QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Every individual is naturally entitled to do as he pleases with himself and the fruits of his labor.” — Abraham Lincoln.

ARE THE MARKETS FORMING A NEW BUBBLE?

WHY THEY’D RATHER TALK ABOUT SARAH PALIN (CONT’D): $5 a gallon gas? Washington insiders are wondering if the next real economic crisis facing President Obama is when gasoline prices spike to $4 or $5 per gallon. At today’s press briefing, a White House press spokesman rebuffed queries about the possibility saying ‘there are many people that would get upset at me if I started to opine on oil and gas prices, so I won’t.'”

COMING: A “foreclosure glut.”

AND THEN COMPLAINING THAT THERE ARE AMERICAN GUNS IN MEXICO: ATF allowing guns to go into Mexico.

AT AMAZON, markdowns on software.

ZEROING IN ON ANOTHER THEORY: “Color me shocked that another mass murdering male shooter has a history of sexual rejection.”

ED DRISCOLL: How Do You Solve A Problem Like Krugman? Pinch’s dilemma.

MICHAEL TOTTEN: Lebanon On The Brink.

CHANGE SAME: DoJ Defends Defense of Marriage Act on Appeal. PDF of the brief at the link.

PETER INGEMI WONDERS What Will The Plea Be?

AND NOW FOR THE REAL NEWS OF THE WEEK: Your Zodiac Sign May Have Changed!

TUCSON AND THE FAILURE OF THE POLITICAL CLASS. “It’s not the rhetoric that’s to blame. The problem is a more serious one.”

AN INTERVIEW WITH JACK KIMBALL, Tea Party candidate for New Hampshire GOP Chair.

Background here.

MARKDOWNS ON laptops, tablets, and notebooks.

CREDENTIALISM AND GETTING THE BEST JOBS. We have a system in many sectors that increasingly rewards credentials and connections above experience. The results are fairly clear.

SENATOR WEBB, Heal Thyself. “Wait a second. Didn’t he vote for the monstrous bill? Well, sure. He was the 60th Senator — each Democrat was — on the critical cloture vote. So is he saying he didn’t know how bad the bill was, or is he saying he cast a bad vote? Neither answer is a winner.”

ANDREW KLAVAN: The History of Western Culture in 2 1/2 Minutes.

SOME HOPEFUL NEWS ON TINNITUS? “Scientists have found a way to ease chronic ringing in the ears, known as tinnitus, by stimulating a neck nerve and playing sounds to reboot the brain, according to research published Wednesday.” Faster, please.

MICKEY KAUS LOOKS AT THE FUTURE:

A site called Ratio Finder uses GPS data from Foursquare check-ins to generate a map showing which restaurants have more men in them and which have more women in them. Combine this with the information on Facebook, Grindr, and Google, and soon you’ll be able to pick your restaurant by flipping through naked pictures of everyone eating there. Or that’s the direction we seem to be headed …

Heh.

SHIPPING BUSINESS not looking too lively.

JAMES TARANTO: “It Did Not:” A rebuke from Obama leads the New York Times to run from the fight it started. “Only 35% of those surveyed think the New York Times‘s position is even legitimate. And although President Obama, in his speech last night, did not go so far as to call it illegitimate, he did make his disagreement clear. . . . The newspaper that seized upon a horrific crime to demonize its political opponents–and to demonize ‘particularly’ those in the media who reject its worldview and its presumption of moral authority–is now applauding the president for being able to ‘transcend the debate’ that it instigated with its yellow journalism.”

KATHLEEN SEBELIUS’S HOME STATE OF Kansas joins anti-ObamaCare lawsuit. “Kansas also becomes the 26th state to challenge the constitutionality of ObamaCare, another milestone. It means more than half of the states are now objecting to the program.”

CHANGE: Bioengineer Aspires To Colonize The Sea.

WHY THEY’D RATHER TALK ABOUT SARAH PALIN (CONT’D): Jobless claims jump, wholesale food costs surge. More thoughts here.