JUST IN TIME FOR THE ELECTION, Bill Haslam morphs into a pro-gun extremist. With help from the Democrats.

SERIOUS DISASTER PREPAREDNESS: Planetary Defense Coordination Office Proposed to Fight Asteroids.

THIS WILL BE GOOD FOR BEER AND BRATWURST SALES: Why Men With Big Bellies Make Better Lovers.

AN ALASKA BREAKFAST with reindeer sausage. Shockingly, Sarah Palin isn’t involved.

LOOKING AT THE RECORD with Josh Marshall.

And disproving this statement: “Josh Marshall hasn’t written a true sentence in years.” Well, kinda.

UPDATE: A reader reminds me that Marshall has been wronger in the past. Well, yeah.

WHAT COULD GO WRONG? Lego 3D printer itching to make Lego robots. “So far, the MakerLegoBot has made quaint objects like little houses. But its ultimate purpose can be nothing other than to make other Lego robots. Once they can replicate, it’s game over for us.”

WAS MOORE’S LAW INEVITABLE? “They could not believe their eyes. The curve said they could have machines that attained orbital speed… within four years. And they could get their payload right out of Earth’s immediate gravity well just a little later. They could have satellites almost at once, the curve insinuated, and if they wished — if they wanted to spend the money, and do the research and the engineering — they could go to the Moon quite soon after that. . . . It is important to remember that in 1953 none of the technology for these futuristic journeys existed. No one knew how to do go that fast and survive. Even the most optimistic die-hard visionaries did not expect a lunar landing any sooner than the proverbial ‘Year 2000.’ The only voice telling them they could do it was a curve on a piece of paper. But the curve was right. Just not politically correct. In 1957 the USSR launched Sputnik, right on schedule. Then US rockets zipped to the Moon 12 years later.”

UPDATE: Reader Eric Schubert writes:

You see the parallel between the conclusion in the hyperlinked paper about the power of self-organization and the acceleration of change in transportation, and the current situation with the self-organizing Tea Party movement and the acceleration of political change, don’t you? Can we call it “Santelli’s Law?”

What a fascinating observation. Someone should really write a book on this phenomenon. And they should definitely make it available on Kindle!

ANOTHER UPDATE: Yeah, the link’s not working now. I don’t know why — it was fine when I posted this morning.

MORE: Reader Geoff Mayer sends this link to the cached version.

PHOTO ANALYSIS: What is Drudge trying to say about Janet Napolitano?

THE “D” STANDS FOR “DESPERATE:” Seeking any advantage in their effort to retain control of Congress, Democrats are working behind the scenes in a number of tight races to bolster long-shot third-party candidates who have platforms at odds with the Democratic agenda but hold the promise of siphoning Republican votes.

UPDATE: And then there’s this: Wasserman Schultz, other Dems, condemn Allen West as anti-woman. I guess they gave up on calling him racist. Jeez, how pathetic.

GEORGE CLOONEY corrects Bill Maher.

BILL QUICK offers your daily dose of gloom.

P.J. O’ROURKE: They Hate Our Guts. And they’re drunk on power. “This is not an election on November 2. This is a restraining order.”

J.P. FREIRE: NPR’s provincialism should make progressives worry.

TIPPED OFF? Jack Conway may have tipped brother off about drug investigation. “Jack Conway, the Democratic attorney general of Kentucky who is running for U.S. Senate, says he was not involved in a recent criminal investigation involving his brother and drug trafficking. But it appears he — along with other law enforcement officials — tipped his brother off about the investigation.”

J. CHRISTIAN ADAMS: Time for Heads to Roll Over New Black Panther Dismissal. “The many Department of Justice officials behind this debacle should be very nervous about a front-page Washington Post article today that confirms everything I’ve written about at PJM.”

BLOGS AND WEB-MAGAZINES: A Grand Convergence? I remember back when Slate called blogs “Me-Zines.” I like what James Lileks said back when blogs were new:

A wire story consists of one voice pitched low and calm and full of institutional gravitas, blissfully unaware of its own biases or the gaping lacunae in its knowledge. Whereas blogs have a different format: Clever teaser headline that has little to do with the actual story, but sets the tone for this blog post. Breezy ad hominem slur containing the link to the entire story. Excerpt of said story, demonstrating its idiocy (or brilliance) Blogauthor’s remarks, varying from dismissive sniffs to a Tolstoi- length rebuttal. Seven comments from people piling on, disagreeing, adding a link, acting stupid, preaching to the choir, accusing choir of being Nazis, etc.

I’d say it’s a throwback to the old newspapers, the days when partisan slants covered everything from the play story to the radio listings, but this is different. The link changes everything. When someone derides or exalts a piece, the link lets you examine the thing itself without interference. TV can’t do that. Radio can’t do that. Newspapers and magazines don’t have the space. My time on the internet resembles eight hours at a coffeeshop stocked with every periodical in the world – if someone says “I read something stupid” or “there was this wonderful piece in the Atlantic” then conversation stops while you read the piece and make up your own mind.

Still the best distinction between trad-media and blogs, I think.

DAVID HARSANYI: “We’re surrendering to religious intolerance. Just not the imaginary religious intolerance many would have us believe.”

Related: “No one said free speech is painless.”

SENATORS COMPLAIN IRS is Stonewalling Inspector General.

SUNDAY SUPPERS and make-ahead meals. My grandmother was a genius at this sort of thing, doing a lot of cooking (and cleaning) throughout the day without ever looking like she was working hard.