JEFFREY GOLDBERG: Andrew Sullivan is Frightened by Complexity.

Heck, he’s frightened by Sarah Palin’s uterus.

THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF THE law school tuition bubble?

ROLL CALL: INTEREST GROUPS MOBILIZE AGAINST RYAN’S BUDGET.

In a reprise of the Medicare wars triggered by last year’s budget debates, senior citizen and civil rights advocates today announced a grass-roots lobbying and ad campaign assailing House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s proposed budget.

Waving pre-printed signs in an orgy of “grassroots” fervor, apparently.

MORE ON THAT MALIA-IN-MEXICO AIRBRUSHING EVENT:

Presidential administrations have long been protective of the first family’s minor children, and reporters in Washington have mostly observed the taboo on stories or photographs of them outside official and semi-official events. The ban on such coverage has existed through many administrations by informal agreement with the White House Correspondents’ Association, which represents the interests of journalists who cover the president.

Emphasis added by me, but thanks to the WaPo for the refreshing honesty. Meanwhile, I’ll just repeat that the Bush twins weren’t treated nearly so respectfully. The talk about decency, courtesy, and having kids of one’s own didn’t get the Palin kids much protection, either.

And I think that if we had a Republican in the White House, there’d be at least a little concern about the propriety of “scrubbing” stories from the Internet at the White House’s request.

UPDATE: Reader Matt Crandall writes: “What really bugs me is that the MSM never showed such decorum and willingness to airbrush when it came to things that might actually save lives. Like keeping mum on national security secrets during war-time, for example.” Indeed. But class loyalty trumps all for these people, and they see Obama as one of their own.

And reader Jeff Johnson snarks: “If Obama is so worried about Malia’s safety while she’s in Mexico maybe he shouldn’t have sold all of those weapons to the Mexican Drug Lords.” Good point!

MICHAEL BARONE: Ryan’s budget kicks the can at timorous Democrats.

By proposing budgets that cut tax rates, require future changes in Medicare, maintain current defense spending rather than cutting it, and rein in discretionary domestic spending, Ryan has supposedly gone out on a dangerous limb.

And his fellow House Republicans, elected in a year of protest against huge increases in government spending and deficits, have been willing to go with him.

Ryan is arguing that we are on an unsustainable course that will lead inevitably to a debt crisis requiring far more painful adjustments than anything he is proposing. He notes that the Congressional Budget Office cannot even model the economy past 2027 because of looming debt. Think Greece.

His Senate counterpart, Democratic Budget Chairman Kent Conrad, tends to agree. But he’s been blocked from offering a budget by Harry Reid, Charles Schumer and others with their eyes always on the next election.

So it’s not a “do-nothing Congress,” but rather a “do-nothing Senate.” Got it.

GAS PRICES: Oklahoma Oil Town To Protest Hypocritical Obama Visit. I paid $3.94/gallon yesterday, which is the most I’ve paid here in Knoxville.

CHARTING THE Republican and Obama budgets.

THIS IS THE KIND OF . . . NUANCE I’VE COME TO EXPECT FROM “FACT CHECKERS” IN THE OBAMA ERA: Just making the bulbs illegal, not banning them.

JAMES TARANTO: ‘Nice Guys’ Finish Last: Romney’s condescending approach may be the best way to beat Obama.

“He’s a nice guy, but . . .” is exquisitely condescending. It’s probably not true: Obama strikes us as a petulant narcissist. But calling someone a “nice guy” is rarely a genuine compliment, and it never is when conjoined by “but.” As any man who has ever been rejected by a woman knows, describing someone as “a nice guy, but . . .” is another way of saying he’s ineffectual. That is exactly the point Romney is making about Obama.

Hmm.

THE HILL: Supreme Court faces an unprecedented frenzy.

The frenzy generated by the Supreme Court’s arguments on the healthcare reform law next week is likely to dwarf anything the court has ever seen.

Lawmakers and interest groups plan to stage protests and events outside the court nearly nonstop, creating a circus-like atmosphere for a case that could redefine the limits of federal power.

A throng of lawyers and reporters, meanwhile, are practically beating down the court’s doors to try and secure a seat inside the chamber to witness the historic arguments on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Many legal experts say the ruling on the healthcare law could be one of the most consequential in the court’s history. The oral arguments in the case are the longest in 45 years, and the legal and political stakes are enormous. The court is expected to deliver its ruling in June, just months before the presidential election.

So is it better for Obama if the Court upholds it or strikes it down?

JIM TREACHER: Getting fired from Oprah’s channel must’ve been the funnest, most exciting mass layoff ever. “BTW, now Oprah and Rosie are ‘not on speaking terms.’ So it works out for both of them.” Heh.

CLAUDIA ROSETT: Mexico For Spring Break.

It’s not actually about the First Daughter, per se, who according to serially vanishing stories has been vacationing with a group of friends in Mexico — a country for which the State Department just last month issued a new warning to all U.S. travelers.

It’s about the judgment of the White House, which apparently deems there is “no vital news interest” to this story.

How so?

Let us set aside the obvious hypocrisy of a president who denounces the “1%” and calls for Americans to tighten their belts, while members of his own family summer on a Martha’s Vineyard estate, spend Christmas beachside at Oahu, and travel for fun to the ski slopes of Colorado, the luxury suites of Marbella, and now, scenic spots in Mexico. If that is the image Obama wants to cultivate, or those are the family pleasures with which he wishes to balance the rigors of his presidency, so be it.

Let us set aside, for the moment, the queasy feeling it brings, reminiscent of the air-brushed politburo photos of Mao’s China, to see news stories erased, one after another, at the behest of the White House.

Read the whole thing.

TEN YEARS AGO ON INSTAPUNDIT: WALTER SHAPIRO looks at the Immigration and Naturalization Service and concludes that many of its problems come from the fact that you can’t fire anyone. See also, TSA.

AT AMAZON, markdowns in patio, lawn & garden.

GIVE THE GUY A BREAK: David Corn Has Showdown in Barnes & Noble.

He was spotted in the Barnes & Noble at Union Station throwing a fit because his new book — his fifth — fitting[ly] called Showdown: The Inside Story of How Obama Fought Back Against Boehner, Cantor, and the Tea Party out today didn’t have its own display. He was overheard yelling at the manager that “every paper in America” was going to be talking about his book today and yet nobody could find it there.

The manager explained that corporate tells him what books get displays and that the order did not call for that. Corn maintained that the bookstore wasn’t well run and stormed out in a huff.

I agree that Corn is generally an amiable guy, but you have to remember that being an author with a book just out is sort of like giving birth. And nobody would blame a pregnant woman for screaming if the delivery were being botched. But Corn denies screaming, and his book is now in the window. Anyway, as a consolation prize, I’ve linked it above.

AIRBRUSH UPDATE: Story About White House Scrubbing Obama Daughter Travel Story Has Now Been Scrubbed. “The administration has gone to great lengths to crack down on this story, possibly sending a signal to media outlets that, as the general election nears, the president’s children will be off limits.” I predict that it will generate great interest in Sasha and Malia’s doings. Meanwhile, I note that the Bush twins were treated differently.

ILLINOIS: Romney routs Santorum in GOP primary in Illinois. A big win, but with low turnout.

BELLADONNA ROGERS: 8 Mistakes Men Make About Women. “Men are from Hemingway, women from Proust.”

USING VIDEO-GAME TRICKS to make writing software fun.

THIS PROFILE OF DANA LOESCH is really pretty good — although it’s funny that only people on the right produce “vitriol,” apparently. Oh, and Eric Boehlert is a schmuck, but you knew that already.

TRUE BIONIC LIMBS not coming soon.

They were supposed to be better. A decade ago, researchers seemed on the cusp of creating a working interface between body and machine. Even back then, arms controlled by myoelectric signals were old news; more-advanced limbs would read commands directly from the brain. In 2003 scientists at Duke announced that monkeys could control a robotic arm via electrodes implanted in their brains. A year later, a similar device allowed a quadriplegic human patient at Brown University to play Pong with his thoughts. In 2008 researchers at the University of Pittsburgh showed off a monkey that could use a neurally controlled robotic arm to eat marshmallows. Surely if a monkey could use a robot arm to feed itself, it wouldn’t be long before amputees used them to tie their shoes and pilots flew jets with their minds. . . . After $153 million in funding and years of engineering, the best any amputee can get is a heavy, clunky arm that moves slowly, can’t feel anything, and often misreads its user’s intentions.

Faster, please.

WELL, GOOD: FAA Reconsidering Its Stance About Inflight Gadget Use.

SURPRISING FACTS ABOUT American Muscle Cars.

AT AMAZON, up to 33% off on select videogames.

INDEED: American Taxpayers Deserve Transparency on Air Force Procurement Debacle.