ASK A LIBERTARIAN: The Answers Are Here.

THE DIVERSITY NUMBERS GAME.

The percentage of faculty at my institution who are faculty of color (we say “diversity,” but then when it comes to counting, we seem to be only keeping track of the color of our skin). I am one of “them,” you see, and there are days when I wonder if when I was hired a little meter turned in the provost’s mind (like a calendar flipping to the next date) with a little ca-ching sound that signaled I was the nth faculty of color at my institution. Maybe all faculty of color everywhere have a special number, a percentage that they are known by in administrative circles: There goes the one who put us in double digits, here’s the 20th-percenter and so on.

The “diversity” bit is primarily a prestige competition among higher education bureaucrats. Hence the focus on numbers above all else.

U.S. NEWS: Why The Higher Education Bubble Will Be Worse Than the Housing Bubble. “Even when homeowners got hopelessly behind on their mortgages, two options helped. First, they could declare bankruptcy and free themselves of their crippling debt; second, they could sell their houses to pay down most of their loans. Students don’t have either of these options. It’s illegal to absolve student loan debt through bankruptcy, and you can’t sell back an education.”

HMM: Holder Hints At Compromise On Fast And Furious.

Facing a possible contempt charge and Republican calls for his resignation, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder signaled to Congress Tuesday a new desire to cooperate with an investigation into the Fast and Furious gun walking operation to avert what he believes could become a “constitutional crisis.”

Holder, who was made his ninth appearance before Congress, indicated that he wants to stave off an embarrassing contempt vote against him.

Still, by Tuesday Holder was fielding calls for his resignation from Republican senators with a growing list of gripes, including Holder’s reluctance to turn over documents about Fast and Furious, his decision to allow his own deputies to investigate possible White House leaks of sensitive national security information, and his efforts to prevent Florida from purging illegal immigrants and dead voters from the state’s rolls.

It’s been a bad week for him. And it’s only Wednesday.

ADHERING TO OUR ENEMIES: The Hill: Gadhafi is hero to NY House candidate.

Charles Barron calls Robert Mugabe and Moammar Gadhafi his “heroes.” He compared Israel’s government to the Nazis, says he won’t salute the American flag, and once offered that he wanted to “slap” the nearest white person.

And come January, he could be central Brooklyn’s newest congressman, if voters here give him an upset victory in the Democratic primary on June 26.

Barron, a longtime New York City Councilman, is running for the congressional seat being vacated by the retiring Rep. Edolphus Towns (D), a 30-year House veteran whom Barron tried to unseat in 2006 and again earlier this year.

Jeez.

ROLL CALL: Tea Party Tries to Sway GOP Platform. Well, yes. Otherwise, what’s the point?

U.S. GOVERNMENT TO MEGAUPLOAD CUSTOMERS: Sure, you can recover your data — if you pay.

THE HILL: Cornyn: Holder should resign in wake of Fast and Furious probe.

DOES GENDER EQUALITY produce income inequality? “As women have overtaken men in education and are catching up with them in the job market, the rise of what sociologists and economists call assortative mating — people picking spouses with similar educational achievements and incomes — has been pronounced.”

JOHN MCCAIN: Who Benefits From White House Leaks? The Motive Is Obvious.

ROGER SIMON: Which Former President Does Barack Obama Most Resemble?

ANDREW MALCOLM: Obama’s 2008 base is cracking: Gallup.

President Obama today is — what else? — fundraising again.

But while he’s out, Gallup released a seriously ominous poll for the Democrat’s chances of keeping his extended family in the White House for four more years.

Gallup finds a deep crack in Obama support emerging among whites, still statistically by far the largest group of voters. His support among several white subgroups is down 5% now among registered voters from what it was just before the 2008 election, when he easily defeated John McCain.

These sub-sets of non-Hispanic whites include young registered voters between 18 and 29, which provided him a huge margin four years ago, well-educated women and non-religious whites, among others. Other research has shown huge percentages of Obama’s money donors from 2008 withholding their money this time.

Obama’s support among registered voters today is 46%, five points below what it was nearly four years ago. Whites’ support is down slightly more, six points, from 44% to 38%.

Obama’s support among blacks, while still overwhelming, has also dipped four points from 91% to 87%.

So is it up anywhere?

UPDATE: Related thoughts: “One out of five Black Americans in a state where the president won 95% of the Black vote the last time around have explicitly told strangers they will not support the first black president for re-election and they have expressed that decision in a public poll.”

Good observation, kid. Don’t get cocky.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Jeff Dobbs is deeply troubled:

Yike.

I now am casting a leery eye on my North Carolina neighbors and co-workers and fellow congregants. People I pass on the street, persons in vehicles driving next to me. In the supermarket, at the movies, in restaurants, at the mall. And Lord knows the bars. Especially in the bars.

If it hadn’t been pounded so relentlessly in the media for four years now I wouldn’t believe it.

I still have trouble believing it. These people kept it so well hidden up to this point. It’s frightening.

But I know the media would never lie to me, so the only available conclusion is that 1 in 5 black North Carolinians oppose Obama because they’re racists, straight up.

A chilling realization.

CHICAGO TOP COP ON SHOOTING BINGE: The Murder Rate is Doing Just Fine. “Maybe Windy City politicians should just stay away from microphones. If you hadn’t heard, Chicago had yet another rough weekend homicidally speaking. The latest tally: 8 dead, 46 injured. When it comes to blood spilled, The City of Big Shoulders makes Kandahar look like Kenosha. Tracking the stiffs – over 200 this year so far – has become a cottage industry. But don’t worry, Chicagoans, your betters have a solution.”

How’s that gun-control thing workin’ out for ya?

UPDATE: Good News: Mogadishu is losing ‘Most Dangerous City’ label; Bad News: Chicago ready to claim it. This would be a big story, if only Mitt Romney were from Chicago.

CHINA TO E.U.: Take Your Carbon-Tax Scheme And Shove It. “China will take swift counter-measures that could include impounding European aircraft if the EU punishes Chinese airlines for not complying with its scheme to curb carbon emissions, the China Air Transport Association said on Tuesday.”

I DON’T WANT TO LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE YOU CAN’T beat to death a man you find molesting your 4-year-old daughter.

MICHAEL BARONE: Obama listens to rich liberals at his peril.

JOURNALISM: NBC Nightly News Devotes Mere Seconds to First-Ever Mention of Fast and Furious.

HEADLINE OF THE DAY: Anti-gay Muslim cries bias.

INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY: Obama Can’t Keep His Jobs Story Straight.

RAND SIMBERG’S KICKSTARTER PROJECT IS NEARLY THERE.

MAP: How support for Scott Walker grew between 2010 and 2012.

AT AMAZON, it’s the Home Audio & Video Outlet.

Also a sale on Men’s Levis.

SEE, THIS IS WHY YOU REALLY DON’T WANT TO GET STACY MCCAIN ALL RILED UP.

PROF. JACOBSON: My people are letting go.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: ‘A lot of kids in tears’: Higher Fees, Less Aid May K.O. College Plans For Many 2012 Grads.

If only there were a concise explanation of this phenomenon somewhere.