SPOILING JULIA ROTTEN: The Democrats’ Clientism Problem.

This Ramirez cartoon says it all.

UH OH: Hundreds of “Superflares” Spotted in Sun-Like Stars.

Whenever a big solar storm appears, it necessarily comes with the looming threat that the Big One, aimed at our planet in just the right way, could overload the power grid and generally set civilization back a few centuries. While we should be thankful that hasn’t happened, we should also be thankful that our sun doesn’t seem as temperamental as some similar stars.

A study out today in Nature reveals hundreds of “superflares” from stars the same class as the sun. These flares can be thousands or even millions of times more energetic than the largest recorded one to strike Earth, the 1859 Carrington event that wreaked havoc with telegraph systems. The planet-hunting Kepler telescope spotted the huge events. While staring at a field of space for about four months, Kepler saw 83,000 stars of the same class as the sun, and saw a total of 365 superflares, which came from 148 of the stars.

I’m not sure the news is as reassuring as this story makes it sound, since the mechanism behind these flares remains obscure.

UPDATE: Sky and Telescope says don’t worry. Still unclear on the mechanism, though.

SECRET SERVICE UPDATE: Cartagena prostitution scandal is no laughing matter to Secret Service alumni. Well, they should be embarrassed, especially as this wasn’t just one isolated incident. As I’ve noted here before, the Secret Service has had problems for many years.

RATS ON HIGH FRUCTOSE DIET have impaired memories.

AT AMAZON, up to 40% off on Snap-On Tools.

Also, today only: A Haan Professional Garment Steamer for $69.99.

INSTAVISION: I talk with AEI President Arthur Brooks about his new book, The Road To Freedom. I’d certainly rather travel that road than the one to serfdom that we’re on now . . .

“SMART DIPLOMACY:” Chen Affair Exposes the Limits of U.S. Influence in China.

ROLL CALL: FreedomWorks Backs Three Upstarts for Open House Seats. “The group endorsed Public Service Commissioner Kevin Cramer in North Dakota’s at-large seat; Lewis County Judge Executive Thomas Massie in Kentucky’s 4th district; and former state Sen. Sam Aanestad in California’s 1st district. All three candidates are running in open-seat races. FreedomWorks’ support is notable because it’s backing the underdogs in each race and, in one case, going against the state party’s endorsement.”

EXPECTING AN EARTH-SHATTERING KABOOM: NASA counts 4,700 potentially hazardous near-Earth asteroids.

THE HILL: Energy Dept. loan probe could ensnare two Cabinet secretaries. “House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) wants to hear from two Cabinet officials — Commerce Secretary John Bryson and Energy Secretary Steven Chu — as part of an investigation into the Energy Department’s loan program.”

ED MORRISSEY: Obama’s Growing Credibility Gap with Mainstream Voters. “The problem for Obama and the Left this time is that they have to make an actual sales pitch – and judging from their efforts, they don’t know how to talk effectively enough to middle America to succeed at it. This problem starts at the top.”

UPDATE: From Clive Crook at The Atlantic: “Obama’s big problem, I think, is that he is no longer the president he said he would be. Above all, he’s stopped trying to be that president.” Yep.

INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY: ALEC And The Left’s War On Free Speech.

If you want an insight into today’s left, look at its multifront war against the American Legislative Exchange Council for committing the grave sin of pushing free-market bills in state legislatures.

At a recent meeting in Washington, Aniello Alioto of ProgressNow Colorado summed up the left-wing’s campaign against ALEC: “Never relent, never let up pressure, and always increase.”

According to the Washington Free Beacon, ProgressNow was one of several left-wing groups meeting at ALF-CIO headquarters earlier this month to plot their ongoing campaign against ALEC. Other groups included Common Cause and the Color of Change.

So what’s got the left so agitated? Is ALEC involved in organized crime? Has it stolen money from state treasuries? Bribed officials? Polluted the environment? Clubbed baby seals?

Nope. The left is targeting ALEC for the simple reason that it’s been effective in promoting pro-business, free-market ideas and policies, mainly by drafting model legislation that lawmakers can use as a template in their own legislatures.

Dissent cannot be tolerated.

EUROPE: Moody’s Warns Spain It Will Downgrade “More Than 21” Spanish Banks.

Related: Nationalized Spanish Bank Plummets On News Of Bank Run.

POLITICAL SCIENCE: Collapse In Trust Is A Good Predictor Of Collapse In Governments. “That is the real story here. We asked people whether they trusted government officials in their country to tell the truth about a difficult issue and the results were abysmal. In nearly every country surveyed, government leaders were less trusted to tell the truth than business leaders. However, European countries were far more likely than countries in other regions to say they do not trust government leaders at all to tell the truth.”

JAMES PETHOKOUKIS: The 3 economic charts that could crash Obama’s reelection hopes.

JON LOVITZ: People are calling me a Nazi for thinking I already pay my fair share of taxes.

RAND SIMBERG: The Death of the Hockey Stick? The iconic symbol of the global warming panic may have taken a hit from which it will never recover.

FASTER, PLEASE: Brain Implant Allows Paralyzed Woman To Control Robot With Her Thoughts.

JIM TREACHER: Don’t worry, America: David Letterman still hates George W. Bush.

Wait: David Letterman is still alive? Who knew?

THE RETURN OF Carmageddon?

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): Obama Budget: 99 Senators Against, 0 For.

AT AMAZON, bestsellers in Time Management.

IN RESPONSE TO LAST NIGHT’S SCUBA POST, reader Dave Parmly emails:

Great observations. My gear is bought from the Boy Scout Sea Base (used for one season…mint condition) for $300 (BC, weight belt/weights, all regs and hoses, Suunto depth/press/compass computer…can’t beat that price. “Rental Quality”…means it’s durable and reliable. Having your own gear makes it FAR more likely that I’ll dive on family trips to Florida. Both my sons have done the dive thing at the Boy Scout Sea Base on Islamorada in the Keys. Great program. Last time was a live-aboard on a sail boat. Awesome to leave land and not come back for a week.

UT has a superb non-credit SCUBA course. It’s NAUI, and boy do they drill and drill and drill…our 16-18 year olds could do everything in their sleep. Very comforting for dads and moms watching their babies go into a potentially lethal environment with every dive. We’ve put over 20 young men and a few adults through it. Many moms have told me how impressed they are in their “scatter-brained” teenagers ability to focus intently when assembling their gear. I say “Well, tell the kid they might die and it gets most kids attention.”

It’s a cool thing to watch “kids” handle the potentially dangerous implications of diving. Of course, I fall into the camp of “You have to expose young men to death and danger as a part of their growth” school. If it’s not done under controlled circumstances, they will seek it under out-of-control circumstances.

Yes, I got my nephew certified when he was 12. He went on to get his helicopter license before he was 18.

TOM MAGUIRE: Zimmerman Case – Keeping Hate Alive At The Times. They’re really pulling out all the stops to ensure the lynching of a black man, aren’t they?

SHOCKER: 53,000 dead voters found in Florida.