HOW STATES CAN RAISE MONEY: Sell drivers the right to speed. “Owners would pay $48 to sign up their vehicle’s VIN and license after a safety inspection, and get a transponder. At any time, they could dial into the state’s system, pay $25 and travel up to 90 mph in certain areas for 24 hours.”

IN THE MAIL: From Norman M. Naimark, Stalin’s Genocides.

GEORGE WILL: Who’s Beating The GOP Establishment?

MOM IS GLAD HER SON HAD A GUN. “He defended himself. Thank God.”

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE: “Dear Alma Mater: I Can’t Pay.”

ROGER KIMBALL: Wrecking The Cathedrals.

FRANK MUNGER: How long does it take to dismantle a nuclear warhead subassembly at Y-12?

TRUTH: Virginia congressman admits: ‘If you don’t tie our hands, we will keep stealing.’

JOSEPH WEISENTHAL: You Know The US Is Screwed, When China, Gambia, And Jordan Have Better Property Rights. “Take property rights. They’re at the essence of US capitalism. Last year, according to the WEF’s survey of executives, the US was the 30th best country. This year we’ve fallen to 40th. And you’ll be stunned at the countries that our better than the US.”

SUICIDAL SABOTEUR, found.

CATO: Parents, Mark Your Calendars: September 14th Is Obama Day At School! “White House sources confirmed that President Obama will deliver another back-to-school address aimed at all of the nation’s children. That’s right, the president will make September 14 the second-annual Obama Day at your local school!”

Funny thing is, a year ago people worried that he was building a cult of personality. Now, not so much!

IS HOUSING OVERVALUED?

DIDN’T DR. MCCOY HAVE ONE OF THESE? Hand-held detector aims to diagnose disease.

POLITICALLY INCONVENIENT NOW: The mothballing of the antiwar movement. “The antiwar movement is faltering because it was never an antiwar movement to begin with. It was an anti-Bush, anti-Republican movement, and now that neither of those entities is running things right now it is no longer necessary to keep it going.”

WHEN I WAS A KID, I REALLY DIDN’T THINK WE’D BE TALKING ABOUT BEDBUGS IN THE 21ST CENTURY: Kentucky School Bans Backpacks, Lunchboxes After Bedbugs Appear.

VIDEO: Joe Biden on “The Colbert Report” says “thank you” to George Bush. I had trouble getting the video to play, but it seems to work for others.

SALAMI AND CHEESE FOR BREAKFAST: But they left out the bacon!

POLIWOOD: Has Liberal Hollywood Finally Crossed The Rubicon?

MICHIGAN FAKE TEA PARTY UPDATE: Detroit Free Press: Dems face jury probe on possible Tea Party-related fraud.

MORE HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE STUFF FROM THE ECONOMIST: Declining by degree: Will America’s universities go the way of its car companies? “Could America’s universities go the way of its car companies? On the face of it, this seems highly unlikely. Student enrolments are higher than ever this year, as Americans who cannot find jobs linger or return to education. Cambridge, Massachusetts, shows no outward sign of becoming Detroit. Yet there are serious questions about America’s ivory towers.” What they have in common with the car companies of the 1970s is that they’re being run for the benefit of the insiders, and with little thought for the actual customers.

JONATHAN STRONG: Shakeup: Tea Partiers Coming To The Senate.

GAFFETASTIC? HELLO, ILLINOIS!

OBAMA’S SPEECH: It’s Deja Coakley all over again, writes Ed Driscoll. Nonsense. All those empty seats in the hall were to provide sufficient room for his awesomeness.

Plus, Victor Davis Hanson: ‘Like a Dog’: The Origins of Barack Obama’s Petulance. “Obama’s petulance, I think, more likely derives from a certain surprise — leading to anger — that originates from novel and sudden demands for accountability. Quite simply, no one has dared question Obama before — much less press him for deeds to match his mellifluous words. Did he really think he could talk his way through four years of the American presidency?”

JAMES TARANTO ON PAUL KRUGMAN: A former Enron adviser’s improbable history.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Confessions Of A Regretful Gender Studies Student. “My transcript from that time includes gems like the History of Prostitution, an introduction to grassroots organizing, and a class about pop culture where we talked about Eminem, O.J. Simpson, and the 1992 Watts riots. . . . There’s a difference between what I thought was ‘cool’ to learn about at the time and what has actually proved useful in life. The lowbrow-yet-stylish topics we discussed — whether or not Eminem is sexist and racist, for example — will be out of date 10 years from now. I probably could have learned a lot about sex work and labor abuse by reading magazine and newspaper articles on the subjects. But learning more about colonialism? Globalization? The World Wars? Important books? Religion? Supreme Court decisions? That knowledge would have provided such a better foundation for me as a writer than what I think I received from gender studies classes.” At $40K a year.