THE DINER. Stephen Green has lunch with James Lileks in Denver, at the DNC.

YOU’VE SEEN THE PREVIEWS FROM THE DNC, but Pajamas Television will really roll out next week.

TAX THE RICH: California Ballot Initiative to Impose 45% Income Tax, 55% Wealth Tax & 36%-54% Exit Tax. Yeah, stick it to the man!

“SCHMUCK!” Funny, I just saw Charlie Sheen describe a “schmuck” as “any guy who’s not whipped” on 2 1/2 Men, not three minutes ago.

SOME COLLEGE SURVIVAL TIPS via Amazon.

HILLARY the angry populist.

GERARD VAN DER LEUN: “I am praying, praying, that this is a hoax or some demented party favor.” And McCain’s people are praying that it’s not . . . .

UPDATE: To my surprise, apparently God hears the prayers of the likes of Van der Leun — the plane is for something else.

THE TEMPLE OF OBAMA. Heh.

OBAMA STILL NOT WINNING OVER WEST VIRGINIA:

West Virginia’s registered Democrats, like their cousins in western Pennsylvania and eastern and southern Ohio, are having a hard time fitting anywhere within Barack Obama’s vision of the Democratic party.

“Obama and his message just do not gel with me,” said Mark Lamp as he climbed into his utility truck. Lamp, 47, from neighboring Weirton, is a registered Democrat who voted for Clinton in the May primary.

“My first problem with him is taxes, the second is experience,” he explained.

Lamp has worked in construction all of his life, and the company he works for builds houses in the tri-state area. “We have been busy all year.” He sees very few signs of the economy or gas prices hurting him, and they are not what drives his vote.

“I vote leadership. That is why I voted for Hillary and why I will vote McCain.”

I don’t think the Greek temple thing will close the deal.

DAVE WEIGEL: Whatever happened to the Libertarian Democrat? “Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer becomes a star by ditching his limited-government bonafides.”

THE BLOGHER CONFERENCE is coming to Nashville in October.

CHARLIE MARTIN ON ALEX JONES AND MICHELLE MALKIN: “I did get a call from the Denver PD’s convention task force about the Michelle dust-up. The spokesman, a Lt. Saundier, told me that the behavior of the police at the Mint on Monday was not acceptable procedure, and he invited both Michelle and me to file charges. In addition, after the convention is over, he invited me to file an internal affairs complaint. We’ll be sending them links to the video and our coverage.”

HEH: Parthenon for the Course.

HEATH SHULER LAND DEAL UPDATE: Caught in a Contradiction:

In an interview with a North Carolina newspaper, U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler indicated that his name wasn’t on any documents as a development group sought TVA approval for a water-access deal that was approved earlier this year.

But this story highlights a 2005 letter that states his involvement in the project.

Local media seem to be digging on this one.

UH OH: US and Russian warships line up in dispute over Georgia.

ILLINOIS OBAMA and the Temple of Gloom.

MICHAEL BARONE: Hillary Clinton’s Speech Was a Good Start on Her 2012 Run.

NEWEGG IS defying New York’s Internet sales tax.

THEY TOLD ME THAT IF GEORGE W. BUSH WERE RE-ELECTED, news crews would be arrested for photographing fat-cat political donors. And they were right!

Police in Denver arrested an ABC News producer today as he and a camera crew were attempting to take pictures on a public sidewalk of Democratic Senators and VIP donors leaving a private meeting at the Brown’s Palace Hotel. Police on the scene refused to tell ABC lawyers the charges against the producer, Asa Eslocker, who works with the ABC News investigative unit.

You can’t make this stuff up. And, once again, this just illustrates why we need freedom-to-photograph legislation. Thanks to reader Kevin Greene for the link.

UPPING THE ANTE: A bunch of new video games are coming out, and Amazon is now shipping them to arrive on the release date. That’s another blow to stores.

MICKEY KAUS: “You know how when you give a party, you have a great time and there’s this warm glow as you think about it? And then you start remembering the guests who didn’t show up, and you get a little annoyed? Hillary’s speech last night was like that. Effective, but then you realize the things she didn’t say.”

TARGET NEW ORLEANS? Brendan Loy looks at Gustav and says it’s too early to say, but not too early to prepare — especially if you live in New Orleans. Or most anywhere else along the Gulf Coast.

ON THE DNC PROTESTS: “Never was so much hype created by so few to simulate the appearance of so many.”

REVIEWING THE Aston Martin Vantage Roadster.

JAY AMBROSE: What If Barack Obama Had Been President the Last Four Years?

More and more it looks as if we’ve won the war in Iraq, thereby giving the United States a crucial victory in the struggle against Islamic radicalism, and it is clear we wouldn’t have if the most important war protester in Denver this week had had his way.

That protester is not one of the street shouters waving a banner and thinking he has thereby made a profound, world-changing statement, but Barack Obama, who rode his opposition to the war to primary and caucus wins and finally to his moment of selection as the Democrats’ presidential nominee. . . .

Put Obama’s timetable in place and take away the surge he did not want, and we could now be facing a deteriorating situation with deep, dark tragedies lying in wait: A quick return to a dictatorial, vicious, anti-American regime, genocide, an al Qaeda resurgence and the increased likelihood of terrorist strikes within the United States.

It would have been another Vietnam, only worse. Of course, some people — including a lot of Obama’s friends, apparently — think the right side won in Vietnam.