INCUMBENTS as a special interest group. The specialest. And the most interested. . . .

THE PERILS OF error reduction.

AT AMAZON, it’s the Summer Kitchen Sale.

JOHN NOLTE: JournoList, Shame of a Nation: Politico & Roger Simon Have Some ‘Splaining to Do. Note that he means the other Roger Simon.

JOHN MCWHORTER: Back in the day, African-American kids didn’t think it was a crime to be young, gifted and black.

WELL, OKAY, I’D RATHER BE AT THE BEACH, but the Maker Faire this weekend in Detroit is sure to be cool, too.

IN 1910, POPULAR MECHANICS INTRODUCES A REVOLUTIONARY IDEA: Shoulder pads for football players.

A FACEBOOK MALWARE WARNING FROM RAND SIMBERG: “If you get a Facebook message from me or anyone saying that I liked ‘Girls Are Unable to Stare at This for 10 Seconds, but Guys Can…,’ it’s some kind of scam. Don’t follow it.”

NO, THERE’S NO “INSTAVISION” TODAY, as I’m taking a couple of weeks off. But there are lots of other great shows on PJTV this week. Check ’em out!

SCOTT JOHNSON: “Reading the scholarly work of Woodrow Wilson is an educational experience. It is shocking to read the expressions of his disaffection for the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.”

CHINA IS PLANNING a large heavy-lift rocket.

EVERY BLACK HOLE may hold a hidden universe.

ANDREW KLAVAN: From Book Publishers to the Media: The Left’s Crusade to End Debate.

OH, GOODY: An Order of Seven Global Cyber-Guardians Now Hold Keys to the Internet. Sounding too much like John Ringo’s Council Wars for my taste. . . .

CAR LUST: The Graham “Sharknose.”

ARIZONA LAW UPHELD IN PART, BLOCKED IN PART: More from Prof. Jacobson.

REASON TV: Protest in Bell, California: Residents Have Had Enough Of Overpaid Civil “Servants.” “They are robbing the city blind. . . . We have a very predatory government.”

TRANSPARENCY! SEC Says New Financial Regulation Law Exempts it From Public Disclosure. “Under a little-noticed provision of the recently passed financial-reform legislation, the Securities and Exchange Commission no longer has to comply with virtually all requests for information releases from the public, including those filed under the Freedom of Information Act.”

AUTO PROPHET: THE CHEVY VOLT MATH DOESN’T WORK OUT VERY WELL. Yeah, but there are two points here. One is that if you’re an early adopter, there are reasons other than gas-savings payoffs to consider. The other is that if you’re really pessimistic about the future, a car that’s less dependent on gasoline looks better . . . .

On the other hand, reader G.L. Carlson writes:

I’ve been making consumer products for 4 decades. My most expensive failures have been those with an environmental advantage and a price disadvantage.

Consumers as a group will not pay extra for environmental goodness. A small following will, out of conviction or guilt- but the bulk of the market won’t do it. The price of an environmentally attractive option must not significantly exceed that of the conventional choice.

The Volt will be an expensive, predictable failure.

Well, we’ll see. And thanks to the GM bailout, they’re gambling with your money whether you buy a Volt or not.

TIM DANIELS: Barney Frank’s one dollar fare conundrum and the ruling class. “The ruling class disease of entrenched hubris and elitism has echoed the halls of the United States Congress for far too long and is the cause for many of the ills that we face now as a nation.”

JUSTICE: DoJ stalling on protecting voting rights of military?

UPDATE: Related: Military voters soon to be disenfranchised – again: Panther prejudice not the only problem at Justice.

NOT A BIG SURPRISE: Late Sunset Delays Teen Sleep.

SHOCKER: Unexpected Drop in Durable Goods. The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that demand for durable goods from American factories fell 1 percent in June. Excluding the volatile transportation sector, new orders decreased 0.6 percent. The report comes on heels of Tuesday’s latest take on consumer confidence, which dropped sharply in July.” Darn these constantly repeating unexpected events!

CONGRESS BLOWS IT: Commercial Spaceflight, We Have A Problem. Congress will always choose short-term pork over long-term development unless there’s strong Presidential leadership. But while the Obama space policy is good, the White House hasn’t provided the kind of legislative push it takes to make it work. Without strong leadership, a good policy will always lose out to pork.

AS LONG AS IT’S NOT ICE IX: Artificially controlling water condensation leads to ‘room-temperature ice’.