MARKDOWNS ON knives, multitools, and hand tools.

MORT ZUCKERMAN: The Most Fiscally Irresponsible Government in U.S. History. “People see the stimulus, fashioned and passed by Congress in such a hurry, as a metaphor for wasted money. They are highly critical about the lack of discipline among our political leaders. The question that naturally arises is how to forestall a long-term economic decline.”

THAT DIDN’T TAKE LONG: EPA Backs Down On Lead-Bullet Ban. “It is an important victory, mainly from the EPA’s own admission that ammunition is outside their jurisdictional reach.”

HERITAGE: Secretary Duncan’s Race to Waste Your Education Dollars. Why not just shut down the Department of Education?

UPDATE: Rand Simberg:

Part of the Republicans’ platform this fall should be to abolish the Department of Education. No one would be able to accuse them of going back to “Bush’s failed policies” with that one. Well, at least not credibly.

Indeed.

HEIRLOOM VEGETABLES — GOOD. “Heirloom diseases” — not so much.

NOW THIS IS COOL: Wankel Cufflinks.

NOPE: Ken Mehlman gay? Online conservatives don’t seem to care much.

JIM HOFT HAS more Washington coverage and reports that they’ve announced attendance between 300,000 and 500,000 — well beyond the expected 100k.

UPDATE: Liveblog coverage at The Daily Caller.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Park Service estimates crowd at over 300,000.

MORE: Reader Lisa Schell writes:

In other words, Glenn Beck’s rally drew more people than Keith Olbermann has viewers.

Heh. And reader Doug Sun emails:

IIRC, the crowd for the anti-Vietnam War rally in late 1968, the one that started at the Lincoln Memorial and was described by Normal Mailer in The Armies of the Night, was estimated at 100,000. So Glenn Beck plays the Lincoln Memorial and draws a crowd at least three times bigger than the big anti-Vietnam War rally held at the same venue?

Just sayin’, is all. :-)

He won’t get as much press attention, though. The times they are a-changin’.

POLL: Bush Was Better On Katrina Than Obama Has Been On Oil Spill.

AMMO ONLINE: LuckyGunner.com is an online ammo store started by one of my former students. I ordered some stuff from ’em and it arrived within days, no problem. The nice thing is that their inventory system is set up so that you know exactly what they have in stock. I should probably order more to get ahead of that EPA lead-ban thing. . . .

IN THE MAIL: From Peter Miller, The Smart Swarm: How Understanding Flocks, Schools, and Colonies Can Make Us Better at Communicating, Decision Making, and Getting Things Done.

A READER PHOTO FROM WASHINGTON: Reader Tom K. is at the Glenn Beck event in DC and sends this picture. He writes:

Your namesake’s event is overwhelming in the number of people here. Accents and flags from every corner of the USA but not a single protest sign in sight. If CNN finds an angry protester, that might be the lone one.

The photo attached can’t do justice to the magnitude of the turnout. The only imagery I can conjure is the protest scene in “Forrest Gump” with many more added.

I can’t wait to hear the MSM’s description of the turnout.

Something along the lines of “Scores gathered near the Lincoln Memorial today . . . ” Somebody try to get me an overhead shot.

UPDATE: Lots of people are sending me this overhead shot:

More here. Not sure of the original source, though.

And reader Justene Adamec cries foul: “The picture on the Post article makes it look like a couple of dozen are there, despite the headline about thousands.”

MORE: Overhead photo comes from the AP.

DAMON ROOT: Taking Economic Liberty Seriously. It’s a review of Timothy Sandefur’s The Right to Earn a Living: Economic Freedom and the Law. Elites don’t like economic freedom, because it reduces opportunities for control — and graft — but there’s considerable reason to believe that it’s an important constitutional right nonetheless.

TAXPROF: Obama Tax Policies Threaten Gulf Recovery From Katrina and BP.

ARE WE SEEING “GOOD DEFLATION” as a result of technology?

DAVID BARON CALL YOUR OFFICE: Large mountain lion being watched in Wheat Ridge. “Although police suspect the mountain lion is just passing through the area, they are advising residents to keep small children and pets inside and keep trash bins tightly shut.”

UPDATE: Jim Bennett sends this: “Baron indeed. A couple of miles from where I live. Note the tracking collar on this one.”

AT AMAZON, MARKDOWNS ON ELECTRONICS.

WHERE’S MY WARP DRIVE? Telescope Detects Possible Earth-Size Planet.

ECONOMICS AND MEDDLING: “This does not strike me as a story about how income inequality caused the financial crisis. Rather, this is a story about how policies intended to reduce inequality had the unintended consequence of precipitating America’s worst economic slump since the Depression.”

FRUIT FLY meets sledgehammer.

ED DRISCOLL: ‘Apologies if the Bright, Vivid Colors Sear Your Eyes.’

CHANGE: Commercial Real Estate Borrowers Join the Ranks of Strategic Defaulters. “What should happen in many cases like that is that the terms get renegotiated to something where both sides are better off than in foreclosure. But as in the residential market, securitization has made this trickier.”

IT’S HARD OUT THERE FOR AN ATTORNEY: Ohio Lawyer Suspended for Billing More than 24 Hours in a Day.

WANT TO LOSE WEIGHT? Drink water before meals. “Why this works is obscure. But work it does. It’s cheap. It’s simple. And unlike so much dietary advice, it seems to be enjoyable too.”

CHANGE: A law school classmate who was a big Obama supporter emails: “Have to say, I thought you were overstating the dangers of Obama before the election. Sheesh. This November can’t come fast enough.”

I didn’t say “I told you so.” I said: “Sadly, they’ve turned out worse than *I* expected.” Well, they have.