MICHAEL BARONE: Obama skirts rule of law to reward pals, punish foes.

FIRST THINKING IT’S 2008, NOW THIS: Obama botches toast to the queen. “This is why he doesn’t get invited to weddings, guys.” The country’s in the very best of hands.

UPDATE: Patrick Hynes emails: “I’ve had a lot of ‘Imagine if Bush did that’ moments, but these do take the cake.”

AN INSANE Daily Mail headline.

WHY NEW YORK’S FUTURE IS FLEEING: Not enough jobs for the younger generation. Have you noticed that wherever what Walter Russell Mead calls the “blue state model” is applied, you get a crust of really rich people, jobs for some folks who service them, and then not much employment or opportunity for younger people?

UPDATE: Reader Kurt Lahey writes: “The ‘Blue-state model’ is really very old. In Norman France circa 1050AD it looked like this: A crust of very rich nobility, jobs for the courtiers that served them and not much opportunity for the young peasants and serfs. Change!” Heh.

PHOTO GALLERY: MISSISSIPPI RIVER FLOODING.

BRIAN LEITER VS. BRAD DELONG: “Brad Delong is not only a sanctimonious jackass, he’s an underhanded and dishonest slimeball.” Ouch.

FITNESS: The Beachbody Store at Amazon.

WHAT WOULD JABOTINSKY DO?

NEIL MUNRO: Facebook upgrade spurs fears of political bias. “Chicago libertarian activist Eric Odom has built an active 60,000-member group, but is not being offered an upgrade key. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence got the upgrade for its 1,000-member group. . . . activists’ worries about Facebook’s neutrality are enhanced by Facebook’s reluctance to explain which groups get the upgrade key. . . . The activists’ worries about Facebook’s possible political tilt are fortified by the political activities of its founders and employees. The company’s employees donated heavily to the Obama campaign in 2008, just as did the employees of Google and Microsoft. Facebook-founder Chris Hughes workers as head of the online-organizing campaign for the Obama campaign, while company chief Mark Zuckerberg has declared himself to be an Obama supporter.”

Use Facebook if you like, but don’t trust them. Ditto Google.

GOOGLING THE WHITE HOUSE’S JESSE LEE.

AS IT SHOULD: France attempts to “civilize” the Internet; Internet fights back.

CHRIS FOUNTAIN: “Just as aside, did every brokerage firm in town buy the same Photoshop accessory to add fluffy little clouds to their pictures? Someone could really set themselves apart if they filled the background with flying squirrels or burning airplanes. Just a suggestion.” Well, those would be more reflective of the state of the market. . . .

HOW DID I MISS THIS: Poll: 74% of Americans Want A Federal Spending Cap. “Just 19 percent of Americans say they “strongly disagree” or “disagree” with capping federal spending. Slightly more than a quarter of Democrats, 27.5 percent, are against a federal spending cap. And opposition to a government spending cap drops significantly from there: only 17 percent of independents and 10 percent of Republicans oppose a cap.”

VIDEO: Tornado Hits Downtown Oklahoma City.

UPDATE: Reader Clay Ginn writes: “That’s not anywhere near downtown OKC. I know that was the headline from the site you linked, but it’s not accurate. It’s roughly 30 miles northwest of downtown OKC, near Piedmont. “

MEASURING HEART HEALTH: “In two separate studies, researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School and the Cooper Institute in Dallas analyzed fitness levels for more than 66,000 people. Over all, the research showed that a person’s fitness level at midlife is a strong predictor of long-term heart health, proving just as reliable as traditional risk factors like cholesterol level or high blood pressure.”

UNEXPECTEDLY: 5.5 PERCENT DROP IN VIOLENT CRIME. “Some experts are puzzled. Expectations that crime would rise in the economic recession have not materialized. The size of the most crime-prone population age groups, from late teens through mid-20s, has remained relatively flat in recent years.”

Hmm. I wonder if anyone has any ideas?

UPDATE: Reader William Chenoweth writes that maybe it’s the porn and videogames! Good point!

AWFUL: 1,500 still missing in Joplin, Missouri.

A DEBATE ON WIRETAPPING AND SURVEILLANCE LAWS, from back in 1962.

NEW HELP for senior-citizen sex. With a catch: “This increased sexual opportunity has helped created surprising statistic: the highest rate of sexually transmitted diseases right now is in the eighty year and older age group.”

PARTY LIKE IT’S 2008?

WELL, WE’RE BASICALLY JUST HOTTER: Why do women like taller men?

UPDATE: A reader emails:

Why do women like taller men? Because they are superficial.

Which is more superficial?

“I won’t date a guy who isn’t over 6 feet tall.”

“I won’t date a girl who doesn’t have double-Ds.”

One of those is easier to change than the other.

Heh. Indeed.

AT AMAZON, markdowns on sandals and sneakers for kids.

BUILDING SELF-ESTEEM with pickup techniques.

WAS THE ROSWELL UFO REALLY A SOVIET HOAX? An interview with Annie Jacobsen about her new book on Area 51.

TEST-DRIVING THE TENNESSEE-BUILT 2012 VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT: “VW’s answer to the hybrid sedans its competitors offer is the segment’s only turbodiesel (TDI in Volkswagen terminology), expected to deliver a 43-mpg highway rating when official figures are published in late spring. It can be coupled to VW’s advanced DSG automated manual six-speed gearbox.”