SOME THOUGHTS ON the Arab Spring and secular dreams. “In that area of the world, secular dreams seem to me to be the most foolish. How that particular dream manages to stay alive among the elite of the West is beyond me.”

Back in 2005, things looked more promising; I think we might have seen real progress then, but the Bush Administration unaccountably backed off and we lost the momentum. Then the Islamists had 5 years to organize, which they did.

THE HILL: GOP mocks Obama’s new ‘can’t wait’ slogan, tells Senate to act. “‘In my opinion, this slogan is an odd choice, especially coming from the president and his party,’ Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) said. ‘Right now, 15 different House-passed jobs bills, each reducing the red tape that is hindering small business, each removing obstacles to domestic energy production, are stuck in the Senate awaiting action from Democratic leadership.'”

UNEXPECTEDLY! Netflix Customer Loss Worse Than Forecast.

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: FBI Saw Dark Side of Rep. John Murtha: Agency Suspected Lawmaker in Scheme Funneling Funds to Benefit Friends, Ex-Staffers. “Last week’s release of FBI documents finally put in writing what nobody had ever said on the record: The FBI suspected that former Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) and lobbyists close to him were running a scheme to funnel earmarks to sham companies and nonprofits to benefit the lawmaker’s friends and former staffers.” I can’t say I’m surprised, though I’m sorry Murtha managed to avoid prosecution by dying first.

MODERN RELATIONSHIP ISSUES: “I Had a Threesome and Now I’m Pregnant.”

REBRANDING: In a less-than-earthshattering change, Pajamas Media is now PJMedia. Roger Simon talks about why, and I have some further observations.

ANDREW KLAVAN: The Mask Of Fascism. “Like all leftist art, V for Vendetta achieves its occasionally powerful effects by re-writing reality to fit the upside-down progressive imagination.”

SO WHY ARE THE FEDS ACTING MORE WORRIED IN PRIVATE THAN THEY’RE EXPRESSING IN PUBLIC? FBI Crime Maps Now ‘Pinpoint’ Average Muslims. Interesting that they use Knoxville in the graphic.

KENNETH ANDERSON: Law, Governance, And The Eurozone. “The eurozone is on the verge of meltdown, taking whole economies and banking systems with it, and spreading to the US through the systemic interwiring of the international financial system. Or not. European meetings to avert disaster are coming unglued and the moment when the markets simply stop turning over debt and re-lending is finally at hand, with a tipping point reached against one or another of the economies beyond Greece. Or not.”

JUAN WILLIAMS ON UNFREE SPEECH:

So, in the year since being labeled a bigot, a bad journalist and fired from NPR, what have I learned?

The biggest lesson for me has come from the endless stream of Americans, Democrats and Republicans, who tell me they can’t believe the constant pressure in politics these days to keep quiet, shut up and bite their tongue for fear of being called a bigot, a crazy right-winger or a socialist lefty.

People are fed up with pledges that enforce far right or far left orthodoxy and being told they lack a spine when they listen to the other side of an argument or call for a political compromise to reach a solution.

Indeed.

AT AMAZON, new releases in science fiction.

ANOTHER NEW YORK TIMES JOURNALIST ACTIVIST: “Is the New York Times a news organization or a front for left-wing activists? Reporter Natasha Lennard was filmed leading an Occupy Wall Street panel, offering radicals tips on keeping their identities secret. Openly.”

THIRD PARTY FUN? Green Presidential Candidate Lays Claim To OWS, Panics Democrats. Well, the Dems can’t claim it — the super-rich are a major Democratic constituency, from George Soros, Jeff Immelt, and Jamie Dimon to Penny Pritzker. All but the first have already come under #OWS attack . . . .

5 WAYS TO increase your productivity by working less.

WELL, DANG: Suddenly, I’m behind Herman Cain. This is happening to a lot of people, it seems.

THE OCCUPY FOLKS AREN’T POOR, at least, not financially. “These young people also suffer from a vast intellectual and moral poverty.”

IF YOU SMASH CAPITALISM you destroy civilization. Well, yeah.

ROBERT FARAGO: Self-Defense Tip: Keep Shooting Until the Threat Ceases. “Practically, shooting to kill can be a huge waste of time—time that would be better spent leaving. If you can shoot and scoot, that’s the ideal plan B. (Plan A was scooting without shooting.) And when your priority is skid-addling, you view your firearm in its proper perspective. It becomes what Ralph calls a time machine: ‘It gives me time to get my ass out of Dodge.’ True dat.”

MICHAEL WALSH: Valor Unsurpassed: U.S. Troops’ Heroism, Skill in Iraq. Hope our “smart diplomacy” doesn’t flush it all away.

INSTAPUNDIT TEST DRIVE: So I dropped by the local Audi dealer the other day and they had an Audi A7. I test-drove it and it’s a really nice car. You’d expect that from the price tag, but it’s nicer even than that. The one I drove was black, with black interior, which color combination I wasn’t crazy about, but the car has very nice, swoopy lines — more sports-car-ish than sedanlike. There was a silver one on the lot, already sold, that looked terrific, as that color really highlights the lines. The interior is high-quality-Audi, which means that it’s extremely nice. Seats very comfortable. On the road it’s extremely fast, but very smooth. Acceleration up a freeway ramp feels even faster than its 5.4 second zero-to-sixty time suggests. Handling on twisty back roads is extremely taut and smooth. My only negative would be that it’s so smooth you’re likely to go faster than you really should, and not even realize it.

Really a terrific car, even for its rather steep price point. Only real downsides are (1) not-so-great mileage; and (2) uncertain reliability in a first-year-out car from Audi. But hey, if you’ve got 70+ grand to spend on a car, you’ll want to give it a serious look. For Audi, my only concern would be that it will cannibalize both A6 and A8 sales, because it’s a better car than either of them.

Meanwhile, speaking of cars I can’t afford, my daughter and I were out the other day and saw an R8 Spyder. She said it was the best-looking convertible she’s ever seen, but was a bit shocked to hear that it costs over $120K. Still, given her strong opinions on automotive design, that’s worth mentioning.

SHOCKING NEWS: “Yes, men have emotions, too.” What? Why wasn’t I told?

DANA LOESCH: “I would rather be the GOP’s Dukakis than the Democrats’ Obama.”

FINANCE TIPS FOR THE SELF-EMPLOYED: “That money part is what I hate about being self-employed. Anyone who says they don’t love a steady paycheck is lying. A paycheck is so nice. It’s reliable like a friend, it makes you safe, it gives you a way to organize your life.”

I do a fair amount of outside writing and a little bit of paid speaking. But it’s given me huge sympathy and respect for people who make their living that way. Just this weekend I finally got a university to cough up the money for a speech last summer. It was mildly annoying that I had to email them several times, but it would have been much worse if I’d expected to pay my mortgage with that check.

OUT OF CONTROL: Obama’s billionaire crony Penny Pritzker called out by Occupy Chicago. “That’s why we’re out here together with everyone here in Chicago demanding that billionaires like Penny Pritzker pay their taxes.”

Plus this commentary: “From the viewpoint of both the right and the left, Penny Pritzker is a snake in the grass. But she’s Obama’s snake.” If things turn into real class warfare, as they seem to be doing, a lot of Dem donors will be pissed. But Obama got desperate, and let that genie out of the bottle. . . .

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA: Silicon Valley Of The East? I don’t know about that, but I’ve noticed that more of my students see it as an attractive destination.