MICHAEL BARONE: Charlotte DNC features “the tiniest convention floor” ever. Obama’s appeal is becoming more selective. On the other hand, “The videoscreen directly above the podium is the largest I’ve ever seen at a convention. The technicians were testing it, and the images struck me as looking like something out of 1984.”

UPDATE: Related: Sad: College Kids Being Bused in for Obama’s Bank of America Stadium Speech. Can’t have a bunch of, um, empty chairs in the stadium.

ANOTHER UPDATE: #NARRATIVEFAIL: Cardinal Dolan Goes to Charlotte.

If, as the Obama-Biden campaign alleges, there is a “war on women,” Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, is its field marshal. If opposition to same-sex marriage is “bigotry,” as many on the left insist, then Cardinal Dolan—as the most prominent defender of marriage as the union of husband and wife—is the country’s leading bigot.

Yet Timothy Dolan will be appearing at the Democratic National Convention Thursday night in Charlotte, N.C., to invoke divine blessing on the proceedings. So what’s going on?

It’s like all that talk was just a bunch of political hate-speech claptrap, to be jettisoned as soon as it looked like it might cost votes.

READER STEVE COOPER WRITES: “You wouldn’t know we had record gas prices as you rarely hear about it in the news. No doubt if a Republican were in office we be hearing about it 24X7. Where are all the congressional inquiries into price gouging?!? And George Stephanopoulos can actually say with a straight face that there is no bias in the media. What a Clown Show.” They’ve become so obvious, haven’t they?

UPDATE: Reader Pat Peterson writes: “I’ve seen a few stories about the high gas prices in NC but no mention of the even higher prices in Chicago. I took this photo on Labor Day at Clark & LaSalle in Chicago. When will the media take note of these high gas prices?” As soon as there’s a Republican in the White House.

UPDATE: Reader Bill Hoshor writes:

I just wanted to pass along a short note about the Amoco station at Clark & La Salle. I lived on the north side of Chicago along the lake
front for 25 years and there are Two Gas Stations that generally have prices about .20 higher than the rest of the city and they are both
Amoco stations and one is at Clark & La Salle the other is at Marine Drive & Lawrence ave.

Prices are very high everywhere and Chicago is always one of the higher areas i thought a note was in order not to overstate the price
in Chicago. I am currently in Atlanta OTP east and we are 3.89 on average which is still way too high.

I paid over 4 bucks a gallon in Georgia a couple of weeks ago, but it was at an Interstate ripoff station. Still, high. And we’d be hearing a lot about it if there were a Republican in the White House at the moment.

WAS HE BLINKING S.O.S. IN MORSE CODE? Oops: Former Hostage Cory Booker Misspells Obama’s Name in Ad.

VIDEO: Unaccountable – Elizabeth Warren and the Cherokee. “As reported today in The Boston Herald, even Native American delegates at the DNC want answers.”

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): When Working Until 70 Isn’t Enough.

We’ve all heard the admonitions that with life spans growing longer, retiring at age 65 may not be economically possible, either for individuals or for the society as a whole.

But here’s some discouraging news from the Employee Benefit Research Institute: For about one-third of working-age households (those between ages 30 and 59 in 2007), working until age 70 won’t enough to provide adequate income in retirement.

The way seniors are being squeezed would be big news, if we had a Republican in the White House.

CLINT EASTWOOD STILL RULES MEMEORANDUM. “These punks don’t feel lucky.”

NIGHTMARE FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT MEDIA: “It feels impossible for us to change the conversation.”

Hence National Empty Chair Day.

WILLIE BROWN ON CALIFORNIA: “The world is changing. Years ago it was the likes of Southern Pacific and other big businesses calling the shots in Sacramento, and we were all highly critical of them. These days it’s labor. That’s not the portrayal union leaders like to see in the media, but it’s the truth. Real reform would be barring labor leaders from sitting on state pension boards. The boards ought to be made up of money managers who are concerned with how much cash is going in and out of the fund. There is no justification for any trustee on a pension board being more interested in spreading benefits than paying for them.”

FACT-CHECKING THE FACT-CHECKERS: Video: Obama promises Janesville that plant will “thrive,” “will be here for another 100 years.” “Sounds like Ryan got it exactly correct — especially since Ryan told the story to explain how people in Janesville and around the country voted for Obama based on his promises of Hope and Change, not just in general, but in very specific terms as in Janesville. Those are just the facts, ma’am.”

MATT WELCH ON THE FACT-CHECKERS CIRCLING THE WAGONS FOR OBAMA: Obama, Democrats, and the Media: You Can’t Handle the ‘Truth.’ “It’s a delicate proposition, warning voters that they might be too stupid and/or venal to understand a politician’s brilliance. We don’t know yet how that strategy will pay off in the voting booth, but if the president and his party get the kid-gloves treatment from the media this week after the RNC festival of overheated fact-checking, then the institution of political journalism may creep into still more unchartered territory: taking sides in the very polarization it usually claims to abhor.”

Oh, we’re there already: Absurd: ABC ‘Fact Checks’ Ryan’s Comparing Obama to Carter. Hacks.

Also: Yes, you can have a fabulous career in…Professional Fact-Checking!

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): Politico: Record-high Labor Day gasoline prices greet Democrats in Charlotte.

SOMETHING THAT CAN’T GO ON FOREVER, WON’T:

What is monumentally new about the American state today is the vast empire of entitlement payments that it protects, manages and finances. Within living memory, the federal government has become an entitlements machine. As a day-to-day operation, it devotes more attention and resources to the public transfer of money, goods and services to individual citizens than to any other objective, spending more than for all other ends combined.

The growth of entitlement payments over the past half-century has been breathtaking. In 1960, U.S. government transfers to individuals totaled about $24 billion in current dollars, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. By 2010 that total was almost 100 times as large. Even after adjusting for inflation and population growth, entitlement transfers to individuals have grown 727% over the past half-century, rising at an average rate of about 4% a year.

In 2010 alone, government at all levels oversaw a transfer of over $2.2 trillion in money, goods and services. The burden of these entitlements came to slightly more than $7,200 for every person in America. Scaled against a notional family of four, the average entitlements burden for that year alone approached $29,000.

A half-century of unfettered expansion of entitlement outlays has completely inverted the priorities, structure and functions of federal administration as these were understood by all previous generations.

It is not only financial capital that is distorted by this, but moral and social capital as well.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Tim Turner writes: “This article is a great start on the current state of our national finances. It is too bad that they did not finish the accounting by noting that these transfer payments consume 100% of federal tax revenues, leaving nothing at all to pay for any of the actually legitimate functions of government.”

AT AMAZON, markdowns on men’s Carhartt pants.

Also, 58% off on the Forever Marilyn Marilyn Monroe collection on Blu-Ray.

VIDEO: Festival Brings Together Hundreds of Redheads.

#OBAMAFAIL: Michael Barone: Jewish Democrats On the Defensive.

FACT-CHECKING THE L.A. TIMES’ DAVID LAZARUS: “Of course, the queen didn’t actually say ‘Let them eat cake.’ It was always only propaganda. When else should we mobilize this propaganda? For Gina Rinehart?” Whenever it fits the narrative.

From the comments: “That’s an article in the business section of a major newspaper? It reads more like a half-assed lefty blog post.” It gets harder and harder to tell the difference.

#WARONWOMEN: Mass. Democratic Party Chair Apologizes For Saying Scott Brown A ‘Girl’ For Folding His Own Laundry.

If he were a Republican, this would overshadow his party’s entire convention. But he’s a Dem.

AT AMAZON, Top Labor Day Deals In Electronics.

Also, up to 75% off on select videogames.

NO FREE SPEECH HERE: This Is Bourbon Street!

JUST A REMINDER: It’s time to repeal the Hollywood Tax Cuts!

NANOTECHNOLOGY UPDATE: Nanoparticles Could Lead to Stronger Drugs, Fewer Side Effects for Cancer Patients.

AT AMAZON, bestsellers in Biographies & Memoirs.

Also, today only: The West Wing: The Complete Series, $88.99. Interesting to contrast this fantasy Democratic presidency with the real thing. . . .

THE HATERS ON THE PUBLIC PAYROLL: “A thuggish, violent reaction to Clint Eastwood’s quietly funny appearance at the RNC. And this is the head of a ‘public employee’ union. There’s a choice this election, alright. Which side are you on? If you’re on the side that fantasizes about knocking an 82 year old man off a stage for laughing at your leader, you might want to examine your soul.” If, you know, you still have one.

MISSION CREEP: Are Obese Children The Victims Of Child Abuse?

If so, then the inventors of the Food Pyramid should be on a sex offender registry or something.

VIDEO: Leave Barack Obama Alone… LEAVE HIM ALONE!!