DON’T BE FOOLED: Swine Flu Still Poses A Deadly Threat.

ANOTHER GLENN BECK TARGET FALLS: NEA “propaganda” scandal claims a scalp.

SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC PRICE DROPS continue.

JOHN FUND: ACORN Outdoes Itself.

I thought I’d heard every possible charge about corruption at ACORN, a feisty, union-backed activist group that became infamous last year when it was investigated for voter registration fraud in 15 states. Just yesterday, 11 ACORN workers were accused by Florida prosecutors of falsifying information on some 900 voter registration forms.

But this morning brings a Fox News report that ACORN officials in Baltimore offered to help get a housing loan and falsify tax documents for a proposed house of prostitution that would employ underage girls from El Salvador. The episode was captured on tape by an undercover filmmaker, James O’Keefe, who wanted to see just how far ACORN would go. Watching the tape — which can be seen at Biggovernment.com — is a creepy experience. ACORN itself has told Fox News the episode represents “gotcha journalism” but wouldn’t comment further until it sees the full tape.

But read the whole thing. And there’s more — including ACORN’s not entirely convincing denial — here.

UPDATE: Reader John Galvin writes:

Isn’t it interesting that this is on Breitbart’s site and NOT on 60 Minutes, or Nightline, or any of the network evening news broadcasts. It’s pretty damning yet does not seem to have any “news value” according to the networks. A cynic might conclude that the MSM doesn’t want you to see this this side of “community organizers”.

“Might” conclude?

ANOTHER UPDATE: “ACORN’s screams of outrage are diagnostic: they’re essentially claiming that when asked, other offices didn’t give out tax advice on running illegal underage brothels.”

THE FALL’S best new TV shows. I’m still mourning The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

REASON TV on how to solve the health care problem.

NICK GILLESPIE: Where’s the Paying Customer? Health care reform isn’t serious until the patient is at the center of the picture.

THIN-FILM SOLAR STARTUP debuts with $4 billion in contracts.

INGENUITY: A Chinese DIY Submarine Made From Oil Barrels.

NEIL GAIMAN: “George R.R. Martin is not your bitch.”

In the blog world, we call this the “public utility” problem. I say, take Major Tammes’ advice. He’s now Col. Tammes, so he must know something . . . .

Thanks to reader Michael Greenspan for the Gaiman link.

AFTER HUBBLE REPAIR, new images from space. They’re certainly impressive.

PREFERENCES: Survey says… nearly half of Americans want to buy something like the Volt, but do they want to pay? Pre-bailout, I was interested. Now, not so much. And, in fact, the very first comment to this story is “GM can suck it. I’m buying a Nissan Leaf.” I wonder how many people feel that way?

EDWARD TENNER: Law and Hoarder. “There are three problems with a legislative ban on anything in the absence of immediate harm. The first, as the German case shows, is that some people who might have increased their use of energy-saving bulbs, will protest limits on their choice by hoarding — resulting in more energy spent producing bulbs that may outlive their purchasers. The second is that it removes an important incentive for the development of compact fluorescent lamps and light-emitting diodes that produce a more pleasing light, killing off the competition and reference standard. And the third is that it is an arbitrary and inconsistent way to promote energy saving; there’s no limit to the wattage of new-style bulbs. The industry failed to learn from its founder, Thomas Edison, whose light bulb was designed to be not only more convenient than gas light, but more pleasant, according to Charles Bazerman’s study.”

iCUB, THE TODDLER ROBOT.

IN THE MAIL: From Martin Gross, National Suicide: How Washington Is Destroying the American Dream from A to Z.

DEALBREAKER: Chris Dodd prepares for the beard. “Now that the Senate Ethics Committee has opined that Chris Dodd’s status as a VIP friend of A-Moz and associated discounts does not violate the moral high road, the Senate Banking Committee Chairman can get back to his bread and butter- playing Monday morning quarterback for the financial crisis. The Countrywide circle of trust member now wants to make it known that the Beard can expect a ‘thorough and comprehensive’ renomination hearing during which Dodd will prominently display his ability to recount revisionist history.”

What about that Irish “cottage” of Dodd’s?

NO: Auto Bailout Left Public In The Dark.

U.S. taxpayers are unlikely to recover their $81 billion investment in General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC and were “left in the dark” on specifics of a decision to aid automakers, a congressional panel said.

The U.S. Treasury Department should consider placing its GM and Chrysler ownership stakes into an independent trust to prevent “political pressure and government interference,” the Congressional Oversight Panel said in a report yesterday.

“Even if no direct conflict exists, a trust could prevent the use or appearance of political influence in the government’s ownership,” the panel concluded.

Good idea, but I doubt there will be much enthusiasm for avoiding political influence, since to many in Washington that’s not a bug, but a feature . . . .

JACK LAIL ON THE REAL HEALTH CARE QUESTION: Is it “health care” or “healthcare?”

UPDATE: Matt Welch: Obama’s Lies Matter, Too. “It is telling that so many people who claim to be speaking on the side of Truth, Justice, and the American Way of Journalism have consistently focused their outrage-o-meters at individual townhall attendees, political broadcast entertainers, and the lesser lights of a lame (if resurgent-by-default) opposition party, while letting walk nearly fact-check-free the non-irrelevant occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. If calling out lies and misrepresentations about a significant policy proposal is such pressing journalistic business—and it should be!—you’d think the watchdogs might start with the guy doing the proposing.”

ALL OVER THE LATEST ACORN SCANDALS: At Andrew Breitbart’s new BigGovernment.com site. Just keep scrolling.

UPDATE: From ACORN, a denial. Video, etc. at this link, too, as the one to Breitbart’s site is overloaded at times.

LESSONS REPORTERS need to learn.

A MAJOR CORRECTION at the L.A. Times.

THE “SHORT ARM” OF THE LAW.

DAVID GRATZER: The Unhealthy Politics of Deja Vu. “President Clinton’s health-care legislation didn’t fail in 1994 because people didn’t want better health care. The White House plan failed because it was too bureaucratic, too complicated, and too expensive. Last night, President Obama’s response to sixteen years (and one angry August recess) worth of bi-partisan doubt was to double down and bet even more political capital on the same approach. It’s as if he expected Americans to tune in, and suddenly realize their mistake. . . . The speech was brilliant–unless you’ve actually read the legislation behind it, which contradicts many of the President’s restated ‘commitments.’ . . . President Obama’s address to Congress made it clear that he’s barely listened to the national debate on health care that he himself set in motion. Yesterday’s teachable moment: the more America learns about government-run health care, the more Barack Obama wants to talk, and the less he wants to hear.”

TIGERHAWK WINS THE AWARD: “What is it with guys named Joe Wilson? Do they all accuse presidents of lying?”

TRADE DEFICIT SKYROCKETS: Upside spin: This shows the economy is improving, because people are buying more stuff. Downside spin: This is all stuff that’s being bought with borrowed money.