DON SURBER: ASTROTURFING, USA. “Big Government busted this SEIU/ACORN/AFL-CIO/NAACP special interest-palooza that will rally in Washington on Saturday. Unlike the Tea Party rallies that the Professional Leftists envy — true populism — the Democratic Party’s various arms have to pay people to rally.”

THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, THE COUNTRY WOULD BE SPLIT OVER THE WAR AND INTERNAL SECURITY — AND THEY WERE RIGHT! Hundreds protest FBI raids on anti-war activists. I guess I should’ve voted for a conciliatory, post-partisan figure . . . .

RAHM EMANUEL TO LEAVE WHITE HOUSE FRIDAY?

STEPHEN GREEN: Hair of the Dog: Democrats Defy Logic on Taxes and Spending.

HEARTACHE: “Here was Axelrod trying to get the lefty bloggers to help Obama out, but — gasp!!! — he doesn’t even read their blogs. How devastating for them! . . . Imagine if Axelrod sat around reading Pandagon, Eschaton, and Hullabaloo?” Judging by the results, I thought he did.

MICHAEL LOTUS: The Insurgency: The times, they really are a-changin’.

BE STILL MY BEATING HEART: The Sportiest Volvo Ever.

MOVING TOWARD CONSENSUS: “White House officials view Krugman as an irritant who has become predictable and whiny in his criticism.” I think people felt that way in the Bush Administration, too. . . .

GOOGLE VS. the Harvard history professor.

CHANGE: “Man Makeup” Becoming More Popular.

SHALE GAS REVOLUTION shakes up green energy.

MOE LANE: “Really… sets the tone to what came after, doesn’t it?”

CLAUDIA ROSETT: The Dark Side of a UN Envoy for Extraterrestrials.

THIS WEEK in the future.

PREVENTING COLON CANCER with low-dose aspirin.

A ROUNDUP OF NEWS from the Kid-lit world.

SPACE TOURISM UPDATE: “Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson said Monday that Virgin Galactic is on track to offer commercial space travel within 18 months, and that space hotels are next on the drawing board.”

POLIWOOD: Is Television Fueling A New Class System In America?

TRANSPARENCY: FDIC Denies Maintaining List of Banks with ‘Prominent Connections.’

OUT OF TOUCH WITH MODERN REALITIES: “The Social Democrats unveiled a political program Sunday aimed at stopping the extension of the life of nuclear power plants and allowing people to retire earlier than age 67, a change the party itself introduced when it was in power.”

CHANGE: HarperCollins to Start Conservative Imprint, Broadside Books.

TELLING PEOPLE TO EAT MORE VEGETABLES has been a miserable failure.

HILLBILLY HOUSEWIFE: A site on low-cost home cooking from scratch.

THE EXPERTS’ CONSENSUS: 60% of Economists: Extend Bush Tax Cuts for Everyone.

SEGWAY COMPANY OWNER DIES after driving Segway off cliff. “Police believe that it was just a freak accident, with nothing suspicious about the man worth $262m falling to his death.”