DAVID CORN: How 9/11 Conspiracy Poison Did In Van Jones: “As far as I can tell, the only thing the so-called 9/11 Truth movement has accomplished is this: it’s caused the Obama administration to lose its most prominent expert on green jobs. So well done, Truthers. . . . The 9/11 conspiracy–of which I have not written about in years–was always a load of bunk. You don’t have to be an expert on skyscraper engineering or top-secret government communications to know that the two variants of the theory–the Bush White House orchestrated 9/11 so it could subsequently exploit the tragedy or the Bush White House knew the attack was coming and allowed it to occur so it could exploit the tragedy–make no sense.”

THIS IS INTERESTING: Van Jones Did Not Fill Out White House Questionnaire. “Van Jones, the Obama green jobs czar who resigned shortly after midnight Sunday, did not fill out the exhaustive questionnaire White House officials required of every Cabinet-level secretary and deputy-secretary position.”

CAN OBAMA PASS HEALTHCARE?

Well, yeah, if Obama drops the public plan and mandates he can get some measure of health insurance reform because most people want health insurance reforms without junking the whole system. New national and regional markets for insurance helping create the conditions for individual insurance empowerment. That is a plan that can pass.

It’s called the Republican plan, and it is as available now to Obama as it was six months ago. All Obama has to do is just say yes.

If he does, he’ll declare victory. And the press will, too. So it’s got to be tempting . . . .

OH NO, William & Mary Won’t Do. I didn’t think the boy could be so cruel.

PJTV’S JOE HICKS will be on Anderson Cooper (CNN) at 10 pm Eastern tonight, talking about Obama’s classroom speech.

READER PETER VANDERWICKEN WRITES:

Here’s one data point that will be fuel for revolution when taxpayers discover it:

It is the average compensation of Federal civilian employees vs. average compensation in the private sector.

Used to be, government jobs paid LESS than comparable civilian ones, balanced by lavish benefits. But now, it seems, gummint workers make A LOT MORE than comparable civilian workers, and STILL get the lavish benefits (including lush health care plans).

Is the average Federal employee worth $30,000 a year more than the typical worker in the real world?

(Chart from Clusterstock, taken from John Mauldin’s current weekly letter)

More on this here.

UPDATE: Reader Fred Siesel writes: “What’s the unemployment rate inside the Beltway?”

JFK, BARACK OBAMA, and Milton Friedman.

PIZZA ON A STICK: It’s Pizza, but on a stick! Everything’s better on a stick. If only they put bacon on a stick! No, that way lies madness . . . .

UPDATE: My God! Bacon-on-a-stick madness at the Minnesota State Fair. Son, put that down before it’s too late. . . .

NOT SUCH A BAD IDEA:

What do you think the response would be if some one organized a campaign to send this article about the mistakes the government is making in dealing with the recession to every member of congress?

It’s probably worth a try. Read the article yourself and see what you think — and this one, too. If you like the idea, print ’em and mail to your Senators and Congressperson. And anyone else you think should read them.

HEALTHCARE: The Supply Side. “I observe that almost all of the national discussion and debate on this issue has centered around the question of who pays, who gets paid and how much, and what the restrictions on care should be. But if there are really tens of millions of Americans now receiving inadequate medical services, and if this problem is to be remedied, then where will we find the additional resources–and/or the additional productivity–to remedy it?”

STACY MCCAIN: “The astounding disproportion between the facts — who Van Jones is and what got him in trouble — and the Left’s perception tells you a lot about the what’s gone wrong in Hopeville.”

BROCCOLI: Good for your heart. Enough broccoli and red wine and you should live practically forever. Warning: Near-eternal-life may be accompanied by significant flatulence.

JENNIFER RUBIN: Big Labor not looking good on Labor Day. “Big Labor contributed tens of millions (hundreds of millions if your count state and local races and all that phone banking help) to elect Barack Obama and Democratic majorities in the House and Senate. At the peak of their power they are very, very unpopular. Gallup reports that 51% of Americans think organized labor hurts the economy. Where’d they get such an idea?”

OVER 10,000 TURN OUT FOR TEA PARTY RALLY in New Lenox / Joliet.

UPDATE: Here’s a picture from reader Robert Avery.

WEBB WILDER: If you don’t think Elvis is number one, you’re full of Number Two.

SHOULD YOU ORDER the Cheese Plate? But of course!

Plus, one last bit of sizzle from International Bacon Day.

SOLDIERS GET Samurai Mind Training.

HEALTH: Flu Trackers Urge Patients to Blog.

COLBY COSH: “Yes, I think it is safe to say that the New York Times’ experiment with a ‘public editor’ has officially failed. . . . Once again, Cosh’s Law of Newspaper Ombudsmen holds true: we are supposed to believe they exist to defend the interests of the reader against those of the newspaper, but their actual job is precisely the opposite.”

REP. LACY CLAY DEMONSTRATES how not to respond to constituent mail. The country’s in the very best of hands!

ANNOYING OR ENDEARING OR NEITHER: Have you noticed that tech workers start a lot of their sentences with the word, “So…?”

A LOOK AT medical care and the Veterans’ Administration.

A BUGATTI VEYRON lawsuit.

A BOY AND HIS Trebuchet.

DAN RIEHL TO RIGHT-BLOGGERS: Don’t Get Cocky. “Judging by Memeorandum today there are some memes taking hold that I hope won’t distract the Right from the big picture. If one looks immediately ahead and connects the dots as Obama likely will, the Right risks giving Obama a card to play in the much more important health care debate.”