VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: A Tour Through Recession America. “In one of the most highly regulated, highly taxed regions in America, noncompliance at every level seems the norm. . . . I am as worried about the elite upscale yuppie as the poor illegal alien. The former have lost almost all connection with physical labor, the physical world, or the ordeal that civilization endures to elevate us from the savagery of nature.”

MORE “RUBES” self-identify. “Nearly all questions and audience feedback were negative, with virtually no applause for Sherman’s answers. There was lots of clapping for hostile questions, lots of hostile rumblings as he tried to answer charges, and some answers were booed. Even the moderator at the end basically accused Sherman of not actually answering a lot of the questions. The audience was not sold on Obama being pro-Israel, nor on Sherman’s excuses for the current situation.” You know, the mouth-breathing troglodytes of talk radio suggested that a serious lefty with the middle name “Hussein” might not be too friendly to Israel, while more sophisticated analysts scoffed at such simplistic analysis. . . .

VIA JEFF ROCHE, some pictures from the Cleveland Tea Party Express stop.

HE WAS BIGGER THAN HE LOOKED ON SCREEN. With most stars, it’s the reverse, in more ways than one.

ATTENTION MARK ADOMANIS: I think that this is the post you’re referencing, but I don’t think it quite reflects the meaning you give it without linking. Funny how lefties have to misrepresent my stuff to criticize it.

UPDATE: Thanks for the apology and correction.

UNDERWATER: Gallup: Obama Approval Hits New Low.

RASMUSSEN: 66% Say America Is Overtaxed. “When thinking about all the services provided by federal, state and local governments, 75% of voters nationwide say the average American should pay no more than 20% of their income in taxes. . . . Sixty-six percent (66%) believe that America is overtaxed. Only 25% disagree. Lower income voters are more likely than others to believe the nation is overtaxed. Not surprisingly, the tax issue provokes a wide gap between the Political Class and Mainstream Americans. Eighty-one percent (81%) of Mainstream American voters believe the nation is overtaxed, while 74% of those in the Political Class disagree.”

UPDATE: Reader C.J. Burch writes: “That’s because the political class has no intention of paying their taxes.”

ED MORRISSEY explains things.

THE JOY OF RICE COOKERS. Never bought one myself. Should I?

UPDATE: About a gazillion readers respond with an emphatic “yes!” Okay. Just gotta figure out where to come up with the cabinet and counter space for my already gadget-heavy kitchen . . . .

ANOTHER UPDATE: Bill Quick writes that I should use this recipe instead. “I’ve known and used this technique for years. As for cookers: Almost none of them work as advertised, all are bitches to clean, and unless you are feeding an Asian family of six or so, you don’t need that much rice cooking capability.”

YEAH, BLOGGING’S SLOW TODAY: Busy with family and stuff. But if you missed it last week, check out my interview with Byron York about Tea Parties and the RNC’s shenanigans.

MICHAEL YON: Shooting by moonlight in Afghanistan.

THOUGHTS ON bias and expertise in the media.

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD on the implications of Episcopal Priest Barbie.

OBAMA’S DIVERSE SUPREME COURT SHORTLIST:

No matter who he chooses, Obama will continue to break new ground, or at least help bolster some of the low numbers of people of certain arguably underrepresented backgrounds on the current Court. For example, Elena Kagan would become only the second former Harvard professor presently on the Court (joining Justice Breyer). Either Kagan or Wood would be only the second Chicago professor (joining Justice Scalia). Further, Merrick Garland would be only the second Justice on the Court who went to Harvard College; then Harvard Law School; then clerked for Henry Friendly; then clerked at the Supreme Court; and then worked at DOJ and was a partner at a big DC law firm before serving on the DC Circuit (joining Chief Justice Roberts).

Elena Kagan would also bring notable educational diversity to the Court. Kagan would be the very first Justice ever to have attended Princeton and then Harvard Law. Obviously, that would be a major break after two consecutive nominees who had attended Princeton and then Yale Law (Justices Alito and Sotomayor). Whoever Obama picks, I think it’s clear that Obama faces a major choice and that his selection will be a historic occasion.

Heh.

UPDATE: Reader John Steakley emails with a question for enterprising reporters: “Mr. President, do you believe that ANY of America’s public university law schools are competent to educate the next Supreme Court Justice? And if so, please name them.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Michael McMahon writes: “No more Ivy League Justices! Watch for this theme to develop. Stevens was a Northwestern Law grad.”

POPULAR MECHANICS: 10 Cars That Will Define the Electric Market-By Being First.

SO WHERE IS EVERYBODY? The Elusive Search For Aliens. “Fifty years ago this week, on April 8, 1960, a little-known astronomer named Frank Drake sat at the controls of an 85-foot radio telescope at an observatory in Green Bank, W.Va., and began to sweep the skies, looking for a signal from an alien civilization. It was the start of the most ambitious scientific experiment in history.”

THE ANSWER IS “YES.” Come November, will Dems miss Stupak and others from ‘purple districts’?

FISKING THE WASHINGTON POST’S pseudo-apology for bogus claims of Tea Party racism.

JACK LAIL: The iPad as “transformative device.”

DIXIE CARTER has died.

ATTENDING A TAX DAY TEA PARTY? PJTV IS LOOKING FOR CITIZEN REPORTERS:

Tea Party TV — the go-to place for news on the Tea Party Movement — will be streaming comprehensive coverage of the Tax Day Tea Party events. They are inviting citizen reporters to help cover those events. Last year, more than 800 citizen reporters submitted videos and photos to PJTV as they reported on the tax day events in their home towns. This year, 900 citizen reporters have signed up already. You may want to add your voice to these rallies.

If you do, here’s how to do it. Using your iPhone device, you can email the videos you take at the Tax Day Tea Parties right from the event in real time. And you can email the photos you are taking too.

Register as a PJTV Citizen Reporter at http://www.pjtv.com/?cmd=pjtv-reporter-signup
Send your practice videos or photos at any time before April 15 to see how the whole process works.
On April 15, email your videos to us in real time, right from the tax day events.

Email videos to:
Email photos to:

Right now, all you have to do is sign up at http://www.pjtv.com/?cmd=pjtv-reporter-signup

With people apparently planning to infiltrate the protests with fake “racism,” citizen reporting is even more important than usual.

BLOGGING FROM THE TEA PARTY EXPRESS in Clinton Township, Michigan.

There sure are a lot of women at these events. Maybe that’s why the men look so cheerful!

RON PAUL: Obama Is Not A Socialist. “He’s a corporatist.”

COPYRIGHT LAW turns 300.

PAUL HSIEH: The Deadly Tax On Medical Innovation.