JOANNE JACOBS: The Boy Gap in education. “It’s time for schools to focus on the widening gap in reading and writing skills that leaves so many boys unprepared for success in college or vocational training.”

A LIST OF THE 2009 Nebula Award nominees. Scalzi’s there.

COULD THIS REALLY happen to you?

YOO AND BYBEE CLEARED, but Jennifer Rubin is unhappy with DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility. “At times the work of OPR itself seems to have violated the professional standards it was charged with enforcing.”

PJTV: More from Dana Loesch at CPAC.

THINGS HEAT UP IN ILLINOIS: Chicago Tribune Slams the Silence of Chicago Mob Linked Alexi Giannoulias: Wants Questions Answered on Broadway Bank.

Related: NBC Chicago: Cook County a “Dark Pool of Political Corruption.”

DAN MITCHELL: Tax Havens Are Not Money-Laundering Centers.

HUFFINGTON POST: Feds Bullied Kerik Into 4-Year Term, Hurting Us All.

GUY BENSON: The New York Times Owes Jason Mattera An Apology.

Plus, some Kate Zernike history. More on that embarrassing incident here.

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD on Al Gore’s contribution to the climate-change debate.

OKAY, I’VE NEVER BEEN THAT BIG A FAN OF MITT ROMNEY, but I kind of like the idea of a President who can apply “the Vulcan grip” to a rapper.

Hmm. So, Romney a Vulcan, eh? It would kind of explain some things . . . .

UPDATE: Stephen Gordon writes:

Truth imitates fiction. Spock puts a Vulcan death grip on a punk rocker: Link.

Now Romney puts the Vulcan death grip on a rapper. This puts me on the side of the Vulcans both times!

It’s usually smart to side with the Vulcans. But of course, true Trek fans know that there is no “Vulcan death grip.” It was just an invention to fool gullible Romulans. Spock’s nerve pinch merely produces temporary unconsciousness.

Meanwhile, regarding Romney, reader Chris Newbury writes: “If he’s really a Vulcan and can also do mind-meld, maybe we should be considering him for CIA director rather than President.” Beats waterboarding.

WALT MOSSBERG: The “Magic Jack” is overhyped, but it works.

FROM BIG JOURNALISM, a challenge for Kate Zernike of The New York Times: “Identify with time stamps where Mattera uses the ‘Chris Rock voice.'”

THE DAY EVERYTHING CHANGED: Remembering Rick Santelli’s rant, where one man dared to speak truth to power, and broke the spell.

THE CONTRACT FROM AMERICA: Dana Loesch Interviews Dick Armey at CPAC.

Nothing about cheese decentralization, though.

RUNNING AGAINST HER WOULD PRACTICALLY BE RACIST: Princella Smith announces for Congress. “Princella Smith, 26, will announce on Saturday that she is running for Congress in Arkansas’s 1st District. Some would say she is too young. Others might point to other potential hurdles: She’s running in eastern Arkansas, a district that hasn’t elected a Republican since 1872 in a Southern state that has never elected a black person to a congressional or state-wide office.” Given the Democrats’ stated concern for diversity, I guess they won’t run anyone against her if she wins the primary.

SPACE UPDATE: NASA plans more outreach to Muslim countries. “NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden said Tuesday that President Barack Obama has asked him to ‘find ways to reach out to dominantly Muslim countries’ as the White House pushes the space agency to become a tool of international diplomacy.”

AT AMAZON, it’s the Friday Sale.

SO HERE’S A QUESTION: Would a default on Treasuries accomplish what the Balanced Budget Amendment was supposed to achieve, by forcing the government to spend no more than it takes in? With more collateral damage, of course. . . .

UPDATE: Well, I was hoping for a thoughtful email from an expert, but instead I got a typically intemperate blog post from Bruce Bartlett. Bruce, I’m not trying to turn the United States into Zimbabwe. That would be the guy in the White House, whom you seem surprisingly anxious to defend.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Bruce Bartlett updates:

Mark Thoma thinks I am taking Reynolds too seriously. He’s probably right that Reynolds himself was not serious in his suggestion. But I have heard the same idea advanced seriously on numerous occasions among conservatives. I would note that a Fox News poll on October 1, 2009 found two-thirds of Americans saying that the debt limit should not be increased.

Well, yes, that’s why I raised the question — not a suggestion — to begin with. This has not prevented a schoolyard pile-on by lefty bloggers like Andrew Sullivan, of course, but I expect no more from them.

And I’ll note that while a Senator, Barack Obama opposed raising the debt limit, calling it a sign of “leadership failure.”

THE JOYS OF ICELANDIC ELF SEX.

DIVERSITY: CPAC boos speaker for condemning invite to gay conservative group. “The One’s agenda has vaulted fiscal conservatism to the top of the list of right-wing priorities; with even Darth Cheney sanguine about gay marriage, social issues simply don’t have the same bite that they used to.”

MORE CHEAP HDTVs.

GREG GUTFELD: People Died, WaPo Lied.

I’m struck by how boringly predictable a respected journalist like Capehart can be.

I use “respected journalist” just for fun. Capehart is a tool.

I mean, seriously dude, you couldn’t have resisted, for a moment at least – that urge to… go there?

Look, I know you hate those damn teabaggers, but linking them to this horrible crime seems like a parody of jackasses like yourself. Maybe that was your goal: your comments were just an elegant satire on left-wingers! In that case, bravo. . . . In order for Capehart to link Stack to the tea parties, he had to deliberately omit key parts of the suicide note. You know, the stuff where Stack bashes Republicans, Bush, our current state of health care (which he says kills thousands), and of course, capitalism.

These people seem to labor under the apprehension that they have some remaining moral or intellectual standing. They don’t.

SEPARATED AT BIRTH MANUFACTURE?

CLEARING IEDs with an explosive whip.