FINANCIAL TIMES: Fears grow over global food supply. “Russia announced a 12-month extension of its grain export ban on Thursday, raising fears about a return to the food shortages and riots of 2007-08 which spread through developing countries dependent on imports. . . . The 2007-08 food shortages, the most severe in 30 years, set off riots in countries from Bangladesh to Mexico, and helped to trigger the collapse of governments in Haiti and Madagascar.”

Then there’s the whole wheat rust problem to worry about. . . .

HMM: ‘This Election Is Not About Obama. It Is About What Democrats Have Been Since 1972.’

Plus, advice for Republicans: “Just tell the people that the White House and Democrats will try and control the media dynamic and narrative. This is what they do. They don’t really know how to govern for the public good; if they could do that, they would be in better shape. What they do know to do is use media events to hold onto power, to go on television and blab. . . . Republicans ought to be using the words ‘October Surprise’ endlessly. Hold a contest to see who comes up with the most creative suggestion for what the Dems might do.”

GET THE POPCORN: Former Car Czar Rattner Rats on Obama. “Former Obama administration car czar Steven Rattner is coming out with a new book that depicts him swashbuckling through the financial crisis and also shows Obama as ‘out to get’ the car companies and the administration making political decisions about how to deal with bankrupt automakers GM and Chrysler.”

TIMOTHY DALRYMPLE: Have we squandered our cultural inheritance? “Believe it or not, Glenn Beck gets it. Whatever else Beck has right or wrong — and I confess I have never watched or listened to him much — it seems to me that he is correctly interpreting the present moment.”

CHRISTINA ROMER, MYSTIFIED. “Yes, we’ve noticed that every damned thing that happens is declared ‘unexpected.’ . . . The act is broadly on track is a helpful thing to believe if you want to experience every bit of bad news as a surprise. . . . Well, if you did the quantitative analysis in order to support the policy preference you put first, then it’s not… surprising that that your quantitative analysis was second-rate.”

AL SHARPTON channels Rod Blagojevich.

AT AMAZON, markdowns on electronics.

INSTAVISION: Administrative Bloat And The Higher Education Bubble. And how ASU went after the bearer of bad news. (Bumped).

THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, WE’D SEE A POLITICAL WAR AGAINST SCIENCE. And they were right! Scientist’s Firing After 36 Years Fuels ‘PC’ Debate at UCLA.

TOP TWENTY worst Tramp Stamp tattoos.

BLOG HEADLINE OF THE DAY: The Worth Of Khan.

LIFE: Hot Water Around Giant Carbon Star Creates Interstellar Mystery. “Hot water discovered around a giant carbon star requires a new theory for the chemistry around stars to be explained. The new theory could significantly alter our understanding of what materials exist in interstellar space, and where water and life could exist in the universe.”

HOW FREE STREAMING VIDEO threatens the porn industry.

LOTS OF INFORMATION at the Electronics Knowledge Center.

ARCTIC OIL AND GAS DRILLING ready to take off.

HANDS-ON WITH THE NEW APPLE IPODS.

MEGAN MCARDLE: The Heroic ‘Sacrifice’ of Underpaid Elites.

Plus this: “I’d also like to take a secondary swipe at the notion that graduates from Ivy League schools are ‘our best and brightest’. The Ivy League may represent the cream of a very small segment of incredibly affluent Americans. But there’s a lot more cream out there, and it’s a pity that American institutional structures seem so apt to exclude it from the mix.”

NISSAN NOW ACCEPTING orders for the Leaf.

BENEFITS FROM moderate alcohol consumption.

HURRICANE EARL as seen from the Space Station.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I want it just like her but with bigger boobs.”

IN THE MAIL: What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Diabetes: An Innovative Program to Prevent, Treat, and Beat This Controllable Disease.

CAREY ROBERTS: Domestic Violence Fairytales Threaten Constitutional Protections. “The Violence Against Women Act includes a definition of domestic violence that is so wide you could drive a Mack truck through it.”

MICHAEL GRAHAM: There’s no recession in the public sector.

MORE ARGUMENTS against a Value-Added Tax.