WELL, THAT SUCKS: Ric Locke — a blogger who’s probably best known to InstaPundit readers as the author of Temporary Duty, a terrific first novel that now, alas, will also be a terrific last novel — has reportedly died of the lung cancer that was discovered not long ago. He will be missed.

UPDATE: On Ric’s Facebook page, Tom Kratman observes: “Ya know, Social Security was going to withhold his checks because he’d made a few bucks with TDY. Now they can’t. If that doesn’t put a smile on Ric’s shade I can’t imagine what would. Three cheers for Ric for cheating the fiscal hangmen!”

IT’S A REAL PUZZLER: Say, how come the DOJ isn’t prosecuting top Obama crony Jon Corzine?

FASTER, PLEASE: Human Stem Cells Found To Restore Memory.

INSTAVISION: I TALK WITH JACK MCCALL, about his new book, Pacific Time on Target: Memoirs of a Marine Artillery Officer, 1943-1945. Plus, thoughts on the upcoming anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.

NANCY PELOSI: MORE FUN THAN A GOAT.

The truth of course is that American politicians of both parties are often much wealthier than the people they allegedly represent, and politicians, like most wealthy people, take full advantage of all the tax shelters and deductions their lawyers and accountants can find. The chances are that a great many of our elected representatives invest in companies whose activities would not please the voters back home, engage in various sordid insider trading deals, and send big chunks of their dearly beloved money to various no-tell money motels in places like Switzerland and the Cayman Islands. Most probably don’t commit any crimes; one of the nice things about lawyers is that with enough of them you can pretty much do what you want.

Just as the occasional sexual indiscretion is less of an issue for an abortion-supporting, thrice-divorced Democrat than for a Bible-thumping, God and Family Republican, a tax return full of complicated tax avoidance strategies is less of a problem for a Republican free marketeer than for a Democratic Tribune of the Little People. The “tar and feather Mitt Romney as a rich tax cheat” posse got into a lot of trouble as soon as the press started asking top Democrats the obvious question: if he shows us his, will you show us yours?

Still waiting.

REHAB: Wireless Electronic Glove Helps Improve Motor Skills of Spinal Cord Injury Victims.

MICHAEL BARONE: Liberal Officials Penalizing Free Speech. “As a conservative on most issues and a supporter of same-sex marriage, I find it fascinating that liberal politicians are so ready to clamp down on others’ speech. It’s certainly permissible to refuse to patronize a restaurant because you dislike the owner’s beliefs and to encourage, by means short of violence or intimidation, others to do so. It’s also kind of foolish and in my view would be a waste of time to have to research owners’ or managers’ political views before going somewhere to eat. But for public officials to penalize people because of their expressed beliefs—well, I wouldn’t go as far as blogger Elizabeth Scalia does when she titles a blogpost “this is how fascism works,” but it’s pretty nasty stuff. Mayors Emanuel and Menino are treating opposition to same-sex marriage as something akin to Hitlerism or Stalinism. But it’s not.”

Well, it is now, since Obama’s changed his views. If you hold the view of gay marriage that Obama held until his “evolution” a few weeks ago, that’s a thoughtcrime of the first order and makes you a public enemy. We have always been at war with EastAsia supported gay marriage!

Somebody should explore this phenomenon in depth. And it’s funny that Mayor Menino is posturing as some sort of defender of decency, but there’s nothing more indecent than a city in which your right to do business depends on whether the downtown hacks approve of your ideas.

Meanwhile, I wonder if his threats didn’t open him, and Boston, up to a federal civil rights suit. He’s threatening to use the apparatus of government against people for constitutionally protected speech and beliefs. The Chick-Fil-A people, as good Christians, will probably forgive him, but if it were me, I’d do my best to make an example of him. Some lawsuits, some depositions, some inquiry into his relationships with people in the restaurant business….

UPDATE: More thoughts over at Gay Patriot, plus a recognition that Republican politicians didn’t try to keep gay-friendly enterprises Disney and Home Depot out of their jurisdictions. No, but Republican politics isn’t based around always having someone to hate. For the left, it’s always Sarah Palin, the Tea Party, the Kochs. It doesn’t matter who the bogeyman is, but it’s essential that there be a bogeyman in order to ensure solidarity.

FASTER, PLEASE: Modifying Old Heart Stem Cells to Boost Regenerative Capacity.

WELL, YES: Concerning Guns, Bill O’Reilly Is An Idiot. “I’m not sure what color the sky is in O’Reilly’s world, but he has the same knee jerk reaction to guns that most Northeastern elites do (e.g., Chris Christie). The offensive part in this case is his transmission of ignorance to his viewers. Be aware – concerning guns, Bill O’Reilly is an idiot.” To be fair, he comes from an uncivilized part of the country. You can only expect so much.

UPDATE: Kim du Toit writes: “I mean, seriously: he has ‘public school teacher’ and ‘journalist’ in his resume. How much confidence does THAT inspire?” Ouch.

PAUL MIRENGOFF: The case against Joe Paterno: Weak to non-existent on the current record. “The consensus emerged from the report of Louis Freeh regarding Penn State’s actions related to the sexual abuse committed by Sandusky. But a friend of mine — a top-notch lawyer and former federal prosecutor — has carefully reviewed the Freeh Report. He concludes that the Report does not establish wrongdoing by Joe Paterno. Having now looked at the Freeh Report, I agree.”

IT’S CRUEL TO MOCK THE DIFFERENTLY-ABLED: White House’s Carney Refuses To Name The Capital of Israel.

THIS IS WHY HELEN AND I DIDN’T HYPHENATE: When Hyphen Boy Meets Hyphen Girl, Names Pile Up. “It wasn’t really sustainable anyway. Hyphenating was destined to hit a wall after one generation.” Well, it’s one of the reasons why we didn’t.

EPIDEMICS: New Contagion Model Examines Role Of Airports In Spreading Disease. “The first study to model the dynamics of disease spreading in the early stages of an outbreak, looked at 40 US airports and finds the one that would spread the disease from its home city to other places the fastest would be New York’s Kennedy International Airport, followed by airports in Los Angeles, Honolulu, and San Francisco.”

SPACE: Where To? The Dream Space Missions of 3 Scientists.

TWO-MINUTE HATE’S TWO MINUTES ARE UP, I GUESS: Boston Mayor Admits He Can’t Actually Keep Chick-Fil-A Out.

Meanwhile, the hatemongering is starting to alienate gay marriage supporters.

UPDATE: Rahm welcomes help from Farrakahn, ignores anti-Semitic remarks.

SO PEOPLE ARE EMAILING ME ABOUT STANLEY KURTZ’S NEW BOOK, Spreading the Wealth: How Obama is Robbing the Suburbs to Pay for the Cities.

I haven’t read it yet — in fact, I don’t think I’ve even gotten it yet — but the general lefty hatred of suburbs reminds me of what P.J. O’Rourke said about cars:

Cars didn’t shape our existence; cars let us escape with our lives. We’re way the heck out here in Valley Bottom Heights and Trout Antler Estates because we were at war with the cities. We fought rotten public schools, idiot municipal bureaucracies, corrupt political machines, rampant criminality and the pointy-headed busybodies. Cars gave us our dragoons and hussars, lent us speed and mobility, let us scout the terrain and probe the enemy’s lines. And thanks to our cars, when we lost the cities we weren’t forced to surrender, we were able to retreat.

Come to think of it, lefties hate cars, too.

OVER A YEAR AGO, I TALKED ABOUT A “LOWER EDUCATION BUBBLE” IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Now we hear this: Enrollment Off in Big Districts, Forcing Layoffs.

Enrollment in nearly half of the nation’s largest school districts has dropped steadily over the last five years, triggering school closings that have destabilized neighborhoods, caused layoffs of essential staff and concerns in many cities that the students who remain are some of the neediest and most difficult to educate. . . .

In some cases, the collapse of housing prices has led homeowners to stay put, making it difficult for new families — and new prospective students — to move in and take their place.

But some say the schools are partly to blame. “We have record-low confidence in our public schools,” said Kevin Johnson, the mayor of Sacramento and head of education policy for the United States Conference of Mayors. (He is married to Michelle Rhee, the lightning rod former chancellor of the Washington public schools and now an advocate for data-driven reform). “If we have high-quality choices in all neighborhoods, you don’t have that exodus taking place,” he said.

The rise of charter schools has accelerated some enrollment declines. The number of students fell about 5 percent in traditional public school districts between 2005 and 2010; by comparison, the number of students in all-charter districts soared by close to 60 percent, according to the Department of Education data. Thousands of students have moved into charter schools in districts with both traditional public and charter schools.

Public schools have lost the public’s confidence, and with reason.

HOPEY-CHANGEY: Social Unrest Exposes Long-Simmering Ethnic Divisions in Anaheim. “The [Police] department’s call to buy citizens’ videos of the riots is especially underhanded.” Yeah, I’m trying to decide if that’s a step up from seizing them. I think so, but . . . .

FASTER, PLEASE: University of Tennessee Space Institute Researchers Develop Laser Technology to Fight Cancer.

MARRIED, BUT LIVING APART?

READER BOOK PLUG: Reader Jacob Gilroy asks a plug for his book, Suffer Every Soul. 99 cents on Kindle.

DOES WARM WEATHER encourage people to have more sex? If so, I guess we should be cheering global warming. . . .

IN THE WASHINGTON TIMES Jeremy Lott reviews The Higher Education Bubble. I wasn’t expecting the Mad Max reference.

I’VE FACED THIS PROBLEM MYSELF. The curse of being “too attractive to hire.”