FARRAH FAWCETT, American Ambassador.

HEH: “I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, because it’s gone under-reported by the news media, but we lost both Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett yesterday.” Why wasn’t I told?

HYPERLOCAL BLOGGING / NEWSPAPER REPLACEMENT at Howard Owens’ The Batavian.

“VAMPIRES AND LEECHES.”

HOPE AND CHANGE! Earlier this week, the White House officially abandoned President Obama’s “Sunlight before Signing” pledge. Those pledges all have expiration dates. All of ’em.

A BILLION DOLLARS? “It’s totally temporary.”

THE MYSTERY OF CHEAP LOBSTER. “Way before our current recession began, lobstermen were doing such a good job conserving their resource that beginning in the 1990s, they were already catching more lobsters than the market could sustain. There’s never been enough demand for all those live lobsters.” Well, I’ve done my part. I sent my brother and his wife live lobsters via Amazon not long ago. They showed up in perfect shape, and were reportedly delicious.

ARNOLD KLING: The Obama Administration appears to me to be pursuing many goals, poorly. Here are four.

1) The stimulus failed to meet Larry Summers’ famous criteria of timely, targeted, or temporary.

2) The cap and trade legislation maximizes rent-seeking (favoritism toward particular businesses) and minimizes carbon reduction.

3) The proposed financial reforms are mostly cosmetic and fail to address the key issues of housing policy and regulatory capital arbitrage.

4) In championing health care reform, the President stresses the unsustainability of our current system, while insisting that nothing will change (you can keep your insurance, keep your doctor, etc.).

The pattern that I see is one of following the path of least political resistance, even if it means failing to make any significant contribution to solving the actual public policy problem. I cannot say that I am completely shocked by this. It is sort of Public Choice 101.

Indeed.

FROM CHARLES AUSTIN, an S.A.T.-type question: “Smoot-Hawley is to Waxman-Markey as …”

CONGRATULATIONS, MICKEY! It’s Kausfiles’ Tenth Anniversary! With a listing of greatest hits!

CAP-AND-TRADE passes House in close vote.

WINDOWS NEWS: Microsoft Drops Prices for Windows 7, Offers Upgrade Deals.

HOPE AND CHANGE SAME! Obama Will Hold Terror Detainees Indefinitely. And yet, I remember a lot of fierce moral urgency on this subject, back before the election. . . .

UPDATE: Obama prepares to hold Gitmo guys indefinitely, just as Bush did. “Ex-Vice President Dick Cheney will be so pleased that the Obama-Biden folks finally accepted his advice to protect national security.”

IF YOU’RE GOING TO BE AT ONE OF THE JULY 4TH TEA PARTY PROTESTS, please sign up as a citizen reporter for PJTV. (Bumped).

HMM: Teenage ‘baby’ may lack master ageing gene. A sad case, but one that — perhaps — might lead to some further understanding of aging processes.

BRAIN GENE boosts risk of obesity.

KEITH HENNESSEY: How much bailout money will taxpayers get back? The real answer, though — in terms of what taxpayers will see in terms of reduced taxes or other actual as opposed to notional returns — is probably “bupkis.” Money returned to the Treasury will, I suspect, just get spent on whatever the politicians’ pet projects are at the moment . . . .

WARNING: Energy Rationing Ahead.

WATCH OUT for ticks.

MORE ON THAT UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS ADMISSIONS CORRUPTION SCANDAL, in the Chicago Tribune. “The documents show for the first time efforts to seek favors — in this case, jobs — for admissions, the most troubling evidence yet of how Illinois’ entrenched system of patronage crept into the state’s most prestigious public university.”

THE FARRAH FAWCETT – AYN RAND CONNECTION.

IDENTIFYING high-altitude wind-power hotspots.

IT MAY BE A PHOTOSHOP, but I still like it.

SWINE FLU: Apocalypse Not.

SCHOOL SECRETARY MOM CHANGES DAUGHTER’S GRADES IN COMPUTER. And lowers those of other students to improve her daughter’s standing. Tacky, as well as felonious.