TEA PARTY UPDATE, BUFFALO, NY: Hundreds attend rally downtown. “Fed up western New Yorkers headed downtown to protest against state government, high taxes and extensive regulations. Hundreds attended a rally Saturday afternoon in Niagara Square.” Video at the link.

UPDATE: Reader James Vicevich sends a report from today’s Clinton, Connecticut Tea Party: “Another Tea party in a deep blue state. About 75 people. But not bad for a very sleepy and may I say wealthy CT shoreline town.” I’ll bet there were a lot of Obama donors there last election. Maybe fewer, next time?

ANOTHER UPDATE: VIDEO FROM NEW YORK.

A BUNCH OF interesting food links.

LAMAR ALEXANDER: Why not probe Congress on briefings? “During a scantly noticed exchange in a Thursday Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) asked Attorney General Eric Holder a potentially explosive question — given the furor over Nancy Pelosi’s 2002 interrogation briefing. Alexander wanted to know if the AG would consider investigating what House and Senate members knew about torture and when they knew it. And Holder didn’t exactly reject the idea.”

NEW YORK STATE SENATOR ATTACKS PHOTOGRAPHER: “Parker, a Democrat from the 21st District, became enraged when Post staff photographer William C. Lopez snapped a shot of him getting out of a car at his parents’ home on Avenue H in Flatbush at about 7 p.m. Lopez, who filed a formal complaint with cops, said he was standing on a public street — where it’s legal to take pictures — when he shot the photo of the politician. . . . This isn’t the first time Parker has been linked to allegations of violence. Last year, he was accused of choking a staffer and smashing her glasses at his Glenwood Road office, but Parker claimed she was the one who started the dustup.”

JACK KELLY: The Strong Arm of No Law.

ILYA SOMIN: When and Why did the Federation Turn Socialist? – A Question I Hope Will be Answered in the New Star Trek Movie.

SO IT’S KIND OF A MIXED BAG: New Flu Continues U.S. Spread, But People Cleaner.

LESSONS FROM DIJONGATE:

Seeing how my posts were distorted was not terribly surprising; that is how things go on the internet. The level of vitriol was something I knew existed, but had never personally experienced. As crazed as the published comments were, there were others I didn’t publish telling me to kill myself and do other things, and plenty of bizarre e-mails. All of these people made fools of themselves.

The reaction proved one thing I already knew: The cult of personality surrounding Obama is real. And many of the cultists are demented, dangerous or both.

Plus, another unflattering photo of a gay-marriage opponent!

UPDATE: Reader Joe Ware writes: “Professor Jacobson has restored my faith in the MSM’s ability to cut the mustard.”

MARK LEVIN’S Liberty and Tyranny is still #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. Quite an impressive display of staying power.

ECONOMY ENDS, MEN HARDEST HIT: “Overall, the unemployment rate rose to 8.9%, and the number of jobs dropped by 539K. Manufacturing jobs dropped by 149K, somewhat slower than the previous 2 months but still harsh. But the real news is that in every age group, the male unemployment rate is at or near the post-war high. . . . The difference in the pain being absorbed by men and women is astonishing, and may have long-term social and political implications.” (Via Richard Florida, who notes that the unemployment is mostly among men with hands-on jobs. “The highest rates of unemployment remain concentrated in working class occupations. For production, transporation and moving occupations overall the rate is 13.6 percent. For production workers it’s 14.7 percent; movers and transportation workers, 12.5 percent; and construction and extraction jobs, 19.7 percent. For service occupations, the unemployment rate is 8.7 percent.”)

CHRYSLER WALKS AWAY FROM LEMON LAWS. “Since April 30, Judge Arthur Gonzales has to approve payment on claims against Chrysler incurred before C11. That includes ‘lemon law’ settlement checks to customers who bought defective Dodge, Chrysler or Jeep products. Not happening.”

POPULAR MECHANICS: Top 15 New Tools from the 2009 National Hardware Show.

CURRAHEE!

AIRGUNS: Banned in Germany, but marked down at Amazon. Is this a great country, or what?

IN KNOXVILLE, a delicate balance for mosque, restaurant. “The Hill restaurant in Fort Sanders, which has been the source of controversy over sales of alcohol, will open Wednesday despite concern by members of an adjacent mosque.”

JIM MORAN (D-VA) calls Robert E. Lee a patriot. “I must admit: it almost obscures the fact that the man has just volunteered his Congressional District to hold a bunch of vicious terrorists indefinitely. As I said before, that’s one heck of a distraction.” Not as big as it would be if he were a Republican, though!

On a related note, a reader suggests: “It would seem a great use of the tea party folks would be to become a living nightmare for jim moran who is leaving the welcome mat out for the uighurs– a thousand people at a district meeting would make an impact.” I suppose they would.

STARTLED BURGLAR pleads for his life.

TRANSPARENCY! Doors Closed At Census Session.

THE WUSSIFICATION OF GERMANY PROCEEDS APACE: Banning air guns and paint ball.

UPDATE: Bill Quick: “I’m of two minds: This sort of thing does strike me as ludicrous. On the other hand, there are legitimate reasons to worry about a non-wussified, militaristic Germany. Or Japan, for that matter.”

THE FIVE MOST HORRIFIC parasitic worms. With gruesome pictures.

UPDATE: Reader Jim Warren writes: “I thought the ‘parasitic worms’ article would be about the political class… The pictures were considerably better than what’s on C-Span right now.” Heh. Sometimes a nematode is just a nematode.

ISRAEL: Seven Existential Threats.

IN THE MAIL: Robert H. Churchill’s To Shake Their Guns in the Tyrant’s Face: Libertarian Political Violence and the Origins of the Militia Movement. By “libertarian,” he’s not really referring to modern libertarians, but to the conception of the American Revolution as a response to a corrupt and overweening state. From the introduction, as part of a discussion of the 1990s militia movement:

It seemed to me as a historian that the concept of extremism begged a question: how do certain ideas, movements and political impulses come to be considered extremist? As a citizen whose political identity was shaped by the late twentieth century, I saw the militias’ assertion of a right to use armed force to change government policy as new, threatening, and beyond the pale of legitimate politics. But as a historian of early America I found achingly familiar their assertion of a right to take up arms to prevent the exercise of unconstitutional power by the federal government. As a historian, then, I was faced with a more specific question: how has the United States as a political society come to view the assertion of that right as extremist?

This book might be profitably read along with Pauline Maier’s From Resistance to Revolution.

TOM MAGUIRE: Name That Party – Special CYA With The CIA Edition.

SHOULD BE A TARGET-RICH ENVIRONMENT: SEC Trains Its Sights on ‘Pay to Play’ Participants. (Via NewsAlert).

CHRIS DODD UPDATE: Hoping the credit card bill will save him:

Dodd’s popularity among Connecticut voters has sunk in the wake of several issues dogging him — including mortgages from Countrywide, a troubled lender.

Dodd’s role in the financial industry relief legislation was later tainted when it was revealed he had a hand in writing provisions that allowed bonuses to be paid to AIG executives.

Dodd and his staff have been pushing the credit card legislation heavily in recent weeks — and it has been mentioned prominently in appearances around the state.

But Dodd, who faces re-election next year, says this is far from a new issue for him, having campaigned for more consumer protections for more than 20 years, beginning with disclosures about credit card terms and fees.

On the other hand, the bad publicity just keeps coming:

Since her marriage, Mrs. Dodd, whose name also appeared on those infamous sweetheart mortgages from Countrywide Financial, has seen her income quadruple thanks to her recruitment for lucrative positions on corporate boards, including CME Group, the world’s largest futures exchange. Those jobs have enriched the Dodd household while netting Sen. Dodd’s campaigns at least $40,000 in contributions, according to a published report. In addition, from 2001-04, she was a director for IPC Holdings, an off-shore company controlled by AIG; Sen. Dodd’s political and financial entanglements with AIG are well documented. Today, she also is designated, as required by federal law, as the highly paid “financial expert” on two of her boards’ audit committees, even though she has neither auditing nor accounting credentials or experience. As for Clegg International, she admits she hasn’t had a client since 2005.

Mrs. Dodd protests her husband didn’t help her get these jobs. But with actual business credentials so thin, does she really believe corporations would want her if she wasn’t the wife of a five-term U.S. senator?

And don’t forget that Irish “cottage” . . . .