BYRON YORK: When 1,099 felons vote in a race won by 312 ballots.

177 people have been convicted — not just accused, but convicted — of voting fraudulently in the Senate race. Another 66 are awaiting trial. “The numbers aren’t greater,” the authors say, “because the standard for convicting someone of voter fraud in Minnesota is that they must have been both ineligible, and ‘knowingly’ voted unlawfully.” The accused can get off by claiming not to have known they did anything wrong.

Still, that’s a total of 243 people either convicted of voter fraud or awaiting trial in an election that was decided by 312 votes. With 1,099 examples identified by Minnesota Majority, and with evidence suggesting that felons, when they do vote, strongly favor Democrats, it doesn’t require a leap to suggest there might one day be proof that Al Franken was elected on the strength of voter fraud.

And that’s just the question of voting by felons. Minnesota Majority also found all sorts of other irregularities that cast further doubt on the Senate results.

But remember, voter fraud is just a fiction made up by Republicans.

THE HILL: Obama Campaign Downplays Money Gap But Some Democrats Are Nervous.

RADIOACTIVE? White House Distances Itself From Reid Allegations Against Romney.

Meanwhile, Richard Cohen denounces Harry Reid’s Gutter Politics.

GALLUP: More 2008 Obama Voters Than McCain Voters Switching Sides.

LAYERS OF EDITORS AND FACT-CHECKERS: How This Guy Lied His Way Into MSNBC, ABC News, The New York Times and More.

PHILIP K. HOWARD: Goverment As A Deviant Subculture.

A deviant subculture is defined by sociologist Anthony Giddens as one “whose members have values which differ substantially from those of the majority in a society.”

American government is a deviant subculture. Its leaders stand on soapboxes and polarize the public by pointing fingers while secretly doing the bidding of special interests. Many public employees plod through life with their noses in rule books, indifferent to the actual needs of the public and unaccountable to anyone. The professionals who interact with government — lawyers and lobbyists — make sure every issue is viewed through the blinders of a particular interest, not through the broader lens of the common good. Government is almost completely isolated from the public it supposedly serves. The one link that is essential for a functioning democracy — identifiable officials who have responsibility to accomplish public goals — is nowhere to be found. Who’s in charge? It’s hard to say. The bureaucracy is a kind of Moebius strip of passing the buck. The most powerful force in this subculture is inertia: Things happen a certain way because they happened that way yesterday. Programs are piled upon programs, without any effort at coherence; there are 82 separate federal programs, for example, for teacher training. Ancient subsidies from the New Deal are treated as sacred cows. The idea of setting priorities is anathema. Nothing can get taken away, because that would offend a special interest.

The institutions of democracy are dedicated to the status quo.

Limit the government to the things it’s actually authorized to do under the Constitution, and most of this problem would go away.

PREDICTION: New Solyndra Revelations ‘Will Become Damaging to Obama’s Reelection.’

THIS SHOULD HELP WITH THE PICADOR STRATEGY: Obama’s Romney Revulsion Poses Risks for Reelection. “According to a book due out later this month by Glenn Thrush, a Politico writer with deep connections inside Obamaland, Obama really, really doesn’t like soon-to-be Republican nominee Mitt Romney.”

Romney’s trying to take something Obama feels entitled to. Romney can use this emotional response to provoke Obama into saying or doing something stupid. But honestly, they seem to have something in common: “While most people in politics are drawn to the field because they are intensely social animals. Not Romney. He opted to follow his father’s footsteps into politics, but he does not seem to crave contact the way natural politicians do.” Sounds like Obama.

Related thoughts here.

THE LIBEL SUIT SHOULD BE INTERESTING: EXCLUSIVE: Kimberlin Associate Neal Rauhauser Accuses Brandon Darby of Fake SWAT Calls, ‘Obstruction of Justice.’ That doesn’t even make sense. But the discovery process should be productive. . . .

AT AMAZON, emergency & portable power.

Related: List: Emergency Power And Fuel.

NO. NEXT QUESTION? Is Social Security Still A Good Deal For Workers? “People retiring today are part of the first generation of workers who have paid more in Social Security taxes during their careers than they will receive in benefits after they retire. It’s a historic shift that will only get worse for future retirees, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.”

This is what happens when a pyramid scheme breaks down. At the top of the pyramid, it’s a good deal. At the bottom, not so much.

WIL WHEATON, The Geek Who Hates? Just ask Sheldon Cooper.

UPDATE: WTF? The Sundries Shack is now showing “account suspended.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: The post has been preserved at Wizbang.

NO MATTER WHERE YOU GO, YOU CAN’T ESCAPE THE PAPARAZZI THESE DAYS: NASA’s Curiosity Rover Caught in the Act Landing.

GIANT SUCKING SOUND: Shell looks to pull some cash from Europe due to crisis.

ACTUALLY, OBAMA SHOULD BE SOUL-SEARCHING OVER HIS “FAST AND FURIOUS” GUN-SMUGGLING OPERATION THAT KILLED HUNDREDS OF MEXICANS: Obama: America needs “soul searching” on gun violence.

Or, better still, someone should be doing some file-searching on the documents he won’t turn over.

UPDATE: Related: Dispelling Gun Myths. “Though it is one of the most popular rifles sold to civilians, the AR-15 is rarely used in crimes, presumably because it’s not readily concealed. The most recent FBI figures show just 358 of the 8,775 murders by firearm in 2010 involved rifles of any type. By comparison, 745 people were beaten to death with only hands that year, but no one has called for outlawing fists.”

NEWS YOU CAN USE: How To Smoke A Cigar And Shoot A Shotgun.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Student debt follows growing number of borrowers into their 50s, 60s.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Bacteria-immune system ‘fight’ can lead to chronic diseases, study suggests. “Results from a study conducted at Georgia State University suggest that a ‘fight’ between bacteria normally living in the intestines and the immune system, kicked off by another type of bacteria, may be linked to two types of chronic disease. The study suggests that the ‘fight’ continues after the instigator bacteria have been cleared by the body, according to Andrew Gewirtz, professor of biology at the GSU Center for Inflammation, Immunity and Infection. That fight can result in metabolic syndrome, an important factor in obesity, or inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).”

“DIRTY” HARRY REID.

SCIENCE: Personal Genetics Company Seeks Regulatory Approval.

ELON MUSK: Where SpaceX Goes Now.

AT AMAZON, $10 Deals on Blu-Ray.

REPEAL THE HOLLYWOOD TAX CUTS! In case you missed it over the weekend, check out my Sunday Washington Examiner column on some tax increases the GOP should get behind.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: How To Have A Shootout In Zero Gravity.

JOURNALISM: Couple’s Secret Wedding Blown By Newspaper. “A couple who eloped from Scotland to England to get married in secret had their secret exposed after their photo appeared in a national newspaper.”