REVIEWING THE REVIEWERS: A roundup of book reviews from all over.

PJTV: Bill Whittle and Michael Ledeen: The Bomb Failed, the System Failed, and DC Fails to See Our Enemy (But a Suspect Is In Custody).

PENNSYLVANIA’S Orwellian tax amnesty commercial. Turn it back around on ’em by doing some research into the spending and earning habits of Pennsylvania’s tax-collection folks. . . .

MARY KATHARINE HAM: It’s already time for a ‘Dumbest theories about Times Square Bomber’ post. Mayor Bloomberg gets a starring role, but MSNBC’s Contessa “I wish it had been a teabagger” Brewer takes the cake. Plus this:

In other news, a white powdery substance was sent to the Arizona governor’s office today, requiring a lockdown of the building. There was a hazmat team on site. It’s unknown what the substance is or from whom it came. Unlike Brewer, I hope this turns out to be a false alarm of some sort. But if it weren’t liberals who are mad at the Arizona governor, you can bet this incident would make it into all the networks’ “Republic is crumbling” montages and lamentations about the loss of civility, false alarm or no.

Read the whole thing.

IRONY: Darwin Family’s Ill-health Blamed On Inbreeding.

CELLPHONES for Cuba.

JERRY BROWN: Using “investigations” as campaign stops? “In the month of April alone, Brown has launched investigations to embarrass Sarah Palin, aggressively promote union membership, clear ACORN of criminal activities, play catch-up on the Wall Street scandal by trumping up charges against Wall Street giant Moody’s, go after an oil company politically active in defeating California’s new green house gas emissions law, and grab headlines on issues ranging from home foreclosures to former child star Corey Haim’s death. In just one month, Brown has shown that his race for governor starts by using his legal office to help traditional Democratic allies beat back their opponents.” This is where Tennessee’s system of an Attorney General appointed by the Supreme Court looks good.

MOCKING William Saletan.

A LUGGAGE EXPLOSION at Houston Airport. Possibly just a burst aerosol can.

MOWING DOWN THE GRASSROOTS.

POLITICIZING THE WAR ON TERROR: Steny Hoyer: Dems more successful at fighting terrorists than GOP. Yeah, the “system” worked great in Times Square.

This gets a response from Hugh Hewitt:

The incompetence level of the Administration –on almost every issue– is leaking to the surface like the oil in the Gulf. The consequences of this incompetence are most obvious along the coasts of Florida, Alabama and Louisiana, but they will be most deadly if the national security team continues its feckless ways. As Fred Barnes pointed out on yesterday’s program, there have been four jihadist attacks on domestic targets on Obama’s watch –at the recruiting center in Arkansas, Fort Hood, Detroit and now Times Square.

And still they have a policy in place to avoid using the word terrorism.

Was it wise for Steny Hoyer to bring this up?

UPDATE: “White House in P.R. ‘panic’ over spill.” “They can’t pontificate about Bush and Katrina anymore. Wouldn’t it be amazing if Obama were to empathize with Bush’s predicament? That would change the tenor of political discourse in Washington.” Not much sign of tenor-changing today . . . .

DECEPTIVE AND MISLEADING: General Motors Deceptive Advertising Challenged by Watchdog Group in FTC Filing: GM Ad Falsely Claimed Taxpayer Bailout Loans Were Repaid.

AT CAR LUST, it’s Minivan Madness!

SO LONG, and thanks for all the drachmae.

USING LIGHT to heal battlefield injuries?

LESSONS FROM BOSTON’S WATER-MAIN BREAK: “Here are valuable lessons on being prepared for the worst when the local water gets contaminated.”

REPORT: MULTIPLE ARRESTS IN PAKISTAN over NYC bomb attempt.

UAVS and laser powerbeaming.

PUNISHING SAVERS, again. “When President Obama took office, the personal savings rate for Americans was an anemic-but-getting-healthier 5 percent. That number peaked a year ago, and is now down to 2.8 percent. This drop is even more striking when you consider that asset prices have, until the beginning of this year, been dropping or flat almost across the board.”

HOW TO hang a tire swing.

FIGHTING AGAINST a national electric grid?

COORDINATION? “Did Andy Stern leave SEIU to protect the Obama Administration from charges of coordinating protests in the streets of our nation?”

IN THE MAIL: From Thomas P. Daly, Rage Company: A Marine’s Baptism By Fire. The Foreword’s by Bing West.

OUR MATURE, CARING LEADER: ABC News: “Three days after he decried the lack of civility in American politics, President Obama is quoted in a new book about his presidency referring to the Tea Party movement using a derogatory term with sexual connotations.”

UPDATE: Compare And Contrast.

DID GM REPAY ITS BAILOUT MONEY? Treasury Says Yes, and Treasury Says No. The country’s in the very best of hands.