JAMES TARANTO: Losing His Religion: A Pentagon Scare And A Media Taboo. “When news organizations evade facts that fit what they see as undesirable stereotypes, they train news consumers to fill in the blanks even when the stereotypes do not apply.”

PROOF THAT WE’RE NOT GETTING VALUE FOR OUR EDUCATION DOLLAR: Asking people to sign a petition to ban “job-killing” ATM machines: “When we went out on the street and started asking people to sign a petition to ban ATM machines, we expected most of them to call us crazy or to simply ignore us. But in Barack Obama’s America, banning cash machines as economic stimulus actually seems like a fairly reasonable idea to many folks.”

JEREMIAH DUBOFF: We Hated Reagan.

ECONOMIC WORRIES: The Vise, or stag-double-flation. “The more I sift through the economic news, the more anxious I grow.” My hope is that the inflation and deflation will cancel each other out. But “hope” hasn’t paid off especially well lately.

HOPE AND CHANGE: Your Well-Paid, Middle-Class Job Is in Danger.

AT AMAZON, Top Deals In Electronics.

And it’s still not too late to stock up on light bulbs.

DAVID BROOKS ON CORRUPTION AND DEMOSCLEROSIS. But he’s worried about democratically-inspired turnover:

Washington is home to a vertiginous tangle of industry associations, activist groups, think tanks and communications shops. These forces have overwhelmed the government that was originally conceived by the founders.

The final message is that members of the leadership class have done nothing to police themselves. The Wall Street-Industry-Regulator-Lobbyist tangle is even more deeply enmeshed.

People may not like Michele Bachmann, but when they finish “Reckless Endangerment” they will understand why there is a market for politicians like her. They’ll realize that if the existing leadership class doesn’t redefine “normal” behavior, some pungent and colorful movement will sweep in and do it for them.

I, on the other hand, think that democratic turnover is the sovereign remedy for demosclerosis — though in later days I’ve begun to wonder if it is a sufficient remedy.

UPDATE: Reader Jody Green writes:

I read this rather surprising article by Mr. Brooks and thought it amazing that he might call out Michelle Bachmann as a possible star on the side of good governance but he ended with the word “Pungent” to describe her. A hard working, self made, seriously altruistic (24 foster kids), intelligent and patriotic American citizen who questions the horrid mess that the ruling class has made of the Federal Government, must be “Pungent” if she accurately questions the Ruling class and it’s corruption. Please bring on the “Pungent” horde. Am I reading this wrong?

Alas, I don’t think so. She may be necessary, and Brooks may even realize that she’s necessary, but there’s still the NOKD factor.

IN TEXAS? Judge Sentences Mom For Spanking Own Kid.

A judge in Corpus Christi, Texas some harsh words for a mother charged with spanking her own child, before sentencing her to probation.

“You don’t spank children today,” said Judge Jose Longoria. “In the old days, maybe we got spanked, but there was a different quarrel. You don’t spank children.”

Rosalina Gonzales had pleaded guilty to a felony charge of injury to a child for what prosecutors had described as a “pretty simple, straightforward spanking case.” They noted she didn’t use a belt or leave any bruises, just some red marks.

Really? We know the judge’s name — and I regard this as an utter dereliction of duty — but who’s the prosecutor who decided to bring charges? Both should be ridden out of office on a rail for this outrageous interference with parental authority.

And have you noticed that the same people who want to undermine parental authority — say by sending parents to jail for spanking kids — also demand a high degree of parental responsibility for things kids do, to the point of jailing parents when kids don’t go to school?

UPDATE: Reader Joe Rigney writes: “Sounds like a gubernatorial pardon might be in order. That would be one more plus for a Perry presidential run.”

SO THIS VIDEO IS OVER A YEAR OLD, but Weiner-defenders were posting in the comments, attacking Andrew Breitbart and, well, defending (now ex-) Rep. Anthony Weiner. Nice work, guys. . . .

WAR POWERS: Top Lawyers Lost to Obama in Libya War Policy Debate. “President Obama rejected the views of top lawyers at the Pentagon and the Justice Department when he decided that he had the legal authority to continue American military participation in the air war in Libya without Congressional authorization, according to officials familiar with internal administration deliberations.”

101 GADGETS that changed the world.

STEVEN CROWDER stands up against intolerance.

ENTITLEMENT: Woman Says She’s Too ‘Educated’ to be Kicked off New York Train.

EVEN A BROKEN CLOCK IS RIGHT TWICE A DAY, and Jimmy Carter is right about this.

UNPRECEDENTED RACISM at the University of Massachusetts? Well, technically it’s the remedy that’s unprecedented, but does that say something about what provoked it? It would if it were at the University of Mississippi . . . .

ANDREW KLAVAN: Klavan’s Economic Smackdown: Paul Ryan vs. Barack Obama.

UPDATE: Pajamas is checking on what’s going on with the YouTube embed. But you can see the video on PJTV in the meantime.

ANOTHER UPDATE: YouTube version should be playable now.

FROM POLITICAL SEX SCANDAL WHERE NOBODY GETS LAID, to spy sex traps where nobody gets laid. Good grief.

COFFEEBLOGGING: OKAY, I STILL LIKE MY CUISINART COFFEEMAKER, but I’ve found myself throwing out a lot of un-drunk coffee. After some decent hotel experiences with one-cup coffeemakers — of which I’ve always been skeptical — I bought one of these. I find the coffee a bit watery unless you use the “Extra Bold” varieties, but then it’s fine. There’s also a filter that lets you use your own coffee varieties, and just pack in a bit more. I’ve had it for a couple of weeks now and I think I’ll keep it. It’s especially nice for brewing up a cup of decaf at night as a lower-calorie substitute for a beer or wine.

UPDATE: Kim du Toit writes:

With three serious coffee-drinkers in our house, we used to have a Bunn restaurant-style coffeemaker, because the total cost per cup was about 20c.

Until we realized that because we used to throw out the stale coffee and make a new pot, the ACTUAL cost per cup was closer to 75 cents.

And like you, sometimes we’d just want a decaf or something else. And a whole pot was a waste.

Enter Keurig. About a year ago, we got the Platinum model, and we’ve been singing its praises loudly ever since. We have our own favorites: The Mrs. likes hers strong (Van Houten European), I like the weaker “diner” stuff (Timothy’s Donut Blend), Daughter likes chai, #1 Son likes the occasional white chocolate, #2 Son decaf, and so on.

But the best is when it’s cold outside, and then it’s out with the hot apple cider, or an after-dinner espresso. Which is the whole point.

We have about a dozen different kinds of drink handy — coffees, flavored coffees, teas, iced tea mix, cocoas, hot chocolate, apple cider — so anyone can have anything they want, at any time. 24/7 in our house, somebody has some kind of Keurig-made drink next to them.

Choice, baby. That’s Keurig.

I haven’t tried the others, except for the hot chocolate. But I do like the flexibility.

UPDATE: Reader Dan Carr writes: “Had stopped drinking coffee at home until I received a Keurig at Christmas ’09, enjoying it ever since. Recommend Emeril’s Big Easy Bold and Jet Fuel.” Jet Fuel, eh? I rather like the sound of that.

WOULD YOU PAY $392,133 for This Book?

CHANGE: How Miserable Is The US? Index Says It’s The Worst In 28 Years.

OUCH: “Is this like those employers who give you an IQ test and if you score too high you don’t get the job? I’m sorry, professor, you’re too good to have emeritus status at our miserable little law school.”

They’re not getting much of a reputational boost here.

VIDEO: Breitbart hacks Netroots Nation conference, gets hassled by lefties.

OKAY, THIS homemade airship is pretty cool.

BILL WHITTLE: Helping Our Wounded Warriors.

WHO ARE YOU GOING TO BELIEVE, ME OR YOUR OWN LYING EYES? Senior White House aide: 1996 Obama gay marriage questionnaire is a fake, even though Obama signed it. Presumably the White House is demanding release of the original long-form questionnaire.

UPDATE: “I Did Not Have Signatorial Relations with that Questionnaire!”