ZERO TO SIXTY IN UNDER FIVE SECONDS, in the new BMW hybrid 7-series.

Plus: Toyota secretly tested lithium-ion Priuses for three years.

JON STEWART ON ACORN: The Audacity of Hos. You know the story’s got legs now.

TURBOTAX TRIES TO KILL free electronic filing in California.

RADLEY BALKO on prosecutorial discretion.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ACORN and the SEIU.

ED MORRISSEY: “Who owns the word ‘Politico’?” The blogosphere has been very good to Politico, and I think they should bear in mind the ill-will they’re incurring as a result of their heavy-handed legal tactics. This is like me going after everyone who uses the word “pundit” in their blog name.

BUT OBAMACARE WON’T COVER GODIVA: Study: Chocolate Has Heart Benefits. “In a study that will provide comfort to chocoholics everywhere, researchers in Sweden have found evidence that people who eat chocolate have increased survival rates after a heart attack — and it may be that the more they eat, the better.”

LIGHTING A CHARCOAL GRILL using liquid oxygen. Not OSHA-approved. . . .

HMM: Ethics Panel Investigates Waters, Graves and Jackson. Interesting extra bit about Jesse Jackson, Jr. “A statement issued by the ethics committee said each of the investigations is ongoing, but the panel will defer its efforts in Jackson’s case in light of an ongoing Justice Department inquiry.” Hmm. What could Justice be looking at?

THIS, FROM THE WASHINGTON POST, IS INTERESTING:

The White House officials are eager to avoid the perception that the president is directly engaging critics who appear to speak only for a vocal minority, and part of their strategy involves pushing material to liberal and progressive media outlets to steer the coverage in their direction, senior advisers said.

When critics lashed out at President Obama for scheduling a speech to public school students this month, accusing him of wanting to indoctrinate children to his politics, his advisers quickly scrubbed his planned comments for potentially problematic wording. They then reached out to progressive Web sites such as the Huffington Post, liberal bloggers and Democratic pundits to make their case to a friendly audience.

The Anchoress writes, “That’s one thing that struck me about Obama’s speech to the school children: how nothing he said seemed to bear any direct relation to the problematic teaching materials which had been released in anticipation of the event. I suspected, then, that the speech had been re-written into utter banality in order to make the conservatives who objected to the speech seem like paranoid nutters. This seems to confirm that. And it’s a brilliant tactic; were I in the WH, I’d have done the same thing.”

IN THE MAIL: From Elizabeth Moon, The Serrano Succession.

NICK GILLESPIE: Thank God The Kids Will Pay For Health Reform. “Despite rhetoric to the contrary, government policies tend to take from the relatively poor and give to the relatively wealthy (see the Medicare prescription drug plan for an example). And so it is with health insurance reform, where it’ll be the kids who pay for the rest of us.”

THE ATLANTIC: ACORN Feels Some Mainstream Heat.

UPDATE: Andrew Cuomo opens an investigation in New York.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader John Oates writes:

I think the real theme that has gone unreported here (or at least under-reported) is the attractive female factor. I forget who first noticed this trend, but when really hot females get involved in a political movement, that’s when you know it has become a winning cause. Just look at the difference between Hannah Giles and the women at the ACORN offices. Whose side would you rather be on?

I think P.J. O’Rourke wrote something on this phenomenon. . . .

MORE: ACORN Defense: “We’re a bunch of liars!”

FALLOUT: GOP Leaders Ask IRS To Cut All Ties With ACORN.

CYNTHIA TUCKER, VOICE OF REASON: “What Wilson did was boorish and offensive, but it wasn’t racist. You don’t do anything to highlight genuine bigotry, which is still aloose in the land, when you accuse everyone who offends you of racist sentiment.”

Related: An Allergic Reaction To The Race Card. “While the false accusation of racism is not a new tactic, it has been refined by Obama supporters into a toxic powder which is causing damage to the social fabric of the country by artificially injecting race into every political issue. . . . The effect of these accusations is poisonous. Race is the most sensitive and inflammatory subject in this country. By turning every issue, even a discussion of a health care policy, into an argument about race, liberals have created a politically explosive mixture in which the harder they seek to suppress opposing voices, the harder those voices seek to be heard.”

JOHN GALT, M.D.: Poll: 45% Of Doctors Would Consider Quitting If Congress Passes Health Care Overhaul.

GREGG EASTERBROOK ON NORMAN BORLAUG: The Man Who Defused the ‘Population Bomb’. “Norman Borlaug arguably the greatest American of the 20th century died late Saturday after 95 richly accomplished years. The very personification of human goodness, Borlaug saved more lives than anyone who has ever lived. He was America’s Albert Schweitzer: a brilliant man who forsook privilege and riches in order to help the dispossessed of distant lands. That this great man and benefactor to humanity died little-known in his own country speaks volumes about the superficiality of modern American culture.”

American media culture, anyway.

PHOTO: On board the Tucson Tea Party Bus. The blonde woman is Morgana Gallaway, author of The Nightingale.

FRANK WARNER: While Democrats rule, 20 things the press won’t report on. “Yes, if the bodies pop up in the river with Democrats’ notarized confessions attached, the establishment journalists will do a story or two. But they won’t dig, delve and discover with one-hundredth the delightful dedication they have when Republicans are in control.”

GREG POLLOWITZ: Dissent is the greatest form of racism.

And just a few short months ago, it was the highest form of patriotism.

DON SURBER: NYT and NPR react to ACORN.

WHAT’S MISSING from the NYT’s ACORN coverage. Me, I’m just happy that there is coverage. Talk about low expectations . . . .

A RIGHT TO REPAIR YOUR CAR BILL:

Since the advent of congressionally mandated computers in vehicles more than 15 years ago (for emissions), cars have evolved into complex machines that are no longer just mechanical. Computers now monitor and control most systems in the car from brakes to tire pressure and all the electronics and engine fluids. That has forced automotive repair shops to invest in expensive computer databases and scanners that allow us to read complex codes to diagnose problems.

Yet, despite the investment of thousands of dollars in diagnostic equipment, computers and training by independent service garages, car manufacturers continue to hold back on some of the information that your mechanic needs in order to properly repair your car and reset your codes and warning lights.

It is a long-running battle that most consumers are unaware of as their local mechanics quietly struggle to locate those codes against a determined auto industry unwilling to part with them.

This goes back to the scanner point a reader made the other day.

BUSTED NYC TERROR PLOT “on the scale of” 9/11.

VIA EMAIL, I hear that Mark Levin’s Liberty And Tyranny has sold over one million copies. Funny that it’s gotten so little attention from the Legacy Media. Well, not really funny.