POLITICS: In Emissions Battle, Automakers Pitted Against Miners, Farmers, Timber, and a Host of Politicians.

BP: In bed with the government, and politicians, all along. “BP was a founding member of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), a lobby dedicated to passing a cap-and-trade bill. As the nation’s largest producer of natural gas, BP saw many ways to profit from climate legislation, notably by persuading Congress to provide subsidies to coal-fired power plants that switched to gas. . . . Lobbying records also show BP lobbying on Obama’s stimulus bill and Bush’s Wall Street bailout. You can guess the oil giant wasn’t in league with the Cato Institute or Ron Paul on those. BP has more Democratic lobbyists than Republicans. It employs the Podesta Group, co-founded by John Podesta, Obama’s transition director and confidant. Other BP troops on K Street include Michael Berman, a former top aide to Vice President Walter Mondale; Steven Champlin, former executive director of the House Democratic Caucus; and Matthew LaRocco, who worked in Bill Clinton’s Interior Department and whose father was a Democratic congressman.”

And BP was a big Obama donor, too.

UH OH: Rolling Stone: Deepwater Blew, Obama Knew.

A LOT: How Much Does Software Add To The Cost of Today’s Vehicles?

SALLY QUINN “smarms it up revoltingly.”

IN THE MAIL: Wild West 2.0: How to Protect and Restore Your Reputation on the Untamed Social Frontier.

TODD ZYWICKI: Why aren’t banks lending? Because bureaucrats and politicians won’t let them.

DAVID SOLWAY: Ottoman Dreams: Why Are Americans Surprised by Turkey’s Islamic Turn? “Turkey’s prime minister gave the show away years ago, when he proclaimed that ‘democracy is like a streetcar. When you come to your stop, you get off.'”

EUGENE VOLOKH: “I don’t think we should put our trust in the noblesse oblige of prosecutors when it comes to sex crimes any more than when it comes to speech crimes.”

GORDON SMITH ON multitasking and the study and practice of law.

WORST-CASE SCENARIOS: 3 Forgotten Fears of a Reignited Korean War.

MICHAEL BARONE: The June 8 elections: A verdict on incumbents, unions, and Democrats. “Blanche Lincoln’s (narrow) victory leaves the unions’ strategy in ruins. They can’t credibly threaten any Democratic incumbent who opposes card check with political defeat.”

SO IS THIS THE HOPE, OR THE CHANGE? Teens Face Worst Summer Job Market in 41 Years.

BEST TV SHOWS that became movies.

HMM: BP Oil Spill: Scientists Refute Obama’s 3-Year Cleanup Prediction. But as noted earlier, the Persian Gulf recovered from the massive oil spills in the Gulf War faster than expected.

I DON’T LIKE THIS: A Future With Fewer New Miracle Drugs.

OTHER THAN THAT, IT WAS A SUCCESSFUL PERFORMANCE: 21-year-old weightlifter tries to squat 1008 lbs. at Sr. nationals in Chicago; projectile vomits all over judge, passes out. “Let it be noted that he also went for a third attempt after this happened.”

DOROTHY RABINOWITZ: The Alien in the White House: The distance between the president and the people is beginning to be revealed. “A great part of America now understands that this president’s sense of identification lies elsewhere, and is in profound ways unlike theirs. He is hard put to sound convincingly like the leader of the nation, because he is, at heart and by instinct, the voice mainly of his ideological class. He is the alien in the White House, a matter having nothing to do with delusions about his birthplace cherished by the demented fringe.”

RAND SIMBERG: “Why is it that the president would talk to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad without preconditions, but he thinks that, in the middle of arguably the biggest domestic crisis of his presidency, it’s a waste of his time to have a conversation with the head of British Petroleum?”

UPDATE: Worst interview ever? “Even Chris Matthews says the ‘public is probably stunned’ that Obama hasn’t talked to the BP CEO.”

BARNEY FRANK TO YOUNG DEMOCRATS: “Give Us More Authority.” Funny, that’s his cure for everything.

FIRST AN OIL SPILL, NOW THIS: Now, what about a massive leak of U.S. diplomatic cables?

IS HOLLYWOOD turning on the teachers’ unions?

“THIS IS AMERICA!” Michael Barone looks back at the transformative power of Rick Santelli’s rant.

MORE THAN WE HOPE, I SUSPECT: How much will Europe debt crisis affect Americans?

THIS IS INTERESTING: The Road To Serfdom is currently the #1 book on Amazon. I wonder why? Well, see below . . . .

UPDATE: Ah, various readers inform me that Glenn Beck was touting it yesterday. That explains it.