FASTER, PLEASE: SpaceX To Develop Fully Reusable Rocket, Make Humanity a Multi-Planet Species.

JONAH GOLDBERG: Seriously, in 2008 we elected a community organizer, state senator, college instructor first term senator over a guy who spent five years in a Vietnamese prison. And now he’s lecturing us about how America’s gone “soft”? Really?

IN FORBES, BILL FLAX WRITES: Forget Multiculturalism: Restore The Anglo-Saxon Philosophy Of Liberty.

FROM FACEBOOK, BEST ELIZABETH WARREN PARODY/RESPONSE YET: This was posted by Ashtad Bin Sayyif, but I’m not sure if he’s the original author or just reposting. Anyway, it goes to the core problem. Are you the state’s property, or not?

AT AMAZON, Manager’s Specials on groceries.

PRESIDENT IMPOTENT: Durbin says Democrats don’t currently have the votes for Obama jobs bill.

ROBERT FARAGO: ATF Death Watch 89: 40 Fast and Furious Firearms “Found” in Dallas.

THE BLOGPROF hangs up his keyboard. He will be missed.

RICHARD POLLOCK: No Adults in the Room: No More ‘Wise Elders’ to Advise the President. “The demise of the wise men — or some approximation of it — is an interesting tale about changes in our own political culture. It can find its roots in the political upheaval of the 1960s. Young political radicals challenged the Democratic establishment, particularly its decision-making. They derided decisions made by political veterans and chipped away at the influence of the wise men. In the name of democratic reforms, they sought to change our presidential selection process. . . . At that moment, partisanship began to rule over statesmanship.”

DONALD SENSING: Well done, President Obama.

ELITE CAMPUS INVESTORS can’t beat the S&P?

THANKS TO EVERYONE who’s bought things through the Amazon links on this page or the searchbox in the right sidebar. By doing so you’ve put a little money in my family’s pocket at no cost to yourself. It’s much appreciated!

IS DISTANCE THE KEY to a happy marriage?

NEWS YOU CAN USE: 30 Minutes to a Sleek Physique: The No-Equipment Workout You Can Do Anywhere.

Sounds sort of like the Convict Conditioning approach.

IN SEARCH OF THE ELUSIVE Yogasm.

MORE MOCKERY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN over its lame Firefly censorship episode. “Wow. So much for all that blather about academic freedom, huh?” They can’t be mocked enough.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: College Students Skipping Law School Amid Stagnant Economy.

STEPHEN L. CARTER: Shockingly, The Energy Department Doesn’t Make Much Of A Venture Capitalist. “The analogy fails because the venture capitalist is disciplined in his lending by two forces that government does not face. First, if the venture capitalist makes too many bad bets, he will lose his investors. Government loan guarantee programs, on the other hand, can be refunded by Congress as often as politically convenient, and have been known to grow larger after making bad bets. Second, venture capitalists face potential liability for breach of fiduciary duty if they fail in the duty of care and loyalty imposed by law on those private individuals who handle other people’s money. Government officials and departments, with minor exceptions, are shielded from lawsuits by the doctrine of sovereign immunity. There is no way to subject a federal loan guarantee program to the discipline of the markets, and that might be reason enough for the government to stay out of the business of picking winners and losers. But if the program is here to stay, perhaps we should seek to discipline its administration through the alternative route: a partial waiver of sovereign immunity. . . . Liability is one risk of running a company that picks winners and losers in the marketplace. If the alternative energy loan guarantee program would be unable to function in the face of potential liability, one might reasonably ask whether it should exist at all.”

ANOTHER GREEN FAIL? World’s largest renewable diesel refiner says cost of fuel is way more than anticipated.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Illinois Reported Inflated LSAT, GPA Medians for Past Four Years. Thus boosting its U.S. News ranking and injuring the students who decided to attend based on that ranking, and the other schools who ranked lower as a result of its dishonesty. Plus, of course, injuring U.S. News. So where are the lawsuits?

HOLLYWOOD: EXPLOITER OF LABOR! Unpaid Interns Sue Motion Picture Studio for Wage/Hour Violations.

REASON TV: The Tragedy Of Urban Renewal. Shockingly, this program advertised as improving the urban environment actually involved a lot of corruption and political score-settling.

RAND SIMBERG: So what Disney tunes were the Solyndra robots playing?

RADLEY BALKO: WHY AMERICANS STILL SUPPORT THE DEATH PENALTY.

I think it’s because tedious liberals self-righteously oppose it, while showing an appalling insensitivity to the lives (and deaths) of ordinary non-criminal Americans. Though I should note that European citizens also support the death penalty in large numbers — they’re just ignored by their leaders. The best argument against the death penalty, of course, is what Charles Black called “the inevitability of caprice and mistake.” But that argument, taken seriously, is an indictment of the entire criminal-justice system, not just the death penalty. It may be a valid indictment, but few are willing to go that far.

The worst argument against the death penalty, of course, is that it’s somehow awful for the state to kill people. Nation-states are all about killing people. They exist solely because they’re better at that, on a large scale, than any other form of human organization. Everything else is superstructure, and if they lose that edge it will fade away.