IT’S ONLY A FLESH WOUND: “In his final tape, Osama bin Laden goes Full Monty Python.”

BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE A DIME? “Daily Mail: Mika Brzezinski Almost Left MSNBC Because She Couldn’t ‘Make Ends Meet.'”

Still though, there are far worse places in TV to work: “Charming TV Host Mysteriously Having Trouble Finding People to Work for Him: ‘Everyone is Laughing.'”

AT AMAZON, Spring camera deals.

YOU WENT FULL DEATHER, MAN. Never go full Deather.

Although to be fair, you’ll be in some surprisingly well-known company if you do.

RELATED: “Michael Moore: America’s Most Prominent Deather.”

TOO BIG FOR STROLLER.

PETRAEUS TO THE CIA: Why?  Jamie McIntyre explains it at the Daily Beast.

BIN LADEN’S HERBAL VIAGRA. A product, Avena syrup, gets a sudden boost in publicity, with a bad celebrity endorsement. I wonder if that helps or hurts business. Probably helps!

AT AMAZON, markdowns on groceries and gourmet food.

LEGAL THEORY LEXICON: What is legitimacy? (Link corrected now.)

DEMOCRATS SEE HIGH GAS PRICES as a good occasion for raising taxes on oil companies. The NYT passes along the Democrats’ puzzling PR on the subject. Senator Menendez says: “Big Oil certainly doesn’t need the collective money of taxpayers in this country. This is as good a time as any in terms of pain at the pump and in revenues needed for deficit reduction.” The collective money? Interesting use of the word “collective.” It’s a tell, isn’t it? If anyone has money, they have the people’s collective money. Somehow taking that is supposed to to help people who are feeling “pain at the pump.” It’s hard to see how. But maybe the key phrase is “This is as good a time as any.” It’s always a good time for taxing!

(Also posted at Althouse, where you can comment, if you like.)

LONGNECKERS! I knew it!

The Great Books According to Me: The Loser, by George Konrad. The history of the 20th century, Nazis, Soviets, everything, through the eyes of a Hungarian Jew. The exhaustion of a Communist regime by the 1970s: the policeman says wearily, “Don’t be for us.  Don’t be against us.  Just be quiet.”

AMTRAK TURNS 40…CALLED A ‘MASSIVE FAILURE’ BY ITS FOUNDER:

When the Founding Father of Amtrak calls it a ‘massive failure’ and states that the politicians involved are getting more benefits from it than the passengers and taxpayers, you would hope that someone in the Federal government would respond.

Washington did respond. Their answer to Amtrak’s problems?  Spend more money.

Read the whole thing.™

RELATED: At Reason, Nick Gillespie quips, “Sen. Charles Schumer Proposes to Expand Amtrak’s Already Amazingly Effective ‘No-Ride List’ to Even More People.”

MOE LANE: “Noam Chomsky is remarkably ignorant about Native Americans,” among many other things.

Related Video: “Noam Chomsky Attacks Israel’s ‘Expansion Over Security’ at UCLA Lecture on ‘Palestine in Crisis’.”

JOHN STOSSEL: “The government’s war on speculators won’t make gasoline any cheaper.”

And speaking of Stossel, at Mediaite, “Cable News Gold: ‘Freeloading’ Lawyer Yells ‘Get A Job!’ At Breitbart As Stossel Airs Beach Photo.”

CHANGE: Brown Wants To Cut Prison Population by a Fifth.

SHADO OF A DOUBT: Rand Simberg on “Europeanizing American Space Activities by Stealth.”

But mister, we could still use a man like Ed Straker again.

ROGER L. SIMON ON “The Reluctant Assassination of Osama.”

And, found via Roger’s post, Andrew Bostom has some thoughts on the invocation spoken at the Navy’s wake for OBL.

LAWRENCE WRIGHT ON PAKISTAN’S DOUBLE GAME: “The American romance with Pakistan was over, but the marriage was just about to begin.”