THIS IS A BAD SIGN: Parody Commercial Wants Chevy Volt To Be Obama’s Running Mate. Well, it’s dull car, but it’s still more exciting than Joe Biden.

HAPPY THIRD ANNIVERSARY to the Tea Party movement.

Here’s something I wrote back when it was new.

COMING SOON: A Solar Singularity?

WHERE’S THAT “SMART DIPLOMACY” WE WERE PROMISED? Afghanistan, Jerusalem, Tehran: White House Entangled As Policies Falter.

UPDATE: Obama Doctrine Failure.

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Invest, Innovate, Educate.

One important step to improve American education would be to use technology to support more effective education. This isn’t about having cable in every classroom; it is about using the power of the information age to transform the way America teaches and learns at every level from pre-K to adult education.

This will only happen as more companies develop and market new programs and products, and that’s only going to happen when venture capitalists think there is money to be made in the field and offer promising start ups (that, for example, put experienced teachers together with tech wizards to design products that actual teachers find actually helpful) the resources they need to turn a vision into a product.

Unfortunately, venture capitalists are staying out of the K-12 education market in droves. The world’s central bankers are printing money as fast as they can, there is more capital floating around the world system than ever before, and venture capitalism has made handsome enough returns for so long that the whole process of financing start ups is more advanced and efficient than ever before.

Enhancing American educational performance is one of our greatest needs, and with millions of young people in school, the potential market is huge.

Yet with all this going in its favor, venture capitalists aren’t biting. A recent meeting that brought venture capitalists and education bigwigs together came up with some interesting reasons why.

Read the whole thing.

MITCH DANIELS: Obama Administration Wanted Higher Gas Prices.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) blamed President Obama for the spike in oil prices, saying the administration had pushed for consumers to pay higher prices at the pump.

“Let’s give the president credit for one domestic policy that works. He wanted higher gas prices and he got them,” said Daniels on Fox News Sunday. “Secretary Chu said $8 are about what they pay in Europe. It would be great. Secretary Salazar said $10 and it still wouldn’t be for drilling in the places where we know there’s an awful lot of domestic production. And so, they have gotten the doubling of gas prices and perhaps worse, it’s a conscious policy of this administration. Maybe the one thing they set out to do and actually accomplished.” he said.

Ouch. Well, it’s easier to call for higher gas prices when they’re low. Once they’re high, and people are feeling the pain, it seems kind of idiotic. At least in an election year.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: “[T]oday’s college degree is the equivalent of the 1950′s high school diploma…”

UPDATE: Ann Althouse on the education debate:

Obama is the university professor, promoting the product/process that lifted him up and that he bestowed on others. His vanity/self-esteem are all wrapped up in the ideology of education. But Santorum’s self-image is that of the student. He was oppressed and bullied. He still feels angry and ripped off. Which attitude resonates more with the American people today? That is, do Americans identify with the professor or the student?

We’re supposed to be against bullying now, right?

HEY, I’D VOTE FOR HIM: Clarence Thomas For President? It’s time this country elected a black man to the White House! And it’s hard to argue with this: “Thomas has worked at the highest levels of government for over two decades, far longer than the single-term senator from Illinois who currently occupies the White House.”

It’s not true that he’d have to resign from the Court to run, though. Senators don’t resign from the Senate to run for President. He might miss some Court business while running, but not that much, and it’s not like Senators don’t miss Senate business when running. (Just look at Barack Obama’s Senate career). So why resign? In fact, for real fun, it’s not even clear that he’d have to resign from the Court if elected — the incompatibility clause only bars members of Congress from serving in the executive branch, with no similar bar to members of the judiciary.

UPDATE: Boy, a lot of nasty comments about Clarence Thomas over at the Daily Beast. It’s a good thing he’s a Republican, or they’d be racist.

BESTSELLING HDTVS size 55″ and up. You know, my 46″ doesn’t look as big as it did when I bought it. And when I bought it, I immediately wondered if I shouldn’t have gone a bit bigger. They’re a lot cheaper now, though.

Also, clearance watches.

GEORGE KORDA: Okay, so we’re against “Bullying.” Now what’s “bullying?” “Unfortunately, with respect to schools, anti-bullying sentiments are showing the hallmarks of leading us down a path we should not go in terms of trying to control what students are allowed to say or think. . . . If bullying is considered anything that makes someone else ‘uncomfortable,’ well, you might as well close the schools, for this reason: life is uncomfortable.”

UPDATE: “It’s a trap!”

OOPS: Debt ceiling limit looms months sooner than expected, during fall campaign.

GEORGE FRIEDMAN RESIGNATION EMAIL was a fake.

PROF. JOSEPH CAMPBELL: Wasn’t So Special: Revisiting the ‘Cronkite Moment,’ 44 years on.

POLL: 55% Oppose Affirmative Action Policies for College Admissions. Only 24% support.

USA TODAY POLL: Both Romney and Santorum Lead Fading Obama.

UPDATE: Democrats: Americans Who Dislike ObamaCare Are Stupid. “A Quinnipiac University poll last week found 52% of Americans want ObamaCare scrapped. That’s up from 44% last May. Meanwhile, just 39% want to keep it, down from 45%. Even one in five Democrats now says Congress should repeal the law. That hasn’t kept liberals from calling ObamaCare foes idiots, which is what Democratic party head Debbie Wasserman Schultz did when asked about the poll.”

There’s a winning campaign slogan: If you don’t like us, you’re idiots, you idiots! Well, if you fall for that one, you are. . . .

THINGS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED THIS WEEKEND:

Man Arrested After 4-Year-Old Draws Picture Of Gun.

Chinese Netizens Flood Obama’s Google+ Page: “We are not barbaric people, we are just suppressed.”

“Impossible” Nanobots Now Taking Flight.

Poll: 2/3 Support Keystone XL Pipeline.

Senate Candidate Calls for Investigation of IRS ‘Assault’ on Tea Party.

Los Angeles DA had chance to nab fugitive teacher accused of sex crimes.

NY Democratic Rep. Booed By Constituents Over Contraception Mandate.

It’s Official: Shepard Fairey Is A Fraud.

Science Fiction Recommendations.

Cheap knives.

RULES ARE FOR THE LITTLE PEOPLE: Obama campaign web ads flout White House photo warning. But when the big people ignore them, the little people are likely to follow suit.

GUY SORMAN on the world’s new rebellions.

THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, the White House would secretly funnel money to the NYPD so it could spy on Muslims. And they were right! “The disclosure that the White House is at least partially paying for the NYPD’s wholesale surveillance of places where Muslims eat, shop, work and pray complicates efforts by the Obama administration to stay out of the fray over New York’s controversial counterterrorism programs. The administration has championed outreach to American Muslims and has said law enforcement should not put entire communities under suspicion. The Obama administration, however, has pointedly refused to endorse or repudiate the NYPD programs it helps pay for.”

RANKING LAW SCHOOLS BY placement in BigLaw jobs.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: U execs are paid handsomely on their way out.

Since retiring 18 months ago as chancellor at the University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn Martin has collected more money from the U than she did in her last two years on the job.

One of nearly a dozen university executives to step down in the past two years, Martin was granted a two-month sabbatical, a 15-month “administrative transitional leave,” a final deposit to her retirement fund, and a severance check. Total: $535,700.

Hers was the biggest in a series of compensation packages signed by former university President Robert Bruininks worth more than $2.8 million. The deals routinely granted top administrators lengthy paid leaves, then allowed them to return to faculty positions or depart the U’s payroll. . . . Many of the agreements rival in size the recent employment extension given to retiring U Athletic Director Joel Maturi, which caused several legislators to ask if the university is spending money wisely at a time when many Minnesota students and families are struggling to pay college costs.

Read the whole thing.

HIGHER EDUCATION UPDATE: Relatives of lobbyists, campaign donors got lawmakers’ help to enter Univ. of Illinois. “Politicians exerted their influence at the University of Illinois to boost admissions prospects for the relatives of lobbyists, fundraisers, a union leader and other connected applicants, a Tribune investigation has found. . . . Family members of at least three lawmakers also were part of the now-abandoned secret system, known as Category I, a separate admissions track that allowed some subpar students to get admitted to the state’s flagship university.”

THE RETURN OF GAS-PUMP ACTIVISM: Barack Obama Doesn’t Care About People Who Have To Buy Gas.

FUNDRAISING VIA intimidation.