THAT’S WHAT THIS ELECTION SEASON NEEDS:  All your chocolate are belong to us.  And THIS ONE is practically low carb!

THE MANCHURIAN HANDKERCHIEF: As Ace writes, “Debate Truthers: Liberals Can’t Believe Their God Bled, So They’re Claiming Romney Cheated.”  He had a magic handkerchief apparently, which you can see in action here.

Shades of the 2004 debate between Bush and Kerry, when the left’s conspiracy du jour was that GWB wore magic Wi-Fi-transmitter, as even liberal New York magazine notes today:

Just as George W. Bush was accused by Internet sleuths of wearing a wire during a 2004 debate with John Kerry, online paranoids have decided that Mitt Romney must have cheated to win Wednesday’s presidential face-off. A slow-motion YouTube clip circulating today shows Romney removing something from his pocket as he approaches the podium, and if it were pre-written zingers, that would be a violation of the debate’s “no props, notes, charts, diagrams, or other writings” rule. That theory has been floated by the usual suspects of left-leaning message boards, including Democratic Underground, Daily Kos, and Reddit, but even made its way to CBS. Juicy! Except it was a handkerchief.

Our crack team of research assistants has helped us track down secret test footage of the original prototype of Gov. Romney’s customized debate handkerchief undergoing rigorous R&D testing:

(more…)

IN TENNESSEE, justice for victims of paternity fraud. “The Tennessee Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a man who was misled into thinking he had fathered a son and ordered that he be awarded more than $25,000 for child support, medical expenses and insurance premiums he had paid. In a unanimous ruling published Monday, the court said Tennessee law allows a former spouse to pursue a fraud claim against a mother who misrepresented the identity of a child’s biological father.”

I wonder if they read Michael Higdon’s article on the subject? Here’s the opinion. The wife sounds like every man’s nightmare.

TURNS OUT IT’S BASED ON A POLL: (a specialized poll, but a poll nonetheless) Why That 7.8%  Unemployment Figure is raising eyebrows. By the way, as linked at the bottom of that article, Gallup conducted its own poll and found no improvement.

UM, ISN’T THAT MOST OF THEM? A Chocolate Bar For Women? But apparently there’s a catch: “Women have an emotional relationship with chocolate, it’s the most emotional food on the planet. We don’t need to be told what to do with our chocolate. We’ll do the opposite.”

WEDNESDAY’S DEBATE: The most tweeted-about political event in history. Um, okay.

JOHN HINDERAKER: What I Admire About Obama. “I admire Obama for his consistency.”

Related: Golf Is A Game of Simple: The Importance of Consistency.

DISENFRANCHISING (DEAD AND DUPLICATE) VOTERS: Representative Elijah Cummings is very hot under the collar about True The Vote.  One hates to speculate why.

READER LOUIS PEDDICORD writes to ask a plug for his Kindle book, The Late Jay Gould May Be Alive & Well. Done!

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA (CONT’D): Under-30 unemployment rate at 11.8 percent. “The unemployment rate for blacks under age 30 in September was 21.0 percent; the rate for Latinos in the same age group was 12.1 percent. If the labor force participation rate were factored into the 18-29 youth unemployment calculation, the overall percentage of Americans aged 18 to 29 either jobless or not in the workforce at all would rise to 16.6 percent.”

EVERYONE KNOWS THE ECONOMIST IS A RIGHT WING CONSPIRACY SITE! — RIGHT?   ECONOMISTS FROM RDQ ECONOMICS: Economists: unemployment drop “implausible,” a “statistical quirk.”  Yeah, I misread it as being The Economist.  Not sure how, but I’m going to blame lack of chocolate.  Point doesn’t change.   The economists ( John Ryding and Conrad DeQuadros) say:

Such a rapid decline in the unemployment rate would be consistent with 4%–5% real economic growth historically but much of the decline is accounted for by people dropping out of the labor force (over the last year the employment-population ratio has risen to only 58.7% from 58.4%).  We believe part of the drop in the unemployment rate over the last two months is a statistical quirk (the household data show an increase in employment of 873,000 in September, which is completely implausible and likely a result of sampling volatility).  Moreover, declining labor force participation over the last year (resulting in 1.1 million people disappearing from the labor force) accounts for much of the rest of the decline.  With this report, the ISMs, and vehicle sales, the September economy is off to a better-than-expected start but nowhere near as good as suggested by the decline in the unemployment rate.

So, it’s still who are you going to believe?  Them or your lying eyes?  Do you see the economy booming around you, if you don’t live in DC?

WHOA: The Tunisian government is seeking the death penalty for suspects who attacked the U.S. Embassy there a few weeks ago.

HUNTING IS BECOMING COOL AGAIN: “Who is the most famous hunter in America? If you’re over 30, the first names that come to mind are probably Sarah Palin, Ted Nugent or Dick Cheney. If you’re under 30, the answer is easier. The most famous hunter in America is Mark Zuckerberg, the billionaire founder of Facebook.”

ALIEN TORT STATUTE & THE SUPREME COURT:  The Wall Street Journal has a great editorial today explaining why the Alien Tort Statute should not be interpreted by the Supreme Court as allowing “jurisdiction by necessity” when other countries’ courts aren’t “available.”  Such a interpretation would create a loophole big enough to drive a Mack truck through.  The Court heard oral argument on this issue earlier in the week, in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Shell Petroleum, and presumably the Justices are conferencing on the case today.

SCIENCE: New Study Sheds Light On Cancer-Protective Properties of Milk. “Milk consumption has been linked to improved health, with decreased risks of diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and colon cancer. A group of scientists in Sweden found that lactoferricin4-14 (Lfcin4-14), a milk protein with known health effects, significantly reduces the growth rate of colon cancer cells over time by prolonging the period of the cell cycle before chromosomes are replicated. In a new study, investigators report that treatment with Lfcin4-14 reduced DNA damage in colon cancer cells exposed to ultraviolet (UV) light.”

Though if your colon cells are getting sunburned, you’ve got other problems . . . .

NOVEMBER SURPRISE: Millions of Tea Party Voters Are Engaged and Ready to Vote.

HONESTY: Hey Joe Biden! Do You and Obama Want to Raise Taxes by $1 Trillion? ‘Yes. We. Do.’

OBAMA HAS ONLY HIMSELF TO BLAME FOR BEING OUT OF SPARRING PRACTICE: Dana Milbank of The Washington Post nails it: “For the past four years, he has worked assiduously to avoid being questioned, maintaining a regal detachment from the media and other sources of dissent and skeptical inquiry.” More here.

THE WAGES OF OBAMACARE: Why part time unemployment is surging but not full time employment.

TO TAKE IT MUCH LOWER YOU’D NEED A STEAM SHOVEL: New Obama Talking Point: Romney Talking Down the Economy  Yeah, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.  The economy is fine.  And if you say it’s not, it’s your fault.  Who are you going to believe?  The administration or your lying pocketbook?

COMPETENCE: Benghazi Attack: State Dept. Cut Security at Consulate Despite Pre-9/11 Attacks! “The next two presidential debates are supposed to include foreign policy, right?”

MAURICE STUCKE: Is Competition Always Good?

FAT CAT BIRD ON WELFARE: Big Bird Richer Than Mitt Romney…  and pays less in taxes.

INSTAVISION: My Mickey Kaus interview, now on YouTube.