A NON-OUTRAGE OUTRAGE: “The NY Times covers a trial balloon that would provoke outrage from the left if Bush-Cheney had proposed it. However, as the Times tells it, the proposal has no sponsorship at all – apparently it just fell from the sky, or something.” Meet the new boss, yada yada.

AND SHE DIDN’T FALL UNDER THE WEIGHT OF HER STONE: I Was A Caryatid For Frank Lloyd Wright.

DEMOCRATIC MEMBERS OF CONGRESS EXPRESS “growing concern” over Obama closures of Chrysler and GM dealerships.

ILYA SOMIN: “The advantages of life in the US over life in Russia are perhaps too obvious to dwell on. Less often appreciated are the ways in which life for immigrants in America is much better than in most other affluent liberal democracies. Although the US is not free of racism and nativist xenophobia, on the whole immigrants are much better accepted by natives than in almost all of the many other countries I have seen. We take it for granted that a person born in Russia or China or India can become as much a ‘real American’ as the descendants of the Founding Fathers. Yet such ready acceptance is far less common elsewhere.”

BAILOUT UPDATE: Supreme Court Asked to Block Chrysler Sale to Fiat.

BITES FROM THE APPLE: A roundup of news from around the Apple Empire.

ANOTHER TEA PARTY PROTEST, in Winston-Salem.

Several hundred people turned out Saturday for a Tea Party at Winston-Square Park. It was a follow-up to an April 15 gathering that was part of a nationwide protest against taxes. According to media reports, more than 1,000 people turned out for that rally, but organizers said the turnout was more than 2,000. . . . Some protestors stood on Marshall Street holding up signs with slogans such as “Free Markets Not Free Loaders” and “Revolution is Brewing” while waving at passing motorists. . . . “Conservatives typically don’t do protests, but we’re learning,” said Fred Benson, an electrical contractor from Clemmons who was one of the organizers of the rally. He said that members of the North Carolina Tea Party group at ncteaparty.com wanted to have another rally and decided to focus on the health care debate this time. Benson said that more tea parties are planned, with the next one possibly on July 4.

These keep popping up, below the national-media radar. Plus, grassroots protests vs. interest-group press conferences.

I’M BACK: Actually, got back last night. U.S. Air did a great job — I was early on every single leg of this trip, both down and back. (They did, however, lose my dive-gear bag, but it’s already shown up.) Thanks very much to my guestbloggers, Ann Althouse, Megan McArdle, and Michael Totten for making it possible for me to have a few days of blog-decompression. I saw where somebody asked if I was in blog addiction rehab, but not really: It was more like Keith Richards getting his blood changed before going on tour. But hey, that worked . . .

GOOD NEWS: They found the hockey-stick graph. Bad news: It’s about U.S. unemployment.

UPDATE: More graphics here.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Obama Versus the Way of the Universe. “In short, Obama reminds me a little of myself–at 26.”

A NEW AWARD for Harrison Ford. “Harrison Ford was maybe the best thing about Star Wars (all six films) and terrific in the Indiana Jones films. Today, though, I’ll cast him as Captain Louis Renault in Casablanca for his shock, shock! that a redistributionist Democratic Party might tax his industry into default.”

THE NEW KINDLE DX will be shipping next week. I’ve had my regular-size Kindle with me on the trip and it’s performed admirably; it seems to me that a bigger one would be less useful for travel. Better for reading newspapers, though.

TOM MAGUIRE: “Republicans leak vague generalities about a classified briefing on the efficacy of the enhanced interrogation program and Dems burst into tears. . . . I understand the political importance to the Dems of keeping the results of the 2002/2003 era enhanced interrogations secret; the actual national security significance eludes me, since the techniques have been well publicized by Obama.”

ABC LISTS the Top 100 Political Blogs.

AN IMPORTANT DISCUSSION about low-rise pants. Personally, I think the Insta-Wife looks very good in them.

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

RASMUSSEN: 26% Applaud GM Bailout But 17% Favor Boycott.

FASTER, PLEASE: Protein stimulates stem cells to repair muscles.

MICKEY KAUS: So how’s that auto bailout thing going?

CURING THE BLIND, with stem-cell-coated contact lenses. Note that these are adult stem cells.

IN THE MAIL: From Laird Barron, The Imago Sequence, and other stories.

SAN FRANCISCO: Making sure the homeless stay homeless. “The mafia is kinder than the City of San Francisco.”

GRAND CAYMAN, BWI. Georgetown Harbor. The sleek white boat is the Cayman Aggressor, a live-aboard dive boat.

CHARGES OF MEDIA MANIPULATION at General Electric / NBC / Universal.