misses by an inch.”

Brooks’ “Goofus moment” is here:

There must be ways to improve the choice architecture — to help people guard against risk creep, false security, groupthink, the good-news bias and all the rest.

The problem is not that the systems are too complex (for a single person) to understand; it’s that the processes for mitigating the risk aren’t followed. By way of analogy, inspecting hard hats and steel-toed shoes is easy; inspecting the steel cables on a multi-ton capacity crane isn’t.

The problem is that the “safety nannies” esconsed within the regulatory authorities are so focused on the mundane, day-to-day risks (the trees) that they can’t (or won’t) see the catastrophic risks that make up the forest.

DO WE NEED A WHITE HOUSE literacy program?

Why? We’re told by the Ivy Leaguers themselves that they can’t be illiterate.

AMERICANS TOO STUPID to comprehend Obama’s genius.

It may well be true for liberals. An average reading level of 9.8 does seem a bit high for them.

More here.

WHO’S MOVING WHERE: Texas versus California. It’s okay as long as the blue-staters don’t bring their attitudes with them ....

The interactive map is here. It appears to be based on 2008 IRS data. Hover on a county and you can see the data behind the map.

DISTRACTED DRIVING a medical condition? Aunt Nanny is on top of it.

Via Instapundit, whose response is priceless.