GAY PATRIOT: Why The Left Loves Barney Frank. “The most telling thing about the exchange between Barney Frank and a conservative student (which I blogged about yesterday and which has been making the rounds of the rightosphere) questioning him in a public forum at Harvard is how quick the Massachusetts Democrat is to attack. How dare someone pose such a tough question! How dare someone ask him to consider if he might have done something wrong. Barney’s used to getting softball questions from an adoring media. Tough questions mean someone is accusing him. They’re part of some nefarious right-wing plot! . . . His failure to consider his misdeeds is particularly telling given his repeated defenses over the years of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Government-Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) whose failure sparked the financial meltdown.” Hence the defensiveness, I suspect.

CONFIDENCE BUILDER: Detroit has more registered voters than it has residents.

WHAT DOES GOD HATE? Secret ballots!

FEELINGS: Nothing more than feelings. Related thoughts here.

POLITICO: Congressional Black Caucus Members Praise Castro.

GAY PATRIOT: Blaming Conservatives for Murder: How the Left Scapegoats Conservative Media.

BITING THE HAND: AP lowers the hammer on rural East Tennessee radio station.

YOU DON’T SEE THIS EVERY DAY: Judge Orders Investigation of Stevens Prosecutors: “A furious federal judge on Tuesday took the extraordinary step of ordering that the prosecutors who bungled the case of former Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska be investigated for possible criminal wrongdoing. . . . The judge appointed the attorney Henry Schuelke as special prosecutor to investigate possible criminal contempt charges against the prosecution team.” But here’s a prediction — having been unfair to Stevens, the DoJ will make up for this by being bending over backwards to be fair in dealing with the likes of Murtha, Visclosky, Dodd, or Frank. Related item here.

A BUNCH OF half-price Blu-Ray releases.

PJTV: Countdown to Tax Day.

Plus, some print your own signs resources from Simon Jester.

UPDATE: More printable signs here.

THOUGHTS ON promoting libertarianism.

AT HARVARD, a Barney Frank meltdown. Sounding kinda defensive, isn’t he?

WELL, THIS IS HOW IT SHOULD BE DONE: Vermont Legislature Legalizes Gay Marriage. Though I’ve argued elsewhere before (coauthor Kopel didn’t entirely agree) that judicially recognized gay marriage is reasonable, there’s no question that, politically, this is something that’s much better done by legislatures than by courts. The big question is whether Obama will have the guts to push for a repeal of the Clinton-signed Defense Of Marriage Act. Given Obama’s lukewarm support for gay marriage, and his strongest supporters’ role in voting in Proposition 8 in California, I kind of doubt that he will. Without that repeal, of course, Vermont marriages won’t be respected in many other states.

Much more at Memeorandum.

HMM: Microsoft will allow Windows 7 users to downgrade to XP. Taking the bright side, it’s a tribute to how popular XP has become!

WHY SCRATCHING RELIEVES AN ITCH: “Neuroscientists at the University of Minnesota report that specialized cells in the spinal cord appear to be critically involved in producing the sensation of itch and the feeling of relief after the application of fingernails, at least in healthy individuals.”

A ROUNDUP OF Tea Party news and resources.

AT CAFE HAYEK, the importance of failure.

I ACTUALLY THINK THIS IS GOOD FOR G.M.: The $9000 Plug-In Hybrid That Will Beat the Volt to Market. It’s not really a competitor, and it will help establish the technology.

AN IPHONE APP from Trent Reznor.

REVIEWING THE REVIEWERS: A roundup of book reviews from all over.

A NEW SILICON GRAFFITI: “I’m From The Federal Government…”

ASTHMA AND cockroach allergies.

GRAND ROUNDS is up!

HOW TO SHOOT DOWN a North Korean ballistic missile.

FROM MICHAEL YON: A lovely photo from Laos.