WHEN EARLY RETIREMENT isn’t exactly retirement. “But in reality, many of these people left–or are leaving–their corporate jobs to follow their own personal passions from their home-based business where they hang the ‘Open’ sign.” The Insta-Wife was just remarking that she’s always overhearing women at the gym say they’re running home eBay businesses.

I THINK I DRANK SOME OF THIS, ONE NIGHT IN — OH, NEVER MIND: Japanese sake brewer produces cellulosic ethanol. “One of Japan’s largest sake manufacturers, Gekkeikan, has announced the development of a new ‘super yeast’ able to produce cellulosic ethanol from non-edible parts of plants, such as paddy straw and chaff. The super yeast that produces alcohol was created with genetic engineering, by integrating koji mold genes that produce cellulolytic enzymes into sake yeast.”

BATTLEGROUND POLL: McCain Now Ahead by 1. Plus this: “Obama’s lead in the RCP National Avg continues to slide, down to just 1.2%.” Yes, every new poll seems to show a drop. No wonder Obama and his netroots backers are lashing out this week.

KILLING DEADLY HOSPITAL BACTERIA with nanotechnology.

CORRECTING OBAMA ON THE TOPIC OF AMERICAN SELFISHNESS: “Whatever the case is with his own selfishness, the evidence of an internationally superior American generosity is impressive, beginning with the numbers on our charitable giving. We give twice as much as the British per capita, and according to The American magazine, seven times as much as the Germans and 14 times as much as the Italians. Even in inflation-adjusted dollars, the amount given each year just keeps getting larger, and meanwhile, we do far more volunteer work than in other industrialized countries.”

Obama’s comments seem to echo the claims of U.N. official Jan Egeland that the U.S. response to the Indian Ocean tsunami was “stingy.” That charge was bogus — there was over a billion dollars in private tsunami relief from Americans — and it turned out that the U.N. wasted a lot of its own relief money on overhead. But that’s how it is with nanny-state approaches: They dampen private impulses toward unselfishness, even as officials line their pockets. Is this what Obama wants?

UPDATE: Speaking of selfishness, perhaps the millionaire Obama could do something for his long lost brother living in poverty in Kenya: “Mr Obama, 26, the youngest of the presidential candidate’s half-brothers, spoke for the first time about his life, which could not be more different than that of the Democratic contender. ‘No-one knows who I am,’ he told the magazine, before claiming: ‘I live here on less than a dollar a month.’ . . . He has only met his famous older brother twice – once when he was just five and the last time in 2006 when Senator Obama was on a tour of East Africa and visited Nairobi. . . . Of their second meeting, George Obama said: ‘It was very brief, we spoke for just a few minutes. It was like meeting a complete stranger.'”

ANOTHER UPDATE: More Obama/Kenya background. “Obama to School Named After Him – Drop Dead.”

TEST-DRIVING THE NEW CORVETTE ZR1. With video.

GREEN GASOLINE: Gasoline produced from biomass could be in fuel tanks by 2010 with new technology.

Plus, progress on Algae biofuel.

PLAYING BY Chicago Rules. “Mr. Obama claims to represent something different from old-style politics — especially old-style Chicago politics. And the senator is embarrassed enough by what he did that he misrepresents it in the prologue of his political memoir, ‘The Audacity of Hope.'”

A LOOK AT gender and law review submissions.

IN THE MAIL: Tethered: A Novel. By Amy MacKinnon, who, if I’m not mistaken, is married to Jules Crittenden.

MARK SAFRANSKI: Let’s not rush into Cold War II.

SCATTERED, SMOTHERED, COVERED IN LOVE: Obama and the Big Networks: “In isolating stories on the ABC, CBS and NBC broadcasts that were mainly focused on Obama, the center says, 42 percent were positive and 7 percent negative.”

A NEW INSTA-POLL:

UPDATE: Some people seem confused by the phrasing. “Least anxious” means “least eager.” Is that a southernism?

ECONOMY AND FUN? Reviewing the new Jetta TDI: “Better yet, the Jetta TDI is nearly as much fun to drive as the GTI.”

A LOOK AT biofuels, food shortages, and policy.

PAM MEISTER: Will Rank-and-File Democrats Vote for Obama? It’s not too late to nominate Hillary! She’ll even seem like a fresh face after all the Obama overexposure . . . .

VIDEO: A WORLD WITHOUT the American soldier.

INDEED: “It can’t help Obama to show that McCain ad over and over again for the purpose of arguing about a stick and a sandal.”

UPDATE: Related thoughts from Roger Simon. “Sullivan and the MSM are in the midst of buyer’s remorse regarding the shallow Obama and desperate to find a way out or some justification.”

HOW SHOULD MEN RESPOND TO WORKPLACE DISCRIMINATION? The latest Ask Dr. Helen column is up!

GOOD NEWS: Transfusion breakthrough as human blood grown from stem cells. Hope this pans out. (Via The Drawn Cutlass).

A DIFFERENT KIND OF FRENCH PRESIDENT: Sarkozy Travels to Afghanistan To Support His French Troops After Attack.

NOW THEY’RE TALKING ABOUT “green energy corruption.”

ALMOST LIKE REPORTING: Tom Maguire on what the AP left out of its report on the Obama / Bill Ayers / Annenberg stonewall story.

Plus, the intricacies of “Sullyboating.”

BAD NEWS FOR OBAMA: McCain Makes a Move, Takes 5-Point Lead Over Obama. “Obama loses ground among Dems, women, Catholics & even younger voters.” The good news for Obama: It’s a Zogby poll . . . .

GLENN LOURY AND JOHN MCWHORTER on McCain and Obama at the Saddleback Forum.