“SMART DIPLOMACY:” Obama’s Devastatingly Mixed Signals.

THIS HAS NEVER BEEN MY EXPERIENCE: Exam Bluebooks As Love Letters.

HMM: European Universities Are Urged to Seek Other Revenue as Public Support Flags. Could that happen here?

WALL STREET JOURNAL: The Federal Reserve Is Causing Turmoil Abroad: Few protesters in the Middle East connect rising food prices to U.S. monetary policy. But central bankers do.

WISCONSIN: Panel backs voter ID; Democrat not allowed to vote by phone. “Republicans on a state Senate committee approved a bill Tuesday to require voters to show ID at the polls, in their latest effort to entice Democrats to end their boycott of Senate proceedings. The committee made significant changes to the bill in a meeting that included a bizarre element. Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton) participated in the meeting by phone, but Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin), the committee chairwoman, refused to let him vote because he and the 13 other Senate Democrats left the state Thursday.” 80% of life is showing up.

JOHN FUND: Upping The Pressure on Wisconsin Dems.

CHANGE: Home Price Declines Continue. “The monthly data showed declines in 19 of the 20 regions, Washington D.C. being the lone exception where home prices rose 0.3 percent.” Well, that’s where the money’s going.

MICHAEL YON is back in Afghanistan.

SLEEPING ON THE LEFT SIDE: Good for reflux, but not so much for your heart.

SO THIS WHOLE HOPE-AND-CHANGE ERA ISN’T REALLY PANNING OUT: Gay Black Tea Partier Accosted By Racist SEIU Activists At Denver Tea Party.

UPDATE: New slogans for the Democrats.

CAIR TRIES TO CONFRONT REP. ALLEN WEST, massive fail results.

PUNTING ON LIBYA.

CLEVELAND? REALLY? Obama praises Cleveland as the ‘tech belt.’

UPDATE: Reader C.J. Burch emails: “If he gets a second term Cleveland and Detroit will have the highest standards of living in the country. It won’t be because either of them improved, either.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader William Jamieson emails:

If The One called Cleveland the tech belt, he’s the only one who’s done so, to my knowledge. Maybe some local, rah-rah guys from the chamber of commerce have, but that’s just the spin and the hype, which no one believes. Seriously, aside from some nano stuff nearby, I’m not sure what The One might mean.

We’re an old blue-collar, factory town, and once thrived as a producer of cars and steel. We made things. Now, I don’t know how you’d describe us, as I don’t think we’ve made any real transition to a new business base.

I work in the midst of the projects, but only a few miles from the University Circle area and the Cleveland Clinic complex. Some of the best medical facilities in the world, along with one of the best art museums and orchestras in the world, are a 5 minute drive from my work.

But you wouldn’t know it from my work’s immediate neighborhood, which is rife with abandoned houses and the barrack-style projects built immediately post WW II, or so they look; around another corner, brick multi-story buildings, which once housed factories, but have been abandoned 10 or 20 years, are only now being torn down. Who’s the largest employer near us? RTA…the Regional Transit Authority, as in public transportation, heavily subsidized, of course. It’s a pretty depressed and depressing area.

If you want to see what 25 or so years of single party rule (democrat) have done to a city and county, and don’t want to go to Detroit, you should come here. Democratic mayors, congressional reps on east and west sides, county commissioners and other county officers, many of whom are going to jail….you think Chicago is corrupt, you should come here.

We’ve had the feds crawling all over some of these county guys for 3-4 years now, nailing one after the other. The County Auditor pleaded guilty a few months ago, in exchange for a light sentence for his son, also convicted of corruption, and is soon off to jail for 20+ years, the bastard. A county commissioner is going down with the ship, too. Of course, he’s innocent. I hope he gets double the auditor’s sentence.

Meanwhile, jobs have melted away, high school graduation rates every year hover at 50%, little new commercial construction has started, save for government buidlings….and, seemingly, no new businesses are moving in.

Gee, I wonder why?

THE TERRIBLE TOLL OF A GRUELING PROFESSION. So I’ve had the same University ID since I started — back in 1989 — but now the University is making everyone get new ones for some reason. I got mine today, and they wouldn’t let me keep the old card, but they did snip out the picture so I could save it. So here’s what over 20 years of law teaching does to a man. First, the old pic:

And now the new one:

Kids, consider yourselves warned.

UPDATE: “Not for the squeamish.” Indeed.

AT AMAZON, a sale on a Duracell jumpstarter/emergency power source.

MY GUESS IS, “SHAMELESSLY:” “Let’s put aside that congressional Republicans deny that they want to shut down the government. How can Harry Reid continue talking about Republicans wanting to shut down the government as if it were the worst conceivable thing in the world when, as he is making this accusation, Democrats in (now) two states have actually shut down their governments?”

RICHARD COHEN: Government Pensions: An Obesity Epidemic.

BILL QUICK’S Black Swan.

BILL WHITTLE, SCOTT OTT, STEPHEN GREEN: Trifecta: Money Grubbing Thugs: Public Sector Unions Can’t Stop Devouring Taxpayer Money.

UPDATE: Two-Thirds of Wisconsin Public-School 8th Graders Can’t Read Proficiently—Despite Highest Per Pupil Spending in Midwest.

SELF-INFLICTED WOUNDS: Obama, Democrats Sliding In Polls.

WISCONSIN: Gov. Walker’s Fireside Chat.

Related: Wisconsin senate committee passes new rule: Senators must collect their paychecks in person. Heh.

MARKDOWNS ON magazine subscriptions.

KARL MARX IS DEAD.

PJTV: AlfonZo Rachel Reports From Wisconsin. (Bumped.)

TAX CONSEQUENCES of a Groupon.