MICHAEL BARONE: Jobs: What Texas And California Can Teach Us. “The lesson of the previous decade seems clear: if you take a previously prosperous and creative state and subject it to high taxes and intrusive regulations, it loses 5% of its private sector jobs; if you take a previously somewhat less prosperous and creative state and govern it with low taxes and light regulation, it gains 9% more jobs, even as the nation’s economy is suffering. I’ve explored previously this contrast between our two largest states. Here’s another set of numbers about our second and third largest states that tells a story about what has happened over a longer period of time. In 1970 New York had 18 million people. In 2010 New York had 19 million people. In 1970 Texas had 11 million people. In 2010 Texas had 25 million people. Don’t tell me public policy doesn’t account for much of the difference.”

NOW IT’S BARNEY FRANK’S MOM who — well, whose group — turns out to have gotten Fannie Mae money.

STEPHEN MEISTER: Elena Kagan’s Conflict of Interest.

UBIQUITOUS CAMERAS: Sanyo Xacti pocket HD camcorder, $89.99. The 3X optical zoom is a nice touch at this price.

SARAH HOYT: The Marxian Worm.

JUST SHOW UP! Utah Tea Party leader David Kirkham emails:

The MSM is constantly asking me if the Tea Party is just a flash in the pan, they wish. The Utah Tea Party is just getting warmed up :)

We had our first meeting tonight with volunteers who want to be Camp Directors for our Patriot Camp I was talking about in our interview yesterday. 38 people from Salt Lake to Provo showed up to a pre-organizing, organizing meeting (yes, I typed that correctly). The meeting was great. Everyone wants to jump in and help. We will be putting on these camps across Utah where kids can come and learn about our system of government, the Founding Fathers, and the Constitution. I was a Counselor in the Boy Scouts for 8 years…I’m excited. We are going to have a ton of fun!

BARNEY FRANK’S ETHICS PROBLEMS and marriage equality.

CHANGE: Liberal Democrat calls for investigation of Obama’s Dept. of Education.

LARRY CORREIA is not buying Joe Biden’s pitch.

A READER EMAILS: “This probably would have been more helpful BEFORE the grads dropped $100,000 on an Emory law degree.” In Commencement Speech, Law Prof Tells Grads Coveting Big-Money Jobs to ‘Get over It’.

THE HILL: GOP forces Senate pro-forma session, blocking Warren recess appointment.

GOOGLE WALLET: THE END OF ANONYMOUS SHOPPING? “It’s the beginning of a future where commercial transactions are ‘frictionless’ and convenient — but it’s a future where every transaction can be tracked and data-mined, as Dan Tynan points out.”

FROM THE INSTA-WIFE, thoughts on facing violence.

NOT SHOWING RESPECT: Mitt Romney Sends Leftover Pizza to Obama Chicago HQ.

POLL: Even Government Workers Support A Flat Tax.

HEY, HOW COME THIS GOT SO LITTLE COVERAGE? Not News? Columbia Professor and Huffington Post Contributor David Epstein Pleads Guilty in Incest Case. I guess it’s not news. Now if he were a FreeRepublic contributor and a professor at Liberty Baptist, it would be a top story!

JAMES TARANTO ON OBAMA AND ISRAEL — AND AMERICA: “Obama’s detachment from the Jewish state is of a piece with this evident detachment from his own country. . . . Disesteem for Israel is rare in America, but it is concentrated in certain cultural pockets, the most notable of which is the academic left. Some of our friends on the right imagine that Obama is a secret jihadist or a hater like his erstwhile pastor. To put it charitably, we think this overexplains matters. The trouble with the president is simply that he spent too much time in the faculty lounge.”

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: How to cut college tuition in half. “The Center for College Affordability and Productivity, released a study earlier this week that makes Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s plans for a $10,000 college degree sound a lot more possible.”

MARKDOWNS ON SURGE PROTECTORS. Remember that you need to replace ’em every couple of years.

I also favor an uninterruptible power supply, which can keep your electronics going through most power outages.

INSTAVISION: Summer of Liber-Tea: Getting the Party Started for 2012. I talk with the Utah Tea Party’s David Kirkham about what’s next for Tea Party activists. Including the amazing power of just showing up.

And here’s the Freedom Connector link he mentions. (Bumped).

TIM PAWLENTY TWEETS: @BarackObama sorry to interrupt the European pub crawl, but what was your Medicare plan?

UPDATE: “He doesn’t need a Medicare plan, because he got bin Laden!” Hey, hasn’t that already been an SNL skit?

FACULTY MEMBER A CRITICIZES FACULTY MEMBER B’S RESEARCH, university administrator says shut up or face discipline. As you might imagine, this hasn’t turned out well.

ANOTHER PUERTO RICO SECOND AMENDMENT CASE: Among the behaviors enjoined by the court: “Police investigators seizing privately owned firearms without any prior judicial order or probable cause and then failing to give the citizen a hearing required by statute. They simply took the firearms and then did nothing.”

TINA KORBE: Wisconsin Republicans Will Have To Be Courageous One More Time.

AL FRANKEN: Fourth Amendment? What Fourth Amendment?