IN SOCCER, IT'S AN "OWN GOAL": Obama's Medicare chief inadvertently makes case for Ryan plan.

CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: Storms kill over 250 Americans is states represented by climate pollution deniers. The Washington Examiner's Conn Carroll comments.

HMM. THE AIR FORCE has "issued a call for help making a miniature drone that could covertly drop a mysterious and unspecified tracking 'dust' onto people, allowing them to be tracked from a distance. The proposal says its useful for all kinds of random things, from identifying friendly forces and civilians to tracking wildlife. But the motive behind a covert drone tagger likely has less to do with sneaking up on spotted owls and more to do with painting a target on the backs of tomorrow’s terrorists."

FRANK & ERNEST solve the deficit problem. Cartoonist Bob Thaves may have gotten the idea from here.

RELEASE THE DEATH PHOTOS: an interesting pair of letters from the Washington Post. In the first, the attitude is “don’t release the photos, but I don’t trust the administration, someone should look at them” and in the second “I fail to understand why some people feel entitled to know and see everything” - which is exactly the point of those who want the photos released.

Release the photos (they’re going to come out anyway; either officially or by leak). It’s time to quit kowtowing to the “sensibilities” of the Arab street. If they get mad and want want to “kill infidels”, that’s fine, but they really ought to consider who has the bigger guns.

AWARENESS BOY: Senator Schumer would fit right in on the R.U. Sirius.

More here.

MORE PLEASE: South Carolina taking on Fed’s light bulb ban. Why not? Fair’s fair; the federal government has been ignoring us for years, it’s time to ignore them for a change.