THADDEUS MCCOTTER creates chaos at straw poll auction.

FLOOD WATER SURGING in Minot, North Dakota.

Plus, how you can help.

UPDATE: A reader sends this report:

I am an officer in the United States Air Force, stationed at Minot Air Force Base in Minot ND. I saw you mentioned briefly the flooding here, and thought you might like some insight on the situation.

First of all, if you can’t tell from the pictures, this a tragedy of almost unthinkable proportions. The Souris River carves a winding path through an otherwise flat terrain. The river valley is relatively shallow, about 150′ lower than the prairie on either side, and maybe 2 to 3 miles wide. The river is also crooked, and makes a horseshoe shape. The town of Minot straddles the river, with roughly 1/4 of the town on the north hill, 1/4 of the town on the south hill, and 1/2 the town in some part of the valley. The Air Force base is about 10 miles north of town, and is safe from the flooding. The rising waters have of course overtopped the levees, and the prediction is that by the end of the weekend the water will rise another 7 or so feet. The city, assisted by the national guard and many volunteers is doing everything they can to create a system of secondary levees, but I fear that most of the lowlands are a complete a write-off. The levees, in addition to being overtopped, are predicted to fail this weekend. The worst part is, now that there is significant water behind the levees, the river must recede below flood levels before the city can begin pumping it out. According to the Army Corps of Engineers, the river will not begin to recede, in a best case scenario, until July 10th. If it rains at all, and thunderstorms are in the forecast, this could be pushed back.

12,000 people have been displaced, and hundreds more are in a state of voluntary evacuation. Hundreds, if not thousands, of houses will be destroyed. I live on the South Hill, and thankfully, my home appears safe from the flooding. However, many of my friends and co-workers are not so fortunate. People have made their best efforts to move their belongings and prized possessions to higher ground, but everyday seems to bring worse news. 3 days in a row the predicted crest level has been higher than the previous day. Friends that two days ago thought they were safe found out yesterday that they were not. By the time this thing is over, perhaps a third of the town’s homes and businesses will be destroyed, along with the vital infrastructure that links the north hill and south hill neighborhoods.

The only silver lining to this disaster has been the response of the community. I am not from this part of the country (I hail from the East Coast) and nowhere that I have lived has ever faced this kind of adversity. But I would be proud to call this town my home. I have not seen one person whine or complain. I have not heard one hopeless person ask when the government or FEMA would rescue them. The town mobilized itself days ahead of the impending disaster and began planning for the worst; secondary levees and sandbag walls went up with breathtaking speed, and thousands of homes were evacuated without incident. Think of it as the anti-Katrina. Once the townspeople saw that their worst fears were about to be realized, and their homes and livelihoods destroyed, instead of giving up, they have only redoubled their efforts to save what can be saved. Their stoic determination in the face of absolute catastrophe amazes me.

I think liberals view conservatives and libertarians as some sort of Randian caricature: every man for himself, all government is evil, etc. But this, to me, is closer to the truth. Not a community that shuns the government, but a community that is willing to fight for itself rather than wait for the federal government to show up with a checkbook. It will probably take years, but I have no doubt that this place will rebuild itself.

I’m surprised this has gotten so little media attention.

UPDATE: Rand Simberg emails that there’s no opportunity to make political hay: “It’s like Nashville. They’re self-sufficient white people, who make the others (e.g., New Orleans) look bad. To hell with ’em.”

He’s so cynical about our news media.

WELL, HE’LL OWN THE RESULT: Obama, as suspected, disregarded the Afghan troop drawdown recommendation of Gen. Petraeus.

NEW JERSEY UNIONS DEALT CRUSHING DEFEAT. If the unions can’t win in Wisconsin and New-Freakin’-Jersey, where can they win? “By the way, support was bipartisan. The media should love that, right?”

TURN ME ON, DEAD MAN: Obama Makes A Terrible Mistake Addressing The Troops. If Sarah Palin had done this, it would be a major story. Luckily, it’s Obama so it’ll hardly get reported at all.

JAPAN’S stealth fighter gambit.

UPDATE: A reader emails: “Japan has been begging to buy F-22’s for years now. Kept getting shot down thanks to the (Kit) Bond Amendment, a Federal law that specifically prohibits foreign sales of the Raptor… but allegedly preserves export sales of the decidedly un-stealthy (but built in Missouri) F-15E Strike Eagle. Apparently, the Japanese have now given up on trying to buy American, and have decided to build their own jet. The last F-22, tail number 193, is on the assembly line in Marietta, GA, and will roll out early next year. Layoffs at the plant are well underway.”

DETROIT GOVERNANCE: “Dealing with budget shortfalls, cuts to the Detroit Department of Transportation include laying off bus drivers, mechanics and cutting bus routes. How is it then that DDOT directors get to drive home brand new hybrid SUV’s and have the insurance and gas paid for them?”

MATT WELCH: “The ongoing left-of-center brainscrub of its own 20th century anti-authoritarianism remains one of the great curiosities of our time.”

GUNWALKER GOES PRAVDA? White House Unleashes MSM. “The Post prints an attack on Issa that no other paper saw fit to run: an anonymous hit job concocted by the Obama administration. And the Times finally talks Gunwalker … by attacking the GOP. With a debunked lie.”

UPDATE: From the comments: “If the media was this in the tank for the Nixon Admin, we never would have heard of Watergate. History would have been way different.” Yeah, seeing how they handle a lot of these stories has made me reevaluate what I think I know about a lot of recent history.

RAND SIMBERG ON the roots of liberal nostalgia.

JOHN HAWKINS INTERVIEWS ANN COULTER about her new book, Demonic: How the Liberal Mob Is Endangering America.

HMM: Upton ‘Close’ to Agreement on Legislation Repealing 2007 Ban on Ordinary Light Bulbs.

Well, if you trust this guy, then there’s no need to stock up on incandescents!

UPDATE: Reader Kim Sommer writes:

He may have a vote. But it’s a special vote allowing no amendments. It has to pass by a 2/3 vote of the House.

And I put the chance of passing the Senate as low.

So, stock up.

Ugh.

ARE JON STEWART’S JOKES ABOUT HERMAN CAIN RACIST? Under the media rules developed for President Obama, the only possible answer is absolutely!

HILLARY CLINTON: Whose side are you on? I’m not even sure whose side the United States is on here.

CHANGE: The World’s First Self-Propelled Endoscopy Device ‘Swims’ the Entire Digestive Tract in Mere Hours.

GEERT WILDERS Acquitted Of Hate Speech. I hope the people who charged him face some blowback over this.

FACEBOOK AND CRIME: “In another twist, some of Valdez’s Facebook friends allegedly aided him during the standoff. One friend alerted Valdez that a SWAT officer was hiding in the bushes, prompting Valdez to reply, ‘Thank you homie. Good looking out.’ Other friends pleaded for Valdez to ‘do the right thing.’ Police stated that they are reviewing whether any of Valdez’s friends should be arrested for obstructing justice.”

WELL, GOOD: DNA synthesis costs dropping rapidly.

WOMEN FLOCK to take horse-semen shots.

MISDIRECTION:

The headline Mickey Kaus draws attention to is “Sagging Economy Draws Attention to War Spending.” In reality, somebody — e.g., Obama, the NYT — is trying to tell us to look at Y instead of X. The headline absurdly infuses the “sagging economy” with the will and the capacity to cause “attention” to be diverted to the subject of war spending.

The word “attention” also drains the headline of human will. The truth is that Obama/the NYT would like people to look at war spending instead of the economy.

At this point, I think they’d like us to look at pretty much anything instead of the economy, which unexpectedly continues to underperform, something that might otherwise draw attention to how the treasury was looted on behalf of crony groups, in the name of “stimulus.”

Best short take in the comments: “More mush from the pimps.” This is just a placeholder, though. Watch while they try to figure out a way to blame unemployment — now roughly double what it was when Democrats took Congress back in 2006 — on the Tea Party or Sarah Palin or something.

T. BOONE PICKENS: “I bought this bill!”

STUDY: A 62 mpg CAFE standard would cost consumers.

ROISSY, CALL YOUR OFFICE: I wonder what the Pickup Artist crowd would say about this?