WAR POWERS ACT carried away in Rapture. They told me if I voted Republican we’d be waging illegal wars. And they were right!

GERMANY BLASTS GREECE: At least this time it’s only figurative.

FROM THE ANCHORESS, IT’S A RAPTURE ROUNDUP. Meanwhile, Brian Dunn says that this is bad news for the troubled housing market.

More seriously, Freeman Hunt, on Facebook, is unhappy about all the hoopla: “Does anyone actually believe in this Rapture Saturday thing? I keep seeing references to Christians believing it, but I am a Christian, and I know a whole lot of Christians, and yet, I have not encountered a single person who believes this. I’m guessing there’s a small, nutty group somewhere that came up with this, and now it’s being used as a cudgel against regular Christians.” Or, as in my case, an excuse to procrastinate on grading. Plus, if you expect to be raptured away tomorrow, how about hitting my PayPal button today? You can’t take it with you!

But I’m predicting a Leon Festinger moment.

SPRING IS HERE, AND SO ARE THE AIRSHIPS? Airships have been on the verge of a comeback for as long as I can remember, but maybe they’ll make it.

PATCHING DAMAGED HEARTS WITH NANOTECHNOLOGY: “The scientists turned to nanotechnology. In a lab, they built a scaffold-looking structure consisting of carbon nanofibers and a government-approved polymer. Tests showed the synthetic nanopatch regenerated natural heart tissue cells ­– called cardiomyocytes – as well as neurons. In short, the tests showed that a dead region of the heart can be brought back to life.”

UNEMPLOYMENT AND INCOMPETENT ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT WILL DO THAT TO YOU: Recent college grads souring on Obama.

SHOCKING STUDY: Most motorists go green to save money, not the environment.

DRINK MORE COFFEE, prevent prostate cancer. I’m in.

JOHN TIERNEY: Is Happiness Overrated? “So what should be measured instead? The best gauge so far of flourishing, Dr. Seligman says, comes from a study of 23 European countries by Felicia Huppert and Timothy So of the University of Cambridge. Besides asking respondents about their moods, the researchers asked about their relationships with others and their sense that they were accomplishing something worthwhile.”

TRANSPARENCY: Obama: “I’m working on gun control under the radar.”

IN THE MAIL: The Changing Body: Health, Nutrition, and Human Development in the Western World since 1700. The latest from historian Robert Fogel, of whom I am a big fan.

HMM: How Chris Christie will be drafted to run for president.

SUMMER RAINS BRING CEREAL DISEASE FEARS:

Also: New Resistant Strains of Disease Could Wipe Out Global Wheat Fields. “At a meeting of the International Wheat Stripe Rust Symposium last week in Aleppo Syria, scientists said unless serious and urgent measures were taken to combat the rust, it would adversely reduce wheat production in the world.”

On the other hand, there’s this: Kenyan Rust Disease-Resistant Wheat to Boost Production, Institute Says. While people worry about wars and scandals, this kind of thing makes a bigger difference in terms of lives saved.

UPDATE: A gloomy email from farmer-reader Bart Hall:

Glenn, as a now-grey-haired agronomist, I can tell you, this is serious $#!+. As with maize (corn) in 1970, gene pools have become far too narrow and field production far too dependent upon non-resistant pathogens. As the world enters a prolonged, as in 25 years (if we’re fortunate) period of cooling — google Pacific Decadal Oscillation — the interaction of effective pathogens is likely to be devastating.

If we are re-entering a Maunder Minimum type event — and with my first two degrees in geology I believe we are — the scenario worsens considerably. Look at any of the Brueghel paintings (elder or younger), or go read the sonnet Vivaldi wrote, in Venice on the Adriatic, to accompany his ‘Winter’ in the ‘Four Seasons.’

Islam became militant in the 14th century — cooling climate and sharply reduced food resources — far more than in the Seventh. Things are getting rather messy.

Well, we’ll see. I don’t think there’s enough data to predict what will happen, but there’s enough to be concerned, and to make preparations. If governments, etc., are doing enough, though, I’m not seeing it. Meanwhile, here’s more on wheat rust and food politics.

BARACK OBAMA, NEOCON? “Obama finds himself announcing principles that are indistinguishable from those advanced by President Bush in 2003. Obama even credited Iraq as an exemplar of Middle Eastern democracy.”

RETIREMENT IN THE 21ST CENTURY: Just Keep Working Until You Drop. “Almost four in 10 workers said they’ll work long past the normal retirement age, if they even retire at all, and a growing number of people said the recession will force them to work longer in life, a new survey finds.” But it’s okay: “Continuing to work is ‘a very important opportunity to bridge their savings shortfall,’ said Catherine Collinson, president of the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies.”

This isn’t precisely what I had in mind with that longevity dividend talk.

AAA SURVEY: High Gas Prices Mean Fewer Memorial Day Car Trips.

UPDATE: Reader Cindy McNew writes: “It cannot be pointed out too often that Obama considers fewer car trips, anywhere, any time, as a feature, not a bug.” Well, I just paid $4.02/gallon to fill my tank, so he should be happy.

TODAY ONLY: Clint Eastwood’s “Man With No Name” Trilogy On Sale.

INSTAVISION: I talk to Michael Barone about the 2012 elections from Donald Trump to Herman Cain, about the Tea Party’s impact, and about what voters want.

A FIRST: A majority of Americans now support same-sex marriage.

WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Barack Obama, Shop Steward-in-Chief. “One thing must be said of President Obama — he gives good value in return for the hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign contributions he got from the nation’s labor movement. Unions spent an estimated $200 million electing Obama and re-electing Democratic majorities in Congress in 2008. Union officials ought to be ecstatic with Obama’s performance since then because he has delivered everything he promised the unions, and more. Obama’s largesse is all the more amazing when it is remembered that unions represent fewer than 7 percent of all private-sector workers. Fortunately for the country, Democrats in Congress don’t always share Obama’s blind fealty to the union label.”

SO I GUESS HE’S MORE CONSERVATIVE THAN NEWT? Huntsman: I would have voted for Ryan budget. Of course “more conservative than Newt” doesn’t mean as much as it used to . . . .

A BOOK FOR OUR TIMES: So Now You’re a Zombie: A Handbook for the Newly Undead.

Well, with even the CDC warning about zombie outbreaks, I guess it’s time to take all this zombie-prep stuff more seriously. . . .

THE HILL: Obama ‘disrespected’ Israel, threw it ‘under the bus,’ says Romney.

OUR RECLUSIVE PRESIDENT: “A frustrated White House Press Corps chief says her members are ‘constantly fighting’ for more access to the media-elusive President Obama — who hasn’t fielded questions from reporters since early April, despite an onslaught of major events, from the ‘birther’ controversy and spiking gas prices to the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.”

Plus, Jay Rosen says it’s “amateur hour” at the White House Press Office.

JAMES LILEKS: “Thus was my childhood. Pathetic.”