IN THE MAIL: From S.M. Stirling, The Sword of the Lady: A Novel Of The Change.

THE TWELVE most annoying types of Facebookers.

THOUGHTS ON the narrative.

SUCH DEFENSES ARE NOT FOR THE LITTLE PEOPLE: Tax Court Rejects Taxpayer’s Attempt to Use Geithner’s TurboTax Defense. “Petitioners were not permitted to bury their heads in the sand and ignore their obligation to ensure that their tax return accurately reflected their income for 2006. In the end, reliance on tax return preparation software does not excuse petitioners’ failure to review their 2006 tax return.” With bonus Geithner video.

COMMERCIAL SPACE UPDATE: Behind The Scenes With Space-X.

IN SWEDEN, seeing an STD as an affirmation of manliness. Well, Dylan Thomas felt that way. But Sweden? You’d think they’d be more . . . progressive.

JENNIFER RUBIN: It’s the Personal Liberty, Stupid: Republicans must listen to the voters and finally give them what they demand: less government in their lives.

HOW TO win friends and influence people in Afghanistan.

WHAT REALLY MATTERS in health care reform.

FOR REP. JIM MORAN, Town Hall Chaos. Plus this: “The meeting hosted by Moran contrasted sharply to a town hall in Springfield held by 11th District Democrat Gerry Connolly earlier in the day. Connolly on Tuesday told hundreds of seniors at Springfield’s Greenspring Retirement Community that he would oppose any health care measure that ‘in any way, shape or form does any harm to Medicare.’ The more than 400-strong crowd — made up largely of highly educated, white-collar retirees — showed little of the outsized rage seen at other town hall meetings. Many, however, expressed deep skepticism over how a public health insurance plan would be paid for, given spiraling federal deficits, or how it would interfere with existing care.”

UPDATE: Here’s C-SPAN video of the Moran town hall.

STEPHEN GREEN, SCOTT OTT, BILL WHITTLE: Love Stinks, Especially If You’re In The White House Press Pool.

THIS SOUNDS LIKE GOOD NEWS: Durable Goods Orders Increase By Most in 2 Years.

SO ARE WOMEN’S HATS coming back?

TERRORISTS SENTENCED IN CANADA: “Saad Khalid, 23, told a Brampton courtroom he accepted responsibility for his role in the domestic terror plot to detonate bombs outside the Toronto Stock Exchange and CSIS headquarters, as well as an unnamed Ontario military base, in 2006. Khalid said he wanted people to know his true motives: his ‘disagreement’ with Canada’s foreign policy, specifically Afghanistan. ‘I was not motivated by a hate for Canada,’ Khalid read from a prepared speech. ‘I am not a lunatic who is hell-bent on the destruction of western civilization.'” Well that’s a relief. But there’s this: “Khalid was arrested in June 2006 while unloading what he and fellow alleged conspirators believed was two tonnes of ammonium nitrate, according to an uncontested statement of facts entered earlier.”

NEWS FROM F.I.R.E.: Free-Speech Organization Launches National Advertising Campaign Warning Colleges That Violate Students’ Rights. It’s pretty direct.

ANN ALTHOUSE: “Teddy Kennedy’s death will be used to rekindle the old argument that we need to shut up and hurry up about health care reform. So I assume.”

UPDATE: The assumption is correct.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Todd Steed.

ACTUAL BUDGET DEFICIT OVER THE NEXT DECADE looking like $14 Trillion?

UPDATE: Slate: New Deficit Projection Is Gift to Obama Opponents.

DON’T BLAME OBAMA: In my experience, Thomas Friedman books tend to spend a lot of time on the nightstand.

REP. JOSEPH CAO and ObamaCare.

REMEMEBERING Rose Friedman.

AS BUDGET DEFICIT GROWS, so do doubts on the dollar. “Now, though, major investors like Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Chairman Warren Buffett and bond investment firm Pimco fear the government’s fiscal and monetary stimulus programs could end up fueling inflation in coming years and hammering the dollar. Higher inflation eats up the returns of bond investments that provide a fixed interest income, making them less attractive to investors. Less demand for U.S. bonds could mean a weaker dollar.”

READER PATRICK WHITTOME EMAILS:

Small observation from a British fan if I may:

Scotland (wrongly) releases a convicted mass murdering terrorist. USA (rightly) goes ballistic.

Ted Kennedy dies. USA goes all ‘lion of the senate’, great man passing, blah, blah blah. He spent the 1970s giving huge support to Noraid. The press focus on his Chappaquiddick thing as the low point of his career – that’s not the view from Ulster!

Good point. It’s worth noting, though, that he repudiated Noraid later: “Then Noraid suffered a series of reverses. Four prominent Irish-American politicians – Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Senator Ted Kennedy, House Speaker Tip O’Neill, and New York Governor Hugh Carey – released a statement condemning activities which support the IRA. Then, in 1979, the murder of Mountbatten outraged Americans and support for Noraid diminished markedly.” So he may have just been a useful idiot.

UPDATE: An Irish perspective, from Slugger O’Toole.

CHINA CUTS UP AMERICA’S CREDIT CARDS. “Government data released for June 2009 shows that China has begun to make good on its forecast to start reducing exposure to US government debt. This was not done for ideological or political reasons, as some may claim, but rather because of an honest risk vs. reward assessment and internal forces threatening to tear the rosy veneer from China’s economy.”

TED KENNEDY has died.

UPDATE: A Wellstone Memorial on steroids? And how did that work out?

ANOTHER UPDATE: Michael Moynihan: “I’m no Emily Post, but doesn’t good taste dictate that ObamaCare advocates wait at least one business day before using Ted Kennedy’s death to agitate for health care reform? . . . The insomniacs at Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) office tapped out an email within an hour of the public announcement.”