HANNAH GILES: The Science Behind The ACORN Sting.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: The Rise Of The Uncouth. “The truth is that a new generation of boors has come of age without sober wise people to teach them how to act.”

Conduct that is rewarded will occur more frequently. Conduct that is punished will not.

SILICON GRAFFITI: Is Conservatism Dead?

ALABAMA SEX TOY CASE going to the Supreme Court?

WHY IS IT A CRITICISM to say that Leno’s new show is a lot like his old show? His old show was very successful — and a show built around Jay Leno is, you know, always going to be a show built around Jay Leno. Lots of people tuned in, presumably to see . . . a show built around Jay Leno that was a lot like the one they were used to seeing. It would have been a dumb idea to try to change things a lot just for the sake of change.

UPDATE: Reader Len Smith makes a more cogent criticism:

Saw the show last night. Left after about 15 minutes. Very unimpressed. I thought the opening was flat, monologue was tedious. This is mid-September of 2009 and he is still telling Bush/Cheney jokes? Apparently Obama has not done anything funny yet that warrants a poke by Leno. I figured with all the time they had to prepare an opening show, that it would have been a little sharper. Graphics were boring, skit was weak, writing was tepid. Not sure if I can listen to Bush/Cheney jokes for 5 nights a week.

I think Jay will bail in December. Didn’t look to me like his heart was in it.

Ouch.

RAND SIMBERG IN POPULAR MECHANICS: Launch System Skepticism Grows at Space 2009. Ideas that would have been heretical a few months ago are now coming to the fore.

ANN ALTHOUSE’S COMMENT SECTION IS infiltrated by a troll trying to make her blog look racist. Since cries of racism are all the lefties seem to have (er, well, except for the cries of Obama’s just doing what Bush did!) expect more of this kind of thing, at varying levels of sophistication.

RICHARD EPSTEIN: One Bill Of Rights is Enough. “In short, there is no way to translate Roosevelt’s–or Sunstein’s vision–into sustainable social practices. But that’s just what the First Bill of Rights can do with its bloodless protection of private property and freedom of contract, speech and religion. Now we can specify the correlative duties with precision: keep off the property of others, and don’t meddle in their agreements. Follow these rules and you can stimulate investment and reward hard labor. By keeping our aspirations modest, we can keep our achievements high–which is why we don’t want to undermine the first Bill of Rights by adopting the second.”

FIGHTING THE FLU, with soap and hand sanitizer. “In a study of 6,000 elementary school students in California, Delaware, Ohio and Tennessee, students in classrooms with hand sanitizers had 20 percent fewer absences due to illness. Teacher absenteeism in those schools dropped 10 percent.”

I have some related thoughts, here.

SOME VERY COOL tornado pictures.

DOES THE APTERA qualify as an automobile for the purpose of federal energy subsidies? Well, it was designed not to count as an automobile in order to avoid all sorts of regulatory overhead, so . . . . Not surprisingly, GM wants all the energy-subsidy money for itself.

IS ACORN illegally operating in Maryland?

JESSE WALKER: How the panic over right-wing violence is being used to marginalize peaceful dissent. Particularly offensive, as most of the actual violence is coming from the left.

FREE ONLINE: David Kirkham’s The Art Of Engineering.

IN THE MAIL: From Fred Greenstein, Inventing the Job of President: Leadership Style from George Washington to Andrew Jackson.

MICHAEL BARONE: Republicans and Democrats: A Tale Of Two Bases.

DAN RIEHL: Obama Gets One Right.

UPDATE: Related: Congratulations Mr. President on a job well done. “I’d like to take this moment to congratulate the President for making a decision to put the safety of our nation first, instead of internationalism.”

DEAD CAT: Rasmussen: Support for Health Care Plan Falls Back To Pre-Speech Levels.

Related: Washington Post: Only 39% Approve of Obama’s Handling of Deficit.

RANGEL UPDATE: Attack the messenger when you can’t attack the message:

Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) was asked about his failure to disclose about $700,000 in assets this weekend in Harlem by my pal Azi Paybarah of PolitickerNY — and responded by saying he was a victim of a New York Post smear campaign. . . . “I think it’s totally unfair for the New York Post to send investigative reporters to my family’s homes and to do that type of thing,” he said during a rally in Harlem over the weekend. “I guess it’s all selling papers.”

In other words, insufficient deference to Baron Charles.

TOM BEVAN: Is It Wishful Thinking, or Lying? “So Obama’s assertion he can expand coverage and care without adding a dime to the deficit over the next ten years is, by the admission of even one of his most ardent supporters, a claim that virtually no one believes.”

ACORN UPDATE: House Set To Cut Funding To ACORN.

Plus, does ACORN face RICO vulnerability?

ANDREW BREITBART: The American People Are The Fourth Estate.

MEGAN MCARDLE: ObamaCare vs. Prescription Drugs.

CZARS IN MY POCKET, like grains of sand.

THE INSTA-DAUGHTER, THE OTHER DAY: “Barack Obama since the campaign is like Avril Lavigne after she dumped The Matrix — still big, but without the magic.” She has a point. The Matrix production team did a great job of capitalizing on her substantial-but-limited talent while covering up the limits. After that, well . . . .