WELCOME TO Dante’s IKEA.

LUDDITE TERRORISM IN MEXICO: Nanotechnologists Are Targets of Unabomber Copycat, Alarming Universities.

A package bomb that injured two professors at a university here this month is the latest in a string of attacks by a new terror group inspired by the Unabomber. Its violent actions have put campuses across Mexico on alert and caused nanotechnology researchers worldwide to take precautions with their mail.

Nanotechnology was singled out as a target for the attacks in manifestos posted on the Web by the group behind the bombs, which calls itself “Individualities Tending Toward Savagery.” It has been linked to attacks in France, Spain, and Chile, and to a bomb sent earlier this year to a scientist at another Mexican university who specializes in nanotech. An analyst who helped identify the Unabomber—who turned out to be a former professor—says the posts show signs of someone well-educated who could be affiliated with a college.

The online rants credit the Unabomber as an inspiration.

Al Gore was unavailable for comment. And read this debunking of nano-fears by Freeman Dyson.

“INDUSTRIAL SABOTAGE” IN THE GULF?

IT’S ALWAYS BEEN A RELIGION: Eric Hobsbawm’s Faith-Based Marxism. A particularly violent and unforgiving one, at that.

INVESTORS’ BUSINESS DAILY: As Failures Grow, Obama Blames Others. “Obama can’t have it both ways. He can’t blame Republicans when they’re in power, and then keep blaming Republicans when he’s in power. At some point, he’s got to take responsibility for the jobless recovery — the first since WWII with no gain in wages and salaries in the first eight quarters after a recession’s end. He’s got to take ownership for the failure of his own ideas and leadership.”

BOEHNER ON BIDEN’S ONE-CHILD POLICY PRAISE: “I’m deeply troubled by the comments reportedly made by the Vice President yesterday regarding China’s reprehensible one-child policy, which has resulted in forced sterilizations and coerced abortions and should not be condoned by any American official. No government on Earth has the authority to place quotas on the value of innocent human life, or to treat life as an economic commodity that can be regulated and taken away on a whim by the state. I hope and trust that the Vice President didn’t actually say what has been reported, and that a correction or clarification from the White House will be forthcoming.”

BIG HOLLYWOOD: Politics Really Is Downstream From Culture.

UTAH: Chaffetz Will Not Challenge Hatch in 2012.

PROFESSOR BAINBRIDGE: If the trial lawyers hate Rick Perry, maybe I should reconsider him.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: The Next Debt Bubble: College Loans. “Education has an intrinsic value beyond finding a good job and making more money. But most students enter college expecting it to pay off economically. Looking at the rising student-loan-default rate, it’s hard not to conclude that, for many students, college is failing to produce the returns they expected.”

GALLUP: Obama trails Romney, ties Perry.

BYRON YORK: Spending, not entitlements, created huge deficit.

It’s conventional wisdom in Washington to blame the federal government’s dire financial outlook on runaway entitlement spending. Unless we rein in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, the conventional wisdom goes, the federal government is headed for disaster.

That’s true in the long run. But what is causing massive deficits now? . . . The bottom line is that with baby boomers aging, entitlements will one day be a major budget problem. But today’s deficit crisis is not one of entitlements. It was created by out-of-control spending on everything other than entitlements. The recent debt-ceiling agreement is supposed to put the brakes on that kind of spending, but leaders have so far been maddeningly vague on how they’ll do it.

This issue could be an important one in the coming presidential race. Should Republicans base their platform on entitlement reform, or should they focus on the here and now — specifically, on undoing the damage done by Obama and his Democratic allies? In coming months, the answer will likely become clear: entitlements someday, but first things first.

Read the whole thing.

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? More Americans at risk of foreclosure in Q2: Number of homeowners at risk of foreclosure rose in 2nd quarter, likely to increase further.

FREE SPEECH UPDATE: FCC Finally Kills Off Fairness Doctrine.

KATE WINSLET: Real-life action hero.

ANSWERING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: “Should I Dump my Boyfriend for My Supervisor?”

DEBBIE WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ UPDATE: Debbie’s Very Bad Day in Iowa. “It was a very enlightening glimpse at how a powerful Democrat – herself a leader of ‘progressives’ in Congress – cannot satisfy the implacable demands of her own party’s left-wingers. Just something to keep in mind, next time someone tries to tell you that Republicans are the party beholden to fringe extremist wingnuts.”

ED DRISCOLL: Apology Accepted, Captain Needa. “S&P Board Fires CEO For Telling The Truth, To Be Replaced With COO Of Citibank.”

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): CBS NEWS: National debt has increased $4 trillion under Obama. “The debt was $10.626 trillion on the day Mr. Obama took office. The latest calculation from Treasury shows the debt has now hit $14.639 trillion. It’s the most rapid increase in the debt under any U.S. president.”

BOOBIES: They never lose their appeal.

UPDATE: More.

EVERYBODY MUST GET STONED: Well, the Taliban, anyway: “Angry villagers stoned to death a local Taliban commander and his bodyguard in southern Afghanistan Sunday after the militants killed a 60-year-old man accused of aiding the government, Afghan officials said.”

WHY AMAZON can’t manufacture a Kindle in the U.S.

AT AMAZON, markdowns on treadmills.

OBAMA ON LIBYA: Mission Accomplished, Almost.

TAXES: Before You Call Me Greedy, Operate Fairly:

Over the years, I have paid a significant portion of my income to the various federal, state and local jurisdictions in which I have lived, and I deeply resent that President Obama has decided that I don’t need all the money I’ve not paid in taxes over the years, or that I should leave less for my children and grandchildren and give more to him to spend as he thinks fit. I also resent that Warren Buffett and others who have created massive wealth for themselves think I’m “coddled” because they believe they should pay more in taxes. I certainly don’t feel “coddled” because these various governments have not imposed a higher income tax. After all, I did earn it. …

Others could pay higher taxes if they choose. They could voluntarily write a check or they could advocate that their gifts to foundations should be made with after-tax dollars and not be deductible. They could also pay higher taxes if they were not allowed to set up foundations to avoid capital gains and estate taxes.

What gets me most upset is two other things about this argument: the unfair way taxes are collected, and the violation of the implicit social contract between me and my government that my taxes will be spent—effectively and efficiently—on purposes that support the general needs of the country. Before you call me greedy, make sure you operate fairly on both fronts.

Today, top earners—the 250,000 people who earn $1 million or more—pay 20% of all income taxes, and the 3% who earn more than $200,000 pay almost half. Almost half of all filers pay no income taxes at all. Clearly they earn less and should pay less. But they should pay something and have a stake in our government spending their money too.

In addition, the extraordinarily complex tax code is replete with favors to various interest groups and industries, favors granted by politicians seeking to retain power. … Governments have an obligation to spend our tax money on programs that work. They fail at this fundamental task.

Indeed.