FALSE STATEMENTS FROM ACCREDITOR KILLED A COLLEGE: “The closure of the for-profit college in Kentucky was precipitated by the U.S. Education Department’s September 2005 decision to terminate Decker’s eligibility for federal student financial aid. The federal agency made its decision in large part based on statements by the college’s accreditor, the Council on Occupational Education, that Decker had delivered three of its programs online without the agency’s approval. On Tuesday, a federal bankruptcy judge in Kentucky ruled that the accrediting agency’s representations to the Education Department were false — saying that Decker officials had made clear to the council on numerous occasions that the college was using distance education to offer the programs, and that the agency had approved the programs nonetheless.”

HMM. THINK THERE ARE ANY POLITICS INVOLVED HERE? “The University of Texas at Austin has opened a fact-finding ‘inquiry’ into allegations of research misconduct against a tenured faculty member who concluded in a recent published study that children of same-sex couples may be at a disadvantage when it comes to certain forms of success in adulthood. While the university has not opened a formal investigation nor taken any action against Mark Regnerus, an associate professor of sociology at UT-Austin, the case has provoked spirited critiques of his methodology as well as allegations that the Texas sociologist was unduly influenced by two politically conservative organizations that helped fund his study.”

I don’t know if the study’s any good or not — but I’m positive that if it had found that children of gay couples do better, there would be no such inquiry, regardless of who had funded it. And the point here is mostly to warn other researchers that it’s just better not to look into certain subjects, or to come up with the wrong conclusions if you do.

And my advice to conservative activists is to lodge scientific misconduct complaints against the authors of all those “conservatives are dumb and crazy” studies that come up, most of which are no better than this. If we’re going to go after junk science on political grounds, nobody should be safe.

And here’s a paper I wrote on science fraud a while back.

THE HILL: Left-right climate group quietly weighing proposals for carbon tax. “A broad coalition of advocates has been meeting quietly to discuss a path forward on climate and fiscal policy, including proposals for a carbon tax. The ad-hoc, left-right group has held several closed-door meetings since 2011, most recently gathering on Wednesday afternoon at the conservative American Enterprise Institute (AEI) in Washington, D.C.”

Well, a carbon tax would probably lead to accelerated interest in fracking. . . .

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: The Upending of Conventional Wisdom.

If the United States utilizes its resources, then its present pathologies — massive budget and trade deficits, mounting debt, strategic vulnerability — will start to subside. These new breakthroughs in petroleum engineering are largely American phenomena, reminding us that there is still something exceptional in the American experience that periodically offers the world cutting-edge technologies and protocols — such as those pioneered by Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Starbucks, and Walmart.

In comparison, China is not only resource-poor but politically impoverished. For decades we were told that Chinese totalitarianism, when mixed with laissez-faire capitalism, led to sparkling airports and bullet trains, while a litigious and indulgent America settled for a run-down LAX and creaking Amtrak relics. But the truth is that the Los Angeles airport will probably look modern sooner than the Chinese will hold open elections amid a transparent society — given that free markets did not make China democratic, only more contradictory.

Even more surreal, tiny oil-poor Israel, thanks to vast new offshore finds, has been reinvented as a potential energy giant in the Middle East. Such petrodollars will change Israel as they did the Persian Gulf countries, but with one major difference. Unlike Dubai or Kuwait, Israel is democratic, economically diverse, socially stable, and technologically sophisticated, suggesting the sudden windfall will not warp Israel in the manner it has traditional Arab autocracies, but will instead become a force multiplier of an already dynamic society. Will Europe still snub Israel when it has as much oil, gas, and money as an OPEC member in the Persian Gulf?

The bigger question is whether Israel will snub Europe.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: NALP: Starting Salary for Law Grads Plunges 35% in Two Years. Legal education seems to be a leading indicator.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: A Comprehensive Supply List for Economic Collapse.

OVERSIGHT: Filling Treasury Jobs Delayed Over IRS Whistleblower Concerns. “Senator Charles Grassley said he’ll block the confirmation of two assistant secretaries of the Treasury until the Internal Revenue Service improves its program to reward whistleblowers who inform on tax cheats and scofflaws.”

YEAH, THAT’S THE PROBLEM: Obama’s biggest mistake as president: not enough speeches. “I realize it’s only Charlie Rose, but this is just another example of the journalistic negligence of the last half-decade. With the exception of Bret Baier and the occasional local guy from St. Louis or wherever, Obama’s interviewers never call him on this stuff. He babbles the same stale crap over and over, and it’s obviously not true, and they just… let him. Maybe they think they’ve helping him. Maybe they’re scared of being called racists. Maybe they’re just too stupid to know any better. I realize none of these things are mutually exclusive.”

THAT MEDICAL DEVICE TAX: “The medical device tax constitutes the largest cost increase DeRoyal has experienced in its 40-year history. We are working to mitigate this impact in a number of ways from both a revenue and cost perspective. Even in the face of this challenge we are doing everything within our power to preserve US jobs in this incredibly difficult economic environment.”

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#NARRATIVEFAIL: CNN: Witnesses Tell FBI That Zimmerman Is No Racist. “Ware, a black homeless man, was beaten by a Sanford police lieutenant’s son. Zimmerman was critical of police handling of the case and reportedly worked on Ware’s behalf.” Of course, if you read the right blogs, you knew this stuff months ago, but at least they’re starting to catch up.

AT AMAZON, Back-to-School Deals in Computers, Office & Software.

MORE RACISM AT SALON: Glenn Greenwald Calls Harold Ford A “Smirking Sociopath.”

WELL, IT BEATS THE “OLD KING CLANCY,” MAYBE: The “Harry Reid:” “A sexual position where you climb on top and then do absolutely nothing. Named for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). Under his lack of leadership, the Senate failed to pass a budget in 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012. He also blocked votes on numerous jobs bills passed by the House of Representatives.”

HEH: “One candidate put his money in Swiss banks. One candidate puts my money in Greek economics.”

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Can You Afford Law School? Law Dean Says Think Twice.

CHANGE: The Ever-Increasing Age of Retirement.

ROGER KIMBALL ON battling the amoeba.

It’s really just another step along the road to the coming middle-class anarchy.

When the backbone of a country starts thinking that laws and rules are not worth following, it’s just a hop, skip and a jump to anarchy.

TV has given us the illusion that anarchy is people rioting in the streets, smashing car windows and looting every store in sight. But there’s also the polite, quiet, far deadlier anarchy of the core citizenry—the upright citizenry—throwing in the towel and deciding it’s just not worth it anymore. If a big enough proportion of the populace—not even a majority, just a largish chunk—decides that it’s just not worth following the rules anymore, then that society’s days are numbered: Not even a police-state with an armed Marine at every corner with Shoot-to-Kill orders can stop such middle-class anarchy.

Read the whole thing. This is what happens when the ruling class forfeits trust. It isn’t pretty. People at the top — in this country at least — used to worry about maintaining trust. Now they seem to take it for granted, or fail to appreciate the cost of losing it. The Gods Of The Copybook Headings are always there, though.

Meanwhile, Walter Russell Mead has some related thoughts.

UPDATE: Reader David Lange writes:

For the majority of Americans, who I assume are playing by the rules, they see more and more evidence that the entire system of government regulations, tax code, financial regulations, and enforcement, exist to benefit the well connected. The tipping point will come when this perception is shared by the majority.

And it will happen slowly, and then all at once.

GEORGE LEEF: Burst The Higher Education Bubble.

During the bubble, colleges could get away with offering lots of courses that met a standard that former Indiana University English professor Murray Sperber characterizes as “the faculty/student nonaggression pact.” That is, the professor didn’t demand much of the students and gave high grades; in return, the students didn’t expect much from the professor, who wanted time for academic research projects.

The students were happy: Who complains about courses with high grades but little work? The professors were happy, and the administrators were happy because students getting good grades typically don’t gripe or, more important, drop out.

But courses in which students just go through the motions without learning anything are a waste of time and money.

The good news is that in the new higher-education world, courses like that will be jettisoned. Like dieters giving up doughnuts in favor of more nutritious, low-calorie foods, college consumers will look for affordable courses that lead to demonstrable educational gains.

One hopes.

UPDATE: A reader emails: “Sorry to burst anyone’s hopes, but I was (cautiously, indirectly) told by my department chair a few weeks ago to dumb down my courses so that the department doesn’t lose ‘market share.’ I’m ignoring the whole discussion. Please, no names if you wish to quote this.”

WATCH OUT — CNN MIGHT RESPOND BY LETTING HIM COHOST A SHOW WITH ELIOT SPITZER: Gary Johnson Supporters Plan Protest at CNN Headquarters in Atlanta.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Controversy about pay hikes at Western Washington University.

In a single collective bargaining agreement, Western Washington University has undermined state efforts to control costs, spotlighted the tuition bubble, and spurred interest in a new delivery model. Western’s mischief has not gone unnoticed.

Pointing to high unemployment and “the worst economic times in 80 years,” Gov. Chris Gregoire wrote WWU president Bruce Shepard to express “grave concerns” about the school’s decision to increase faculty pay by more than 14 percent over the next three years. Department chairs and faculty receiving promotions get additional boosts.

The agreement is not subject to review by the state budget office or Legislature.

Gregoire writes that she and the Legislature did not intend for higher student tuition to lead to “significant salary increases for faculty” and is “perplexed” at how the school thinks it can afford them. Responding on “Bruce’s Blog,” Shepherd praises his colleagues’ “heroic” efforts in weathering the economic realities. He celebrates the contract, saying it represents the “courage and leadership these difficult times demand.” But he doesn’t address the affordability question. Efforts to cast the contract as a duel between tuition and faculty salaries, he dismisses as “pernicious … rhetorical hyperbole.”

Uh huh.

SUSANNAH BRESLIN: How Porn Went From Boom To Bust.

THE TROOPATHON LIVE BROADCAST is now under way. Drop by and send a care package if you’re so inclined. They’re not getting as much news coverage, but they’re still there.

JOE PAPPALARDO: Deep in the Jungle With the French Foreign Legion. And a micro-war you’ve probably never heard of.

POLIWOOD: Why Doesn’t Hollywood Have More Influence In Politics?