CHANGE: Rep. Nye (D – VA 02): From Leans Dem, To Toss-Up.

EUGENE VOLOKH on the Republic vs. Democracy discussion.

IN THE MAIL: Robert’s Rules of Innovation: A 10-Step Program for Corporate Survival.

NUDGE, NUDGE, WINK, WINK: Behavioral Economics And The Obama White House’s Regulatory Approach.

REPORTS FROM THE LANSING, MICHIGAN TEA PARTY.

More pics here.

UPDATE: Reader Eugene Dillenburg writes:

I attended, and brought a Polish flag to honor fallen American ally Lech Kaczynski. About half a dozen people recognized the flag and offered condolences (one even gave me some impromptu Polish lessons); another half-dozen asked what it meant, and we had some nice conversations.

Two things struck me about the rally:

As usual, a lot of Tea Partiers had signs warning about creeping socialism. Poland, of course, lived under the real thing for 50 years. And in all that time, its people never lost hope. Which brings me to point #2:

Another prominent sign read, “I fear for my country.” I don’t. The challenges we face, while real enough, pale next to those endured by others. And if the Poles could find the courage and the strength to fight their way back to freedom, then I have absolutely no doubt that America will, too.

Well, the Poles had outside help. But yes, I find the doom-and-gloom stuff from some on the right tiresome.

IF YOU MISSED IT ON SIRIUS / XM SATELLITE RADIO, the latest PJM Political is now online.

GROUP PLANS TO “Crash The Tea Party” with fake racist signs.

UPDATE: TigerHawk asks some questions. On the Internet, nobody knows if you’re a dog. But Occam’s razor still applies.

VIDEO: San Francisco traffic in 1906.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: “During the 2008 campaign, the Obama group argued that Bush & Co. were insensitive to allies and had acted in clumsy, unilateral fashion, permanently damaging our stature in the world. Given the first 15 months of foreign policy in the new administration, we can see now that Obama’s critique largely meant that we had damaged relations with supposed belligerents like Cuba, Iran, Russia, Syria, and Venezuela — inasmuch as right now, British, Colombian, Czech, German, Honduran, Indian, Israeli, Japanese, Polish, and South Korean leaders might privately prefer the good ‘bad’ old days of the supposed cowboy Bush. All of which raises the question: Why Obama’s shift in foreign policy? I offer four alternatives, uncertain of the answer myself.”

Plus this: “If only Obama treated Iran or Syria as he does Bush, Sarah Palin, and the top 10 percent of American taxpayers.”

CLAUDIA ROSETT: Our suddenly unlucky allies.

A REPORT FROM THE TEA PARTY EXPRESS’S MOTOR CITY STOP. Plus, Jon Voight.

SEEMS LIKE AGES AGO, NOW.

TALKING ABOUT RACISM and debasing the currency. One way or another, debasing the currency is what it’s all about, apparently.

EXPLOITING THE DISADVANTAGED: Interns for me, but not for thee.

FROM GAIL COLLINS, the smell of fear.

MARKDOWNS ON grills and smokers.

JIM HOFT IS PLANNING FOR NEXT WEEK’S Tax Day Tea Party in St. Louis.

AT THE MOVIES WITH . . . Queers For Palestine?

PREDICTING EARTHQUAKES WITH a network of iPhones?

“Each smartphone has an accelerometer built into it,” says Robert W. Clayton, a professor of geology at Caltech. “It’s primary function is to determine the orientation of the phone and to allow gaming. But it can also be used to detect seismic activity.” What’s more, the phone’s internet connection allows it instant access to remote servers. In essence, though consumers think of them that way, iPhones have the capability to serve as nodes in a distributed seismic sensor network. All they need is someone to organize that network. Clayton is part of a team aiming to do just that. Called Community Seismic Network, the project will debut this summer with a tight cluster of sensors in the Pasadena area.

That’s kinda cool. Sounds like something out of Vernor Vinge’s Rainbows End, but then, that’s now only 15 years away. . . . (You can hear us interview Vinge about the book and the future here.)

PJTV: VAT’s Incredible: Can America Tax Its Way To Prosperity?

FIGHTING ALLERGIES BY MIMICKING PARASITIC WORMS. “Mounting evidence in both humans and animals suggests that infection with these parasitic worms seems to protect against a number of inflammatory diseases, including asthma and allergy, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, and type 1 diabetes. Because parasitic infection is unappealing to even the most severe allergy sufferer, some scientists hope to decipher how these organisms control the immune systems of their human hosts and to develop new therapies that replicate the parasites’ beneficial effect.”

NEWS YOU CAN USE: How to turn t-shirts into body armor.

HMM: Discovery that quasars don’t show time dilation mystifies astronomers.

VIDEO: Livestreaming the Fresno Tea Party.

COLLIDING RHYMES: The Large Hadron Rap.