BIOFUELS ARE HERE TO STAY: So what about the food supply?

“LUMPY” LAMBERT: Gun-carrying nemesis of malefactors everywhere.

JERRY POURNELLE EXPERIENCES the future of health care.

EVEN TO HIS SUPPORTERS: Weeks Before the Election, Obama Remains an Enigma.

GOOD NEWS: As Fears Ease, Baghdad Sees Walls Tumble. “Now it is safe.”

THOUGHTS ON AMERICA’S INCREASING ideological segregation. I’ll just add that in an America where government is increasingly powerful, it would make sense for people to want to be surrounded by people who share similar views, as a matter of self-protection.

VOTER FRAUD UPDATE: Ballots cast in Houston using dead voters’ names.

THE FINANCIAL CRISIS as an “unfolding chaotic system.”

WELL, I CERTAINLY AGREE: “It would be much more interesting to hear Governor Palin spend an hour with Glenn Reynolds than with Katie Couric.”

OUCH: “Tennessee general fund tax collections came in at $78 million below estimates in August, and officials are warning of even worse prospects ahead.”

I have to say, though, that I heard Phil Bredesen on Hallerin Hill’s talk-radio program talking about budgets and revenues, and it made me wish he were on the national ticket.

FABIUS MAXIMUS on the current state of the financial crisis.

Should we be stocking our basements while money still has value?

OOPS: Obama’s Staff Slips Up With Muslim Outreach. “The Obama campaign said it was a mistake for an outreach coordinator to join a meeting last month attended by leaders of two controversial Muslim groups as it seeks votes from large Muslim populations in swing states. . . . Participants included leaders of the Council of American-Islamic Relations and the Muslim American Society, which have been cited by the government in the past for ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas.”

WELL, THEN IT WOULD BE OPEN SEASON, OF COURSE: Obama’s associates: Imagine if they were McCain’s. But since they’re not, they’re a “distraction.”

TAXPROF: Marginal Tax Rates Under Obama (50%), McCain (40%).

HMM: Obama tried to sway Iraqis on Bush deal.

THE FINANCIAL CRISIS: The result of “regulatory overkill?”

THE WORLD WILDLIFE FUND, fighting greenhouse emissions via “luxury private jet.” Sounds like they use the same trip planners as the executives at AIG . . . .

WELL, YES: ACORN Investigations Provide Rallying Cry for Republicans.

Meanwhile, Mark Kleiman presents ACORN’s response to critics.

SAVERS ON THE HOOK for squanderers. That’s how democracy works, when squanderers’ votes count just as much as savers!

DAVID LETTERMAN IS mad at McCain again.

BJORN LOMBORG on global warming and futility.

IN RESPONSE TO MY EARLIER POST, The Anchoress emails: “You know what the Amazon grocery thing is REALLY good for? Sending food to kids who are away at college and trapped in hellishly inadequate, unhealthy, carb-and-fat loaded dining halls. Seriously. My son’s school is serving garbage. Amazon helps!”

Yes, when the Insta-Daughter was away at camp this summer we used Amazon to send several care packages. No mess, no packing, free shipping — what’s not to like?

THOUGHTS ON uniters and dividers.

ANN ALTHOUSE, last seen defending Barack Obama from charges of socialism, now defends McCain’s new ad on Obama, Ayers, and Dohrn against charges of racism. “Why is it racial to stir up doubt about whether Obama is a mainstream Democrat? Most of the argument seems to be that because he is black, any doubts about him have a synergistic effect with any racism that happens to be out there.”

Here’s the ad. What do you think?

Steve Sturm, meanwhile, thinks the McCain campaign is wasting its time.

SOME iPhone photoblogging from New York, by Melissa Schwartz.