17 EUPHEMISMS FOR SEX FROM THE 1800S: Perhaps David Petraeus and Paula Broadwell could have hidden their affair if they’d used code words like “lobster kettle” and “bread and butter.”

THE NEXT STAGE IN A SCANDAL — THE OFFICIAL DENIAL: White House Denies Editing Terrorism Reference Out Of CIA’s Benghazi Talking Points.

UPDATE: Link was wrong before. Fixed now. Sorry!

THAT’S OKAY, THE OBAMA ECONOMY WILL HAVE THE BORDER-MIGRATION GOING THE OTHER DIRECTION SOON: After 15 years and hundreds of billions of dollars, the virtual border fence is still just a mirage.

Long before Google Street View existed, long before we started sending out alerts every time we breached the perimeter of Starbucks, the U.S. government embarked on an epic quest to establish a “virtual” fence along the Mexican border. The year was 1997. And while the U.S. Border Patrol’s surveillance technology then consisted primarily of sunglasses, border hawks and bureaucrats dreamed of a thin technological line of motion sensors, infrared cameras, and video-driven command centers producing the same sort of omniscience we now exert over 7-Eleven parking lots. To realize this bold but improbable vision, Congress approved funds for a pilot project called the Integrated Surveillance Intelligence System, or ISIS.

Thus began a long stretch of failure: cameras that wilted from the heat when thermometers hit a relatively temperate 70 degrees, ground sensors that could not tell a native cactus from an illegal intruder, inept project management, insinuations of fraud and corruption. Periodically, the quest would be canceled and then revived under a different brand name. ISIS begat America’s Shield Initiative, which begat the Secure Border Initiative Network, or SBINet. In January 2011, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano officially pulled the plug on this latest incarnation, thereby ushering in what arguably has been the project’s most successful two-year run. Zero functionality was added during this time, but at least spending came to a standstill too.

With government projects, that counts as a win, these days.

SOMETHING THAT CAN’T GO ON FOREVER, WON’T. “My main consolation is that the change will uproot many of the delusions that have sprouted up. My main fear is that history shows this is never, ever, a peaceful process.” One way or another, the Gods Of The Copybook Headings will have their due.

Related item here.

MAX BOOT NOT SO HAPPY WITH LUCIAN TRUSCOTT IV: Petraeus’s Phony Critics. A lot of military folks in my Twitter feed were mocking Truscott’s piece yesterday. Boot: “It is insulting not only to Petraeus but to all those men and women who have served valiantly and at great risk in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

UPDATE: Link was broken before. Fixed now. Sorry!

THE 21ST CENTURY ECONOMY: Life As A Porn Agent.

AT AMAZON, new stuff coming out on DVD and Blu-Ray.

Also, today only: Up to 75% off on outerwear for men & women. Winter is coming.

HMM: LIVE BLOG: IDF prepares for ground invasion as Gaza offensive enters fourth day. They should force Egypt to take Gaza back, then hold Egypt responsible for what happens after that.

BOY, ALL KINDS OF STUFF COMES OUT ONLY AFTER THE ELECTION: Cortland County district attorney admits acting in porn movies in 1970s.

In a 3 p.m. news conference today, he admitted that he lied about his history to The Post-Standard and other news operations in the days before the Nov. 6 election. He was re-elected to a second term.

He said he would continue as district attorney. After he was done, he walked out without responding to reporters’ questions.

Suben is a Democrat. He defeated Republican defense attorney Keith Dayton 9,815-7,507, according to unofficial results.

He’s still got the porn mustache, too.

LOIS MCMASTER BUJOLD’S Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance has debuted at #16 on the New York Times fiction bestseller list. Plus, she gets a nice little writeup in the NYT. It’s a good book — I read it in an advance copy. Had my doubts that Ivan Vorpatril — a secondary character in the other books — could carry a story by himself, but he did.

ERIKA JOHNSEN: What Does The Obama Administration Have Against Farmers?

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Return Of The Nuclear Nightmare.

Since their use invites devastating retaliation, many strategists today imagine that nuclear weapons can never be used to good effect and are therefore essentially worthless. This perception doesn’t just shape American thoughts about our own arsenal; it impels American leaders to underestimate the difficulties of nonproliferation because they don’t fully grasp the size of the gains that nonnuclear powers can achieve in joining the Bomb Club. Our strategists, says Mr. Bracken, are in a state of denial: “An older generation wants to make the nuclear nightmare go away by inoculating the young with protective ideas. Nuclear weapons are useless and we should get rid of them. Strengthen the [Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty]. Get rid of ballistic missiles. Deterrence will work.”

These ideas, very much at the heart of the present administration’s strategic thought, are fantasies.

Don’t worry — we’ve got “Smart Diplomacy” to protect us!

Mead’s writing about Paul Bracken’s new book, The Second Nuclear Age: Strategy, Danger and the New Power Politics. Bracken’s a very smart guy. I remember him from when I was at Yale; his big book then was The Command And Control of Nuclear Forces. He’s been thinking about this stuff for a long time, and people should be paying attention to him now.

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): McDonald’s Says Tough Economy Is ‘New Normal.’

THOUGHTS ON THE PETRAEUS AFFAIR, from the Pickup Artist community.

WILL OF THE PEOPLE: 56% of Britons would vote to quit EU in referendum, poll finds.

UPDATE: Australian reader Kingsley Smith thinks the Brits should join NAFTA instead: “Much better cultural fit, outstanding security relationship already in place, a brighter economic future ( I hope), shared language with 2 biggest members and a trade agreement much more likely to remain just a trade agreement respecting national sovereignty versus the EU “grand vision” of one Europe.”

Works for me.

IN BLOOMBERG’S NEW YORK, Superstorm Sandy Exposes A Class Divide.

OUTPERFORMING ENVER HOXHA: In 37 Chicago Precincts, Romney Received No Votes.

UPDATE: By the way, the Wikipedia entry on Hoxha is a disgrace.

ANOTHER UPDATE: What’s wrong with the Hoxha entry? It doesn’t really make clear that he ran a dictatorship more-or-less comparable to North Korea, that’s what.

FROM HOPE AND CHANGE TO FORWARD AND REVENGE: HuffPo poll shows 22.8 percent of Americans support their state seceding.

PAPA JOHN’S APPRECIATION DAY: Reader John Jenkins sends this report from right here in Knoxville: “I thought I’d let you know that on Friday night, we ordered Papa John’s for a family party. My wife had to send my niece into the Papa John’s on Clinton Highway, and circle the parking lot until she could come out with our order. There was no place to park and it was a complete madhouse. Not as dramatic as with Chick-fil-A, but an amazing show of support!”

IT REALLY WAS A MISTAKE TO TRY TO OUT-CRAZY Stacy McCain.

PUNCHING BACK: Walmart Files Complaint with NLRB Over Union Harassment. I used to think that Wal-Mart was being unfairly targeted by lefties. I still do, but after the whole Obama-backing thing I don’t care as much.

OBAMA’S OUTRAGEOUS OUTRAGE:

Try as I may, I cannot recall any other president implying that criticism of the statements of an ambassador to the UN, acting in his/her official capacity as spokesperson, should be off-limits — and especially the approach Obama takes here, which is to say that the men who criticized Rice (McCain and Graham) are somehow “besmirching” her reputation (Rice is a vulnerable little woman, not just a gender-neutral official, when it suits Obama’s political purposes) and that such comments are “outrageous” and beyond the pale. Should those on the left who criticized Colin Powell for presenting information about WMDs to the UN, information “based on intelligence that he had received,” have been admonished to shut up because they were “besmirching his reputation” in an “outrageous” manner? Of course not, as they’d be the first to tell you. But Rice is apparently off-limits, because Obama says so.

Has any other president even hinted that his appointed officials are beyond reproach, and that anyone who would question them is a lout? There’s something truly imperial about Obama making such a suggestion, and anyone in the press who fails to call him on it is complicit.

Indeed.

TODAY ONLY: The Swiss Army Champ, $59.99.

GALLERY: Hollywood’s Private Jets: From Oprah Winfrey to Tom Cruise, Who Owns What.

Look at the pictures, and then ask your congressmember to Repeal The Hollywood Tax Cuts! It’s time for Hollywood to pay its fair share!