RANDOM THOUGHT: Who’s picking up the tab for those Wisconsin state senators who fled the state to avoid voting on the union bill. Not the legislators themselves, surely.

WHAT’S NEXT? Liability insurance for children?

Since Democrats don’t drink tap water, someone should check the source of their bottled water for “flavoring.”

OBAMACARE STARTS EARLY IN MADISON: sick notes for progressives. Well, crazy is an illness.

Linked from Instapundit.

PUBLIC SECTOR UNIONS are a bad idea.

SENATE APPROVES FAA REAUTHORIZATION: It’s probably a good vote, given that it includes funding for NextGen, the new satellite-based air traffic control system.

But I’m always suspicious when Democrats say it will “support 90,000 current or new jobs and Harry Reid calls it “a common-sense bipartisan bill” that will “create or save 280,000 jobs.”

And then there are the really stupid mandates: to “reduce helicopter noise in rural areas” and “protect and assist pilots who volunteer their services and equipment for the public benefit." What? No more rescue missions from Mt. Shasta after 10:00 pm? Volunteer pilots need protection? From what ... aggressive runways?

TALES FROM THE CRYPT: Aviation Week’s Bill Sweetman reports on the possible development of a new large low-observable bomber.

Background (referred to by Sweetman) here.

TEA PARTY clashes with GOP establishment over defense.

The tension between the Republican establishment and the Tea Party insurgents erupted on the House floor for the first time Wednesday when 110 GOP representatives -- mostly freshmen and some longtime conservative gadflies -- broke from their leadership and most of their caucus in order to kill a defense contract. The vote highlighted an establishment-versus-Tea Party split that was glaring during the campaign season, and brought to the fore the uncomfortable question of defense spending. The amendment, killing the contract for a backup engine for the F-35 fighter, passed 233-198 Wednesday, but 130 of the 240 voting Republicans opposed the cut, including House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor. This puts the GOP majority and its leadership at odds with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who doesn't want the backup engine, and former President George W. Bush, who also tried to kill it.

Will the Republican leadership get the message? Or be thrown out in the next election?

MARYLAND’S DEBT PER RESIDENT is twice Virginia’s.

Maryland's soaring pension deficits are racking up $3,069 in debt for every taxpayer in the state, while their Virginia neighbors are paying only $1,362, according to a report from Moody's credit-rating agency.

[Also] Maryland taxpayers also owe nearly twice as much as Virginians in state-issued bonds, or long-term debt.

We thought seriously about moving to Maryland instead of Virginia when we came here in 2000. I’m glad I took my wife’s advice. That said, though, Virginia isn’t doing much better with its own pension liabilities.

UNION INVESTMENT in Senate Democrats pays off. “Senate Democrats turned back an attempt by Senate Republicans to bar federal employees at the Transportation Security Administration from becoming unionized.”

HOLLYWOOD GLITTERATI on saving us all from the dangers of energy independence. I’d rather save us all from the dangers of Hollywood hot air emissions.

HEH: Wisconsin Liberals Starve Children. It must be part of Michelle's anti-obesity campaign.

FOLLOW THE WISCONSIN PROTESTS: go here and just keep scrolling. Althouse is a University of Wisconsin law professor, lives in Madison, and updates frequently (several times a day).

SARAH PALIN ON WISCONSIN: Union Brothers and Sisters: Seize Opportunity to Show True Solidarity.

Follow the link to her earlier post as well.

Linked from Hot Air.

OBAMACARE IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL, but so are waivers from ObamaCare requirements.

TRACKING. Sarah Palin would be proud.

IN AN EARLIER POST I wrote about Uncle Sam Aunt Nanny entering the electric car charging business. Now Fox News has another “You Decide” poll: 93% opposed.

NASA IS TRYING TO TRACK DOWN several hundred aging travelers who flew to the moon and back 40 years ago and now live quietly across the United States.

The agency announced last week that it is still searching for several hundred "moon trees" grown from seeds carried aboard the Apollo 14 command module that orbited the moon in 1971. Part science experiment, part public relations campaign, the idea was to see whether space flight affected their ability to sprout.

If you know of a moon tree, you can e-mail Dave Williams (dave.williams@nasa.gov), a curator at NASA's National Space Science Data Center in Greenbelt, MD.

WISCONSIN GOVERNOR TO OBAMA: Mind Your Own Business.

"I think we're focused on balancing our budget. It would be wise for the president and others in Washington to focus on balancing their budget, which they're a long ways from doing."

Well said.