CATO SWINGS HARD at Romney.

“A TEMPEST IN A TEAPOT:” Mark Tapscott on the Sean Hannity, Cincinnati Tea Party kerfuffle. I think that’s right, although there was a huge line of disappointed people waiting to have their copies of Hannity’s book signed, and to them it may have been a bit worse. My advice to future Tea Party planners — tell Big Media (and for these purposes, yes, Fox is Big Media) that they can cover you if they want, but do your own thing and don’t rely on them to keep any promises. In my experience, you just can’t count on TV people, who often leave you hanging at the last minute.

J.P. FREIRE reports from Washington, D.C.’s Tea Party. And here’s a report from Philadelphia.

CAR LUST: Face Off–BMW M3 (E30) vs. Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.3-16.

VIOLENT REPRESSION: Tea Partiers egged in Boston.

ICELAND: How Volcanic Ash Threatens Airplanes.

FREE ENTERPRISE: Life is what you make it in Manakintowne.

A CROWDSOURCED POLITICAL PLATFORM: The Contract From America.

CAN A SNAKE BE A weapon?

POLL: Jews starting to have doubts about Obama?

UNDERFUNDED TEACHER PENSION PLANS: It’s Worse Than You Think.

The crux of the problem is the gap between assets and liabilities affecting the fifty-nine pension funds that cover most public school teachers in America. Some of these are general state-employee pension funds, while others cover only teachers. Among the findings of our study of these funds:

* All fifty-nine pension funds studied face shortfalls.
* California, the most populous state, has the largest unfunded teacher pension liability: almost $100 billion.
* The worst-funded plan in our sample is West Virginia’s, which we estimate to be only 31 percent funded.
* Five plans are 75 percent funded or better: teacher-dedicated plans in the District of Columbia, New York State and Washington State and state employee retirement systems in North Carolina and Tennessee that include teachers.

The general picture is not a good one.

Read the whole thing. And weep.

CHARLIE CRIST BLOWS IT.

THE CINCINNATI TEA PARTY on the Hannity affair.

NONE ARE SO DEAF as those who will not hear.

A REPORT FROM A TEA PARTY in Schoharie County New York. “The meeting room was packed, dozens were standing in the back of the room and dozens more were listening in from outdoors.”

Cincinnati Tea Partiers.

TEA PARTY ORGANIZERS snub Republican leaders.

MASSIVE FIREBALL over midwestern sky.

UPDATE: More.

NOW IN CINCINNATI, they’re savaging Bush for spending too much money. “Republicans do not have credibility on limited government.”

CHICAGO: Tea Party members rally amid calls to unite.

COMPOUND LJ001 A MAJOR MILESTONE AGAINST AIDS? “The chemical attacks the structure of viruses themselves, and may potentially cure a wide swath of disease ranging from influenza to AIDS to Ebola.” Faster, please.

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: From punchline to powerhouse: the ‘tea party’ at one year.

SPEAKING AT THE CINCINNATI TEA PARTY, Sonja Schmidt just called Barack Obama a “one-term President,” to thunderous applause.

Here she is from a bit earlier in the speech.

UPDATE: Jennifer Clippard, who’s here in the crowd, sends this cellphone pic from the nosebleed seats.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Shannon Hartkemeyer sends this pic of Sonja’s standing ovation.

IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA, BEHIND, WHATEVER.

A REPORT FROM THE Lake Forest / Irvine Tea Party.