WIRED: Strange New Air Force Facility Energizes Ionosphere, Fans Conspiracy Flames.

BREITBART TV: Obama on single-payer, uncut.

WEDDING PICTURES taken with a fisheye lens. But of course!

RESVERATROL suppresses inflammation in mice.

THE WHITE HOUSE SAYS IT’S NOT CONCERNED ABOUT HEALTH CARE PROTESTS. They’re so unconcerned that they’re dispatching surrogates to claim the protests are fake.

For a graphic illustration of the difference between real and contrived protests, see this. Meanwhile, how’s all that “post-partisan” hope-and-change talk going to play into a strategy to call your opponents dumb rednecks who are pawns of Satan insurance companies? Can they do this without hurting their own credibility?

UPDATE: They’re not worried about the protests, but they’re looking for snitches.

ANOTHER UPDATE: From Eugene Volokh, a critical take on the “snitches” angle. Interesting discussion in the comments, too.

I THINK THEY’D RELEASE THE INFO IF IT WAS GOOD NEWS: Obama administration withholds data on program. “The Obama administration is refusing to release government records on its ‘cash-for-clunkers’ rebate program that would substantiate — or undercut — White House claims of the program’s success, even as the president presses the Senate for a quick vote for $2 billion to boost car sales.”

IS THIS THE BEST THEY CAN DO?

ARE NISSAN’S ELECTRIC-CAR RANGE ESTIMATES too optimistic?

GARLIC FOR A HEALTHY HEART? Go fresh.

IN THE MAIL: Robert Heinlein’s The Puppet Masters, from the folks at Baen, with an afterword by Sarah Hoyt that’s almost worth the price of the book itself.

MORE REPORTING from Honduras.

PARTNERSHIP, NOT PATRONAGE: A message for Hillary Clinton from four African presidents.

CHRIS DODD UPDATE: Influence with U.S. Senators Easy to Buy.

If I had an eight-unit apartment building, Countrywide representatives would have refused to provide a refinanced mortgage for me. But for Sen. Conrad, they said they’d make an “exception.”

I own two homes, one owner-occupied and the other a rental. I cannot afford to refinance my rental because the rate, points and fees on a rental are too high. Not so for Sen. Dodd. Countrywide made an “exception” and allowed him to claim his first and second homes as “owner occupied” so he could get a great rate, points and fees and he was able to refinance both homes.

These two senators did sit on very powerful committees that deal with legislation affecting the mortgage industry and Countrywide Mortgage, and they still do. Does any American really believe that Countrywide provided these special deals to these two senators and others just to be nice?

Read the whole thing.

MORE PERSONNEL PROBLEMS: “Obama administration officials are holding discussions that could result in White House counsel Gregory Craig leaving his post, following a rocky tenure, people familiar with the matter said. Mr. Craig, the top lawyer at the White House and a close aide to President Barack Obama, has helped lead the administration’s efforts on several national-security issues that once enjoyed popularity but have since become become political liabilities for Mr. Obama.”

UH OH: Geithner Vents At Regulators As Overhaul Stumbles. “Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner blasted top U.S. financial regulators in an expletive-laced critique last Friday as frustration grows over the Obama administration’s faltering plan to overhaul U.S. financial regulation, according to people familiar with the meeting.”

APPARENTLY, EARL OFARI HUTCHINSON slept through the last 8 years. Sorry guys — wind, whirlwind, and all that.

Meanwhile, Jim Treacher is on the case.

UPDATE: “How quickly they forget.” A roundup of Bush-era assassination-chic.

HOWARD KURTZ: Time for Plan B? “With the flap over the Cash for Clunkers program, the media-political establishment is questioning whether the president’s health-care plan is a clunker as well. The opposition — including a very screechy woman who confronted Kathleen Sebelius at a town hall meeting — is asking how the administration can remake one-sixth of the economy if it can’t handle a used-car program. . . . I may be in the minority, but how can the administration declare the clunkers program a success when a billion-dollar effort that was supposed to last till November ran out of money in five days? Isn’t that a pretty spectacular miscalculation?”

Actually, a majority oppose the program now.

MORE VOTER ANGER AT CONGRESS, this time experienced by Rep. Steven Driehaus (D-OH). Video at the link.

OBAMA ADVISERS SET GROUNDWORK FOR TAXING MIDDLE CLASS. Don’t be ridiculous. Obama promised not to raise taxes on anyone making under $250K.

WHO IS JOHN GALT? TaxProf: Tax Revenues Fall 18%, Biggest Drop Since Depression.

LESSONS FROM THE V.A. — also known as ObamaCare for Vets.

FINALLY, the spleen gets some respect.

Scientists have discovered that the spleen, long consigned to the B-list of abdominal organs and known as much for its metaphoric as its physiological value, plays a more important role in the body’s defense system than anyone suspected.

Reporting in the current issue of the journal Science, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School describe studies showing that the spleen is a reservoir for huge numbers of immune cells called monocytes, and that in the event of a serious trauma to the body like a heart attack, gashing wound or microbial invasion, the spleen will disgorge those monocyte multitudes into the bloodstream to tackle the crisis.

“The parallel in military terms is a standing army,” said Matthias Nahrendorf.

I haven’t had a spleen since I was 3, so I’m kind of sorry to hear this . . . .

MICKEY KAUS: “House liberals would be lucky, at this point, to get the Blue Dog deal, inferior though it may be. … Isn’t there some introductory Welcome to Congress course where they tell you that threatening something you obviously won’t deliver is a way to lose respect and power?” Plus: Want a grant? Get a “partner.”

BILL WHITTLE: Where Black Is White.

WHITE HOUSE “CYBER CZAR” resigns.