AT AMAZON, the week’s top deals in electronics.

DAN MITCHELL: Who’s Right on Medicare Reform, Ryan and Rivlin or Obama and Gingrich?

UPDATE: A study in projection.

REVIEWING THE NEW KIA OPTIMA HYBRID: “The gas-electric Kia mostly pleases, except for the gas-electric part.”

JUST A REMINDER: When you shop through Amazon links on this site, or using the searchbox in the right sidebar, you put a little money in my family’s pocket at no cost to yourself. It’s much appreciated!

UPDATE: Reader Brian Weigand emails:

Please keep the Amazon links coming. In the last couple of years I’ve gotten good to excellent deals on products ranging from external hard drives to survival kits. Most recently, I purchased a Panasonic ES8228 razor at about 2/3 off the normal price. I had no idea that an electric razor could produce such a fine result. That a small amount of the purchase price goes to you is just an added feature. Thanks for the help!

p.s.: I can’t believe that I ever questioned whether or not Amazon Prime was worth the money. Doh!

Thanks! Yeah, it’s changed the way I shop. (Bumped).

HOW TO HAVE A HAPPY RELATIONSHIP: Drink together! “Forget an apple a day to keep the doctor away. We’re more likely to follow this new rule: A drink a night with your boyfriend keeps relationship problems at bay. That’s what researchers at the University at Buffalo are claiming after examining the results of a recent study. They found that couples who have a cocktail or two (or even three) together reported feeling ‘increased intimacy and decreased relationship problems the next day’ as compared to boyfriends and girlfriends who drink apart or don’t drink at all.”

UPDATE: Several readers say that George Thorogood was right. “If you don’t start drinkin’, I’m gonna leave.”

Meanwhile, I’m remembering this British study. “The study also found that 75 per cent of women said they liked to drink before getting into bed with their husband or boyfriend. Some 6 per cent of women have never had sex while sober.”

So, drinking together means more sex. More sex means “increased intimacy and decreased relationship problems the next day.” It all makes sense!

SO SCHWARZENEGGER TURNS OUT TO BE A true member of the Kennedy clan.

LOOKING PRETTY POPULAR: Toyota Prius Alpha orders soar to 25,000; that’s 8 times Toyota’s monthly sales target. “All’s not peachy in Prius Alphaland, though. With the effects of the March 11th earthquake continuing to be felt, Toyota says that it will most likely not be able to keep up with this level of demand.”

STEPHEN HAWKING: There is no Heaven. Well, it’s a falsifiable prediction.

THE NEW PUNCTUATION: A menace to our way of life!

CHANGE: Construction, Manufacturing Fall. “U.S. home construction fell unexpectedly in April, an indication that the troubled sector will remain a drag on the economic recovery.” Unexpectedly!

UPDATE: Reader Gordon Stewart emails:

How many times in a row can something happen unexpectedly before the experts start to, you know, expect it? At some point, shouldn’t they be required to state the foundation for their expectations? If they actually expect housing prices or new home construction to go up in this market, what are they basing that on?

Hope. Desperation. Something like that.

IN THE MAIL: From Elaine Scarry, Thinking in an Emergency.

FRANK J. FLEMING: America Needs Better Villains Than Porn-Addicted Jihadists. “The fact is, to achieve great heights, America needs a great villain to overcome, and as long as our big enemy is a bunch of primitive thugs servicing themselves in barren compounds, we’re going to be stuck in a rut.”

IMPORTANT HEALTH TIP: Eat Bacon And Eggs For Breakfast. I’m down with that. Thanks to reader Larry Tomasson for the link.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: How To Retire When You Have No Retirement Savings. “You’ll just have to be resourceful.”

AT AMAZON, 30% Off Gluten-Free Food.

BYRON YORK: With Huckabee out, voters look for a likable candidate.

JED RUBENFELD: Yes, the Bin Laden Killing Was Legal. “Under any sane construction of the laws of war, his killing was lawful regardless of whether he ‘raised his hands in surrender’ or whether U.S. troops weren’t to give him the chance. . . . Most of the laws of war depend on a modicum of reciprocity: We give our enemy’s soldiers certain rights in the hope that they will do the same for ours. Men who make war on innocent civilians and behead their prisoners live by a different law. They should expect to die by it as well.”

GINGRICH HECKLED, very effectively. “Get out now before you make a bigger fool of yourself.” Gingrich’s assault on Ryan was stupid. It was stupid in the narrow sense — it’s made the base hate Gingrich — and it was stupid in the wider sense, since it props up Democratic objectors. In a narrow sense, Gingrich is one of the smartest politicians out there, but in a broader sense, well, not so smart. He’s shown that repeatedly over his career.

UPDATE: Ouch. Is the Gingrich campaign over already?

ANOTHER UPDATE: Funny, Gingrich loved the Ryan plan back in March, when he talked to PJTV’s Tony Katz. I wonder why he’s changed his tune? (Bumped).

THE PEOPLE VS. THE POWERFUL: Nearly 20 percent of new Obamacare waivers go to gourmet restaurants, nightclubs, fancy hotels in Nancy Pelosi’s district.

CHRIS CHRISTIE UPDATE: NJ to Take in $913M More in Tax Revenue for 2012.

“NEW CIVILITY” BULLSHIT, CONT’D: WI Attorney General Releases 100 PAGES of Documented Threats Against Lawmakers During the Budget Negotiations. “A surprising number of even the most vile messages came from readily-identifiable senders.”

As Prof. Jacobson has asked in the past, “Why do these people, many of whom are professionals, feel no fear in expressing such death wishes in the open?” Because they don’t expect to face any consequences. And so far, most of them haven’t.

THOUGHTS ON THE LEGAL LENGTH of the FBI Director’s term.

SCIENTISTS QUESTION THE SAFETY of TSA scanner machines.

JONAH GOLDBERG: “While Bernard-Henri is scandalized that a mere chambermaid can get a ‘great’ man like Strauss-Kahn in trouble with the law merely by credibly accusing him of sexual assault, I am proud to live in a country where a housekeeper can get a world leader pulled off a plane bound for Paris. If something like that couldn’t happen in France, then shame on France and shame on Levy for thinking otherwise.”

UPDATE: James Taranto: Those Sophisticated Frenchmen.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Mickey Kaus on standing up for the powerless.

“INSUFFERABLY CLOYING AND PHONY:” Mickey Kaus unhappy with new Today pick. Well, I suppose somebody is still watching Today.