IS CALIFORNIA INSANE? In a word, yes.

MEANWHILE, Chris Matthews is still an idiot.

DAVID BRODER can’t bring himself to say “Tea Party”: "As the gulf between GOP and Democrats widens, the center is lost."

The mainstream punditocracy has moved so far left that to them the center looks far right.

HEH: Now it's vacation time ... this from my employer's HR department.

Over the recent years, there has been an increasing level of scrutiny by the IRS of the entire area of how companies treat employee benefits and all forms of compensation to ensure proper compliance with Federal regulations. New laws and increasingly complex employee benefit plans have only added to the visibility and attention this area is receiving. [We continue] to strive to be at the forefront of protecting the company and all of our employees from any financial penalties that may arise from not complying with Federal regulations. As a result of our ongoing efforts, we are updating and revising our vacation policy to ensure enhanced compliance with IRS guidance.

First the Obama administration came for our health care, and we didn't protest. Then the Obama administration came for our vacation time, and we didn't protest ....

RUNNING AGAINST BUSH ISN’T WORKING - so Democrats are running against Sarah Palin.

DANA MILBANK IS STILL AN IDIOT: Tea Party may snuff out a chance to shrink government.

Milbank thinks - if that's what it can be called - in stereotypes.

MORE “HIPPIE PUNCHING” - from a Democrat.

ABOUT TWO WEEKS AGO, I posted about the Discovery Channel's "Dirty Jobs" host Mike Rowe lobbying Congress for more support for 'dirty' jobs.

Here's a video of Rowe talking about his experiences. It's long, but worth the watch.

VOTE THE BUMS OUT. In this upcoming election, all the old political pluses -- years of incumbency, entrenched seniority and pork-barrel earmarks -- are proving to be liabilities. Instead, the more public officials admit to being in control when trillions of dollars were run up, the more Americans want them gone.

HEH. “President Obama has been trying to score political points by charging, in effect, that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is laundering foreign money to steal the election for Republicans. Trouble is, the chamber doesn't just support Republicans. It has endorsed several House Democrats, vulnerable freshmen who have been buoyed by the chamber's six-figure ad buys.”

Oops ... there go those pesky unintended consequences again.

OBAMA: After 54 health care speeches, I neglected “marketing and P.R. and public opinion.” Hogwash! From Day One, ObamaCare has been all about marketing a product that no one in his right mind would ever buy on the open market.

HEH. There’s a Reason Why They Call Him ‘Dick’

GALLUP POLL: ‘Record’ percentages of Americans think government is too big and intrusive.

WHY THEY’RE CALLED the “lamestream” media.

THE COMING ELECTION “is a referendum on a vision of government and society in which the state seeks unlimited power to make decisions at the expense of the liberty of the people. It is a moment of decision on a failed experiment in governance. If the Obama administration's accomplishments are too complex to explain to the voters, if the beneficial effects of their policies are not self-evident, it may be time for them to question whether they have accomplished anything worthwhile at all.”

PLEASE, PLEASE attack me.

SOME THOUGHTS about the Tea Party and the Chilean mine rescue.

OBAMA: “ '[T]here’s no such thing as shovel-ready projects' for public works.” A valuable lesson to be sure, but why did he have to learn it on our trillion dollars?

IT’S NOT ABOUT HEALTH; IT’S ABOUT CONTROL: Regulating Personal Genomics to Death.

I KNEW I WASN'T ALONE IN MISSING ‘W’: “A new CNN poll finds voters still believe Mr. Obama is a better president than Mr. Bush was, but by only 47% to 45%. That's down from a whopping 23-point margin [61-38] last year.”