WHAT WE EAT when we eat alone.

TIM CAVANAUGH: Biggest Bank Failure of the Year, So Far.

MORE SHEILA JACKSON LEE astroturf.

ROGER KIMBALL: Yale and the Danish Cartoons: The Plot Thickens.

OUR GOVERNMENT: Making merely astronomical numbers sound puny.

SCENES FROM A NEW AMERICA: So I dropped the girls off at a movie, and — since the Insta-wife was lunching with her mom — stopped at a Sonny’s Barbecue for lunch. A man — late 40s, big, with a wife and a daughter — came in with an empty holster on his belt. As he sat down at the booth next to mine, the manager came by and asked him if he’d left his gun in the car. Yes, said the man, who had a permit but thought he wasn’t allowed to carry in restaurants in Tennessee.. Well, they’ve changed the law, said the manager, and if you want to go get it that’s fine with us. It’s legal now, and I’m happy to have you carrying — if somebody tries to rob me, it’s two against one.

The man stepped outside and returned with a Springfield XD in the holster, chatted with the manager for a bit about guns, and then sat down and had lunch with his family.

FEELING THE LOVE for Kourtney and Khloe.

A MATHEMATICAL MODEL for a spreading zombie infestation.

BIG HOLLYWOOD: The Return of Mad Men. As I noted a while back, I got consumed, but then lost steam as I found it kind of depressing.

IN THE MAIL: Charles Stross’s The Revolution Business: Book Five of The Merchant Princes.

CELEBRATING THE 50th Anniversary of the Hovercraft. Plus, a human-powered version. What?

ANOTHER ARLEN SPECTER TOWN HALL:

About 1,500 people waited for hours near Kittanning under the beating sun for the town hall meeting on health care reform. . . . Taunts followed many of his comments. When he said he wouldn’t support a bill that would increase the deficit, many laughed. And when he said he wants to encourage people to stop smoking, one person yelled: “What about Obama smoking?” . . .

After the meeting concluded, Specter told about two dozen reporters that he has been surprised at the rising anger and the number of people attending the meetings. As Democrats on break hold similar town hall meetings across the nation, the angry crowds have garnered headlines and some live TV coverage.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Specter said.

Give him credit for showing up, though, which is more than some have been willing to do.

UPDATE: Poll: 54% Say Passing No Healthcare Reform Better Than Passing Congressional Plan.

TEA PARTY FALLOUT? Democratic Senators say no vote on cap-and-trade this year.

AN OOZING SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT? “She absolutely would not show her card or check in; she felt like she shouldn’t have to.”

MICHAEL BARONE ON OBAMACARE: Why The Public Isn’t Buying It.

JAMES TARANTO ON SARAH PALIN: If she’s dim and Obama is brilliant, how did he lose the argument to her?

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

QUID PRO QUO: “This is beyond Astroturf; this is a veritable Jurassic Park of fake foliage.”

REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE FILLS IN after Democratic Congresswoman a no-show at Town Hall.

SO IS THIS BAD NEWS, OR GOOD NEWS? Pace Of Stimulus Spending Plummets:

Stimulus bill spending has slowed to a trickle, despite President Obama’s June order to his Cabinet to speed it up.

The average stimulus spending per week has dropped severely, to just $4.2 billion over the past month from $9.7 billion during the prior four months. The government spent $2.9 billion in the week ending Aug. 7.

Taxpayer groups say the numbers show spending decisions are random and prove that the $787 billion stimulus program has had no effect on the economy.

“This is a typical bureaucracy. They don’t operate in an efficient way. They can’t operate in an efficient way and make an impact,” said Leslie Paige, media director for Citizens Against Government Waste.

The spending has slowed despite Mr. Obama’s declaration in June that he was “not satisfied” with its pace, and his demand that his Cabinet secretaries accelerate the distribution of stimulus funds.

Tentatively, I’m going with “good news.” It certainly undercuts calls for a second stimulus package, when they can’t even manage to spend the first one properly.

YAWN: Mutation Tied to Need for Less Sleep Is Discovered.

THIS ROBERT REICH COLUMN ON THE HEALTH CARE DEBATE is supposed to make you feel bad about the “right wing hate machine,” but instead it’s a stunning admission of incompetence:

Why are these meetings brimming with so much anger? Because Republican Astroturfers have joined the same old right-wing broadcast demagogues that have been spewing hate and fear for years, to create a tempest.

But why are they getting away with it? Why aren’t progressives—indeed, why aren’t ordinary citizens—taking the meetings back?

Mainly because there’s still no healthcare plan. All we have are some initial markups from several congressional committees, which differ from one another in significant ways. The White House’s is waiting to see what emerges from the House and Senate before insisting on what it wants, maybe in conference committee.

But that’s the problem: It’s always easier to stir up fear and anger against something that’s amorphous than to stir up enthusiasm for it.

Hmm. So it’s like this:

Obama: I’m going to turn healthcare upside down. Not sure how.

People: I don’t think I’ll like this.

Obama: Haters!

Remember how Bush was supposed to be the idiot who went into Iraq without a plan, while Obama was supposed to be the cool methodical one? But Reich is admitting that despite all the Administration hoopla, there’s still no plan. Or, possibly, that the White House has a plan, but won’t tell us what it is. And yet the people who don’t want to see a bill — some bill, doing who-knows-what — rammed through in the dead of night are somehow the ones who are ignorant and being manipulated. Right.

UPDATE: Reader John Copella writes: “What’s especially hilarious is this delusion taking root among the left that these things are ‘astroturfed’. Have you ever seen a clear case of projection in your life?”

VIDEO: An ObamaCare protest in San Francisco. “If you can get a few 300-500 anti-liberal protesters onto the streets of San Francisco, well, it can only mean there must be a disturbance in the Force.”

UPDATE: Quent Cordair emails;

I was there all afternoon, protesting with a dozen friends from the Golden Gate Objectivists club. Even more proof that there was a disturbance in the force: from what I saw, there was only one lonely counter-protester all afternoon! She’s the one in the video, pacing the back of the crowd with the sign “Who would Jesus insure?” with “Answer: Everybody!” on the sign’s reverse. During a few minutes of silence being solemnly observed by the protesters, marking the politicians’ refusal to hear our concerns, the counter-protestor continued to frenetically march around the perimeter, chanting loudly, “Free Health Care For Everyone!” We endured her silently for awhile, until someone raised the responding chant, “Free Beer For Everyone!” The counter-protester gave up and went away. It was a good day.

Free Beer For Everyone! I like it. And here’s another report, with photos, at GayPatriot.

Still more here, with lots of pics.

SILENCING DISSENT? There’s An App For That!

MORE ON Nancy Pelosi’s confused attitude toward protest:

Then: “I’m a fan of disruptors. Nothing could be more American.”
Now: “Disruptors are simply un-American.”

Then: “I understand your anger.”
Now: “I can’t stand your anger.”

Heh.