EXTRACTING energy from the tides.

WELL, GOOD: Iran’s Oil Woes Threaten the Mullahs.

UNCLE SAM’S multi-trillion-dollar oil lockup. Meh. It’s not like the Federal government needs money or anything.

BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE: Everybody’s emailing me this video on the Housing Bubble.

A POX ON THEM ALL? “The House GOP wants to be heard, which seems fair. But even with a weekend to mull it over it seems they have two major hurdles to pass. First, do they have an idea that is better and remotely workable? . . . Second, in the real world you have to get others to go along and I see no one — not the Treasury, the White House, the Senate GOP, or the Democrats in either the House or Senate — showing the slightest interest in a radical transformation of the plan from a bailout to a private insurance pool. . . . And as for Harry Reid, he has not covered himself in glory as it becomes obvious what political blame game he is playing. Unfortunately for Reid, too many people saw and knew what was going on to keep up the pretense.”

If we could get a new Congress for $700 billion, it would be a bargain . . . .

TURNING ADULT CELLS INTO STEM CELLS made safer. Faster, please.

THE GERMANS ARE UNHAPPY about U.S. aid to domestic automakers.

BETTER ULTRACAPACITORS FOR ENERGY STORAGE, using nanotechnology.

TONIGHT’S DEBATE is on.

UPDATE: Michael Silence: “McCain flip flops, again.” Plus, more bad reviews from Mickey Kaus and Robert Wright.

TURNING THE BAILOUT INTO A MORTGAGE INSURANCE PLAN: MICHAEL BARONE on what the House Republicans want. And why.

IN THE MAIL: From Chris Edwards and Daniel Mitchell, Global Tax Revolution: The Rise of Tax Competition and the Battle to Defend It.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING REALLY IMPORTANT: Jet Pack News! “Swiss daredevil Yves Rossy becomes first person to cross English Channel using jet-propelled wing strapped to his back.”

THOUGHTS ON JOE BIDEN and the value of experience.

HERE’S A LINK TO JUST THE JOHN HOWARD INTERVIEW SEGMENT from last night’s PJTV broadcast. It’s free to everybody.

It’s getting buzz in Australia. (Bumped).

PRESIDENT BUSH SIGNED the ADA Amendments of 2008. My colleague Alex Long has written about those. (Bumped).

INSTA-POLL: Following up on this item.

WASHINGTON POST: Four Pinocchios for Biden’s Tax Fabrication.

JUST CALL ME “MR. DIVERSITY:” Diverse web coalition asks McCain, Obama to alter debates.

An informal national coalition of internet pioneers and users with widely divergent political views will issue a letter Friday morning calling on John McCain and Barack Obama to open the remaining debates completely to the public domain.

As Lawrence Lessig, a law professor and letter-signer put it, “Copyright, in my view, is essential and important, in some places. This isn’t one.”

The letter, which was obtained exclusively by The Ticket tonight, will be signed by such disparate internet names as Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit.com, Craig Newmark of Craigslist, Markos Moulitsas of DailyKos.com and Arianna Huffington of HuffingtonPost.

It will also ask the two major candidates to insist on a new method of choosing debate questions.

Letter, and signers, at the link. And here’s Larry Lessig on it.

SMALLER BANKS ARE DOING FINE. I remember talking to someone who’d been on the board of a small S&L during the S&L crisis, and he remarked that luckily, “we were dumb enough to think that borrowing at 5% to lend at 10% was a good enough business to be in,” so that they’d missed all the high-flying deals that brought down bigger operations. Maybe there’s a larger lesson there?

HAROLD MAASS: Cash taps opened, WaMu closed.