DON SURBER: Not a good day for Robert Gibbs. “Just reading the questions alone from today’s White House press briefing, you get the feeling some sharks are smelling blood in the water. . . . This is entertaining. Gibbs and President Obama are learning that they are not the only ones looking at the polls. No one wants to be aboard the Titanic.”

TIM CAVANAUGH: Green Shoots Reports From All Over!

STEVE CROWDER: GO FLAG YOURSELF.

ABC NEWS: “Across the street from the White House for the last 16 days sit Iranians on a hunger strike, demanding justice for the victims of the attack on Camp Ashraf in Iraq – an incident few Americans know anything about.”

JESSE WALKER: Understanding the clashes at the health care “town halls.”

UPDATE: Harry Reid: Protesters are “Evil-Mongers.” Remember how Democrats and media made fun of Bush for talking about “evildoers?” But those were just terrorists, not people who, you know, opposed the Obama Administration’s agenda.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Allen S. Thorpe writes: “A reminder for Brother Reid. He needs to read his Book of Mormon.”

MORE: Reader Barry Dauphin writes: “Looks like Harry Reid is defining evil down, to paraphrase the late Patrick Moynihan. The Axis of Evil used to be Saddam, Kim Jong-Il and Khamenei. Now it’s grandmothers worried about losing healthcare benefits. Hope and Change!”

Plus further thoughts from Rand Simberg.

BUT DON’T CALL IT “ASTROTURF:” L.A. Times: Wanted: Obama healthcare reform volunteers willing to be paid $15 an hour. “It seems that, despite all the media attention lavished on e-mail appeals to his supporters, not everyone pushing for President Obama’s embattled healthcare reform plan these warm August days is an idealistic volunteer in it for the sake of helping move the country forward and gaining medical attention for millions of uninsured Americans. . . . It’s a web ad on Craigslist: ‘You can work for change. Join motivated staff around the country working to make change happen. You can make great friends and money along the way. Earn $400-$600 a week.'”

Okay, actually, you can call it astroturf if you like.

UPDATE: “I can smell the sulphurous stench of a PIRG come-on three thousand miles away.” Plus this: “It would be interesting to know who is paying them. It would be even more interesting to know what these volunteers will be saying to their victims targets over the next month. But perhaps the most interesting question is: why now? Canvasses are mostly summer operations for several good reasons: weather, and a ready supply of students with time on their hands. I suppose weather’s not a real issue in LA, and there are probably a fair number of unemployed college grads wandering around who would be happy to make $15 an hour. But with school starting, there will be a lot fewer homeowners with time to listen.”

TECHNOLOGY MARCHES ON: A GPS with speech recognition for under two hundred bucks. Why can’t we harness these forces to lower health care costs?

ASK DR. HELEN — ABOUT POLYAMORY: The Insta-Wife hosts a threesome discussion.

WRAL: Sources: Edwards to admit paternity of ex-mistress’ child.

That’s the ex-mistress, remember, that the press worked very hard not to tell us about. Keep rockin’!

ASTEROIDS: stepping stones to Mars?

THE MYTHBUSTERS GUIDE to Gonzo Engineering.

HEALTH CARE GOES PSYCHEDELIC. Er, or something.

SAD NEWS: Les Paul has died.

A TOWNHALL CONTRAST: Reader John Winkler writes: “Right now there’s a townhall meeting in Livingston Texas with Kevin Brady, and it’s just amazing. It’s full, but the people quietly listened to him explain how he is trying to put the brakes on the health care effort, and the Q-and-A is calm and respectful. Seems like if you understand and agree with your constituents, these things go pretty well.”

It’s over, but the C-SPan video is online here. They’ll have Grassley on about 6:50 Eastern tonight.

Meanwhile, there’s this: Coffman Town Hall–ObamaCare Supporter Hits Camera.

ASK SLASHDOT: How Can I Tell if My Computer Is Part of a Botnet?

IS IT A GRILL? Or a work of art? I need a new grill, kind of, but this may be too fancy for me.

COMING FROM BMW: The most powerful hybrid in history: “The BMW X6 ActiveHybrid has arrived, and as previously covered, the new gas-electric X6 will be the most powerful hybrid in history, with 480 peak horsepower and diesel-like plateau of 575 lb-ft of torque. That impressive powertrain consists of twin electric motors (delivering 91 hp and 86 hp, respectively) and a twin-turbo 4.4-liter V8 engine.” Of course, the problem with the “most powerful” hybrid is this: An estimated 18 mpg combined. Not all that impressive for a hybrid.

PNEUMONIC PLAGUE: Should we worry?

UH OH: Earth could be blindsided by asteroids, panel warns.

CELEBRITIES in bikinis.

PENN JILLETTE: Is Dissent Still Patriotic?

MAKIN’ BACON: To some a fad, to others an artisanal craft. “Forget Mickey Rourke and Britney Spears. The biggest comeback story in recent years is bacon. Once a staple of American breakfast tables, cured, smoked pork bellies picked up a bad reputation back in the 1980s, amid concerns over saturated fat and cholesterol. Then the tide turned. Some credit low-carb fad diets, others a general backlash against puritanical food fears, but somewhere along the way bacon became cool again. In fact, you could argue that America is now gripped by full-on baconmania.”

Including Bacon Beer. “Either this will be the most amazingly disgusting thing you’ve ever tasted in your life. Or I shall rule the earth.”

IN THE MAIL: From Peter Leonard, Trust Me.

IS INTERNET PORN the best sex-ed for teenagers?

Hey, I’m on record as suggesting that porn and violent videogames are good for America’s children.

UPDATE: Yeah, the first link doesn’t work any more — the piece has been taken down. I don’t know why, as it was really pretty tame.

SO HAVE WE HIT BOTTOM YET? Foreclosures rise 7 percent in July from June.