TIPPING POINT: “U.S. government employees and their families have been among the top five sources of campaign funds for President Barack Obama, according to Opensecrets.org.”

As often is the case, California leads the way — and not in a good way, this time around.

WOULD THAT IT WERE TRUE: NYT: Conservatives Are Taking Over the Media:

The leaps in logic are enough to make one’s head spin. So apparently, even though all the broadcast networks, CNN and MSNBC, NPR, and every other newspaper with a large circulation is controlled by people who are liberal, there is a “growing hegemony” of conservatives in the media? How does that work out exactly? In David Carr’s world, one cable network, an editorial page and a handful of talk radio shows completely overwhelm the audience and influence of the vast majority of the American media apparatus.

And they’re taking over the industry at record pace — or at least the amount space they occupy rent free in Carr’s brain. Last year, he was telling Bill Maher that conservative Americans were merely “the dance of the low-sloping foreheads,” and could therefore safely be ignored by his fellow elites at the NYT and Time-Warner-CNN-HBO, which produces Maher’s show. Today, in Carr’s mind, they’re running the entire journalism industry. If only the economy really was producing jobs at that speed!

DEBATE PREP: “Obama Retreats To Spartan ‘Debate Gym’ To Prepare for Bout, Like Rocky In Rocky III and Rocky IV. Just Kidding, He’s Practicing at a Las Vegas Luxury Golf Course.”

Wait, I thought going to Las Vegas was a bad thing for Americans to do. Oh well, promises, expiration dates, etc.

BINAURAL BEATS A “DIGITAL DRUG”?:  Scientists in Dubai are calling for the country to ban “binaural beats,” a type of music long known to induce meditation and relaxation.  The reason? Binaural beats are believed to induce an altered state of consciousness (how dare it!) that mimics some drugs such as ecstasy or pot.

Try it out for yourself here. 

IF 2,100 PEOPLE HAVE TO BE TRAINED TO IMPLEMENT IT, maybe, just maybe, a collective bargaining agreement is too complicated? Not only did the Veterans Department have to train that many of its employees on the agency’s latest deal with the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), more than two dozen training conferences were convened across the country, at a cost in excess of $5 million. The Washington Examiner’s Mark Flatten has yet another government conferences expose.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Orgasms and Other Surprising Ways to Lose Weight. “Having regular orgasms can increase your life span. Every time you reach orgasm, the hormone DHEA increases in response to sexual excitement and orgasm. DHEA can boost your immune system, improve cognition, keep skin healthy, and even work as an antidepressant. DHEA also helps you burn fat. Therefore, the added health benefit is that you will feel – and look – younger longer.”

A SHORT HISTORY OF TEETH.

FEDERALIZING EDUCATION–NO CHILD GETS AHEAD:  Sam Blumenfeld over at the New American points out that all this progressive-style “testing” of our children in public schools hasn’t done a single thing to improve education.  Of course it’s not just the progressives who love federalizing the curriculum; President George W. Bush and his brother, former Governor Jeb Bush (FL), were chief proponents of “No Child Left Behind” (known in my household as “No Child Gets Ahead (Because That Wouldn’t Be Fair!)) and its devastating effect on public school learning, forcing teachers to “teach to the test.”  Observes Blumenfeld:

It’s hard to imagine that we can continue educating our school children to become dumbed-down socialists without this nation becoming eventually a socialist society. That’s why the kind of Congress we get in 2013 will determine whether or not we continue down this road to socialism or finally reverse course.

Anyone who has taught young people over the last 10-20 years or so (as I have–though admittedly my law students are the educational system’s “cream of the crop”) will acknowledge that there has been a massive, noticeable loss of critical thinking skills, creating an environment ripe for a socialist/communitarian state.  The “dumbing down” of American children should be a much larger issue in this election.

AMERICAN IMPERIALISM, PROGRESSIVE STYLE:  We all know how the progressives/liberals decry American “imperialism” every chance they get.  In a classic case of hypocrisy, however, they’re asking the Supreme Court today, in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Shell Petroleum, to open up U.S. courts to tort claims filed against U.S. corporations for “human rights” violations the corporations allegedly committed in other countries.  Their argument for this ludicrous overreach of US sovereignty?  The Alien Tort Statute (ATS), which says:

The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States.

The ATS was designed to protect foreign ambassadors harmed on U.S. soil, allowing such state-law torts to be heard by the more objective and interested U.S. (as opposed to state) courts.  Using it to open U.S. courthouse doors for any alleged human rights atrocity claimed “by an alien for a tort” committed overseas is not only a perversion of the statute’s meaning (aka, congressional intent) but also the very kind of aggressive use of U.S. jurisdiction that progressives normally condemn.

Oh, that’s right:  It’s okay to ignore U.S. sovereign jurisdictional limits when it’s for the “right” reasons.

AN EDUCATION BLOG: Educating Ourselves. Worth your time if you’re interested in this stuff, and you should be.

NO DECENCY: Obama uses Down syndrome to hit Romney. “Blogger Jeryl Bier noticed the letter first, calling it an ‘exploitive cheap shot.'” Par for the course, in other words.

Related: Obama Apologizes for Calling His Bad Bowling ‘Like the Special Olympics.’

UPDATE: Reader Bruce Batista writes:

As the father of an 8 year old with Down Syndrome and a supporter of The Upside of Downs I can unequivocally state that Romney’s policies will be be far far better for people with Downs than Obama’s. Indeed it is likely that fewer and fewer Down children will even be born to experience Obama’s eugenic abortion on demand utopia. And how do you think people with Down Syndrome will fare with the IPAB — aka The Death Panel? I’m not optimistic.

Feel free to publish using my name.

I believe the technical term is “useless mouths.”

JOAN HEMINWAY: The SEC’s New Line-Item Disclosure Rules for Asset-Backed Securities: MOTS or TMI?

WELL, GLENN, MAYBE YOU CAN’T GET WITH THE PORSCHE PLUG-IN, BUT YOU COULD GET WITH THIS:  You might be right about the tip jar falling short of the tasty Porsche Panamera hybrid.  But I bet the ol’ tip jar might buy you this sleek, aerodynamic beauty, with speakers that light up when the bass pumps.  And a bonus: You get to dress up like a gansta hamster.

SO, ELIZABETH, YOU’VE GOT ME WANTING TO BUY YOUR Porsche Panamera Hybrid, but I don’t think the tip jar will cover it . . . .

NONSENSE, THAT WOULD MEAN LESS MONEY FOR LAWYERS: The Case for Abolishing Patents (Yes, All of Them). “In plain-speak, the authors are arguing that, yes, the evidence suggests that having a limited amount of patent protection makes countries slightly more innovative, presumably by encouraging inventors to cash in on their great ideas without fear of being ripped off. But patent protections never stay small and tidy. Instead, entrenched players like intellectual property lawyers who make their living filing lawsuits and old, established corporations that want to keep new players out of their markets lobby to expand the breadth of patent rights. And as patent rights get stronger, they take a serious toll on the economy, including our ability to innovate.”

Also, a 14-year nonrenewable term for copyrights. At some point, you’ve made enough money.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT LAST NIGHT: Univision Breaks New Details of Obama Admin’s Fast and Furious Cover-Up.

And a question from Bob Owens: Will Romney mention Fast and Furious during the debates, to help force an issue to the surface that the palace guard MSM are “unexpectedly” reluctant to discuss?

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Student Loan Default Rates Continue Climb, Mostly. “Just over 9 percent of students default on their federal student loans in the first two years after they begin paying them back, and 13.4 percent default in the first three years, according to data released Friday by the Education Department.”

UPDATE: A reader emails:

Professor Reynolds:

Thought I’d chime in on the subject since I am kind of the target demo (28; paid for my liberal arts degree from a state school with loans; ~20k remaining).

I haven’t defaulted on any of my loans (and won’t), but I have used some of the many forbearance and deferment options available to stop payments from time to time. I’ve had trouble keeping steady work, and even though I’m already making low payments my Sallie Mae loan is the easiest bill to not have to pay — I submit one form and get 3-6 months of not paying that note. It even disappears from my credit report with no apparent deleterious effect.

I’m baffled as to why anyone would outright default when you can easily get years of deferments, and even capitalize the relatively small accrued interest… and I’d be interested to see the number of forbearances and deferments at any given period of time. I know they drag out my repayment term significantly.

I’m not embarrassed by any political stance, but I still need to be able to get a date from a hot insta-reader, so please withhold my name.

P.S. #reynolds2016

Just bear in mind that usually interest continues to accumulate, driving your balance up. That’s more likely to put off a “hot insta-reader” than the sentiments above. Say, should I start an InstaPundit dating service? We’ve already had a few insta-reader marriages over the years. . . .

ROGER KIMBALL: The Narrative in London.

HEH: “You probably heard Madonna told a recent concert audience she’d strip naked if President Obama is reelected. In a related story, President Obama is now trailing in the polls by 97%.”

BLUE ON BLUE: Cher rants about Pacific Coast Highway bicyclists.

Did Sonny ever advise her to read P.J. O’Rourke? He was warning America on the dangers of The Bicycle Menace a quarter century ago.

PETER INGEMI: “As we get closer and closer to election day (or should I say the day when the votes are counted since early voting has started in some states) there has been a small tremor that lately has gotten less and less press both in Massachusetts and nationwide. That is the effect of citizen activists taking an interest in the vote.” And one of the things they’re taking an interest in is preventing fraud.

YA THINK? Bloomberg: Obama Reneges on Open Government, Transparency Promises.

MICHAEL WALSH: Wheels Coming Off Obama’s Libya Story.

PUSSY RIOT UPDATE: Sacrilege Is Sometimes Hard To Spot.