GEE, THAT 'GOING GALT' THING has worked out pretty well. In 2010, I “went Galt” - retired and started working part-time. My income has decreased 42%, my taxes decreased 65%, and my standard of living has hardly changed. Tough luck, Mr. Obama - you’re going to have to remake America without my help.

OBAMA LAUNCHES 2012 CAMPAIGN.

FROM AN EMAIL: With their country in the midst of a colossal disaster, the Japanese can teach plenty of lessons to the world.

CALM. Not a single visual of chest-beating or wild grief. Sorrow itself has been elevated.

DIGNITY. Disciplined queues for water and groceries. Not a rough word or a crude gesture. Their patience is admirable and praiseworthy.

ABILITY. The incredible architects, for instance. Buildings swayed but didn't fall.

GRACE. (Selflessness) People bought only what they needed for the present, so everybody could get something.

ORDER. No looting in shops. No honking and no overtaking on the roads. Just understanding.

SACRIFICE. Fifty workers stayed back to pump sea water in the N-reactors. How will they ever be repaid?

TENDERNESS. Restaurants cut prices. An unguarded ATM is left alone. The strong cared for the weak.

TRAINING. The old and the children, everyone knew exactly what to do. And they did just that.

MEDIA. They showed magnificent restraint in the bulletins. No silly reporters. Only calm reportage. Most of all - NO POLITICIANS TRYING TO GET CHEAP MILEAGE.

CONSCIENCE. When the power went off in a store, people put things back on the shelves and left quietly.

Better us to learn from them than them to learn from us.

INSTAPUNDIT: You don’t need a weatherman to see which way the wind’s blowing.

Unless you’re a Democrat (and then you won’t listen).

CONTINUING RESOLUTION IMPASSE: Do the Democrats dare risk voting 'no'?

WASHINGTON EXAMINER senior political analyst Michael Barone on the changing tide.

D.C MAYOR VINCENT GRAY arrested and jailed for Capitol Hill protest. The city would be better off if the police had kept him.

HOW SAFE is your Roth IRA? My son’s response to the LA Times article can only be described using the keyboard’s “special characters.”

Author Gerald E. Scorse is typical of the progressive mindset: it's the government's money, just loaned to you provided that you use it "rightly."

APRIL SHOWERS bring May flowers. Well, it’s raining - and we could use it. But I do wish it was a warm rain.

GET READY FOR WEDNESDAY: Obama to outline plan to confront long-term debt crisis -- and this time he really, really, means it.

ANGER, SADNESS among GOP over $39B continuing resolution: "The amount of cuts extracted from the President and his Senate Democrats was a step in the right direction, but the American people expected, deserved, and needed much, much more.”

My sentiments as well.

VIRGIN GALACTIC hiring pilots to fly both the air-launched SpaceShipTwo and its multi-engine WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft.

Oh, to be young - and dream - again.

50 YEARS AGO TODAY: Space station crew marks big space anniversary.