GALLERY: Vintage Submersibles.

This one’s my favorite.

UPDATE: Reader Jody Green wonders how Michele Bachmann and Mitt Romney got into an undersea car in 1966. Heh. It’s the miracle of science!

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: The Metaphysics Of Contemporary Theft. “We are left with a paradox. The taxpayer cannot indefinitely fund the emergency room treatment for the shooter and his victim on Saturday night if society cannot put a tool down for five minutes without a likely theft, or a farmer cannot turn on a 50-year old pump without expecting its electrical connections to have been ripped out. Civilization simply cannot function that way for either the productive citizen or the parasite, who still needs a live host. . . . Watching the tastes, the behavior, the rhetoric, the appointments, and the policy of this administration suggests to me that it is not really serious in radically altering the existing order, which it counts on despite itself. Its real goal is a sort of parasitism that assumes the survivability of the enfeebled host.”

DETROIT’S BIG THREE: A report card.

THE RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH NOTES a media double standard on email privacy.

AT AMAZON, bestsellers in books.

THE CIRCLE HAS CLOSED. NOW THE STUDENT HAS BECOME THE MASTER. So if you look at the SSRN Top Ten Downloads list — a sort of Billboard chart for legal scholarship — you’ll see my former student Morgan Manning’s paper on photographers’ rights is at #2, while my piece on constitutional reform and limited government trails at #7. That’s okay. Being surpassed by your students should be every teacher’s goal. I claim extra credit for the Supreme Beings Of Leisure reference, though . . .

CHECK OUT The Conservatory.

CHRISTOPHER DANZIG: “Maybe I’m just naive, but I find the concept of conducting any courtroom business via video enthralling but also a bit unnerving. It seems so inconsistent with the mythical and timeless ideals of the hallowed halls of justice, yadda yadda yadda. Whether we like it or not, however, video conferencing is creeping into courthouses across the country.” There is a certain Robocop vibe there.

STEVE CARTER ON the confirmation mess:

One reason that there were scarcely any squabbles over cabinet members for the first 90 years of the republic is that the presidents consulted closely with leading senators in deciding whom to appoint.

The tradition began to decline as governing grew more complex, and was thrown over entirely during the presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes. Part of the problem was that executive appointments had become part of the spoils system for powerful senators. But, as so often, we tossed out the baby with the bath water. Determined to end the corruption, Hayes forced his appointments down the Senate’s collective throat. Thus Hayes, known to history for the infamous bargain that bought the presidency at the cost of ending Reconstruction, also largely subdued the Senate as a serious partner in the appointments process. . . .

A rarely mentioned possibility is to shrink by a significant amount the size and scope of the federal government. A smaller executive branch would mean less need for Senate confirmation. Indeed, the steady rise of confirmation fights in the years after World War II predictably tracks the steady rise of federal agencies. Yet significant shrinkage seems politically unlikely — every agency lives symbiotically with several well- organized interest groups.

Yes, it would be lovely if grasping interest groups would stop digging for dirt and hungry politicians would stop grandstanding, but democracy is rarely lovely. Democracy is clamorous and disputatious. The more distant people feel from those who govern them, the louder their clamor to be heard.

I like this shrink the government bit. Perhaps now that we’re broke, we could put that back on the table? Some thoughts on how can be found here.

SITUATION REPORT: Greece Can’t Pay Its Debts, And The E.U. Doesn’t Work.

CONGRATULATIONS TO SCOTT OTT, whose new book, Laughing At Obama, Volume I, is now ranked #1 in Political Humor.

FROM VOTING PRESENT TO BEING ABSENT: Obama No-Show Miffs Hispanics.

BRR: Princess of whales: How a naked female scientist tries to tame belugas in the freezing Arctic. Photos tasteful, but possibly NSFW given the Taliban-like sensibilities of many corporate HR departments. And apply the usual degree of skepticism to stories in the Daily Mail about unorthodox Russian science . . . .

THE MYTH OF the male mid-life crisis. I think I missed mine — Helen’s heart attack was a distraction, after all — but I’m pretty happy with life. Alternatively, Aubrey de Grey is on the right track, and I won’t hit “mid-life” for another several centuries. I could live with that.

MORE ON THAT ATF GUN-SMUGGLING DEBACLE: Mega-Scandal: Was ‘Gunwalker’ a PR Op for Gun Control? “Buckle up: An agent testifies that surveillance stopped at the border, meaning the operation didn’t actually trace guns to cartels to make arrests. The only conclusion? Law enforcement wasn’t the point, orchestrated violence was, and that’s a history-making scandal. . . . At the same time they were damning gun dealers in public, the administration was secretly forcing them to provide weapons to the cartels, by the armful and without oversight.”

Well, people are calling it worse than Iran-Contra. Also, Michael Walsh bears down on this scandal in the Post. “Fast and Furious was supposed to prove the theory. That is, the administration ‘knew’ who the bad guys were — legitimate gun dealers in the Southwest — and set out to make them the heavies in a phony sting operation.” (Bumped to top).

UPDATE: A reader emails:

Re the ATF scandal, is this what Obama meant about “working on gun control under the radar”?

Probably not… I should hope not… but still, this looks bad.

Perhaps someone will ask him at the next White House press conference. What? Stop laughing!

WELL, HE SHOULD KNOW: Former IRS Commissioner Who Impregnated Married Subordinate In Adulterous Affair Blames Lawyers’ Lack of Integrity For Financial Crisis.

YOU’LL NEED A THICK CORD: Fully-charged electric cars in just 5 minutes?

TEN DIET AND EXERCISE MYTHS that pack on pounds.

MICHAEL TOTTEN: The Palestinians of 1967. “Last time I visited Jerusalem I met an Arab who said he’s ready to die in a nuclear holocaust as long as the bomb destroys Israel.” If you like Totten’s work, consider hitting his tipjar. I have.

IN THE MAIL: From Senator Bob Graham, Keys to the Kingdom.

“SECOND WIVES CLUB” OPPOSES onerous alimony laws.

Scanlon notes that current law, originally enacted to protect less-skilled women from being left destitute by husbands who walk out, reflects antiquated notions of a woman’s ability to earn a living in the 21st century.

Today, welfare laws reflect current expectations of self-sufficiency, allowing able-bodied persons to receive public support only temporarily. Yet, under Massachusetts divorce law, first spouses can collect alimony for life (even after the payer has retired) regardless of the duration of the marriage.

The best way to get rid of alimony is for men to start seeking it in large numbers. It will quickly be declared obsolete. Meanwhile, is it any wonder that men are reluctant to marry these days?

MATTHEW CONTINETTI: Mourning In America.

Normally, America goes into overdrive as it exits a recession. This time we’ve been limping along. Why? Because the president is more concerned with tax-and-spend politics than aligning incentives to promote innovation, productivity, efficiency, and debt reduction. Obama’s stimulus failed on its own terms, his health care plan hangs like a sword of Damocles over small business, and his regulatory agencies—from the EPA to the NLRB to the Federal Reserve to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau—have become economic uncertainty machines.

The president’s one good decision was agreeing to maintain current tax rates through December 2012. But he undercut his own policy by immediately pledging to raise taxes on incomes, dividends, capital gains, and estates at the first opportunity. Now it’s left to Republicans not only to prevent a major tax increase, but to remove, repair, and mend the fiscal and monetary damage left in Obama’s wake. The job won’t be easy.

The worst thing Republican presidential candidates could do is be timid and uninspired in their proposals for American renewal.

Read the whole thing. And here’s some background from Steve Carter.

ANDREW KLAVAN: Jon Stewart, Bully.

THE HILL: Fears of interest rate hikes cast cloud over deficit talks. “Lawmakers are worried that uncertainty over a national default and concern over deficit spending could swell interest rates and cost the government over a trillion dollars in the next decade.” All the more reason to slash spending now.

A CLOSEOUT SALE on Bluetooth headsets.