BACK IN THE EUSSR: Earlier today, Glenn linked to Daniel Hannan’s post in the London Telegraph, on the portents of the an EU-commissioned poster, which very much resembles the American granola left’s clapped-out “Coexist” bumper sticker — except now with an added bonus hammer and sickle.

Of course, looking at it from the EU’s point of view, I’m sure that from their perspective, the Soviet Union was merely an unfortunate casualty in the titanic struggles of the European Civil War.

(Or as I asked back in April, channeling the esteemed future Sen. Blutarsky, Was It Over When the Germans Bombed Pearl Harbor During the ‘European Civil War?’)

UPDATE: Eugene Volokh of the Volokh Conspiracy emails, “I share your revulsion for the hammer-and-sickle ‘coexist’-like poster, but is it really from the EU?  It seems to be from the European Social Forum, which I believe is not affiliated with the EU (though I might be wrong).”

Further thoughts on the poster from Stacy McCain’s co-blogger, Smitty.

ANOTHER UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Reader Rainer Kissel writes: “I have to take small issue with Eugene Volokh’s email. Daniel Hannan does not claim the poster was issued by any EU office. He points out that someone thought it is perfectly ok to display it in the “corridors of Brussels” and nobody seems to take notice.”

UH OH: DID MAYOR BLOOMBERG GIVE IN TO THE SIREN CALL OF THE BIG GULP?

Either that, or he’s chanting for the return of Cthulu.

Ph’nglui Mglw’nafh Pepsi R’lyeh Wgah’nagl Fhtagn!

WHEN HISTORY RHYMES PART II: Ed Morrissey on “When desperation strikes incumbents,” Flashing back to Bush #41 in 1992:

Bush then spoke, and went after Clinton and Al Gore in a personal, demeaning way I’d not heard from the President before then:

At a midday GOP rally at Macomb Community College, the president unleashed a rhetorical fusillade on Bill Clinton and running mate Sen. Albert Gore Jr., attacking their fitness for office, their character and charging, “My dog Millie knows more about foreign policy than these two bozos.”

In particular, Bush targeted Gore, whom he now calls “Ozone Man,” or just plain “Ozone.” “You know why I call him Ozone Man?” Bush said. “This guy is so far out in the environmental extreme, we’ll be up to our neck in owls and outta work for every American. He is way out, far out, man.”

When I heard that, I thought to myself, “What President talks like that?”  Part of the advantage the office gives an incumbent is its gravitas.  Bush’s own history as a diplomat, intelligence executive, and war hero gave him plenty more of that.  Bush abandoned that in the final week in schoolyard name-calling. That’s not why Bush lost the election, of course.  It was, however, the moment that I knew he’d lost it — and was pretty sure he knew he was losing, too.

Keep that in mind when you hear Barack Obama on the stump talking about “Romnesia.”  Those elementary-school attacks using people’s names are something one usually farms out to surrogates (and is pretty lame regardless).

Read the whole thing — and recall that such a churlish tone was also Obama’s style in the fall of 2010. Remember all of the “Slurpee-sippin'” “car in the ditch,” “Republicans gotta sit in the back” analogies from Obama as he flailed about on the stump, knowing his party was on its way to lose the midterms.

But as the Professor likes to note, avoid the emanation of the ambiance of excessive self-confidence, young person. It only matters if people show up.

WHEN HISTORY RHYMES PART I: Report: Unmanned Drone Observed Benghazi Terror Attack, Did Nothing: “They stood and they watched and our people died:”

CBS News has been told that, hours after the attack began, an unmanned Predator drone was sent over the U.S. mission in Benghazi, and that the drone and other reconnaissance aircraft apparently observed the final hours of the protracted battle.

The State Department, White House and Pentagon declined to say what military options were available. A White House official told CBS News that, at the start of the attack, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Martin Dempsey and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta “looked at available options, and the ones we exercised had our military forces arrive in less than 24 hours, well ahead of timelines laid out in established policies.”

But it was too late to help the Americans in Benghazi. The ambassador and three others were dead.

“So we knew in real time what was happening and did nothing,” blogger JWF writes.

I’ve seen this movie before. Although not on DVD, alas.

CBS ON THE REAL MITT ROMNEY:

Benjamin Zycher comments: “An interesting question for which I have only an imperfect answer at best: Why did the Obama campaign believe that their months of demonization would work when inevitably the real Romney would emerge at the debates or sooner? Especially because, unlike Senator McCain in 2008, Romney always was going to have the resources to run a formidable campaign. Anyone who watched the Republican primary debates could see that Romney above all is a man of supreme decency, integrity, and modesty. My sense is that the Obama campaign, in a way quite similar to his White House, reflects the man: It is populated with attack dogs highly skilled at tactical maneuvering and disingenuousness, but with little strategic foresight.”

GENOME HUNTERS go after Martian DNA.

AT AMAZON, bestselling coffee.

Also, today only: $1.99 Kindle Inspirational Memoirs and More.

WE COULD USE THAT: Romney as a Manager: Unhurried and Socratic.

IT’S NOT THE CRIME THAT GETS YOU, IT’S THE COVERUP: The Three Benghazi Timelines We Need Answers About.

SMART DIPLOMACY: U.S. Senate, Obama State Dept. Backing Wrong Horse in Ukraine.

BACKING DOWN: Minnesota clarifies: Free online ed is OK.

In a related item, Eugene Volokh explains why such restrictions would violate the First Amendment.

NANOTECHNOLOGY UPDATE: Shape may play an important role in nanoparticle-based therapeutics. “Nanoparticle-based research remains at the forefront of nanoscale approaches to targeted drug delivery and gene therapy (see related posts highlighting achievements in targeting specificity and enhanced delivery owed to high nanoparticle surface area). Recently reprinted by KurzweilAI.net, a news release from Johns Hopkins University entitled “Scientists Discover That Shape Matters in DNA Nanoparticle Therapy” describes the new findings, in which researchers from JHU and Northwestern University developed a set of DNA-copolymer nanoparticles that differ significantly in shape and in transfection efficiency.”

MORE TROUBLE: The Poplar preacher leading an armed gang of jihadis in Syria.

EGYPTIAN MOB VIOLENCE: Yet another Western woman—Sonia Dridi, a journalist for France 24 TV—was seized and assaulted by a mob in Cairo. Fortunately she wasn’t harmed as badly as Lara Logan was last year. She credits someone named Ashraf Khalil, whom I presume is her fixer, for getting her out of there.

READER BOOK PLUG: Reader Larry Schumacher asks me to plug his Aden Adventures: a Max and Monica Story Collection. $2.99 on Kindle.

MAYBE SOMEONE SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT OF THAT BEFORE SHOVELING IN ALL THE SUBSIDY MONEY: Battery-Maker A123’s Technology Just Wasn’t Good Enough.

CONVENIENT NEW REVELATIONS: CIA documents supported Susan Rice’s description of Benghazi attacks. What the CIA reportedly said on September 15: “The currently available information suggests that the demonstrations in Benghazi were spontaneously inspired by the protests at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and evolved into a direct assault against the U.S. Consulate and subsequently its annex. There are indications that extremists participated in the violent demonstrations.”

This certainly makes the CIA look bad, at any rate. But notice how the story tries to turn this White House reliance on a bad report by its own intelligence agency into a Romney “misfire.”

UPDATE: Reader Ed Holston emails: “Sure looks like the CIA documents that supported Susan Rice’s description of Benghazi attacks were revised from and at odds with the CIA’s own sources who were reporting from on the ground in Libya to Langley.” He sends this: CIA report at time of Benghazi attack placed blame on militants, sources say: CIA station chief in Libya reported within 24 hours that there was evidence US consulate attack was not carried out by a mob.

Remember when we were told that an Obama Administration would be marked by competence and good communication?

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Jim Hicks voices darker suspicions:

That memo raises more serious questions about the cover-up than it answers and does not provide cover for Obama. The information that they supposedly relied on for the memo was an intercept involving an Al Qaida operative. That Al Qaida connection was left out of the memo. More importantly, we know that the CIA knew the day after the attack that it was a terrorist attack and Al Qaida was involved. So why is the administration and CIA circulating the Talking Points memo, which goes to Capitol Hill, on the 15th? This looks more than anything like they were intentional deceiving Congress. Rice/Obama/Ignatius might have had a point if the memo were released on 12th. However, the release of of a memo on the 15th, to Congress, containing assertions everyone in the intelligence community knew to be false, raises the questions of who wrote the memo and who approved it. Obama himself has now claimed he called it a terrorist attack on the 12th. In any event, we know that was the conclusion of the intelligence community on the 12th. So why was he having the CIA lie to Congress on the 15th?

“Lie” is such a harsh word. And there may well have been confusion in the Administration. But they certainly showed no uncertainty or margin for ever in their insistent, and long-running, efforts to blame a YouTube video.

Say, anybody heard from Mr. Nakoula lately?

Related: White House Tries to Write Al Qaeda Out of Libya Story. “If this is the best the Obama administration can offer in its defense, they’re in trouble.”

ISRAELIS AND LEBANESE are both angry—for very different reasons—that an episode of Showtime’s Homeland that took place in Beirut was filmed in Israel.

NATIONAL JOURNAL: Polls: Romney Moves Up in Florida, Obama Down a Bit in Ohio.

Related: Ohio: GOP Voters Flock To Early Ballots.

But don’t get cocky.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Why You Should Be Scheduling Sex.

BUT BINDERS: Beth Myers talks to Right Turn.

MICHELLE OBAMA VISITS RACINE, WISCONSIN, mispronounces it.

WHO KNEW: Anita Dunn: Strategizing for the President, and Corporate Clients, Too.

OUCH: BLIND TRUST: Dems rally against Romney over Sensata outsourcing … Obama pension draws from Sensata, Chinese companies.