AT AMAZON, a Father’s Day Blu-Ray sale.

A. C. KLEINHEIDER:

Guns have been so fetishized and derided in our politically correct and increasingly suburbanized culture that they have transformed into this huge monster that clouds what firearms really are and always have been

To rural folks who grew up with guns in their house, firearms are just a way of life. You learn what they are, how to use them safely, and what not to use them — for ever.

They are, in fact, a tool. A dangerous tool to be sure but no more than a circular saw or a chainsaw.

Read the whole thing. Plus, Phil Bredesen weighs in:

“I would suggest that it is cultural on both sides: that strong anti-gun advocates can be just as culturally biased and irrational as the most avid gun-toters. I enjoy pointing out to my more liberal friends that when they want to (e.g. choice v. right to life issues) they can happily find justification for their (and my) position in rights emanating from implied privacy rights lurking in the penumbra of our Constitution, but where they disagree (e.g. on guns) they are perfectly happy to wave off or reinterpret the clear language in the Bill of Rights.”

But he vetoed the guns-in-restaurants bill.

REVEALED: What’s on Obama’s Blackberry.

TEXAS SENATE endorses freeway spy cameras.

IT’S NOT JUST SPONGEBOB: Happy 10th Birthday to Seti@Home.

BILL ESKRIDGE AND DARREN SPEDALE: Stop The Gay Marriage Lawsuit: “Let the states experiment with gay marriage—it’s not time yet for a federal lawsuit.”

HOPE AND CHANGE: The Detainee Shell Game.

A BUNCH OF INTERESTING food links.

POLIWOOD ON PUNDITRY:

WHICH IS WORSE: DRIVING DRUNK, OR DRIVING STONED? And don’t leave out driving stupid, which seems to be quite prevalent. . . .

MEET EMBER, the Littlest Warbot.

AS SEEN ON TV: Does the Windshield Wonder work?

HMM: Evidence For Vitamin D As Alzheimer’s Risk Reducer. Just to be safe, I plan to spend plenty of time sitting in the sun and drinking red wine.

BUT YOU’LL BE ABLE TO TRUST THE GOVERNMENT WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE INFORMATION: “Federal inspectors found that sensitive, unclassified information was potentially vulnerable at ORNL because the lab wasn’t purging information accessible via storage devices on leased printers and copiers.”

A QUESTION FROM CANADA: “What sort of research group ‘plagiarizes’ a report advocating for stronger intellectual property laws?”

TOM GOLDSTEIN: Judge Sotomayor and race.

Plus, some thoughts on the “wise Latina” brouhaha from Ann Althouse. “It was not an unguarded spontaneous outburst. It was a carefully written speech delivered to a particular audience. Sotomayor was saying the things that would be well-received by her audience. . . . What Sotomayor said was actually a weak, feel-good version of the kind of racial talk that is widespread in the legal academy.”

IS THE U.S. TREASURY smart or generous?

IN THE MAIL: From Stephen Talty, The Illustrious Dead: The Terrifying Story of How Typhus Killed Napoleon’s Greatest Army.

COMING SOON: An English revolution?

ILL-ADVISED WORDS from Charlie Rangel.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS! “The little fry cook from Bikini Bottom, down in the benthic zone of the Pacific Ocean, has been with us longer than the iPod. . . . As a cartoon, SpongeBob SquarePants absorbed the advances made by John Kricfalusi’s The Ren and Stimpy Show—the mood swings, the fugue-like interludes, the surreal plasticity of the characters—but without the earlier show’s edge of psychic antagonism. There are plenty of gnashing monsters at the borders of Bikini Bottom, and deep-sea gulches where the breath of nothingness blows. SpongeBob is dismembered; SpongeBob explodes; intense emotion flays the sponge-flesh from his sponge-bones. But where Ren and Stimpy seemed bent on freaking out the more fragile (or stoned) sectors of its audience, the SquarePants writers are interested in stories, even in lessons. Again and again, a kind of innocence triumphs—over fear, over snobbery, and over skepticism.”

Plus this: “In The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, it is the evil Plankton—sort of a condensed dark-green Bond villain, minute in size but with a huge, bombastic voice—whose brand is triumphant. Having stolen the secret Krabby Patty formula from Mr. Krabs, he then enslaves the population via the distribution of free bucket helmets secretly loaded with brainwashing circuitry. ‘All hail Plankton!’ drone the toiling masses, as fascistic monuments are erected and Bikini Bottom becomes ‘Planktopolis.'”

Whew. That’s scary. Good thing it’s only a cartoon.

ADVICE TO COLLEGE GRADS from Andrew Klavan.

ANOTHER “TEA PARTY” PROTEST, in North Carolina. “Community members held a Tea Party Protest outside Kernersville’s City Hall Saturday. Taxpayers we talked to said their concern is for the next generations who will have to pay for the government’s mistakes. Protestors also said lawmakers should put in an end to wasteful spending on all levels. The group meets once a month on a Tuesday.” There’s one scheduled for Raleigh, N.C. on June 3, too.

RAND SIMBERG: New NASA Administrator Will Have His Hands Full.

HOW TO LAND A GOVERNMENT JOB. “And remember, the pot at the end of the rainbow is quite golden: moderate work hours, unmatched job security, great benefits, and ample vacation and holidays. Thank you, taxpayers.”