CHUCK NORRIS vs. stealth gun control.

JOHNATHAN PEARCE ON SAM HARRIS: “It is interesting that those who criticise religion on the grounds of reason and logic can, as in the case of Harris, make such basic errors on subjects such as trade, notions of self-ownership, justice and the like. It is as if they are craving a secular god to fill a gap left by the traditional one. I must say I was quite shocked at the incoherence of some of Harris’s comments and his failure to examine and demonstrate his premises, such as when he talks about ‘fairness’ without asking what he might mean by that.”

I suggest some additional reading.

Or, if you’re short on time, this Memorandum From The Devil. “I am something of a connoisseur of these attempts by scholarly humans to find and describe some meaning in their personal and species existence, and when nonironic divine address comes out of Langdell Hall these days, attention must be paid.”

Oh, okay, one more irresistible passage: “But having opted for ‘mankind is the good,’ you just couldn’t stand it. It is not hard to see why. For if human nature were to be the good, then there was nothing for you or anyone else to do to change it in any way. Indeed, even as a matter of scientific curiosity, there wouldn’t be much call to find out what human nature was, for whatever it turned out to be would be what it ought to be. Now that is a loathsome idea. Under its reign, a man like you, rightly appalled at the world, would, have no role at all. That was too dreadful a possibility.”

THE ECONOMICS OF wishful thinking. Lot of that going around in certain quarters, lately.

YOUTUBE NEVER FORGETS: Barack Obama On The Dangers Of Deficit Spending. Boy, the 2012 campaign ads just write themselves, don’t they?

CHANGE: Sharia Banned For Greek Muslims: “According to an article of the Greek newspaper ‘Eleftherotypia’, under the scope of reforms in the Greek Family Law, the Shariah will be abolished for Greek Muslims.”

FEDS RAID GIBSON GUITAR PLANTS IN NASHVILLE AND MEMPHIS. You know, if you just move those jobs overseas you don’t have to worry about this kind of thing.

PERRY’S A THREAT: Obama team to Texas Democrats: It’s time to start attacking Rick Perry. “Forget today’s Gallup poll. If you want a solid sign that Perry’s achieved at least parity with Romney, here it is.”

SUDDENLY, THE ADMINISTRATION IS GETTING KINDA LEAKY: White House Sources Dish on Michelle Obama.

IRA STOLL ON STEVE JOBS’ DEPARTURE.

RAND SIMBERG: Our Space-Policy Chickens Have Come Home To Roost:

With the retirement of the Space Shuttle last month, the U.S. and its international partners are now entirely reliant on non-U.S. providers for transportation to and from the International Space Station — Russian Progress tankers and others for cargo and Russian Soyuz capsules for crew transfer and lifeboat services. There is currently no U.S. backup or capability.

It turns out that this is a problem, because the venerable Russian rocket that had successfully delivered 43 consecutive Progress missions failed today, with the cargo destined for the ISS instead scattered across the forests of Siberia. Concern is compounded by the fact that Roscosmos, the Russian company responsible for the launch, had also put a communications satellite in the wrong orbit just last Friday, meaning that they had two failures in less than a week.

But wait! It gets better. There was supposed to be a crew delivery to the station next month, and it was planned to go up on…you guessed it…the same type of rocket that failed today. If crew had been on today’s flight, they might have survived (the Soyuz has an abort system), but there’s a good chance they would have been injured — cosmonauts have been injured severely enough to end their careers in previous similar aborts. So now plans for crew replacement this fall are on hold.

How did we get into this mess?

Read the whole thing.

AT AMAZON, markdowns on bestsellers in Health & Personal Care.

NSFW: The Ukraine Girls Really Knock Me Out. They leave the West behind.

WELL, GOOD: Woman acquitted of criminal eavesdropping on police. “Tiawanda Moore testified she decided to record the meeting when the investigators tried to talk her out of following through on her complaint of sexual harassment against a patrol officer who had come to her home on a domestic disturbance. The Criminal Court jury took less than an hour to acquit Moore, 20, a former stripper, on the two felony counts. She had faced up to 15 years in prison if convicted.” An embarrassing loss for Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez, but a deserved one.

BILL QUICK: NYC Authorities Downplaying Irene Threat: Could Be Much Worse Than They Are Saying . It’s too early to be sure, but not at all too early to be preparing — or leaving — if you live in the area. Just remember: If a lot of people decide to leave Manhattan and Long Island all of a sudden, the bridges and tunnels will be pretty jammed.

UPDATE: Reader Donald Gately writes: “Paul Krugman has been publicly pining for a huge disaster to spur infrastructure spending. Do you think he’ll be even a tiny bit embarrassed if NYC gets clobbered by a massive hurricane? Or would he (like Michael Moore) decry the fact that something horrible happened to a righteous blue state rather than an evil red state?”

Well, just keep a close eye on hurricane-invoker James Wolcott.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Apparently the Krugman disaster-pining isn’t true. “Yesterday, there were rumors that Krugman stated that it would have been stimulative if the earthquake had been stronger and done more damage, but he exposed this as a prank (though it is understandable that many people — including me, I’m embarrassed to admit — initially assumed it was true since he did write that the 9-11 terrorist attacks boosted growth).” Wolcott’s not off the hook, though.

THE ODDITY OF RON PAUL: “Republicans tend to do worse among Adults, but Ron Paul is the exception to that rule it seems. His support is unlike other Republicans, in that he does better with people who don’t vote.”

BARRY RUBIN REPORTS on Glenn Beck’s rally in Israel.

THE PRICE OF Marilyn Monroe’s Underpants.

NEW EXPLOSIVES TECHNOLOGY: Bombs Behaving Oddly.

AT AMAZON, markdowns on bestselling Digital SLRs.