THE FOLKS AT REDSTATE HAVE RELAUNCHED FOR THEIR 8TH YEAR.

IF AN ARMED CITIZEN HAD DONE THIS, BLOOMBERG WOULD BE SQUEALING IN OUTRAGE: Police Decision To Shoot In Midtown Left 9 Wounded. “As the two officers confronted a gunman in front of the Empire State Building on a busy Friday morning, they had to make a snap decision: Do they open fire in the middle of Midtown? From a distance of less than 10 feet, the officers, Craig Matthews and Robert Sinishtaj, answered in unison; one shot nine times and the other seven. Investigators believe at least 7 of those 16 bullets struck the gunman, said Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman. But the officers also struck some, if not all, of the nine bystanders who were wounded.”

I’m not saying they did the wrong thing, because I don’t think they did. I’m just saying that if it had been a private citizen, rather than a pair of government employees with government guns, this would be treated very differently by Bloomberg and the press.

UPDATE: I’m getting a lot of email here suggesting that NYPD can’t shoot. That may or may not be true, but I don’t think this incident proves anything. From a distance of “less than 10 feet” (the NYT story says 8 feet, but it’s not like anyone was measuring) I can put 16 out of 16 rounds into the x-ring pretty much every time, even one-handed with my left hand. But that’s at the range, with nobody shooting at me. Being out and about, with your blood pumping, and facing someone else who’s pointing a gun at you, it’s a whole different story.

That said, I’ve seen a fair number of “trained law enforcement professionals” shoot, and generally speaking their skills aren’t particularly impressive.

I GUESS HE DIDN’T GET THE WORD THAT PRESIDENT OBAMA SAYS CANDIDATES’ KIDS ARE OFF LIMITS: Nathan Lane Insults Romney’s Kids. Quoth Lane: “She can’t get through the day without Vicodin, Adderall, Percocet, Xanax and Oxycodone­—which, oddly enough, also happens to be the names of Mitt Romney’s five children.” Worse than tasteless, that joke isn’t even funny. But, of course, any slap at a Republican will get laughs from a Dem audience, funny or not. That makes ’em lazy.

FAIRLY: How Unsettling Is it That Doctors Wear Scrubs to Whole Foods? “Not that it matters particularly that they’re scrubs; it’s more the fact that they didn’t change out of what they wore when they were around sick people and contaminated things. They have to be bringing some infectious organisms with them a fair amount of the time.”

UPDATE: Reader Jeffrey Lang writes: “Presumably they are clean scrubs. I wear them at work and might change them 3 times during the day if they get dirty. If I was to wear them home, I grab new ones on my way out. There are huge piles of clean laundered scrubs to choose from. Doctors and nurses are surprisingly hygienic. Sometimes they even wash their hands! Labcoats on the other hand are a different story……..” Well, that’s not what the linked story says, but your results may vary.

PRESIDENT BIRTHER: Jim Treacher: Reminder: Before Obama ran for president, he falsely claimed to have been born in Kenya.

Plus: Biden gets called out on “chains” comment by… Charlie Rangel?

PUNCHING BACK: David Koch: Speaking Your Piece: A Civic Duty.

POLL: Scott Brown surges ahead of Elizabeth Warren, who’s looking more and more like Martha Coakley. “All in all, there is a sense in the air that resembles what took place in early January 2010 when the political world collectively came to the realization that the Democrats had nominated a seriously flawed candidate, and were up against a guy with a unique political talent and ability to connect with the folks. Make no mistake, Warren’s bizarre handling of her false claim to Native American ancestry has compounded if not caused the problem, as it revealed a personality defect which is not very becoming.”

HOW THE TEA PARTY may boost Romney’s ground game.

RON ROSENBAUM: Calling people “Holocaust-obsessed” is the new holocaust denial.

AT THE HUFFINGTON POST, TAKING A STAND: In Defense of Anal Tattoos. “Frankly, I’m a little envious of Maria’s comfort with who she is, what she’s done, and where she’s done it. Not only is she talking about her anus out loud; she’s talking about what she’s done with it. . . . You go, girl! Inhibitions, insecurities, and self-consciousness rob too many of us of the joy of living fully and doing what we want, whether or not what we want includes inking up an orifice.”

Related: A Response To Vice’s Anti-Anal Sex Manifesto (From A Girl Who’s Done It).

JOHN STEELE GORDON ON WHY OBAMA HASN’T BEEN ABLE TO DEMONIZE ROMNEY AND OPEN UP A LEAD: “Since the so-called recovery began in June 2009, the median household income has fallen by 4.8 percent. That’s more than it fell during the recession (2.6 percent). . . . It’s tough to get people to vote for a president whose economic policies have produced only ‘an unprecedented period of economic stagnation.’” At best.

21st CENTURY RELATIONSHPS: Just because you’re an adult-film actress doesn’t mean you can’t be a terrific mom..

AT AMAZON, warehouse deals in sporting goods.

AN INTERVIEW with Nathan Harden, author of Sex and God at Yale.

THE RISE OF printable guns.

THAT’S OKAY, THEY’LL STILL CAST BALLOTS FOR HIM IN NOVEMBER: Obama has millions of fake Twitter followers.

CATHY YOUNG: What Liberals Don’t Understand About Ayn Rand. “One major misconception is that Rand worshipped the rich and saw moneymaking as life’s highest goal. In fact, most wealthy characters in her novels are pathetic, repulsive, or both: businessmen fattened on shady deals or government perks, society people who fill their empty lives with luxury. (There are also sympathetic poor and working-class characters.) . . . .To Rand, being ‘selfish’ meant being true to oneself, neither sacrificing one’s own desires nor trampling on others. Likewise, Rand’s stance against altruism was not an assault on compassion so much as a critique of doctrines that subordinate the individual to a collective—state, church, community, or family.”

HEALTHCARE: Medical Radiation Soars, With Risks Often Overlooked.

TOBY HARNDEN: Low blows, lower turnouts and low expectations: Four years after he was swept to victory, how Obama’s election campaign is a joyless slog.

AT AMAZON, bestsellers in Biographies & Memoirs.

HMM: Pro-Israel PAC Won’t Support Pro-Israel GOP Rabbi Trying to Unseat Anti-Israel Dem in NJ-9.

SPACE: New NASA video captures drama of Mars landing.

THE PRESS DOESN’T CARE MUCH NOW THAT WE’VE GOT A DEMOCRAT IN THE WHITE HOUSE, but people are still being killed and wounded in Afghanistan. If you’d like to help, support Project Valour-IT.

MORE SAD FALLOUT FROM THE OBAMA ECONOMY: Laid-off Employee in Mass Shooting At Empire State Building. #HowitwouldplayifObamawereGOP

WHAT THE PLANET HAS BEEN CLAMORING FOR: Sustainable Surfing.