FORGET THE COFFEE PARTY: Now it’s the Cocoa Party!

HIDING THE ROAD SIGNS.

OUCH: “Keep in mind that this is appearing in the Columbia Journalism Review.”

AT THE VOLOKH CONSPIRACY, a roundup on the Supreme Court’s McDonald argument, where it looks as if Second Amendment incorporation — though under Due Process, not Privileges/Immunities — is likely to fly.

UPDATE: Michael Lotus offers praise for Alan Gura: “The P&I argument in McDonald was a stroke of genius. It made incorporating 2nd Amendment rights via Due Process — something that just a few years ago would have seemed fanciful — look like the sensible, cautious, middle-of-the-road approach.”

MARK TEPPO, author of Lightbreaker and Heartland, on the nature of Magick.

ANN ALTHOUSE JOINS ME in siding with Barack Obama against the dried-up prudes. “These people call themselves ‘liberals,’ but they are not liberal at all. They despise your pleasure and revelry and want only to clamp down on any fun. Don’t trust them with power, my friend!”

MICKEY KAUS FOR SENATE: “Mickey Kaus would provide the sort of iconoclasm the Democratic party desperately needs, particularly in California. If more Democrats were as empirical and tough-minded as Mickey, the country and the state would be in a lot better shape.”

REAL HEALTH CARE COST CONTAINMENT: Tiny Chip Made of Paper Diagnoses Diseases and Costs Just a Penny. Faster, please.

A CHILE-LIKE EARTHQUAKE: Are we prepared?

WHAT’S NEXT FOR TOYOTA? Recall questions answered.

BOB OWENS ON FALSE FLAGS AND TEA PARTY KNOCKOFFS: “A possibly fake Tea Party candidate may be looking to help Harry Reid, and a blatantly Astroturfed ‘Coffee Party’ gets a smattering of attention.”

More from Tom Maguire and William Jacobson. “It is very clear from Park’s background, and her own Tweets, that the Coffee Party simply is part of the perpetual Obama campaign, a means by which to subvert the real grassroots Tea Party movement by co-opting part of the message, but in a way which supports keeping Obama in power.”

UPDATE: From Jacobson’s comments: “Smells like the overwhelmingly popular Air America!” Also this: “This strikes me as little more than a construct to enable the media to have a Tea Party counterweight.”

MISS AMERICA IS HOMELESS: The pageant, not the woman.

RADLEY BALKO: 4.5 SWAT Raids Per Day: Maryland’s SWAT transparency bill produces its first disturbing results.

HELTER-SKELTON: Key Lawmaker Reverses On Climate Action.

GREG STEIN: Private and Public Construction in Modern China.

IN THE MAIL: From Theodore Dalrymple, The New Vichy Syndrome: Why European Intellectuals Surrender to Barbarism.

BYRON YORK: For Obama and Pelosi, health care is ego trip.

BAD FOR BUSINESS: After Obama Vacation, Hawaii Businesses Seek $200k In Damages. “The owners or operators of about 20 sight-seeing aviation companies and flight schools estimated today that they lost about $200,000 in revenue when their operations were substantially restricted or shut down altogether during President Obama’s Christmas vacation here.”

MY POST YESTERDAY noting Obama’s “virtual colonoscopy” and how it’s not covered under Medicare produced this response from physician reader Tim Johnson:

There is one reason and one reason alone why we should give Obama a pass on the virtual colonoscopy: President Joe Biden. Colonoscopies require general anesthesia, which would require a temporary transfer of power to Biden. Who knows which country Biden would trisect during the procedure. I for one applaud this judicious use of money.

Good point. Thanks, Mr. President!

THIS MAY EXPLAIN WHAT’S GOING ON WITH CERTAIN BLOGGERS: Long-term pot use can double risk of psychosis. Not me: I favor legal intoxicants, like the “State Street Stout” I’m hoisting in the President’s honor, below.

DAVID ALL: Visualize data to win political debates.

MAX BOOT: The man behind Colombia’s miracle.

COOKING ADVICE: Master techniques before recipes.

CHICAGO TRIBUNE vs. its own bloggers?

SO EVERYONE HAS PRETTY MUCH AGREED that I was right yesterday when I said the “moderation” language about Obama’s alcohol consumption was just boilerplate. Still, to show my support for our President, I went out to the Downtown Grill & Brewery last night and hoisted a couple — moderately, of course — in his honor. Kinda like when some Obama fans changed their middle names to Hussein to show support, only more delicious . . . .

Yeah, it’s not a great pic, but the point is made. That won’t stop Jim Treacher from weighing in, though.