INSTAVISION: Honest Abe, War Criminal? I talk to Prof. Stephen L. Carter about his new novel, The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln.

SORRY, BUT YOU SAY “BUG,” I SAY “FEATURE.” I guess I’m just a bad person. I do not usually watch the Olympics. But when I do, I watch Beach Volleyball.

FORGET THOSE UNSUBSTANTIATED, BUT TROUBLING, PEDERASTY RUMORS: Why Doesn’t Harry Reid Answer Sourced Accusations Of Racism And Corruption? “He’s worked in government most of his life. How did he become worth millions? Was it his time on Nevada’s gaming commission?”

IS IT AGE DISCRIMINATION NOT TO ACCOUNT FOR GRADE INFLATION?

A 3.2 grade point average is not what it used to be.

That’s what a Baylor University law school applicant, Michael Kamps, is arguing in a lawsuit against the university, which alleges that by neglecting to account for grade inflation when evaluating applicants’ undergraduate G.P.A.s, the admissions committee did not give Kamps the same chance at admission as it did younger applicants.

In the age discrimination suit, he claims that the 3.2 G.P.A. he earned in 1979 from Texas A&M University is equivalent to a 3.6 G.P.A. today because of grade inflation — a phenomenon that has been plaguing colleges in the past few decades. Kamps said he doesn’t think a legal challenge of this type has been brought in court before.

Kamps said he wants the court to look into the effects of grade inflation, and to rule that G.P.A. is not a valid evaluation standard when significant age differences are present among applicants.

“We have a biased set of standards that is being used to disqualify older applicants,” he said. “That’s not lawful.”

Interesting point.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: The Economist: The college-cost calamity — Many American universities are in financial trouble. “Four-year residential colleges cannot keep on forever raising their fees faster than the public’s capacity to pay them, especially when online degrees are so much cheaper. Universities that fail to prepare for the hurricane ahead are likely to be flattened by it.”

With a nice quote from The Higher Education Bubble.

DAVID PLOTZ: August: Let’s Get Rid Of It. Really? I like August.

ECONOMISTS WRINGING HANDS as Americans rediscover thrift.

Hey, I told you: Bourgeois values are the new sexy.

YEAH, HOW’S THAT WORKIN’ OUT? Two Years Ago Today: Turbo-Tax Tim Wrote “Welcome To the Recovery” For NY Times. Was that the first “recovery summer,” or the second? It’s hard to keep track. Good times, good times.

UPDATE: Big miss in June manufacturing: Orders down 0.5%, shipments down 1.1%.

HARRY REID’S FINANCIAL MCCARTHYISM. “I don’t think the burden should be on me.”

And I don’t think the burden should be on me to resolve those Harry Reid pederasty rumors, either. But when there’s this much Harry Reid pederasty buzz on the Internet, I think Sen. Reid owes the public an explanation.

After all, even though it’s unsupported by any on-the-record facts, it’s a serious allegation. . . .

BACKPEDALING: Reporter pulls rant about Chick-fil-A customers. I didn’t believe the original report, and neither did some others. Plus this: “I’ve twice asked Krzos to comment, but have yet to hear from him.”

A VIDEO GAME DESIGNED TO Fight Teen Depression.

READER BOOK PLUG: Patrick Larkin writes: “Larry Bond and I have just released Vortex, our 1991 military thriller, as an eBook. It’s on Kindle for just $2.99.”

HMM: High-tech clothes let fashionistas bare all.

21ST CENTURY ERGONOMICS: The $8500 Smart Office Chair That Never Stops Moving. “Dr. Patrik Künzler believes chairs should instead encourage small but constant motions that are good for the body. He spent six years developing a product to challenge the convention that a comfortable chair should have a flat seat and a back. The $8,500 LimbIC chair, released in 2011, incorporates ergonomics and neuroscience to stimulate not just the body, but also the emotions.”

A little pricey.

EMILY ESFAHANI SMITH decries bias and lack of diversity on American campuses.

SALE: Iain Murray’s Stealing You Blind: How Government Fat Cats Are Getting Rich Off of You, is on sale for $6.53 at Amazon today. It’s certainly timely!

VERONIQUE DE RUGY AND NICK GILLESPIE: Congress Isn’t Gridlocked, It’s Just Totally Irresponsible. “What we’re actually witnessing — and have been for years now — is not gridlock, but the abdication of responsibility by Congress and the president for performing the most basic responsibilities of government. Despite the fiscal crisis that Washington knows will occur if it fails to deal with unsustainable spending and debt, it hasn’t managed to produce a federal budget in more than three years.”

A NEW CROWDFUNDING EFFORT, for Liberty Island. “Liberty Island is a new kind of online literary magazine, offering short and mid-length fiction with a twist: we promote the values of personal freedom and public liberty, and reject all forms of orthodoxy, dogma and political correctness. Think McSweeney’s meets 1950s pulp magazines meets Thomas Paine.”

NOBODY TELL THOMAS FRIEDMAN: China Embraces NIMBYism. “It is becoming increasingly evident that public opinion in China is affecting the ability of officials to launch big projects by decree—a quality of the government’s autocratic system that Communist Party officials have long compared favorably against the inertia of India’s messy democracy. Over the past few years, ordinary citizens have stepped up pressure on local governments to cancel major industrial projects that could worsen already astronomical pollution levels on China’s eastern seaboard. That trend has accelerated recently.”

DRUDGE DOES IT AGAIN:

UNFORCED ERROR: ‘You didn’t build that’ hangs over Democrats. “President Obama’s ‘you didn’t build that’ shot at business builders and entrepreneurs continues to resonate around the country. Local news outlets retell the story and give it a local context when the president travels, such as in this CBS piece from Colorado.”

OBAMA: How About That Completely Independent Report Slamming Romney That Was Written By My Former Adviser?

MICKEY KAUS ON BAILOUT OVERSELL:

I don’t quite understand why President Obama has to claim that General Motors is a great success story (“back on top … [b]ecause America always wins when the playing field is level …” etc.). Why couldn’t he say: “We gave GM and its employees another chance, at a time when our economy was fragile and couldn’t absorb a massive shutdown. Now it’s up to them. They have the tools they need. They may make it–I hope they do. They may not. We aren’t going to bail them out again.” That would be a welcome breath of realism and toughlove, no? It would be a signal that Obama really doesn’t want the government permanently enmeshed in individual businesses and industries. Plus it would provide some insurance against bad news–especially now that it’s becoming clearer and clearer, even to the MSM, that GM isn’t close to being “back on top.”

Rhetorical self-restraint isn’t a hallmark of this administration.

Related: General Motors is Imploding, and Team Obama is Lying About It.

THE COUNTRY’S IN THE VERY BEST OF HANDS: Missile Defense Staff Warned to Stop Surfing Porn Sites. “The Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency warned its employees and contractors last week to stop using their government computers to surf the Internet for pornographic sites, according to the agency’s executive director.”