PUBLIC PENSION UPDATE: Problems with the Virginia Retirement System.

FOILING THE NEXT 9/11 and not even knowing it? Well, that’s usually how it is when these things work. It’s only the failures that are dramatic. . . .

BYRON YORK: Will Republicans expose the two Sotomayors?

SARAH PALIN IS IN THE WASHINGTON POST: The ‘Cap And Tax’ Dead End. Guess she’s not vanishing into the Alaska wilderness . . . .

POLITICAL PAYOFF? Minority Broadcasters Seek Federal Aid. “The House letter was signed by House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D., S.C.) and a group of key committee chairmen, including Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D., Mass.) Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D., N.Y.) and Oversight Committee Chairman Edolphus Towns, (D., N.Y.).”

JANE ROE arrested at Senate Hearing.

THEORIES ON RATTNER’S RESIGNATION. Maybe it was to open space for a hard-core union guy? Or maybe it was about stopping this guy.

DEFLATION?

UPDATE: Mike Daley writes: “As fixed income SS recipient, and a declining income wage earner, I say ‘bring it on’!” Good luck with that. Given how much money they’ve been printing, I remain more worried about inflation. But hey, I could be wrong.

COMPLETE MORAL AUTHORITY: “What infuriates me is that idiots who can’t even get their facts straight, who play mix-and-match quotes in the process of assembling their ‘Ransom Note’ smears, nevertheless consider themselves so much my moral superior as to authoritatively condemn me based on their own ignorant misconceptions, and then act astonished that others don’t do the same.”

IS CALIFORNIA EMITTING BILLS OF CREDIT?

IN TENNESSEE, INCONSISTENCY ON GUNS IN RESTAURANTS:

He vetoed the bill that allowed those with handgun carry permits to carry in places that serve alcohol as long as they didn’t drink. But last week, he signed into law a bill that allows off duty police to carry concealed weapons into places that serve alcohol. I guess police have magical powers to ward off booze . . . . Also, note the press coverage. When it’s for police they refer to establishments that serve alcohol. When it’s for handgun carry permit holders, they’re all bars.

Funny, that.

A NEW YORK DONNYBROOK: Bloomberg Slams Clinton: She Stabbed NYC In Back.

CHARGES OF FACEBOOK CENSORSHIP.

MARKDOWNS ON DVDs for kids and families.

HEH: “If a teleprompter falls in the White House, does it make a sound? Yes, especially when it’s the President’s teleprompter – or TOTUS as it is often referred to. . . . Prompter problems also recently plagued Vice President Joe Biden as well.” It’s the Revolt Of The Machines — they’re going for a decapitation strike!

UPDATE: Moe Lane thinks it was suicide.

RECESSION NEWS YOU CAN USE: A step-by-step guide to brewing beer. It’s cheaper and better. What’s not to like?

ANOTHER GRIM MILESTONE: Budget deficit tops $1 trillion for first time. “The federal deficit has topped $1 trillion for the first time ever and could grow to nearly $2 trillion by this fall, intensifying fears about higher interest rates, inflation and the strength of the dollar.” Gee, do you think? (Via Michelle Malkin). The article tries to do a little spinning by blaming the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but what, exactly, makes those more expensive this year than last when Iraq, at least, is winding down?

UPDATE: Just heard on CNBC: “Treasury bonds are the toxic assets of the next decade.”

POWER-LINE EXPLOITS: “Thinking about plugging your laptop into one of those coveted airplane terminal power outlets while you wait for your flight to arrive? Be careful, because a hacker could be using those energy-giving wires against you. The technique is a form of keylogging, which is nothing new, but in an interesting twist hackers have figured out a non-traditional way to replicate the process using nothing but the electric signals created with each keystroke.” At first I thought they were talking about these guys, who have plenty of exploits of their own . . . .

RUMOR OF THE DAY: Apple’s 9.7-inch netbook to debut in October for $800?

MEDICAL NEWS YOU CAN USE: Swearing Mitigates Pain.

BUDDY, CAN YOU SPARE AN ERG? Robot Unemployment in Japan: “Japan’s legions of robots, the world’s largest fleet of mechanized workers, are being idled as the country suffers its deepest recession in more than a generation as consumers worldwide cut spending on cars and gadgets . . . They could be out of work for a long time. Japanese industrial production has plummeted almost 40 percent and with it, the demand for robots.”

UPDATE: Some readers think this should have been “Buddy, can you spare a dyne?” But although that rhymes, a dyne is a unit of force, not energy, so . . . .

ROAMING THE WORLD with the Blackberry Tour. So which is better — one of those, or an iPhone?

PALIN-BASHING IS WOMEN-BASHING? Don’t be silly. She’s not a woman, she’s a Republican.

THE NEW MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE: Another episode of Silicon Graffiti, with Liz Stephans and Scott Baker.

WILL WILKINSON: Will Health-Care Innovation Survive Obamacare?