INSTA-POLL: So the Tea Party Movement is well underway. And I think there’s a lot to be said for the notion of demonstrating over passing the biggest spending bill in history without even reading it. If that’s not a reason for protest, what is? But should there be further goals? It’s a viral, grassroots movement, so it’s a matter for discussion, not direction. But here are some alternatives — and please discuss in the comments.

ETERNAL VIGILANCE, AND ALL THAT: Sneaky Back Door Gun Grab in Obama Budget?

VISITING THE Department of GDP.

GREG BEATO REPORTS on the D.I.Y. brewing revolution.

A FOLLOWUP ON THE KATHRYN JOHNSTON DRUG-RAID BOTCH IN ATLANTA:

A federal judge who sent three fallen cops to prison for a notorious drug raid that left an elderly woman dead said Tuesday that Atlanta Police Department performance quotas unduly influenced the officers’ behavior.

“It is my fervent hope the Atlanta Police Department will take to heart what has happened here,” U.S. District Judge Julie Carnes said. At the close of an emotional two-day hearing, Carnes sentenced former officers Gregg Junnier, Jason R. Smith and Arthur Bruce Tesler to between 5 and 10 years in prison. At the hearing, Tesler’s lawyer provided examples of other Atlanta police officers breaking the rules or violating the law and said a disturbing culture of misconduct pervades the force.

Carnes imposed the most severe sentence — 10 years — on Smith, 36, who obtained the illegal, no-knock search warrant allowing officers to batter down 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston’s door.

These raids — and the law enforcement culture they embody — are a serious problem.

THE RIGHT NOT TO BE OFFENDED? If I’ve got that right, there are gonna be a lot of changes made . . . .

AVOIDING THE END OF THE WORLD. If possible. “The reason capitalism works is that it can try different things. Unlike government, it is not obliged to do one Awesome Thing.”

REDISTRIBUTION: Yale Freezes Pay of Faculty Earning > $75k.

USA TODAY: The Burris Problem. “The Constitution is clear on the right of the Senate to determine the qualifications of its members, and Majority Leader Harry Reid was initially correct in opposing the seating of Burris. But in an especially cynical demonstration of playing the race card, a number of members of the Congressional Black Caucus — all of them House members — dared the Senate Democrats to deny a seat to the man who would be the chamber’s only African American. . . . The challenge of dealing with minority officials who run afoul of the law is a pre-eminently Democratic problem and will certainly arise again when the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct makes its report on some questionable activities by Rep. Charles Rangel, chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means. Rangel is accused of failure to report income, circumventing New York City’s rent-control laws by occupying four of the cut-rate units, not the allowable one, and using official House stationery to raise money for a school of public affairs at the City College of New York that is named for him. In light of the reluctance of Democratic leaders to stand up to the chorus of support for Burris, they could find themselves accused of dealing less aggressively with minority corruption than with malfeasance by whites.” Nah, they’ll make up for that by giving Chris Dodd a pass, too.

POLITICO: What Obama Really Meant.

CITIBANK CUSTOMERS angry about government Citibank plans.

NICK GILLESPIE ON The Deficit That Obama Didn’t Quite Inherit But Will Almost Certainly Vastly Expand. “I yield to no ink-stained wretch in my vast and bottomless dislike of George W. Bush but let’s hold Obama’s feet to the fire here: He has consistently pledged to, you know, stop spending right after well, you know, he and Congress stop spending. . . . If Obama is serious about restoring trust and confidence in the government’s ability to live within its gargantuan means (and he should be), he should start by rewriting the $410 billion Omnibus Spending Bill that the Democrats have just dropped like a big, wet, steaming, stinking pile of…pork barbecue.”

AN APOLOGY: Sen. Dodd regrets comments on bank nationalization: “From the Loose Lips Sink Stocks Dept.: Sen. Chris Dodd is apologizing today for his comments Friday suggesting that it might be necessary to nationalize some banks for a short time. The Connecticut Democrat, who chairs the Senate Banking Committee, told reporters in Washington that he was surprised by the market’s reaction.”

The country’s in the very best of hands.

RASMUSSEN: 54% Say ‘No’ To All Bailouts. “Given the choice between federal bailouts for the auto companies, the finance industry and financially trouble homeowners or no bailouts for any of them, 54% say no bailouts period. Just 26% support bailouts for all three. . . . Investors, with their eyes on the financial markets, are even more strongly opposed. . . . Confidence as measured by the Rasmussen Investor Index hit a record low on Tuesday – for the second day in a row.”

BE THANKFUL TO OUR ANCESTORS: Prehistoric Fish Pioneered Sex.

CHANGE ON CHANGE: Climate change timetable slips as Obama backtracks on 2008 deadline.

THE KINDLE 2 gets a very good review from David Pogue. I think mine’s supposed to arrive today. I agree with this bit on whether the Kindle will make printed books obsolete: “The point everyone is missing is that in Technoland, nothing ever replaces anything. E-book readers won’t replace books. The iPhone won’t replace e-book readers. Everything just splinters. They will all thrive, serving their respective audiences.”

HMM: Which MSNBC character muttered “Oh, God” contemptuously as Bobby Jindal sauntered out to speak last night? To paraphrase Arthur Leff, when nonironic divine address emanates from Langdell Hall MSNBC, attention must be paid. . . .

NOT ALL THE ECONOMIC NEWS IS BAD! Cabela’s shares surge on gun sales.

DILBERT.

ANOTHER “I TOLD YOU SO” FROM MICHAEL SILENCE: Lawmakers looking to muzzle gun records. “Well, as predicted, here it is. It’s a shame the story doesn’t mention the incredible blogger traffic this issue has generated.”

FABIUS MAXIMUS: Everything written about the economic crisis overlooks its true nature. “That our leaders do not understand the larger process at work explains their otherwise incredible failure to adequately respond.”

BILL MOYERS: Loyal apparatchik, rewarded.

TRANSPARENCY: The Obama administration has directed defense officials to sign a pledge stating they will not share 2010 budget data with individuals outside the federal government.

UPDATE: Reader Jim Menard writes: “Obama must have learned from Bush’s experience with internal opposition cells at the CIA and State Department, with their damaging anonymous leaks of sensitive information. The military certainly includes some anti-budget-cut hawks, so Obama’s move makes political sense, but if Bush had even thought about something like this, details would have been leaked to and lambasted in the NY Times within hours.” Well, that’s one advantage of controlling the commanding heights of the media.

TAKING ENVIRONMENTALISM TOO FAR: Composting Table Digests Your Scraps.