ROGER SIMON’S NEW FILM, “A BETTER LIFE,” reviewed in The Hollywood Reporter.

MEET THE “Bacon Overlord.”

THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, WE’D SEE LAUGHABLE LEGAL HAIRSPLITTING IN DEFENSE OF UNDECLARED AND UNPOPULAR WARS — AND THEY WERE RIGHT! When Is a War Not a War? When President Obama Says So.

Related thoughts from Jonathan Adler. Including this: “Another interesting aspect of this conflict is that, in the past Republicans were the ones to be dismissive of the War Powers Act, often claiming it impermissibly interfered with the executive’s commander-in-chief power. Today, however, some seem all too happy to rely upon the Act if they think it can hamstring a Democratic president, just as some Democrats seem to forget the limits on executive authority they championed under Presidents named Reagan or Bush.”

I prefer to think of it as “heightening the contradictions.” And if President Obama were to defend his actions by arguing that the War Powers Act is unconstitutional, many people might agree with him. But if he’s not willing to do that, then why shouldn’t he have to follow the Act? Fish, or cut bait.

This comment gets to the root of what’s going on: “It sucks that the President may have to pay a political price for declaring war all by himself.”

GETTING OUT OF the Pink Ghetto.

USING CELL-BASED THERAPIES to regenerate joint cartilage. Faster, please.

LOVE IN THE TIME of sockpuppets.

YES. NEXT QUESTION, PLEASE. Should We Treat Aging? But there’s this: “One must understand there there are a great many people in the world whose first, instinctive reaction to extending healthy human life is to reject it. For them, life extension is indeed a bad thing. Various strains of environmentalism are one of the main culprits here. . . . There’s nothing wrong with liking trees and wild places enough to spend your hard-earned resources on helping to maintain them. But environmentalism has a way of veering off into the worship of death and destruction, a sort of modern penitent movement focused on the mortification of society as a whole. It’s so widespread and embedded in our cultures now that even mild-mannered, everyday folk declare their support for shorter and fewer human lives, for abandonment of technologies that improve the quality of human life, and for relinquishment of technological development that will greatly improve life in the future.”

There’s a story on a related theme.

UPDATE: Reader Jeff Cauthen writes: “Death and destruction and short lives, except for the chosen few, of course!”

“Aging waivers” will be available to anyone — who makes a sufficient contribution.

POPULAR MECHANICS: Ten Fixes For The New Energy Crisis.

IN WISCONSIN, cheesy delaying tactics from Secretary Of State Doug La Follette.

PUSHBACK: ATM Industry Not Happy About Obama Comments.

WHEAT RUST UPDATE: New Wheat Variety Beats Superbug, Has Higher Yield. I hope people are working on cold-weather/short-season variants, too . . .

UPDATE: Reader Dave Ivers emails that if we’re talking genetically-engineered wheat, we’ll just have to let people starve.

OPEN LANDS, CLOSED BOOKS: Are college endowments financing “land grabs” in Africa?

LES JOHNSON: The Aliens Are Not Among Us.

CHANGE: Nissan Axes Altima Hybrid for 2012.

I’D PREFER GLOBAL WARMING, THANK YOU: Earth Heading Into A Mini-Ice Age? Things look more and more like Fallen Angels. Or maybe a John Ringo novel. I’d rather skip those scenarios.

DAN SAVAGE sours on Weiner.

BADLY: How Superbugs Will Affect Our Health Care Costs.

ABC NEWS: Obama Campaign Sends Around Misleading DNC Video on GOP Debate.

UNEXPECTEDLY! “Confidence among U.S. homebuilders slumped in June to the lowest level in nine months as executives turned more pessimistic on the outlook for sales, a sign that any pickup will take time to develop. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo sentiment index unexpectedly fell to 13 from 16 in May, the biggest drop in a year, data from the Washington-based group showed today.”

UPDATE: Related: Inflation rises to highest level in 3 years, key manufacturing index goes negative. Stagflation? Yes we can!

Also: Report: More small businesses plan to reduce jobs.

CHINA surpasses the U.S. in energy consumption.

STEPHEN GREEN DEFENDS FERRIS BUELLER.

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Jimmy Carter As A Best-Case Scenario. “The Great Recession is not as crushing as the Great Depression, but President Obama’s problems in the face of economic turmoil are beginning to look Hooveresque.”

UPDATE: A reader emails: “If Obama turned around now and disowned EVERYTHING he’s done so far, he could aspire to being about as good as Carter.”