VIRGINIA POSTREL: Recycling Eyeglasses Is a Feel-Good Waste of Money. “The case of recycled eyeglasses illustrates how easy it is to fool ourselves when we think about thrift, waste and charity. We overestimate the importance of the physical things we can see and forget about the real costs of time and attention, as well as the importance of intangible values like aesthetics to the people we’re trying to help.”

AT AMAZON, spring markdowns in Patio, Lawn & Garden.

Also, today only: Star Wars — The Complete Saga, on Blu-Ray, $78.99. Episodes I-VI.

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGE STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): People Not In Labor Force Soar By 522,000, Labor Force Participation Rate Lowest Since 1981. “It is just getting sad now. In April the number of people not in the labor force rose by a whopping 522,000 from 87,897,000 to 88,419,000. This is the highest on record. The flip side, and the reason why the unemployment dropped to 8.1% is that the labor force participation rate just dipped to a new 30 year low of 64.3%.”

JIM TREACHER: Occupy Cleveland is proud to be associated with attempted bomber Brandon “Skabby” Baxter.

ANDREW MALCOLM: Turns Out, Obama Is A Composite Too.

FORGET JULIA, it’s the Life Of Brian.

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE CRUSADES: An excerpt from Jonah Goldberg’s The Tyranny of Cliches.

MORE ON THE CHEN DEBACLE: Chen deal rushed, chaos ensues.

Over the last couple days human rights activists, conservative lawmakers and Mitt Romney have leveled two criticisms of the Obama administration’s handling of the Chen Guangcheng episode: The resolution was rushed so as not to interfere with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to Beijing, and little care was taken as to specific steps to be taken after his release, including protection for him in the hospital. A former foreign policy official put it, “What they really cared about was getting him out of the embassy so his presence didn’t overshadow Hillary Clinton’s visit.

Now the administration officials are coming forward to admit these two rather egregious missteps.

Remember when they were promising us “smart diplomacy?”

INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY: NBC Wags Dog For Bill Clinton, Who Let Osama Escape. “It was the Clinton administration that could have put Osama bin Laden out of commission before 9/11. It was under the Clinton administration that Americans were killed by terrorists on three continents without a meaningful response.”

Yes. And when that was broadcast in The Path To 9/11, the Clintons moved heaven and earth to ensure that it wouldn’t be aired again, or even released on DVD. See Blocking The Path To 9/11.

WALL STREET JOURNAL: Wisconsin Recall Amnesia: Why aren’t Democrats running against Scott Walker’s union reforms? “No wonder. Since Mr. Walker’s reforms went into effect, the doom and gloom scenarios have failed to materialize. Property taxes in the state were down 0.4% in 2011, the first decline since 1998. According to Chief Executive magazine, Wisconsin moved up four more places this year to number 20 in an annual CEO survey of the best states to do business, after jumping 17 spots last year. The Governor’s office has estimated that altogether the reforms have saved Badger State taxpayers more than $1 billion, including $65 million in changes in health-care plans, and some $543 million in local savings documented by media reports. According to the Wisconsin-based MacIver Institute, Mayor Barrett’s city of Milwaukee saved $19 million on health-care costs as a direct result of Mr. Walker’s reforms.”

DONALD SENSING: The People’s Rights Amendment: Follow The Money.

MOVING BEYOND THE GSA: Sen. Grassley Demands Accounting From IRS Whistleblower Office. Plus, 19 IRS employees at the South Beach Ritz-Carlton.

JAMES TARANTO: The Lonely Life Of Julia:

At 31, the story tells us, “Julia decides to have a child. Throughout her pregnancy, she benefits from maternal checkups, prenatal care, and free screenings under health care reform.” In due course she bears a son named Zachary, the only other character in the tale. . . .

The most shocking bit of the Obama story is that Julia apparently never marries. She simply “decides” to have a baby, and Obama uses other people’s money to help her take care of it. Julia doesn’t appear to be poor; at various points the story refers to her glamorous career as a Web designer, and it makes no mention of her benefiting from poverty programs like Medicaid or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

In 1999 Lionel Tiger coined the word “bureaugamy” to refer to the relationship between officially impoverished mothers of illegitimate children and the government. “The Life of Julia” is an insidious attack on the institution of the family, an endorsement of bureaugamy even for middle-class women.

The Insta-Daughter’s take was that “they didn’t want to offend single mothers, so they couldn’t mention a husband — instead it’s like the baby came by spontaneous generation.” She wasn’t impressed with the tale, and thinks that a retirement of volunteering in a community garden sounds kind of . . . unambitious.

BILL QUICK Notes A Disturbance In The Force.

NICK GILLESPIE & MEREDITH BRAG: The Life of Julia (Libertarian Remix).

RACISM: All NFL Players Look Alike To MSNBC: Living New Orleans Saint Jonathan Vilma photo accompanies update on late Junior Seau.

THE QUESTION WE SHOULD BE ASKING ELIZABETH WARREN.

U.S. WEAKNESS in Beijing.

JOHN KERRY’S AMAZING INVESTMENT RECORD: “Failed Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry’s (D., Mass.) long history of ethically dubious investments could invite controversy as he takes on a new role as a “top surrogate” for President Obama’s reelection campaign.”

OBAMA SUPPORTER ALEC BALDWIN NOT EXACTLY SPREADING THE HOPEY-CHANGEY: “I think right now it would be to take a book full of food stamps and go buy whatever meals you can with a food stamp provision on a weekly basis. Because although welfare has been cut, as we all know from a lot of reportage over the last several months that food stamp use has soared. I think the most American thing you can do today is go stand in line and see what your weekly allotment of food stamps will buy you.”

FAST AND FURIOUS UPDATE: Darrell Issa Threatens to Find Eric Holder in Contempt Over ‘Fast and Furious.’

DAN MITCHELL: Australia vs. the United States: Two Charts that Tell You Everything You Need to Know about Social Security Reform.

AT AMAZON, it’s the home audio & video outlet.

YOU CANT SPELL “BROWNSHIRTS” without OWS.

It’s hard to get good goons these days.

HEH: Monty Python’s Life Of Julia. “First the dog-eating, then the Commie ‘Forward’ slogan, the imaginary composite girlfriends, and now this vision of the New Soviet Woman — the wheels are coming off the once-crack Obama campaign. Where is Jake Lingle when they really need him? Did the surviving Pythons reunite to storyboard this farce? What’s happening, of course, is that the mask is finally slipping.”