GOOD LUCK WITH THAT: A Call For Obama To Act Presidential:

We all get that President Obama is for the unions and against Governor Walker and the Wisconsin Republicans (and other Republicans). He has said so. Well and good. But his side is behaving despicably in Wisconsin, threatening the well-being of Republican legislators, who are merely doing the jobs the people elected them to do.

As you can see in the below interview, Republican senators are not saying whether they are sleeping in their own houses, and are working with law enforcement to keep themselves and their families safe.

Couldn’t Obama say something? Couldn’t he pretend he’s president — president of all the people — and say, “We have political disagreements, but we’re going to work them out peacefully and democratically. For example, massing at lawmakers’ homes, to shout and threaten, is out of bounds.”

Wouldn’t that be kind of . . . big of him? But in my observation — and he has been president for two years now — he is small. He was willing to speak out after Tucson. That was relatively easy. To speak out now would be exceptional.

Yes, it would. But note that Obama’s own “Organizing For America” arm is helping with these protests, so ultimately, Obama would have to condemn himself.

UPDATE: “Is Obama cool with the Mubarak, Mussolini and crosshairs stuff? He owns it now.”

POLITICAL BLOGOSPHERE shaken by “wordquakes.”

CLAIRE BERLINSKI: Anwar At Georgetown: A Case Study In The Shaping Of Expert Opinion.

CHANGE: Lead Lawyer Challenging ObamaCare Now Under Cyberattack.

REPORT: Wisconsin Dems hiding out in Illinois hotel busted by Tea Party.

UPDATE: Didn’t I See This In Blazing Saddles? “To be fair, based on this photo of a waitress at the ‘Tilted Kilt’ restaurant found by Jim Geraghty, there are worse places to hold yourself hostage.”

WAPO: Army Investigator Who Busted Counterfeit Ring Under Fire from U.S. Marshals for Making Them Look Bad.

MORE ELIMINATIONIST RHETORIC FROM THE LEFT: Progressive Libtalker Mike Milloy Threatens Breitbart. Breitbart craps bigger than this guy.

CONFESSIONS OF AN APPLE-STORE EMPLOYEE.

HISTORY’S WORST hyperinflations.

PUBLIC EMPLOYEE UNION UPDATE: Photos: WI protesters call Gov. Walker a dictator, put crosshairs on his face. Someone tell Paul Krugman and the “civility police!”

The very first comment: “These people are the ones teaching the children? Nice. This really makes me want to forgo my own retirement in order to finance theirs. Fire them all.”

UPDATE: James Taranto on the “Civility Swindle.” Say, will some White House reporter ask President Obama if he condemns the violent eliminationist rhetoric of the Wisconsin public-employee unions?

ANOTHER UPDATE: A reader emails: “What do you think would happen if a student in a public school called the principal a dictator and put crosshairs on his face? Given the prevailing zero-tolerance (aka zero-thought) policies, the best the student could hope for would be a lengthy suspension. These people really have no clue.”

MARKDOWNS ON camping and hiking supplies.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Decline Is In The Mind. Indeed. Plus this: “In America’s case, these are choices, not fate. The Constitution is still here should we wish to follow it. Our ancestors left us freeways, airports and universities and a rich infrastructure. Napa Valley, Silicon Valley, and Central Valley agriculture here in bankrupt California are still sources of amazing ingenuity and enormous wealth creation. Even with 9.6% unemployment, millions rise at 6AM to go to work; millions work the night shift. So to nullify that dynamism, well, that takes work. It requires constant sloganeering about inequality. It demands massive social engineering to create huge public work forces to administer redistributive entitlements. It must entice a new privileged elite to go over to the side of crony capitalism and insider favoritism of the GE sort. . . . If we speak ‘truth’ to power and ignore the incoming salvos of ‘mean, greedy, selfish, privileged, racist, nativist, sexist, homophobe, Tea-bagger, and yokel’, decline can stop. It really is a state of mind—the choice not to brush off opportunistic rust from hard steel after a very brief rain.”

VIDEO: Here’s Warren Zevon performing Mohammed’s Radio.

And here’s a performance by Linda Ronstadt.

Those who have found some recent InstaPundit items a bit cryptic will see where they came from: “Just as an aside, while the song has some references that may seem contemporary, it was written in the 70’s.”

OBESITY DRUGS: WHERE ARE WE NOW?

HOUSE DEMS TO target climate scientists. They told me if I voted Republican we’d see a war against science based on politics and ad hominem attacks. And they were right!

THE RADIO-CONTROLLED HELICOPTER gets more praise, as reader Michael Brendzel writes:

Thanks for the Syma Copters tip. I bought two for my twin 7-year olds. They arrived yesterday afternoon and the boys were immediately engaged and engrossed. It has now supplanted the Nintendo DS as their favorite toy (which as any parent of a 7-year boy will tell you is meaningful). While the packaging suggests it’s for older kids (“14+”), my 7-year olds pretty quickly mastered the required light touch and by this morning were competing in races and obstacle courses. I was happy when they left for school, so that I’d have a chance to play with one. I just ordered two more, for the family.

While I’m writing, I’ll also mention that the Snap Electronics 500 kit was also a huge hit with the boys. Please keep the kids toys ideas coming.

Glad to hear it! Hey, times are grim, but people still need to have fun. And anything that gets kids off a Nintendo is a healthy change.

PHIL BOWERMASTER: Telecommuting: Transparency And Fluidity.

COULD WE HAVE A SHAKESPEARE WITHOUT COPYRIGHT? WHY, YES:

To begin with, how odd is it that they’d invoke Shakespeare in this context? “We need stronger copyright or else we won’t get the next Shakespeare” is like arguing “We need the designated hitter, or how will we ever get the next Babe Ruth?” In a copyright-free world — not that I’m advocating such a thing, but hey, you brought it up — we’ll get the next Shakespeare the way we got the last Shakespeare, in a copyright-free world. The first copyright statute, the Statute of Anne, wasn’t passed until 1709, long after Shakespeare was a-moulderin’ in the grave.

Maybe instead of fostering creativity, we need to worry about fostering historical literacy.

SO DOES THIS MEAN WALKER’S GOT THEM ON THE RUN? Wisconsin budget fight escalates as Dems flee Madison to avoid vote. They could have at least picked up the trash on their way out. . . .

SO MUCH FOR THE NEW CIVILITY: Chris Matthews Issues ‘Call to Arms’ Against ‘Unpatriotic’ Bush and Rumsfeld. Eliminationist rhetoric! Someone alert Paul Krugman!

I’VE BEEN DOWN, BUT NOT LIKE THIS BEFORE: Obama 2012 Support Slips: Now Any Generic Republican Ties Him. “President Obama’s done a lot of talking recently about Winning the Future. Trouble is, he’s not. Politically.”

Yeah, I know, a different band reference but what the hell.

TUITION CUT: Will other colleges follow Sewanee’s lead?

YOU KNOW THE SHERIFF’S GOT HER PROBLEMS TOO: And she will surely take them out on me and you.

GOUGING? Dealer wants $65,590 for Chevy Volt. Well, if you’re willing to pay that. . . . But if I were GM, I’d be unhappy.

A SNEAK PREVIEW of Michael Totten’s new book, The Road To Fatima Gate: The Beirut Spring, the Rise of Hezbollah, and the Iranian War Against Israel.