COPPER: Manhattan Project artifacts up for sale; but history’s not the big attraction. “Nine really big magnetic coils, once part of the World War II calutrons that enriched uranium for the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, are up for sale. The attraction to bidders, however, is apparently not the history of the Manhattan Project units, but rather the value of the metals. Each of the ‘D-ring coils’ reportedly contains 11 tons of copper. Copper has been trading at $3.15 to $3.25 a pound in recent days, so there’s obviously some money to be made there.”

ROGER SIMON: Will Morgan Freeman Answer Ali Akbar?

TIM CAVANAUGH: Steven Chu’s Not The Solyndra Fall Guy.

So the actual news here boils down to: Steven Chu still has not said anything about Solyndra.

The head of a cabinet-level department is too high-ranking to be a “fall guy” anyway. He may get in trouble for decisions he makes, and his boss the president may get in trouble too, but he is not a fall guy; he is the person in charge of the department. Nothing about Chu’s responsibility for the Solyndra loan has changed in the last 48 hours – but you’d have a better understanding of that fact if you had not been looking at the news than if you had. So maybe it’s a good thing that most Americans are paying no attention to Solyndra coverage.

Journalism at work.

TODAY ONLY: A Brother monochrome laser printer for $49.99. This looks like a non-wireless version of the one I’ve got, which has been an excellent printer.

Plus, while they last, a “lightning deal” on an elliptical trainer for $169.99.

FAST-AND-FURIOUS FALLOUT? DoJ Considering Elimination of ATF. Couldn’t happen to a more deserving agency. I agree with the suggestion, though, that such a move would likely be part of a cover-up, rather than an effort at government streamlining, or accountability.

MORE ON THAT ATF GUN-SMUGGLING SCANDAL: New Fast and Furious docs released by White House. “The documents show extensive communications between then-ATF Special Agent in Charge of the Phoenix office Bill Newell – who led Fast and Furious – and then-White House National Security Staffer Kevin O’Reilly. Emails indicate the two also spoke on the phone. Such detailed, direct communications between a local ATF manager in Phoenix and a White House national security staffer has raised interest among Congressional investigators looking into Fast and Furious. Newell has said he and O’Reilly are long time friends.”

MEGAN MCARDLE: Why the Solyndra Loan Wasn’t Like a VC Investment.

Now, maybe you think that there is some unpriced social return of these investments. But then this has nothing to do with VCs, portfolios, or risk; it’s a subsidy. And loan guarantees are not a very good way to structure that subsidy.

Here’s why: at the company level, there’s no difference between an optimal market outcome, and an optimal social outcome (from the DOE’s point of view); both investors and society benefit if more solar cells are sold. If the solar cells are unlikely to be sold to many people, than the loan guarantee is not a good idea–it will not foster much environmental benefit. If the solar cells are likely to be sold to many people, than the loan guarantee should not be needed; private investors should be easily found to back the manufacturing.

The loan guarantees may help make the product slightly cheaper, of course. But again, if the product is sufficiently likely to be popular, capital should be available in the marketplace at a fairly decent price; the difference in interest rates should not be the difference between success and failure unless the loan itself represents an unsustainably large portion of the company’s assets and income.

At any rate, it does not make sense to issue a massive loan guarantee in order to make a company’s solar panels slightly cheaper; that’s maybe a case for subsidizing solar panel installations, but it’s not a case for guaranteeing the loans of a particular solar panel manufacturer.

So no, this isn’t much like a VC. Or anything else that makes financial sense in the private sector. It’s like . . . the government giving money to companies that sound whizzy.

Actually, that’s the charitable explanation. A more cynical explanation is that the “sound whizzy” is just meant to be a distraction from what’s really no more than a payoff to political supporters.

BYRON YORK: “Soft” America — What Obama Really Means. “Look at Obama’s speeches in the last couple of months, and he has repeatedly scolded audiences for not working hard enough and for not sacrificing enough to achieve the goals he has set for his administration. He’s done it with both supporters and with adversaries. With friends, his message has been: Nobody told you this would be easy, and you’ve got to work harder to enact my agenda. With adversaries, his message is: You’ve had it too easy, and you’ve got to make sacrifices to enact my agenda. Obama’s ‘gotten a little soft’ remark fits into that theme: A soft America is one that is insufficiently willing to work and sacrifice to enact the Obama agenda.” Let’s just say that I’m not inspired to sacrifice for President Golfpants.

UPDATE: Reader Kevin Walsh emails: “In other words BHO is saying, ‘The beatings will continue until morale improves’.” Heh. Pretty much.

MICHAEL LEDEEN: Totalitarian Temptations From Carter To Obama.

GALLUP: Congressional Democrats’ Approval Rating At Historic Low.

DOING THE SAME THING WHILE EXPECTING A DIFFERENT RESULT: Energy Department approves $4.7 billion in solar loan guarantees. Hey, it’s only taxpayer money.

AHISTORICAL LITTERING in Mad Men.

JOHN HINDERAKER: Bloomberg: Legitimate News Story, or Liberal Smear? “For more than a week, it has been rumored that Bloomberg Markets is preparing a hit piece on Koch Industries. Mark Tapscott of The Examiner wrote on September 19 that ‘[a] couple of Bloomberg reporters have been digging dirt on the Kansas brothers who own one of the world’s largest private corporations.’ According to Tapscott, Bloomberg is looking into an incident several years ago in which employees at a Koch subsidiary in France were found to have made illegal payments overseas, which violates Koch policies, but is not, unfortunately, uncommon in many parts of the world. . . . What is striking about the emerging outlines of the Bloomberg story is how non-newsworthy it appears to be. Employees of a Koch subsidiary in France were caught making illegal payments in 2008, and therefore were fired by the company. Is that news?”

More media battlespace preparation. Or perhaps the creation of a failure narrative: Obama lost because of those mean libertarian billionaires!

UPDATE: Reader Barry Dauphin writes: “I suspect that the Bloomberg piece on the Koch brothers will also be reported on by the usual suspects, cue NPR. The report will go into all of the seemly details for 95% of the piece, told in an ominous voice, hinting that this is simply the tip of the iceberg. Right at the end, they will mention that the employees were fired, as if an unimportant afterthought. The theme will be corruption in the Koch brothers world, even the the actual details could suggest a theme of sticking to company principles and firing folks who violate them. It will be designed to gin up outrage among contributors during pledge week. Hey, maybe they can even figure out a way for Nina Totenberg to do the piece, just to emphasize the righteous indignation at the evil Koch brothers.”

WHITE HOUSE WITHHOLDING “Fast and Furious” Documents.

THE RETURN OF Catiline.

FAMILY SAVES lost, dying dad.

BRYAN PRESTON: Rebecca Aguilar Resurfaces, Gets Journalists to Quit Using Ordinary Legal Terms in their Reports.

Some background on Aguilar’s prior behavior. But I’m okay with her approach, so long as we can call them “undocumented firearms” instead of “illegal guns.” You know?

KEVIN WILLIAMSON ON THE AL-AWLAKI KILLING: “A U.S. citizen has been assassinated, apparently by the U.S. government, which had earlier placed him on a hit list. Washington celebrates. I suspect we will regret this precedent.”

Yeah, it almost makes me wish I’d voted for a Democrat in 2008. . . .

RON RADOSH: John B. Judis of The New Republic Joins the Israel-Bashers.

CAREER ADVICE: I’m 22 and I Have No Idea What to Do.

THERE’S A SPINAL TAP JOKE IN HERE SOMEWHERE: Heavy Metal Stars Produce Earth-Like Planets.

LATE NIGHT COMICS suffer ratings slide. They quit doing their job when Obama was elected.

AT AMAZON, up to 50% off on Men’s Clothing.

THE KINDLE FIRE has ’em excited over at Wired: Amazon’s Android Tablet May Be the Best and Kill the Rest. Well, I pre-ordered one the first day.

GOING POSTAL: Mail worker unions overload tea party group with more than 100 pounds of mail. Just be glad that they’re not just letting it pile up in the garage . . . .