MARK TAPSCOTT really, really likes the new Mustang.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON looks at hope, and change.

TWELVE wonderful station wagons.

EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY looks closely at asteroid.

ED DRISCOLL: Through a Gimlet Eye: Studying the Washington Post Kremlinologist Style.

IN SOUTH CAROLINA, Alvin Greene Fever!

FROM THE EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY, closeup images of asteroid Lutetia.

ANOTHER one-day-only GPS sale. They seem to be having a lot of those; guess it’s peak summer driving season.

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED THIS WEEKEND:

Job-loss and government-created uncertainty.

Stephen Kruiser on LeBron James and Chris Matthews.

Questions about Michael Bellesiles and the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Extremist rhetoric produces violence. Against oil executive’s wife.

Putting a fresh coat of paint on the astroturf.

How many people have given up and left the workforce?

Jon Basil Utley: The Government’s Catastrophic Response To The Oil Spill Disaster.

CHRISTIAN ADAMS: The Ike Brown Case: Is the DOJ About to Fail Another Race-Based Test?

JOHN HINDERAKER: Pawlenty for President?

JONATHAN ADLER: ClimateGate Revisited.

OBVIOUS, BUT TRUE: Tennesee Gov. Phil Bredesen, a Democrat, says his party must be more centrist.

He said the acceptance of long-term deficits reflected a cultural change that will have severe consequences for the country. Congress and the administration, he added, have been “very aggressive about spending money and I think it’s made easy by the fact that we’re so far off the norm at the moment that it’s easy to add a little more.”

Asked what the political cost to his party could be, he said, “I think it’s huge.”

Indeed.

MICHAEL BARONE: Obama Economy Sends Americans to Their Mattresses. “People seem to be following this investment strategy. Step one: Go to Mattress Discounters and buy the biggest mattress you can find. Step two: Take it home, and stuff all your money in it. Step three: Lie down, and get some rest. This hurts the economy, but it’s a rational response to the Obama Democrats’ public policies. And that’s not just the view of their political opponents.”

LOOKING FOR WAR ON TERROR NEWS? Drop by Fred Pruitt’s Rantburg. And consider hitting the tipjar — he does great service by focusing on this topic as major media increasingly ignore it.

FROM PROF. JACOBSON, A Harry Reid-a-thon. Plus, Choosing Sides. “We did not need to reach this point.”

CRISIS GOES TO WASTE: Historic oil spill fails to produce gains for U.S. environmentalists. “The story of 2010 is not that nothing happened after the BP spill, or after the coal-mine explosion that killed 29 in West Virginia on April 5. It’s that much of the reaction has focused on preventing accidents — on tighter scrutiny of rigs and mines — rather than broader changes in the use of oil and coal.”

MORE RUBES SELF-IDENTIFY: Scientists expected Obama administration to be friendlier. “A culture of politics trumping science, many say, persists despite the president’s promises. The use of potentially toxic dispersants to fight the gulf oil spill is cited as just one example.”

Plus, this shocking quote: “”Many of the frustrations scientists had with the last administration continue currently.” Do tell.

Related: “The war on science continues.”

SHOCKING SURVEY: EMPLOYEES OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT are very happy with their jobs. “In these times of high unemployment and economic uncertainty, federal workers are continuing a trend of job satisfaction, giving the Obama administration good marks for its leadership of agencies though remaining skeptical on a key point: that career advancement in the government is based on merit.”

ROGER SIMON: Liar, Liar: Why Obama Is Failing. “The vaunted Demosthenes of the campaign trail disappeared literally upon inauguration. He hasn’t been able to convince anyone of anything. He only succeeds when he acts purely as a bully, muscling through legislation.”

CLAYTON CRAMER: Mandatory Training for Gun Owners: Constitutional? Useful? “A solution in need of a problem: mandatory training is of questionable legality, and gun misuse is not generally due to a lack of skill or knowledge.”

THROUGH THE Ham Sandwich looking glass.

DEBT IS A CANCER: “The commission leaders said that, at present, federal revenues are fully consumed by just three programs: Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. ‘The rest of the federal government, including fighting two wars, homeland security, education, art, culture, you name it, veterans — the whole rest of the discretionary budget is being financed by China and other countries,’ Simpson said.”

The only solution is drastic cuts in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, then, until they’re taking up something significantly less than the entirety of federal revenues. Ya know? But I think the whole point of the commission is to give political cover to tax increases, even though the problem they’re describing is much, much bigger than that.

UPDATE: A reader asks if this debt-as-cancer thing makes Congress the equivalent of Big Tobacco. Worse: Big Tobacco had to persuade you to smoke.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Tucson Tea Party founder Robert Mayer emails:

Just saw your comment.. “But I think the whole point of the commission is to give political cover to tax increases, even though the problem they’re describing is much, much bigger than that.”

Our local government in Tucson did the same thing. $42 million dollar structural deficit? Well, let’s set up a commission with two appointees from each council member to study the issue and how to solve it. Result?… Put a new .5% sales tax increase on the ballot! Great solution! Luckily, we will actually have the opportunity to vote it down. This federal budget commission will simply recommend the tax increases and they’ll just be passed. Of course, that’s assuming there are people in Congress willing to pass a tax increase… November can’t come any sooner….

Indeed.