VIRGINIA POSTREL: How Steve Jobs Made Business Cool Again:

To understand the cultural significance of Steve Jobs, you have to go back in time: to before the iPad or iPhone or iTunes, before Apple Inc.’s comeback products made candy-colored plastics and iAnything cool, before Jobs got kicked out of Apple, even before the Macintosh hurled a sledgehammer at Big Brother.

It’s 1981. Most people have never heard of Silicon Valley. The country’s most famous businessman is Lee Iacocca, the head of Chrysler Corp. He’s famous because in 1979 he engineered a government bailout — loan guarantees — that saved the company. He’s also famous because, unlike his peers, Iacocca is colorful. He seems to believe in what he’s doing.

In 1981, business executives aren’t known for either personality or passion. The general public sees business as a boring, impersonal, possibly suspect activity. Its significance seems purely financial. . . . That was all about to change.

Read the whole thing.

HOWIE CARR ON OBAMA’S VINEYARD DEPARTURE: Prez exits on wave of ineptitude. “The first family came in separate planes, and they’re leaving, ditto. Hey, it’s only money, our money. Even before Irene, this wasn’t much of a presidential vacation compared to the earlier ones. An Obama vacation on the Vineyard has been downgraded from Cat 3 to tropical storm. It’s hard to get excited about the arrival, yet again, of the second coming of Herbert Hoover.” Ouch.

Related: Obama’s Vacation Stormy From Start. “The president’s retreat appeared doomed from the start as the stock market dove just before his arrival a week ago at the sprawling, $20 million Blue Heron Farm in the swish Chilmark section of the island paradise. The vacation only got worse as the Congressional Budget Office reported anemic economic growth, fighting erupted in Libya’s capital and a rare earthquake centered just south of the White House rocked the East Coast and cracked the Washington Monument — all while Obama hit the links, the beach and the bike paths.”

A BELKIN HOME ENERGY-USE MONITOR, for $19.99. “The Conserve Insight Energy Cost Monitor makes it easy to be smart about energy. Find out how much energy your devices use on a yearly or monthly basis.” Is it just me, or does the bit about tracking CO₂ emissions already sound hopelessly out of date? The money-saving, not so much.

LOOKING AT THE BRIGHT SIDE: How Hurricane Irene Can Help You Find A Boyfriend.

THE NEW YORK TIMES retracts Issa Hit Piece, One Correction at a Time.

DAN MITCHELL: An Amazing Indictment Of Obamanomics: Banks That Don’t Want Deposits. “Sort of like McDonald’s turning away customers because they lose money by selling Big Macs and french fries.”

HOORAY FOR “Price Gougers.” They serve a vital function.

WISCONSIN: By Any Means Necessary.

ADMIT IT — YOU SAW THIS ONE COMING: New Scandal at DoJ as Illegal Guitars End Up In Hands of Mexican Drug Lords.

ROBERT FARAGO: ATF Death Watch 64: The Gunwalker Cover-Up Continues.

ATTACKING FREE MARKETS in Chile. “Chile has 6% growth now, 60 free-trade pacts, billions in foreign investment, and top rankings as the freest, least corrupt and most open economy in the world. What it seems to lack is a leader who believes in it.”

WORDS OF WISDOM FROM SAYUNCLE: “If you’re prepared for the zombie apocalypse, a hurricane is just a storm.”

AT AMAZON, bestsellers in Exercise & Fitness.

BADASS of the week.

YOU DON’T SAY? GENERATORS, BATTERIES BIG SELLERS IN ADVANCE OF IRENE.

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: Earthquake, hurricane, Obamacare. When does it stop? Seven more and I vote we let the Israelites go.

UPDATE: Well, here’s one more. Sheesh.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Related thoughts.

WAR ON PHOTOGRAPHY UPDATE: Court says state law used to ban recording of police officers in public is unconstitutional.

A Boston lawyer suing the city and police officers who arrested him for using his cell phone to record a drug arrest on the Common won a victory today when a federal appeals court said the officers could not claim “qualified immunity” because they were performing their job when they arrested him under a state law that bars audio recordings without the consent of both parties.

In its ruling, which lets Simon Glik continue his lawsuit, the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston said the way Glik was arrested and his phone seized under a state wiretapping law violated his First and Fourth Amendment rights.

Good. The really important part is that the court held that the right to photograph is “clearly established,” meaning that the officers are not entitled to official immunity. Full opinion here. And some useful background reading here. Key bit: “The proliferation of electronic devices with video-recording capability means that many of our images of current events come from bystanders with a ready cell phone or digital camera rather than a traditional film crew, and news stories are now just as likely to be broken by a blogger at her computer as a reporter at a major newspaper. Such developments make clear why the news-gathering protections of the First Amendment cannot turn on professional credentials or status.” Indeed.

THE IMPORTANCE OF independent bloggers.

GIBSON GUITAR CEO ON RAIDS: “We’re being persecuted.”

MAYBE THAT HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE HASN’T BURST YET: New Nashville Law School Opens With 30% More Students Than Expected.

The nation’s newest law school opened its doors on Aug. 25 to welcome its first class.

The Belmont University College of Law in Nashville has an incoming class of 130 students — 30 more than a feasibility study predicted, said Dean Jeff Kinsler. “We had a much higher yield on our offers than we thought we would,” he said.

That same feasibility study predicted that the class’ median score on the LSAT would be 152, but it ended up at 154.

On the other hand, two other new law schools haven’t done so well. Maybe it’s just the Nashville area.

THE MIDDLE GROUND BETWEEN technology and revolutions.

BUSTED: China Removes Cyberwar Video, Denies Everything.

SPECIAL TREATMENT: Isabelle Huppert Plays A Call Girl.

THEY HAVE GOOD LAWYERS: Asian Carp Win Again.

UNHAPPY WITH YOUR JOB? It may be genetic.