HEH: “Sorry, Internet, it’s not Obama. But as far as conspiracy theories go, it’s way better than that whole secret Muslim thing.”

INTRODUCING THE Electromagnetic Bazooka.

MARKDOWNS ON flat-screen TVs.

ART LAFFER: The Coming Tax Hikes Will Cause an Economic Collapse in 2011. Let’s hope he’s wrong, because I don’t see much chance of them being put off.

FASTER, PLEASE: Study Turns Up Viral Key That Might Lead to Universal Flu Treatment. Add that to a universal cancer treatment and we’d be getting somewhere. . . .

STEVE JOBS’ IPHONE MELTDOWN.

FROM MICKEY KAUS: Mickey’s Manifesto.

GULF OIL SPILL makes Alberta tar sands look good.

JAMES TARANTO: Helen Thomas and Peter Beinart: She Personifies The Reality He Denies.

NICK GILLESPIE FINDS A POLITICIAN HE CAN GET BEHIND: Madam-Turned-Pol Kristin Davis: Can NY Stand a Gov Who’s Convicted *Before* Taking Office? Plus, from the comments: “If she has experience managing whores, she would probably be well suited for politics.”

CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS on language.

Talking of hypocrisy, though, how do you like the way that the words activist and humanitarian have suddenly made their appearance in our media? Activist is employed to describe a core group of Turks and Arabs, very many of them identifiable by name as affiliates or members or emulators of the Muslim Brotherhood. (I suppose in fairness it also covers such figures as the credulous Irishman Denis Halliday, who used to campaign so loudly for the lifting of sanctions on Saddam Hussein.) And humanitarian is used to describe the materials that these worthies are seeking to donate to Hamas. But is it really humanitarian to make contributions to a ruling party that has a totalitarian and racist ideology and is in regular receipt of nonhumanitarian aid from Syria and Iran, two of the most retrograde and aggressive dictatorships in the world?

Terrorist and genocidaire are such harsh words. On the other hand, useful idiot gives them too much credit.

HISTORY: “Between 1860 and 1900, seven men were elected President. And three of them were then shot to death.”

RICHARD POSNER: Why We Don’t Plan For The Worst.

THE PURGES continue.

CHEERFUL PREDICTIONS: Societal Collapse Due to Peak Oil ‘Inevitable,’ According to Researcher. At least as inevitable as Paul Ehrlich’s food riots in the 1970s.

THE FTC: Confusing Newspapers With Journalism.

MORE FROM MARYLAND: COP WHO KILLED MARINE SHOULD HAVE LOST HIS BADGE 5 YEARS AGO. “We have a Marine hero who said something in a bar to the woman who was with the wrong man and his penalty is to be shot 13 times — by a man who not only should not be a cop but who should not have been allowed to keep his gun.” And yet people worry about private citizens with guns. At least private citizens don’t get an official coverup when they shoot someone . . . .

DOES FRIDAY’S BAD JOBS REPORT mean we’re headed for a double dip?

FASTER, PLEASE: Scientists Cite Advances on Two Kinds of Cancer. “Using two opposite strategies, one focused and one broad, scientists say they have made progress in taming two of the most intractable types of cancer. The focused approach shrank tumors significantly in a majority of patients with advanced lung cancer marked by a specific genetic abnormality. . . . The broader strategy uses a drug that could potentially become a universal treatment for all types of cancer. It works by releasing a brake on the body’s immune system, letting the immune system attack the cancer more vigorously.”

CAUGHT ON TAPE: Cricket Sex.

JEFFREY SACHS: “The Stimulus Failed.”

MARKETS: Nissan says majority of Leaf hand-raisers are current Prius owners.

FELLED BY A FLIP CAM: Helen Thomas retires. I told you those ubiquitous video cameras mattered . . . .

Reader Jessica O’Connor emails: “I heard this morning that the Rabbi who gave Helen Thomas enough rope to hang herself filmed their little exchange on a flip camera. I was pretty amazed at the excellent quality of both the audio & the video. It also it made me think of you, who is telling everyone to have these things all the time. It was certainly effective this time.” Indeed.

UPDATE: Reader Leslie Eastman writes:

My friend attended a San Diego rally this weekend, at utilized a flip camera to record the 100 or so attendees. There was a San Diego Union Tribune reporter who interviewed me, indicating someone told him only 25 people were there — the number he was originally going to use, until our images proved otherwise.

The post is also a compendium of the 20,000 or so Americans protesting nation-wide this weekend.

More video is better. And reader Denise Dillow writes: “Funny that you can get a video of Helen Thomas spewing her hate, but we can’t find one showing ugly names being shouted in a crowd at congressmen. It’s a mystery.” Yeah, funny.

DAN FILLER: Justice Thomas And The State Bench: The New Supreme Court Feeders?

IN THE MAIL: From James P. Hogan, Migration.