EFFUSIVE PRAISE FOR SARAH PALIN, from Wyclef Jean?

TIM CARNEY: GOP field takes aim at crony capitalism — finally.

PAUL RYAN: Restoring The Rule Of Law.

AT AMAZON, markdowns on D.I.Y. Essentials.

PEOPLE ARE EMAILING ME THAT MICHELLE MALKIN’S SITE IS DOWN: I emailed her and she sent me this message to post: “My site is down and the tech team is on it. Must have been the shout-out I gave on Fox News this morning to Ezra Dulis, Brandon Morse, and Misfit Politics for Attaaaaaaaack Waaaaaaaatch.”

COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW: Obama Gets A Failing Grade On Science Transparency. And most other kinds of transparency.

UNEXPECTEDLY: Jobless Claims Post Surprise Increase. “The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits rose unexpectedly last week in a sign concerns about a weak economy were sapping an already beleaguered labor market, data showed on Thursday.”

Related: Gallup: Unemployment Is Now Top Issue. “Asked which political party they thought would better handle the problem they considered the most important, 44 percent chose the Republican Party and 37 percent picked the Democratic Party.”

COMING: The 2013 Tax Cliff. “What this means is that millions of small-business owners had better enjoy the next 16 months, because come January 2013 they are going to get hit with a giant tax bill. . . . For the White House, the policy calendar is dictated above all by the political necessities of the 2012 election. Mr. Obama will take his chances on 2013 if he can cajole the private economy to create enough new jobs over the next year to win re-election, even if those jobs and growth are temporary. Business owners and workers who would prefer to prosper beyond Election Day aren’t likely to share Mr. Obama’s enthusiasm once they see the great tax cliff approaching.”

GETTING AHEAD OF THE DISTRICT? A New York reader emails:

The NY Times’ front pager on the GOP victory in Weiner’s old, heavily Jewish, district didn’t mention a leading reason for the Democrat’s defeat: his vote in favor of gay marriage.

During the Cold War, I learned how to “read” Pravda by carefully tracking what Soviets kept *out* of their press. It was a way to
infer what the Kremlin feared. Looks like the Democrats, not the GOP, have a big social issue problem they want to sweep under the rug.

The public is gradually warming to gay marriage, but even in New York it’s not nearly as far along as the political class is.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Higher Ed Cost Index Rose Faster Than Inflation in 2011. Again.

NOT UNDERSTANDING FREE SPEECH at Northern Arizona University. See, this’ll play badly at the budget hearings. And don’t think someone won’t bring it up. . . .

ATF GUN-SMUGGLING UPDATE: Justice Department tells GOP investigators: Guns from “Fast and Furious” linked to three more murders in Mexico. “I’m thinking we should start a new sub-blog devoted to chronicling the bloodletting by Mexican cartels using F&F guns. We could call it ‘Attack Watch.'”

THE HILL: White House Scrambles To Control Damage From GOP’s Attack On Solyndra Deal.

Related: Solyndra Employee: Everyone Knew The Plant Wouldn’t Work.

METAPHOR ALERT: California Democrats trying to recover from loss of embezzled campaign money.

Related: Fraud Case Rocks Democratic Party.

ORIN KERR ON THE AMENDMENTS TO THE COMPUTER FRAUD AND ABUSE ACT: Should Faking a Name on Facebook Be a Felony? Congress contemplates draconian punishment for Internet lies. Until we can similarly punish Congressmen for lying to us, no.

SOLYNDRA: KEEPING US IN THE DARK. Why the Democratic opposition to subpoenas?

SOLARGATE UPDATE: Megan McArdle:

Last week, I wondered if Solyndra, the bankrupt California solar panel firm, was going to be the first real scandal of the Obama administration. This week, I watched the Energy and Commerce hearings on the Solyndra decision, and there was some pretty fierce grilling going on, even though the Solyndra executives dropped out at the last minute. Meanwhile, though the White House has maintained that it did not intervene in the Solyndra loan, yesterday the Washington Post broke the news that the White House had pressed the Office of Management and Budget to greenlight the loan in a hurry. . . . Obviously, this story is still developing. But at the moment, it certainly doesn’t look good.

Plus this: “When banks engage in this sort of behavior, we call it a bubble, and try to figure out how to fix things so they won’t do it again. When government agencies do this, we call it a weekday.”

THE QUESTION THEY’LL NEVER ANSWER: “So Jan Schakowsky, out of every dollar that I earn, how much do you think I deserve to keep?”

CONTAGION: How Much Process Is Due?

JIM TREACHER: You must prove your love for Obama, America. “Wow. And to think, some people actually call this guy a malignant narcissist.”

TECHNOLOGY: New Media Guru Urges Tweeting at Super Committee.

GERMANS STAGE ANTI-EURO PROTEST in front of European Central Bank.

SARAH PALIN: Crony Capitalism on Steroids from GE to Solyndra.

PANIC TIME at the White House?

FROM RICHARD FERNANDEZ, Storming The Castle. A look at the Tea Party and its platform.