PRICES CHANGE THINKING: “A new poll shows high gasoline prices have dramatically changed Americans’ views on energy and the environment. More people now say expanding oil drilling and building new power plants is a bigger priority than energy conservation.”

KAIMIPONO WENGER: One interesting question is what the ACLU is going to do with Heller. It will exacerbate the tension between being a civil-liberties organization on the one hand, and a leftist political organization on the other. I predict that politics will win out easily, though I’d be happy to be wrong. But when a nonprofit faces a conflict between principle and its donor base, well . . . .

AND IT’S ONLY TWICE WHAT MY D300 COST, PLUS NEEDING ALL NEW LENSES: Nikon announces the new D700. I’m sure it’s a great camera.

UPDATE: Yeah, it’ll use my DX lenses in crop mode, but that takes away the benefit of the full-frame sensor.

VIDEO: Heavy Metal in Baghdad.

AMONG DEMOCRATS, A NEW CAMPAIGN CHARGE: “You supported Clinton!” The healing is apparently not complete.

DON SURBER:

Question: How little does the media know about guns?

Answer: From the AP, the actual MSNBC headline: “Surprising fact: Half of gun deaths are suicides.” This should surprise no one — except those who have fallen for the manipulation of statistics by the anti-gun lobby.

Question: Does this stop the media from pretending it is expert on guns?

Answer: No. From a Sacramento Bee editorial: “Some 30,000 Americans die every year from gun violence, a gun death toll greater than anywhere in Europe or Japan.” Plod on, oh Ignoramus Rex. Oblivion awaits.

Sigh.

ROBERT SAMUELSON defends commodity speculators. “Who are these offensive souls? Well, they often don’t fit the stereotype of sleazy high rollers: Many manage pension funds or university and foundation endowments. . . . Politicians promise to tighten regulation of futures markets, but futures markets aren’t the main problem. Scarcities are. Government subsidies for corn-based ethanol have increased food prices by diverting more grain into biofuels. A third of this year’s U.S. corn crop could go to ethanol. Restrictions on oil drilling in the United States have limited global production and put upward pressure on prices. If politicians wish to point fingers of blame, they should start with themselves.”

That’s often the case, isn’t it?

SECOND CIRCUIT: No damages for rendition. But a war of the fonts.

Meanwhile, the D.C. Circuit is closely scrutinizing the Pentagon’s detention decisions.

GRASSROOTS FUNDRAISING: “As in other recent campaigns, lawyers account for the biggest chunk of Democratic donations.” Nobody’s more grassrootsy than us lawyers! We’re the salt of the Earth. But it’s not just lawyers: “When you break it out by individual companies, you find that employees of Goldman Sachs gave more to Obama than workers of any other employer. The Goldman Sachs geniuses are followed by employees of the University of California, UBS, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, National Amusements, Lehman Brothers, Harvard and Google.” But there’s a catch: “If Obama’s tax plans go through, those affluent donors could wind up giving over 50 percent of their income to the federal government.” More evidence that people vote their emotions and identities, not their interests, I guess. Or else they don’t expect those tax hikes to materialize, or expect them to be countervailed by other policies.

PEOPLE DIED, Pat Buchanan lied. Or at least spoke inartfully.

WELL, GOOD: A new test for drug-resistant TB that allows for much earlier diagnosis.

IN THE SUBURBS: Where are the children? “I don’t see any children playing. I see an occasional toy vehicle like the one in the photograph, but not one child. No one rides by on a bike or a tricycle or scooter. Swing sets are empty. No one is playing hopscotch or jumping rope. There are no ball games or frisbees. No kids are running around and yelling. Nothing! Where are they?”

A SEPTEMBER DEBATE SUGGESTION for the candidates. Sounds good to me.

IN THE MAIL: Scott Kelby’s The Digital Photography Book. Plus, The Digital Photography Book, Volume 2. Both look to contain a lot of useful tips.

SOME COOL YELLOWSTONE PHOTOS from Joe Keiser.

OBAMA’S TAX PLAN AND ITS EFFECT ON TIGER WOODS. I confess I hadn’t given this subject any thought.

COMMUTERS SHIFTING TO motorcycles and scooters to save gas.

THE TEN BEST FOODS you aren’t eating. Sardines as “health food in a can?”

HOW TO WRITE A NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE, to make it seem that women work harder than men.