JOHN ELWOOD REVIEWS Ward Farnsworth’s Classical English Rhetoric. “Law students and young lawyers sometimes ask me how they can become better writers. The first thing I tell them is to practice, and to work on becoming a critical reader and self-editor. The other thing I tell them is to read good writing.”

MICHAEL BARONE: The Surprising Roots Of Liberal Nostalgia: World War II created confidence in large institutions and big government. But few would want the cultural conformity of the mid-20th century back.

WORKING OFF THE BOOKS as a form of Going Galt?

UPDATE: From the comments:

Moral hazard spreads like wildfire. You see people like Charlie Rangel gaming the system, you read comments from people who don’t report their tips, you hear about welfare mothers who don’t need welfare. Pretty soon, you realize you are the “sucker” for doing things the way you are supposed to.

Rangel, Geithner, Daschle, — the list is endless. As I’ve said before, this administration not only misunderstands the role of financial capital, but it also misunderstands the importance of moral capital. The risk is of a coming middle-class anarchy. More thoughts on that subject here.

THE COUNTRY’S IN THE VERY BEST OF HANDS: Ex-Atlanta Public Schools Official: Hall ordered destruction of documents tied to cheating. “Superintendent Beverly Hall ordered the destruction of investigative documents that detailed ‘systematic’ cheating on standardized tests in the Atlanta Public Schools, according to a former high-ranking district official. Hall also instructed subordinates to omit ‘adverse findings’ from a new version of the report and then publicly cited the revised document in an aggressive rebuttal of the cheating allegations, the former official says. When she protested, the former official says, her supervisor said the district had the right to ‘sanitize’ the investigation and that ‘the matter was closed’ because Hall ‘had directed that all other documents be destroyed.’ Destroying or altering government records is a felony in Georgia, carrying a prison sentence of as much as 10 years.”

PAY FOR PLAY: After Reid endorses Huntsman, it turns out Huntsman’s family gave big bucks to Reid. I wouldn’t pay that much for a Reid endorsement in a Democratic primary . . . .

OBAMA IN AFGHANISTAN: Under Obama, U.S. Casualty Rate in Afghanistan Increased 5-Fold.

BLATANT SEX DISCRIMINATION? “A couple was arrested for having consensual sex on a public beach in front of people dining in a nearby restaurant. The bail was set at $10,000 for the man, and $2,500 for the woman.”

HEY, IF YOU’RE NOT A CRONY, YOU DON’T GET IN ON THE GOODIES FROM CRONY CAPITALISM: Private emails detail Obama admin involvement in cutting non-union worker pensions post-GM bailout. “New emails obtained by The Daily Caller contradict claims by the Obama administration that the Treasury Department would avoid “intervening in the day-to-day management” of General Motors post-auto bailout. These messages reveal that Treasury officials were involved in decision-making that led to more than 20,000 non-union workers losing their pensions.” (Via NewsAlert). Bonus question: Did somebody lie to Congress about this?

Meanwhile, reader Ed Stephens emails, “It really is like something out of Atlas Shrugged.” For some people, it’s a cautionary tale. For others, it’s a how-to manual . . . .

BEHIND THE CURVE: It’s news — in the NYT — that a lot of black people these days think they’ll be better off in the South. Plus, from the comments: “Once black and white southerners figured out that melanin doesn’t mean a whole lot, they all speak the same language, eat the same food, worship the same God, and work the same land.”

Plus: “You know what is awesome about this article? The main character is leaving a New York civil service job to become an Atlanta entrepreneur.” Of course, the northeastern states are shedding people of all colors, in search of manageable taxes and jobs that the Blue State model can’t deliver.

“NATION-BUILDING HERE AT HOME?” Well, coming after two years of nation-wrecking, it would be a nice change. Though I’m afraid Obama will do for America what he’s done for Afghanistan — massive corruption and no rule of law. Come to think of it, maybe it was the other way around . . . .

JENNIFER RUBIN OUTLINES Michele Bachmann’s path to the nomination. “Can she find a tone and message that will draw in Main Street conservatives, hawks, Tea Partyers, libertarians and the rest?” By 2012, the message I’m not Barack Obama should be good for 60%, the way things are going now. . . .

LET THERE BE INCANDESCENT LIGHT: Bryan Preston emails to remind me that Texas is fighting the ban by exempting lightbulbs made and sold in Texas.

Of course, if you don’t live in Texas you can always just stock up! Or, alternatively, you can rely on the wisdom and good sense of our elected representatives to reassert themselves. Your choice. . . .

STEPHEN GREEN drunkblogged Obama’s speech. “Say… we’ll have 30,000 fewer troops in Afghanistan right around the time Obama needs to rally the doves in his base for his reelection.” Plus this: “Oh good lord. It’s turned into a Model UN speech. High school Model UN, not college. . . . Seriously, at my model UN, he’d have been laughed off the stage, and we were stupid earnest back then.”

And here’s the text of Obama’s speech.

UPDATE: Speaking of fantasy, Rand Simberg was not impressed with Obama’s speech.

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INSTAVISION: I talk with Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch of Reason, the authors of The Declaration of Independents, about the importance of independent voters. Can libertarians really fix America?

PAULITES VS. FRUMITES. There are Frumites?

THE OBESITY EPIDEMIC AND the Federal Dietary Guidelines. For the connection to be this close, people would have to follow government advice a lot more closely than I’d think.

But what sort of consequences would, say, a pharmaceutical company face? Should the government get off any lighter? Why?

DAN MITCHELL: Andrew Sullivan Has No Idea What He’s Talking about, but I Agree with His Conclusion.

As you can see from the chart, it turns out that Hoover increased government spending by 47 percent in just four years (if you adjust for falling prices, as Russ Roberts did at Cafe Hayek, it turns out that Hoover increased government spending by more than 50 percent). I suppose I could make my own snarky comment about being “reality-challenged,” but Sullivan’s mistake is understandable. The historical analysis and understanding of the Great Depression is woefully inadequate, and millions of people genuinely believe that Hoover was an early version of Ronald Reagan.

I will say, however, that I agree with Sullivan’s conclusion. He closed by saying it would be “bonkers” to replicate Hoover’s policies today. I might have picked a different word, but I fully subscribe to the notion that making government bigger was a mistake then, and it’s a mistake now.

Indeed.

OBAMA’S AFGHAN WAR SPEECH: Why he’s giving it and what it means. “Obama’s latest speech will be directed solely at Americans, who have begun registering impatience with the war, especially since Obama joined another one in Libya in March that he said would last days, not weeks, and has now gone on for months. . . . Set aside losing, Americans even hate not winning. Stalemates don’t sell in American politics, one of Obama’s growing problems with whatever he’s calling the non-hostile, kinetic, friendly bomb-dropping action on Libya.”

CHANGE: Self publishing writer becomes million seller.

I AGREE THAT WE NEED AN INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION: ATF Gun-Smuggling Operation Demands Special Counsel Investigation. Given Holder’s involvement, the usual crowd at the Justice Department can’t be expected to investigate fairly.

DEAR WENDY: He Dumped Me When His Mother Died. That’s hard on anybody, and causes a lot of people to lash out at those close to them. It’s just human nature, alas. From the comments: “I was angry at everyone who loved me, for various reasons, real or imagined.” When people are grieving, cut them some slack, if you can. They’re not themselves, and the responses are not always what you, or they, would expect.

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WASHINGTON POWER BREAKER: A profile of Randy Barnett.

Most constitutional scholars initially ridiculed Barnett’s argument against the individual mandate — that Congress cannot regulate or punish the “inactivity” of not buying something.

Few mock it anymore, now that two courts have adopted the same reasoning in ruling against the individual mandate’s constitutionality. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit will hear an appeal to one of those rulings this week in Atlanta.

In less than two years, Barnett, 59, has accomplished what few law professors ever manage to do: make an arcane constitutional argument so compelling and clear that it becomes part of the national conversation.

But what makes Barnett unique is how his influence has extended beyond the elite circle of litigators fighting the health care law and into the grass roots.

Read the whole thing.

A LOOK AT PROGRESS ON FUSION POWER.