THE WAY WE WERE: “This kind of situation — the undiscovered talent — is really more common than might be imagined by people who aren’t in the music business.”

OH, GOODY: Inspectors Find Safety Problems At Nuclear Weapons Complex.

WILL WOLFRAM ALPHA Kill Google?

ANN ALTHOUSE TO FRANK RICH:

Do you really still insist they are people who feel the whole world is against them? You’ve just mapped out why they — and all of us — really should be alarmed. You have a massively powerful, ambitious President, unchecked by an opposition party, boosted and promoted by journalists who’ve forgotten what their role is. Now, go back to your imagination exercise and do it again.

I agree with the commenter who says they should fire Rich and replace him with Althouse. Won’t happen — they’re still stuck in this mode: “Forgive the bad journalism. We need to make it bad so you’ll buy it. Not you brick-throwing deadenders. But somebody. Anybody.” Frank Rich is perfect for that.

HMM: Why Would We Suspect Democrats of Pressuring an Attorney General to Back Off?

AN ENGINE FOR RUNNING medical microbots.

REPORTING FROM THE One Lap Of America race.

IN THE MAIL: Off the Beaten Path – Newly Revised & Updated: A Travel Guide to More Than 1000 Scenic and Interesting Places Still Uncrowded and Inviting. Looks interesting, and useful in roadtrip planning.

“YOU REPORT, WE DENY.” “Just imagine the outrage if the Bush administration had threatened to sic Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity on its political opponents. But the obedient steno clerks in the White House press corps just do as they’re told nowadays.” Plus, the White House Press Room designated a “Blog-Free Zone?”

CHRIS DODD UPDATE: Hartford Courant: Jackie Clegg Dodd Making Big Money As Corporate Director.

U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd has long had a reputation as a politician of limited means — a reputation underscored, for good or bad, by recent disclosures about his dependence on friends to finance his homes.

The reputation could prove difficult to sustain as Dodd begins what political operatives predict might be the toughest campaign of his 35-year congressional career — considering the dramatic uptick in his wife’s income since they married.

Since the low-profile family wedding on a rise above the Connecticut River in 1999, Jackie M. Clegg Dodd’s income has quadrupled to the mid-six-figure range. All of the increase is due to her appointment as a highly compensated member of multiple corporate boards of directors.

Funny how that kind of thing tends to happen. Plus, a “consulting” business with no clients, or phone number. And this: “The official, who asked not to be identified for fear of offending Dodd, said he does not believe that Clegg Dodd’s legislative and banking experience qualified her as an audit committee expert.”

TOM MAGUIRE: “Change” we hope they didn’t believe in.

COURAGE, and the lack of it.

EDITORIAL: Pelosi Confronts Justice:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is working to buffer lawmakers from federal investigators. This is a bad idea. Special legal protections for politicians encourage unethical conduct.

Irvin B. Nathan, general counsel of the House of Representatives, sent a letter to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Monday about establishing a protocol on how to handle “hopefully rare searches and electronic surveillance involving members of Congress.” Mr. Nathan previously failed to negotiate such an agreement with the George W. Bush administration when Republicans controlled the House. His return to this effort isn’t surprising given the number of congressional Democrats facing accusations of ethical misconduct.

Democrats facing scrutiny include the chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania, for his close ties to the defense lobby firm PMA Group, which is under federal investigation; House Ways and Means Chairman Charles B. Rangel of New York about a number of tax issues; Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. of Illinois over his reported effort to persuade ousted Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich to appoint him to fill President Obama’s former Senate seat; and Rep. Jane Harman of California, who reportedly was taped in 2005 by the National Security Agency purportedly agreeing to help seek leniency for two accused Israeli spies in exchange for help in lobbying her appointment to chair the House Intelligence Committee.

And don’t forget Pete Visclosky, Jim Moran, Allen Mollohan, etc. I know, I know — there are so many it’s hard to keep track!

LESS HOPE THAN CHANGE in Obama’s poll numbers.

A SPLIT IN THE TEA PARTY MOVEMENT? Complete with a Judean People’s Front reference.

Tucson Tea Party organizer Robert Mayer emails:

My advice to local organizers: Become self-sufficient. Capture names, email address, phone numbers, and zip codes. Raise money and merchandise (t-shirts, bumper sticks, etc) the events yourself. Do not let outside organizations like FreedomWorks, Americans for Prosperity, and the Republican Party try to co-opt what you’re doing.

What we’re doing can only work with strong local organizations. Focusing too much on the drama upstairs at the national level will get us off track. Keep your head down and go for the goal. You do not need their direction to take this to the next level.

I think that’s good advice. This kind of split is inevitable in movement politics. My advice is to follow Mark Levin’s principle, and quit worrying about what “they” should be doing, or what “we” should be doing, and start thinking about what you can do. It’s a grassroots movement, and the Web means that good ideas will spread on their own.

TOM RIDGE CONSIDERING A run against Specter.

KIDS DON’T HAVE A UNION. “It’s worth saying again: If the twittish, PC L.A.Times is now going after the teachers’ unions, those unions have lost the PR battle in the mainstream press.”

UPDATE: A suggested political reform, from reader Robert Stermer: “How about giving the voting franchise to children, exercised by their parents. It might give a stronger voice to those concerned about the future.”

BAD NEWS for traffic signal manufacturers.

I MENTIONED IT IN PASSING BEFORE, but Bill Whittle’s evisceration of the Truman “war criminal” accusers is truly a must-see. Give it a few minutes of your time — you won’t be sorry. Unless, you know, you’re Jon Stewart or someone with way too much of an investment in spurious war crimes charges.

UPDATE: Reader William Girardot writes: “Who is Bill Whittle and why is he not my Senator?” I don’t think he has the requisite ability to suffer fools gladly.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Dan Rector thinks I should repeat that Stewart has apologized. Okay, but the history lesson is no less important for all that.

PEREZ HILTON, COPYRIGHT THUG. Given his history, that’s amusingly hypocritical. Though “copyright coward” is a better term, since he’s using a bogus copyright claim to avoid taking responsibility. “It is clear that Hilton is embarrassed by what he said, and he is using a transparently frivolous copyright claim to try to squelch free speech about his ridiculous statements. I’m not standing for it. If Hilton sends me a DMCA takedown notice, I’m going to fight it — and I may sue him. I have never seen a clearer example of fair use in my life.”

MY COLLEAGUE IRIS GOODWIN is in the New York Times on restricted donations to universities, etc.

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG? Giant, scary-looking bug given computer-control chip.

MARK STEYN on Obama so far.

MEGAN MCARDLE: “When did it become the government’s job to intervene in the bankruptcy process to move junior creditors who belong to favored political constituencies to the front of the line? Leave aside the moral point that these people lent money under a given set of rules, and now the government wants to intervene in our extremely well-functioning (and generous) bankruptcy regime solely in order to save a favored Democratic interest group. No, leave that aside for the nonce, and let’s pretend that the most important thing in the world, far more interesting than stupid concepts like the rule of law, is saving unions. What do you think this is going to do to the supply of credit for industries with powerful unions?”

THOUGHTS ON individual rights and the era of antibiotics.