SHOCKER: Noted scholar asks about Yemeni Nobel Peace Prize laureate’s Al Qaeda links.

THE ECONOMIST: The inkblot protests: A new generation takes to the barricades. They should pay more attention to the ballot box.

UPDATE: See the discussion of student loan debt, below.

STILL WAITING FOR THE LEFTY BLOGGERS TO DEFEND Obama’s crackdown on medical marijuana. I mean, you can understand why some Obama boosters might be embarrassed to raise the subject. But . . .

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: The Problem With Pakistan: “If the Pakistanis don’t change their minds, the US must now look to secure its interests in postwar Afghanistan without Pakistan’s help and even over its determined opposition. Pakistan’s plan for postwar Afghanistan (a country controlled by radical Islamists in a close relationship with Pakistan who are committed to jihad in South and Central Asia and elsewhere) would turn the country into a petri dish for terror plots and a magnet for deranged and violent fanatics from all over the world. Preventing this outcome is why the US has been at war in Afghanistan for so long; securing that outcome is the chief strategic goal of a powerful wing of the somewhat fragmented and confused Pakistani national security system.”

ON SALE, TODAY ONLY: A Schwinn Exercise Bike for $147.99.

THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER EDITORIALIZES: Harry Reid shames the ‘world’s greatest deliberative body.’

MARK STEYN: ANARCHISTS FOR BIG GOVERNMENT. “Underneath the familiar props of radical chic that hasn’t been either radical or chic in half a century, the zombie youth of the Big Sloth movement are a ludicrous paradox.”

This parody, seen on Facebook, says it all . . .

As I keep pointing out, if you’re not protesting against President Goldman Sachs, you’re not protesting against “Wall Street.” You’re just a hack. Sorry.

UPDATE: Reader Eliot Picard writes:

In observing the Occupy protests, including milling about the crowds in Boston near my office, it is quite apparent that the student loan debt bomb is probably the main impetus for these actions. It goes without saying that the students and former students facing non-bankruptable debt and minimal job prospects have a legitimate grievance although we may certainly disagree on what needs to be done. One question that keeps occurring to me is whether the colleges and universities that encourage degrees in various useless humanities disciplines bear some significant responsibility for this crisis.

One can only assume that presidents, deans, provosts, etc. know fully well that there is a limited market for degrees in Wommyn’s Studies, Language Arts and the like. My mother, ever the incisive wit, G-d bless her, called the graduates of such programs “unemployable at a higher level”. Indeed, when I finished a double major B.A. in Biology and Philosophy (Rensselaer Polytech, class of 1990) and expressed interest in graduate level philosophy I was told that the school had shut down the Ph.D. program to discourage students from doing much more in the field that I had done already. Clearly RPI knew that allowing and encouraging such a path of study was tantamount to academic malpractice. This sort of sane pedagogical judgement, from which I benefitted in my impetuous youth, has been missing across the rest of academia.

Is there some room for legal action to “claw back” arguably misspent tuition dollars from the universities (IANAL so forgive my obvious misuse of that term). I cannot but think that there has to be some sanction against those universities and their officials who were more than happy to take the big tuition checks while failing to look after the interests of the students in their charge.

One suspects that if this were deemed likely, the AAUP wouldn’t be endorsing the protests. But, of course, that’s right. If any other industry lured 18-year-olds into lifetime debt based on misrepresentations about the value of what it was selling, the executives would already be social pariahs and criminal defendants. I’m in favor of allowing student loan debt to be discharged in bankruptcy, and of forcing the universities to eat part of it in the process. I also think that prospective students should be informed of the percentage of enrolees who graduate, the average indebtedness of graduates (dropouts), and the percentage of that debt that is in default, or over 60 days late. Perhaps this could be subdivided by major to provide a more useful picture of what people are getting into.

A REAL SYRIA POLICY AT LAST? Don’t Count On It?

THE CARNIVAL OF NUCLEAR ENERGY IS UP!

HEH: “We don’t allow faster-than-light neutrinos in here,” says the bartender. A neutrino walks into a bar.

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): Pain of job crisis goes well beyond the unemployed. “Unemployment has been stuck near 9 percent since the recession ended more than two years ago. The jobs report for September on Friday sent the clearest signal to date that the crisis will last through next year’s elections. The pain isn’t confined to the 14 million officially unemployed Americans. Among those hurt by today’s 9.1 percent jobless rate are people forced to work only part-time and those who’ve given up looking for work in frustration. Count many people with jobs, too. Their pay, home values and employment prospects have been diminished by the lack of good-paying, full-time work. Include, too, communities where services have been slashed, small businesses struggling with weak sales and young adults who can’t find jobs to repay student loans.”

IS IT SEXUAL HARASSMENT IF YOU’RE “eating too sexy?”

UPDATE: My problem, of course, is that I do everything “too sexy.” It’s a burden, but whaddyagonnado?

L.A. TIMES: Fast and Furious weapons were found in Mexico cartel enforcer’s home.

WHAT COULD GO WRONG? Homeland Security Application Monitors Crowds’ Faces, Races, and Eye Movements to Detect Would-Be Criminals.

“NEW MEDIA MEADE” ENCOUNTERS the Westboro Baptist Church. More here.

Roundup here.

SOCIAL CONS GO LIBERTARIAN? Ron Paul Wins Values Voters Conference Straw Poll.

UPDATE: Prof. Stephen Clark writes: “Jonah’s broadside directed at Liberaltarianism, and now Social Cons voting for Ron Paul? Will Wilkinson has some ‘splain’n to do.”

AT AMAZON, the “world’s fastest two-sided inkjet printer,” from Epson, for $229.99. The customer reviews are good.

ED DRISCOLL: Why “Liberaltarianism” Is Doomed. “Social issues invariably shortcut logic, just as they’re designed to do.”

PICTURES FROM NASHVILLE’S “We Stand With Gibson” Rally.

I like the First They Came For My Gibson sign.

BAD OPTICS: D.C. Protesters Fight With Guards At Air & Space Museum. They were protesting a drone exhibit. The museum had to close.

Hey, guys? If you’re unhappy about the drone attacks, you need to go a little further down the mall.

IS THERE A MODEL THAT WORKS AGAINST TRAFFIC LASERS? Helicopter Defense: The Quantum Cascade Laser Jammer.

INSTAVISION: A Libertarian Moment in the GOP? Gov. Gary Johnson On the Politics of the 2012 Election. Among other things, Johnson promises that if elected he will (1) Submit a balanced budget in 2013; (2) Veto any unbalanced budget that emerges from Congress; and (3) Push the Fair Tax. He says that such a veto would probably be overridden, but would nonetheless result in much less spending than we would get absent a veto. Plus, of course, voting to override such a veto would put a lot of Congressmembers on the spot, electorally. (Bumped).

FIX YOUR EYESIGHT? THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT! “A system that trains your brain to overcome degrading vision as you age will soon be available as an iPhone app. . . The app helps people compensate for deterioration in their eyes’ ability to focus on nearby objects by training the brain to process the resulting blurred images.”

I have really good night vision. Some of that’s because my eyes do well with low light, but some of it, I think, is because I spent a lot of time in the dark or dim light at one point and my brain just got used to what things look like, so that it processes them better.

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Putin Sees His Moment. “For the past year, the debt crisis has monopolized Europe’s attention to the extent that many forgot the EU did anything besides argue about debt levels. Apparently many in Europe feel the same way, as efforts to bolster its relationships along its Eastern periphery — once a central focus of EU policy — have been all but ignored by policymakers and the media. But where Europe sees a distraction, Russia sees an opportunity.”