READER HARRY FORBES WRITES:

That was quick!

Bloomberg 11/10/2010:

“The Federal Reserve will purchase $105 billion of Treasuries over the next month as policy makers expand monetary stimulus measures to reduce unemployment and avert deflation.”

WSJ 11/10/2010:

“Commodity Prices Surge: Strong demand for raw materials from emerging markets and a flood of money promised by the U.S. Federal Reserve are pushing commodities prices to new highs.”

Worse yet, it’s sending the price of bacon through the roof.

Related: Stocks Have Collapsed in 2010–When Priced in Wheat. “By pushing the dollar down 15%, the Fed managed to goose the S&P 500 by 19% since June 1. Stated that way, the leap in stocks can be seen as mostly the result of the Fed’s eradication of the dollar’s purchasing power. Priced in wheat, which has soared 71% since June, then the U.S. stock market has woefully underperformed.”

UPDATE: Reader John Spaulding writes:

One thought I had on the price of bacon going up – simple supply and demand.

It is not yet greatly noticed by the mainstream media, but low carb diets are becoming more and more prevalent (though they shy away from the name Atkins). A featured and much desired allowed-food: bacon.

Hmm. Well, bacon is pretty stylish these days.

THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN WE’D JUST BE BOMBING VILLAGES AND KILLING PEOPLE. And they were right! Bombs Away: Afghan Air War Peaks With 1,000 Strikes in October.

Remember the fierce moral urgency of change?

THE IMPORTANCE OF GIVING BOYS non-masculine names. “Among my generation of parents, our nontraditional boys’ names—vaguely androgynous, nonmacho, or just plain unique—reflect our own desire to raise sons who will be as comfortable pushing dolls in strollers as pushing trucks.” Interesting theory. These people are apparently unfamiliar with A Boy Named Sue. . . .

UPDATE: Reader Barry Dworak says that Firefly has changed (some) things for him: “Somehow, Jayne will never seem like a feminine name again… I could name my son Jayne, I think. Joss, however, is still a tad weird. Go figure.” Well, you never saw Joss toting Vera. “This impressive weapon was aquired when, in Jayne’s words ‘Three men came to kill me at once, and the best of them carried this’.”

TOM COBURN: Earmark Myths And Realities.

JAMES PETHOKOUKIS ON THE DEFICIT COMMISSION: “Limiting spending to 21 percent of GDP basically kills Obamacare. I am pretty sure it needs higher levels of funding, so we are talking a complete restructuring. Certainly the GOPers on the commission believe this to be the case.”

UPDATE: Reader G.L. Carlson writes: “I’ll believe the deficit commission is serious when they propose cutting bodies, not benefits. Whole functions, not ‘3% across the board’. Though 21% is a good start for a limit. 15% would be better.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Jim Hicks writes: “The result is about what you’d expect from a group of Washington insiders. How about a Tea Party Deficit Reduction Commission? The whole approach to the analysis of the problem needs to be different.”

IAIN MURRAY AND RAND SIMBERG: Big Government’s Final Frontier. “There’s something about space policy that makes conservatives forget their principles. Just one mention of NASA, and conservatives are quite happy to check their small-government instincts at the door and vote in favor of massive government programs and harsh regulations that stifle private enterprise. It’s time to abort that mission.”

ALAN BOYLE: Science In The Future Tense. “When it comes to scientific advances, the future is already here. It’s just not evenly distributed yet.”

WHAT FACULTY WANT, FACULTY GET: “Take the money and run” is a fair prediction of the actions of most people. There is no reason to exclude scholars from this universal motivation. The bursting of the higher education bubble will make this harder.

SMARTPHONES may soon diagnose STDs. Bringing new meaning to the term “cellphone virus.”

WHY ARE MODERN CARS SO EXPENSIVE?

HELPING ELDERLY DRIVERS IMPROVE with brain exercises.

YOUR POLITICAL CLASS, PAYING ITSELF: Congressmen pay wives from campaign funds.

POPULAR SCIENCE: November’s Greatest Gadgets.

MARKDOWNS IN Health and Household Supplies. At a lawprofs conference this summer, a woman came up to me and said “Every time I’m in line at Target buying paper towels I think, ‘Glenn Reynolds is smarter than me because he buys his over the Internet.'” You can be that smart too. . . . .

THE END OF AIR PELOSI: No more Gulfstream commutes: “Presumptive Speaker Boehner just told reporters he’s flown commercial for 20 years and will continue to do so as Speaker.”

CHANGE: Charitable Giving Fell 35% in 2009 Among Affluent. “Wealthy households also reported a shift in the amount they would leave to charity in their estate plan if the estate tax were repealed. A combined 43% of wealthy households would somewhat or dramatically increase the amount they leave to charity in an estate plan if the estate tax were repealed; compared to 36.1% in 2008.”

CHANGE: More federal workers’ pay tops $150,000. “The number of federal workers earning $150,000 or more a year has soared tenfold in the past five years and doubled since President Obama took office, a USA TODAY analysis finds.”

MY EARLIER POST ON not liking turkey led to a request for me to repost my recipe for Thanksgiving leg of lamb. Ask and ye shall receive!

UPDATE: The Anchoress emails: “If you’re going to repost the Thanksgiving lamb recipe, could you also relink to the delicious Guinness Lamb Stew one? I’m feeling that cold weather hankering coming on!” Sure. It’s right here.

ANOTHER UPDATE: How long to cook? The crock-pot’s LO setting is 8 hours. If you’re cooking in a pot on the stove, the longer the better at simmer, but you can serve it up after 3 hours.

SCOTT OTT: Don’t Let Strip-and-Grope Become The New Normal.

TRANSPARENCY: IG report shows Obama WH rewrote Gulf spill report to support moratorium. Well, you can see right through these guys. . . .

Plus this: “This is no mere academic exercise. Thousands of people lost their jobs because of this supposed instance of sloppy editing, and the delay it created in safe exploration and drilling may impact the region for years, as well as America’s energy independence.”

LOW VITAMIN D LEVELS associated with higher weight gain. Sitting in the sun drinking red wine appears to be the path to health. And as regimens go, it’s not too painful . . . .

UPDATE: Reader Jeff Dobbs writes: “You forgot . . . HEALTHY SEX LIFE makes men live longer.“

WELL, DUH: Calming stressed-out men . . . with meat. Beer helps, too.

EXTREME SURVIVAL: The making of 127 Hours.

AVOIDING THE ABYSS: The National Economic Rescue Initiative.

Here’s the Initiative’s page. And note the calculator that allows you to experiment with budgetary approaches and see how they’ll affect debt and deficits in the future. The goal is to produce a crowdsourced solution that will work, and command support.

PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: McConnell Fights GOP Earmark Ban.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is maneuvering behind the scenes to defeat a conservative plan aimed at restricting earmarks, setting up a high-stakes showdown that pits the GOP leader and his “Old Bull” allies against Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and a new breed of conservative senators.

In a series of one-on-one conversations with incoming and sitting senators, McConnell is encouraging his colleagues to keep an open mind and not to automatically side with DeMint, whose plan calls on Senate Republicans to unilaterally give up earmarks in the 112th Congress, according to several people familiar with the talks.

While McConnell is not demanding that rank-and-file Republican senators vote against the earmark ban, he’s laying out his concerns that eliminating earmarks would effectively cede Congress’ spending authority to the White House while not making a real dent in the $1 trillion-plus budget deficit. And McConnell is signaling his concern about the awkward politics of the situation: even if the DeMint moratorium passes, Republican senators could push for earmarks, given that the plan is nonbinding and non-enforceable.

PorkBusters kind of morphed into the Tea Party movements, and now the Tea Party Patriots are asking the following:

Call these 7 GOP Senators now, tell them to VOTE TO BAN EARMARKS – Mitch McConnell (KY) (202) 224-2541, Jim Inhofe (OK) (202) 224-4721, Lindsey Graham (SC) (202) 224-5972, Lamar Alexander (TN) (202) 224-4944, Jon Kyl (AZ) (202) 224-4521, John Barrasso (WY) (202) 224-6441, John Thune (SD) (202) 224-2321.

Seems to be getting some traction already . . . .

UPDATE: Maybe this reminder, courtesy of the Asheville Tea Party, will focus their attention.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Inhofe gives his side.

MORE: Roll Call picks up the story. I noticed before that there was more media interest in PorkBusters back when it was criticizing Republicans. I’m glad for the attention, but . . . .

STILL MORE: Reader Bill McConnell writes: “Here’s my proposal. Decide how much you want to spend on earmarks and divide it by population to calculate how much each state gets. Then it goes into a stand alone bill which each congressman must either vote yea or nay on. I think in the current environment there would end up being NO earmarks.”