DANA LOESCH: Why Isn’t Anyone Talking About Bradley Manning?

LIMITS OF THE TAXING POWER:

1) Can Congress enact a $50,000 tax on second term abortions?

2) Can Congress enact a $50,000 tax increase, which is then rebated to anyone who does not have an abortion?

3) If not, why not?

The power to tax is the power to destroy.

FROM DR. WILLIAM DAVIS, The Heart Scan Blog is all about coronary health.

AT AMAZON, it’s the Friday Sale.

TRICKLE-UP ECONOMICS: An XtraNormal Cartoon.

INDIVIDUAL MANDATE ON THE ROPES?

REASON TV: Busybodies, Babes, and Bacon! Presenting Reason.tv’s 2010 Nanny of the Year.

MICHAEL WALSH: Behind The Broccoli: The War On Liberty.

SPEED CAMERA RESPONSE: Boycotting Oak Ridge.

OBAMACARE: The Beginning Of The End?

ED MORRISSEY ON THE OMNIBUS BILL’S DEATH: Thank PorkBusters.

How often do omnibus spending bills go down to defeat? Approximately … never, as Dave Weigel reminds us, and pork is usually the reason why. Not only do omnibus bills appear only when the budgeting process has failed and funding becomes an urgent issue, they also get so large and stuffed with perks that few dare to challenge them.

In this case, though, earmark reformers got the edge thanks to the series of measures designed to impose transparency on pork requests. . . . this result vindicates the efforts of Porkbusters. When the outrage became high enough and transparency identified the offenders, the porkers abandoned their earmarks. As a result, we will see a reduction in spending, thanks to the new GOP majority in the House. The omnibus spending bill, chock-full of not just earmarks but funding for big-government programs, won’t be passed into law after all. Without pork, legislators will have no incentive to pass massive new spending by excusing it with self-promoting home district projects any longer, and the overall spending itself will become the focus — as it should have been all along.

The system worked. This was always going to be a long game on pork reform, and this is the first fruit of an effort started years ago.

Indeed.

ENERGY CONSERVATION is for the little people. Like taxes. Duh.

MANCESSION: Do Men Now Have To Wear A Girdle To Get A Job?

TECHNOLOGY MARCHES ON: Concern over anti-satellite weapons is changing the way satellites are designed, built and launched.

MICKEY KAUS: DREAMageddon Is Here! “It looks as if the Senate vote on the ‘DREAM Act’ partial immigration amnesty will actually happen on Saturday.”

PROFESSOR BAINBRIDGE: A California Bankruptcy, Dictatorship, and the Guarantee Clause.

DALLAS NEWSCASTER REBECCA AGUILAR, who bullied a gun-owner on camera, has lost the lawsuit over her resulting firing. “Deliberations lasted only about one hour, a swift verdict considering the six-day length of the trial in a downtown Dallas courtroom.” More here.

Pretty much as I predicted. More background here.

UPDATE: Ed Driscoll has the video.

I PLAY IT SAFE: Fewer Heart Problems Among Moderate Drinkers.

BACKING AWAY FROM THE arsenic-eating bacteria claim.

DON SURBER: “PolitiFact Lied.”

THE RETURN OF FALLOUT-SHELTER CHIC? Duck and cover!

STAPH’S DEADLINESS and human vulnerabilities. “It is the No. 1 cause of heart infections and skin infections, the No. 1 cause of soft tissue infections. It is a big cause of pneumonia. It is the No. 1 hospital acquired infection.”

JOHN GALT’S REVENGE. The worm pitchfork has turned!

CONN CARROLL: The Tea Party Is Back!

UPDATE: Howard Fineman: The Tea Party Won.

ANOTHER UPDATE: From Conn Carroll’s comments:

A year ago I was not involved in politics other than watching the collapse of our country and complaining. Today I am an active member of a Tea Party Caucus, have been elected to the country Republican Party excecutive committee, have attended two county Republican conventions and one state convention. Our agenda is simple: take back our government. And I am not alone.

Nope. I told you so.

IN THE MAIL: When Politicians Attack: Party Cohesion in the Media.