MICHAEL WALSH on Romney and Bain.

SO ON THE PLANE BACK HOME I read an advance copy of Mark Levin’s Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America. It’s a followup to his bestseller Liberty and Tyranny, which helped to kickstart the Tea Party movement. It’s an excellent book, and you’ll want to pre-order it. But what’s sad is that it’s largely about stuff — a basic grounding in political history and philosophy from Plato to Locke to Marx –that every high-school graduate ought to know. But few do, these days.

BACK TO STARBASE PJM: A big thanks to the Professor for allowing me to man the command chair of the mighty USS Instapundit while he was exploring Strange New Beaches Worlds this week. When you’re not getting your Insta-fix, catch me back at Ed Driscoll.com, my usual haunt at PJ Media, and follow me on Twitter at @eddriscoll, logically enough.

UPDATE (From Glenn): Thanks, Ed! I’m sure Insta-Readers appreciated it.

And I have to say, Ed Driscoll is the most supremely multi-talented guy in the blogosphere, and it’s great to have him on call. It makes this solo-blogging thing a little less solo.

RAY HARTWELL: In ‘Right to Work’ Battle, Narrative Trumps Fact on NPR. “Some helpful numbers you’ll never hear from government-funded radio.”

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: Ethics: ‘probable cause’ in Rep Hastings sex case. “Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., faces further investigation into charges that he sexually harrassed a woman who worked for the U.S. Helsinki Commission, after a group of his peers in the Office of Congressional Ethics found ‘probable cause’ that he violated House rules in his alleged treatment of the woman.”

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? The Hill: Obama promise to close Guantánamo prison unfulfilled. “The 10th anniversary of the Guantánamo Bay prison was marked with protests Wednesday, as closing the controversial detention facility remains a promise unfulfilled for President Obama. Obama campaigned on closing the facility in Cuba and, in one of his first actions as president, issued an executive order calling for it to be dismantled within one year. But as he enters the final year of his first term, human-rights groups are dismayed that the end of Guantánamo is nowhere in sight.”

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): White House Touts Falling Wages.

NOT LEARNING FROM EXPERIENCE: AP Finally Launches NewsRight… And It’s Righthaven Lite? Given that most bloggers link the AP for purposes of pointing out errors, it seems to me that AP should be paying them.

ELITES OCCUPYING ELITES: Students Attack On-Campus Interviews By Financial Employers. This perfectly captures the spirit of the Occupy movement in two ways. First, it’s basically intra-elite New Class struggle. Second, how fitting is it that a bunch of Peace Studies majors who can’t get jobs take it upon themselves to injure the prospects of people who majored in things that left them actually employable?

Meanwhile, for the employable students, I recommend the “Sod off, Swampy!” approach.

IS IT BECOMING TOO EXPENSIVE TO BE A PARENT? I think so. I had some thoughts on that subject in this column.

I also recommend Bryan Caplan’s thoughts.

UPDATE: Reader Kevin McCrory disagrees:

I have three children. Are expensies high at time, yes, but that is what your emergency savings are for. My wife and I decided that I would be the earner in the family since I had the BS in Math//CS/Business Management while she had a Social Work major. My earning potential far outstripped anything she would be able to approach. This is even after an 11 year stint in the Army. While on active duty I did receive less than my peers in the private sector but I made a large salary jump when I left the service. The early earning disadvantage is gone. We considered her going back to work several times but each time she would earn barely enough to cover the expense of clothes, commuting with daycare/after school care putting us into a net negative all with the privilege of tossing us into a higher tax bracket.

We have managed my earnings to provide for a comfortable lifestyle, nice vacations as well as things we need. We also are on track for retirement, college funds and emergency funds in place. In other words we don’t run around a grab everything now. We don’t buy the latest sports car/ SUV every 2-3 years. In general, our 2 cars last at least 10 years with a replacement car being purchased every 5 or so. And no, I don’t make $300K+ a year to support the 3 kids not even close. I’m doing well but in the DC area it costs more to live. No I’m not a Government employee either.

Some simple time honored lessons need to be taught. Live within your means. You can’t have everything right now. With children you need to be prepared to make changes in your lifestyle. Realize its not all about you. Just as when you get married, changes occur. You also have to remain living within your means. And above all, have fun. Quit trying to keep up with the Joneses.

Well, I’m not sure this is so inconsistent with what I wrote — it’s just about resisting the cultural trends I identified.

UPDATE: Reader Sean Foley writes:

Notice that Kevin McCrory has decided it’s not worth having his wife work in part because of the tax code. It might have made financial sense for his wife to work, until you add the progressive tax code throwing them into a higher tax bracket, thus rendering the decision to work a financial net negative. There’s a simple argument for a flat tax, rather than the distortions of progressive taxation that discourages people from working. In fact, it’s an example of how progressive taxation creates a disincentive to have kids (kids require more expenses which requires more income, and progressive taxation reduces the amount of available extra income).

Good point.

IN CANADA, STANDING UP FOR “ETHICAL OIL.”

Canada’s Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver unleashed a fire storm of debate after he published an open letter in the Globe and Mail claiming “environmental and other radical groups” seek to “stop any major project no matter what the cost to Canadian families in lost jobs and economic growth.”

“No forestry. No mining. No oil. No gas. No more hydro-electric dams,” said Oliver in the open letter published in Monday’s edition of the Globe and Mail.

The letter was published on the eve of the beginning of oral hearings Tuesday on the C$5.5 billion proposed Northern Gateway project that would bring Alberta oil sands bitumen to port at Kitimat, British Columbia. The current hearings are scheduled to wrap-up in early April.

“These groups threaten to hijack our regulatory system to achieve their radical ideological agenda,” the minister asserted. “They seek to exploit any loophole they can find, stacking public hearings with bodies to ensure that delays kill good projects.”

“They use funding from foreign special interest groups to undermine Canada’s national economic interest. They attract jet-setting celebrities with some of the largest personal carbon footprints in the world to lecture Canadians not to develop our natural resources,” he charged. “Finally, if all other avenues have failed, they will take a quintessential American approach: sue everyone and anyone to delay the project even further.”

Indeed. And where are the Saudis in all of this?

TEA PARTY LEADERS TO DNC: Stop Lying About Us. They can’t do that. If they did, they’d have nothing.

THOUGHTS ON SURVIVING JARED LOUGHNER.

MICKEY KAUS: Michelle Makes It Worse.

Michelle Obama’s thin skin is the best thing to happen to Jodi Kantor’s new book, as John Hudson notes. … Mrs. Obama may not fit “angry black woman” stereotype she’s complaining about, but she’s confirming the ”over-adored political wife who can’t stand bad press” stereotype, no? Kantor’s book, from all accounts, is by and large good press for the Obamas. Not good enough, apparently.

Next people will be comparing her to Marie Antoinette.

UPDATE: On the Marie Antoinette comparison, reader Dan Melson writes: “There is a simple, easy to remember difference: Marie Antoinette was willing to allow ‘the little people’ to eat cake!” Heh.

HOLLYWOOD OR SILICON VALLEY? President Obama Must Choose.

A controversial online piracy bill could force President Obama to choose between two of his most important allies: Hollywood and Silicon Valley.

Obama hasn’t taken a position yet on the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) that has divided senior lawmakers in both parties, but that will have to change if it clears Congress.

If Obama signs the bill, he will dash the hopes of Silicon Valley executives who donated heavily to his 2008 campaign and are vehemently opposed to the anti-piracy measure.

But the entertainment industry would see a veto as a betrayal by the administration on its most significant priority.

In a choice between the past and the future, I think I know how Obama will go. Meanwhile, if you’d like to contact your congressmembers, you can do so here.

TEN YEARS AGO ON INSTAPUNDIT: I talk about why air security is a joke. “Now the security precautions they’re taking are a joke — managing to be completely inadequate yet heavily intrusive. The most successful line of defense on and since 9/11 has been angry passengers, not those professionals.”

Plus this: “Organizations that succeed — especially in wartime — do so by ensuring that bad news gets to the top. Eisenhower made a big point of that in World War Two. The Vietnamese made a big point of it when they were fighting us. The suppression of bad news and the concealment of failure are the hallmarks of dysfunctional organizations. Look at the security establishment, and see where it fits in, based on the evidence so far.”

SEE WHEN YOU MAKE BOGUS CHARGES OF RACISM about portraying Michelle Obama as Marie Antoinette, or Barack Obama as Louis the XVI, you don’t get the traction you used to get with bogus charges of racism. Instead you get news stories that note:

The First Lady has been criticised after taking high-profile holidays abroad which required a heavy security detail.

In December, she and her husband, along with their children, took a $4million vacation on Hawaii which saw large parts of Kailua cordoned off for security reasons.

And in 2010, Mrs Obama provoked anger in the U.S. after going on vacation with her two daughters, Malia and Sasha, in Spain. The U.S. President came under fire over the preparations for his 50th birthday celebrations – including a private dinner for which couples were charged up to $35,800.

In the old days, of course, charges of racism were so toxic that they created a useful brush-back effect, discouraging people from talking at all. But those days are long gone, as the currency has been inflated to the point where it has lost all value.

AMERICA, IT WAS FUN KNOWING YOU:

• Jerry Brown Proposes New Anti-Business Super-Agency in California.

• Avoiding a lost decade: Obama on course to repeat Japan’s errors of the 1990s.

The latter item helps to explain this photo at Gateway Pundit:

Dozens of journalists packed into the East Room at the White House today for the president’s remarks on “in-sourcing,” at least 60 of them lining the press risers and walls.

But what many couldn’t see in press coverage of the event — held with roughly 120 executives to discuss bringing jobs back to America from overseas — were the dozens of empty seats in the audience.

At one point during Obama’s speech, Vice President Joe Biden strolled to the empty section and sat in a row by himself, listening.

A White House spokeswoman, asked about the 49 empty chairs, said some invitees didn’t show up.

“Like with many of these events here at the White House, we invited representatives from outside groups, businesses and community leaders involved in this issue to attend, and unfortunately some folks invited were not able to attend at the last minute,” spokeswoman Amy Brundage said.

Perhaps Joe’s entourage was still locked in the closet.

RELATED How Convenient: White House “In-Sourcing” Photo Op Becomes Romney Bashfest.

VIDEO: New Hampshire Poll Workers Shown Handing Out Ballots In Dead People’s Names.

NEW PURITAN WATCH: Schizophrenic Newsweek Warns of ‘Overconsumption Binge’ and Touts Very Overpriced Goods.

That’s long been the modus operandi of the New York Times, which keeps the lights on in the office (and in the mansions) via millions in advertising revenue from elite products and their retailers, while concurrently assuaging any pinches of guilt with occasional nostalgie de la boue articles such as these.

‘STACHE POWER: “Former U.N Ambassador John Bolton is set to endorse Mitt Romney and will join his top team of foreign-policy advisers, according to people close to the campaign.” the Wall Street Journal reports.

CHANGE: They told Glenn Reynolds that if he voted for John McCain, leading scientists would move the world’s Doomsday Clock even closer to midnight…and they were right!

HAGIOGRAPHY ALERT: Just as the MSM has been describing — long before he took office — Barack Obama as the reincarnation of all of the most powerful presidents of the last 150 years, according to the Washington Post, Michelle Obama is reminiscent of every great actress in Hollywood history, from Ingrid Bergman to Lena Horne.

GET YOUR FREAK ON, GIRL: “Homeland Security Is Monitoring The Drudge Report, The New York Times,” according to the Atlantic Wire, which links to a Reuters report that notes:

News and gossip sites on the monitoring list include popular destinations such as the Drudge Report, Huffington Post and “NY Times Lede Blog”, as well as more focused techie fare such as the Wired blogs “Threat Level” and “Danger Room.” Numerous blogs related to terrorism and security are also on the list.

Some of the sites on the list are potentially controversial. WikiLeaks is listed for monitoring, even though officials in some other government agencies were warned against using their official computers to access WikiLeaks material because much of it is still legally classified under U.S. government rules.

Another blog on the list, Cryptome, also periodically posts leaked documents and was one of the first websites to post information related to the Homeland Security monitoring program.

Also on the list are JihadWatch and Informed Comment, blogs that cover issues related to Islam through sharp political prisms, which have sometimes led critics to accuse the sites of political bias.

Also on the list are various video and photo-sharing sites, including Hulu, Youtube and Flickr.

Would the TSA please publish their blogroll? It sounds like it would be a pretty good list of news and opinion sources to hit every day.

(Source of headline, here.)

CAUSE AND EFFECT: In Greece, every job is a hazardous one, as Mark Steyn noted when he discussed After America with Hugh Hewitt this past summer:

I’m wondering if you think, because you brought this to my attention on Page 109, I’ve been broadcasting for 20 years. I am at this moment an inch away from a microphone. Do you think if I went to Greece, I can get two decades worth of credit for exposure to microphone bacteria?MS: Well, I love that, because people wonder how Greece ended up in the hellhole it’s in. And this is a very good example of how government metastasizes, because Greece introduced a law that if you worked in a hazardous profession, you could retire at 50. And initially, hazardous professions included things like bomb disposal, which is, you know…

HH: Genuinely hazardous.

MS: Yeah, I don’t know how often you’ve ever disposed of a bomb, but you know, you have to say is it the red wire? Do I take the red wire away from, which one is it? And it’s quite tricky stuff. I can understand. So you get to retire at 50. Then of course, they extended it until eventually, it embraced hairdressing. You know, hairdressing is now regarded as a hazardous profession in Greece, because you have to work with all this hair color. So you know, you can be doing, you can be at the salon and doing somebody’s hair, and that takes a toll. And then they moved it to TV and radio hosts.

HH: Yes.

MS: Because of the risk of microphone bacteria. Now you’re a Salem Radio host, and you said you’ve just been doing this for 20 years, Hugh.

HH: Yes.

MS: You, and you mentioned Dennis Prager earlier.

HH: Yes.

MS: You and Dennis Prager and Bill Bennett and Michael Medved, you are going to have…

HH: Mike Gallagher.

MS: …greatest class action suit against Salem for exposing you to this dangerous microphone bacteria, and for shortening your life. It’s going to be like the tobacco companies all over again. They’re going to be, Salem is going to want to give you a billion dollar out of court settlement for this microphone bacteria. So as a result of that, you know, it’s very hard to find a non-hazardous profession in Greece now. And of course the reality is that when you eventually declare, you know, radio hosts and hairdressers hazardous professions, what you’re doing is really creating a hazardous employment market.

And one in which all of the Greeks who’ve made themselves victims by way of their self-described hazardous jobs can’t medicate. Bloomberg News reports this week that “Greek Crisis Has Pharmacists Pleading for Aspirin as Drug Supply Dries Up.”