RASMUSSEN: 58% Say Most Congress Members Won’t Know Stimulus Plan When They Vote On It. Another safe bet.

COMMERCE: Dead End, or Center Of The Universe?

FIVE USEFUL GADGETS TO KEEP IN CASE OF A POWER OUTAGE. I have one of those hand-crank radios. I’ve also got one of these weather warning radios, which is currently telling me that we’re under a tornado watch.

IT’S OFFICIAL: The 2010 Ford Taurus SHO. MY brother-in-law had one of the original SHOs, and got 5 speeding tickets in the first week.

BIG GPS discounts.

ANTI-RECESSION PROGRAMS: Maybe too little, always too late. Amusing chart.

PRAY FOR SUCCESS: Planet-Hunting Space Telescope Readies for Launch.

RASMUSSEN: 67% Say They Could Do A Better Job On The Economy Than Congress. Seems likely . . . .

DAVID HARSANYI: The war on home runs.

HOPE AND CHANGE! Elena Kagan Says Government Can Indefinitely Detain Terrorism Suspects. “Because I am busy finishing edits on a law review article, can someone please explain to me how this differs from Bush’s position, which liberals condemned, bashed and burned in effigy?”

Because it’s not Bush’s position. It’s Obama’s. Duh.

UPDATE: Et Tu, Elena Kagan? Plus, hoping for some interesting commentary from the Left.

FROM JON HENKE, a transparency proposal.

A GRAND MORONIC CONVERGENCE of bad financial ideas: “Here’s a Congressman who wants to take state pension funds, already grossly underfunded, technically bankrupt and heading for a financial disaster that will make the present fiscal crisis look like a day in the park and force them to buy banks’ worthless assets.” To these guys, a pool of money is just an opportunity. The idea that the money might actually belong to somebody never occurs. But built into the plan seems to be a disguised federal bailout of the state pension systems; I really don’t think the feds have enough money — or borrowing ability — to pull that off.

LAS VEGAS MAYOR: Obama should apologize for Vegas trips quip.

JACOB SULLUM:

Just as the PATRIOT Act was a grab bag of legal changes that law enforcement and intelligence agencies had been seeking for years, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is a grab bag of expenditures that leftish Democrats have long wanted, repackaged for the crisis du jour. In both cases, instilling fear was the key to suspending skepticism and cutting off debate.

Yep. Here’s what I wrote on September 14, 2001:

I have no doubt, even as I write this, that longstanding bureaucratic wish lists are being transformed into “essential” anti-terrorist precautions. I also have no doubt that most of them won’t do any more good than the dumb “are you a terrorist?” questions immigration officials have been asking embarking passengers for years.

That’s how it worked out, and the main result was job security for bureaucrats. We’ll be lucky if this bill is only as bad as the Patriot Act . . . .

MASSACHUSETTS FOLLOWING OREGON’S LEAD?

The state would work to implement a pay-per-mile system by 2014 to eliminate tolls inside of Route 128. Officials would track auto use through a chip inside the state’s vehicle inspection sticker.

Hmm. The Oregon proposal didn’t go over well. Here’s my article on that. It’s almost as if they’re just interested in finding a way to track people’s movements.

“IF THEY CAN’T TAKE A JOKE, F*ck ’em!”

UPDATE: “Geez, AFSCME, man up!” “Rep. Cantor’s office sent this around in response to you doing as Obama bid when he didn’t get kowtowed to on his debt bill, and what’s your response? You started crying like a bully who got smacked back in the nose. Pathetic. If you’re not ready to take a hit, don’t take a swing.”

JOHN HAWKINS interviews Roger Simon about his new book, Blacklisting Myself: Memoir of a Hollywood Apostate in the Age of Terror. I read the book and it’s quite good.

SOME GOOD NEWS: From Dean Esmay, a Polywell Fusion update. (Via Classical Values, which asks: “Why hasn’t Polywell Fusion been funded by the Obama administration?” Yeah, you’d think at least a little of that stimulus money could go for something promising like this. I believe Steven Chu has even spoken well of it.)

VERONIQUE DE RUGY: 800 billion reasons to be worried: “The Senate stimulus bill should only stimulate taxpayer anger.”

CLARICE FELDMAN: Is the Law Finally Closing In On John Murtha?

MICHAEL YON on IED attacks in Afghanistan.

IN THE MAIL: From Charles Duelfer, of “Duelfer Report” fame, Hide and Seek: The Search for Truth in Iraq.

PRUDENT FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT? Lottery money moved out of Treasuries:

Apparently Gov. Dave Paterson isn’t the only blind one running things up in Albany. According to Bloomberg, the New York Lottery is proposing to move its $1.3 billion prize fund into investments such as stocks, corporate bonds, real estate and hedge funds and out of the safety of U.S. Treasuries.

Wait, it gets even better. “New York would be the first state lottery among the 20 largest to shift to pension fund-style investments.” You know, because that’s working out oh so well as underfunded and overgenerous pensions across the country teeter on the brink.

Really, I don’t see where these guys get off criticizing businesses for their management . . . .

HARTFORD COURANT: Voters Pan Dodd In Quinnipiac Poll. “By more than a 2-1 ratio, voters said they were not satisfied with Dodd’s explanation of how he refinanced two mortgages in 2003 with Countrywide Financial.”

New Haven Register: Poll Finds Public Not Pleased With Dodd: “Connecticut voters, by a large margin, are not satisfied with U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd’s explanation of mortgages he obtained under a VIP program and, for the first time in his long career, he received a negative approval rating in a new poll.”

This story isn’t getting as much national attention as it deserves, but it’s starting to really catch on in Dodd’s home state.

ANOTHER ANTI-GUN CABINET PICK. Jeff Soyer isn’t impressed: “So what does his anti-gun stance have to do with being the new Drug Czar? Because his input into dealing with drug gangs will certainly include suggesting to Obama the need for more national gun control to help eliminate those gangs. And, between him and Holder, that’s a powerful lobby with access to the Oval Office.”

Me, I’d rather eliminate the position of Drug Czar. Not seeing any enthusiasm for that from the Obama folks, though.