THE PRISON OFFICIALS SHOULD GET HARD TIME FOR THIS, BUT THEY WON’T: Man Held in Solitary Confinement 2 Years After DWI Gets $22M.

A man who spent two years in solitary confinement after getting arrested for DWI was awarded $22 million for suffering inhumane treatment in New Mexico’s Dona Ana County Jail.

Stephen Slevin was arrested in August of 2005 for driving while intoxicated, according to NBC station KOB.com. He said he never got a trial and spent the entire time languishing in solitary, even pulling his own tooth when he was denied dental care.

“‘[Prison officials were] walking by me every day, watching me deteriorate,” he said. “Day after day after day, they did nothing, nothing at all, to get me any help.”

Really, these guys should have to spend 6 years in solitary each. But, of course, all that happens is that taxpayers get stuck. Don’t respect these guys. They don’t deserve it.

UPDATE: A reader emails: “Who was governor when this guy was in stir? Just curious as that would seeem to be a black spot on that persons rep or something.” Nah, only if he were a Republican.

DO-IT-YOURSELF LIFE EXTENSION: Chris Peterson on Fast Forward Radio.

AT AMAZON, new releases in Graphic Novels & Comics.

#BLOOMBERGFAIL: Virginia To Scrap One-Gun-Per-Month Limit.

THE ONE-PERCENT: Warren Buffett’s Secretary Likely Makes Between $200,000 And $500,000/Year. “I have nothing against Debbie Bosanke earning a half million or even more. Buffet is a major player in the world economy. His secretary deserves good compensation. At her income, however, she is scarcely the symbol of injustice that Obama wishes her to project.”

I’d like to see her income tax returns. And Warren Buffett’s.

UPDATE: Buffett and His Secretary Can’t Get Their Story Straight on Taxes. “Chalk this up as the first strategic blunder of the Obama campaign. The poster-child of their class warfare narrative, Warren Buffett’s secretary, has just made a tax claim that, if true, reveals her to belong in the top 1% of income earners in America.”

MORE: Meet Warren Buffett’s Poor Secretary.

STILL MORE: Tom Maguire is skeptical. Well, if Warren Buffett’s secretary doesn’t make at least $200K, he’s a putz. But Maguire joins the call to release the returns.

THE WORLD’S longest-running lab experiment.

SO NEWT GINGRICH’S PROPOSAL TO MAKE THE MOON A STATE isn’t really new — it was floated by some space activists as the “Luna 2010 initiative” back in the late ’80s/early ’90s. Somewhere I’ve got a Luna 2010 button, in fact, a souvenir of the 1990 International Space Development Conference.

It does, however, imply a U.S. withdrawal from the Outer Space Treaty, which forbids “national appropriation” of the moon and other celestial bodies. I’m sure that Newt knows this, and I wonder if he’s setting a space-trap for Romney.

UPDATE: Tim Kyger emails: “Newt actually *introduced* a bill to enable space settlements to enter as states into the federal union; it was modeled after the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 (IIRC). Also, IIRC, I think that Jim Muncy wrote it. It got introduced as an actual bill ca. 1983 – 1985. I have a copy of it somewhere here inside one of about 40 unsorted banker boxes of papers…”

ANOTHER UPDATE: The Man Who Sold The Moon!

LIFE AS AN underwater archaeologist.

AT AMAZON, Cashmere Under $100. For men and women.

13 THINGS your housecleaner won’t tell you.

Plus cleaning tips, including this one: “The Mr. Clean Magic Eraser is your friend.” Yes, I’ve sung the praises of the Magic Eraser here before.

She’s also a big fan of Barkeeper’s Friend. That’s great too. I use it every now and then to get the knife-marks off of stoneware plates and the residual dinginess out of coffee mugs — a bigger issue now that dishwasher detergent has been ruined by eco-reformulation. A few swipes with a scrubbie and they look like new.

DOES THE RISE OF THE INTERNET explain DC zoning fights?

JUST HEARD FROM MARK LEVIN that his Ameritopia: The Unmaking Of America will debut at #1 for all categories on the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list next week. Congratulations, Mark!

HIGHER EDUCATION UPDATE: Penn Comes Under Fire for Conference on Pressuring Israel. “The University of Pennsylvania has come under heavy criticism from Jewish organizations for letting a student group host a planned national conference on using boycotts, divestments, and sanctions to pressure Israel.”

Anti-Israel sentiment is now the norm at most elite universities.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Tenured Professor Departs Stanford U., Hoping to Teach 500,000 Students at Online Start-Up.

UPDATE: Related story here.

ANOTHER UPDATE: A clarification: “I did on my own volition resign from my full tenured position, effective April 1, 2011. However, this was primarily to continue my employment with Google, and it predates my online class. Stanford has generously appointed me as a research professor without tenure, which means I remain a voting member of the Academic Council. I continue to advise students and help the department with administrative issues. And in all clarity: Stanford is an amazing place!!! I love Stanford.”

WHAT WAS THE MEGAUPLOAD TAKEDOWN REALLY ABOUT? “Copyright protection is a legitimate problem in the digital age, but if the speculation here turns out to be accurate, the Justice Department has been used to facilitate the crib death of a legal competitor to the RIAA. If that pans out, we’ve got a much bigger problem than piracy to worry about.”

FASTER, PLEASE: First Hints That Stem Cells Can Help Patients Get Better.

In July, Schwartz and his colleagues injected about 50,000 RPE cells made from stem cells into the right eye of Sue Freeman, 78, of Laguna Beach, Calif., who had lost most of her vision to macular degeneration.

Because of the disease, she could no longer recognize faces, read, cook or even go outside on her own. But within six weeks of the procedure, Freeman started to notice she could see landscapes better. Tests showed she could read more letters on an eye chart. Soon, she was making her own breakfast again and even has gone shopping alone.

Read the whole thing. If this pans out — and we’ll need a bigger study to be sure — it’s a very big deal. And does that mean that Newt Gingrich was ahead of the curve?

“THAT’S THE MISTAKE that Karl Marx made.”

VITAMIN D IMPROVES VISION IN OLD MICE.

THE ATLANTIC: Why Is the Justice Department Still Defending FBI Ties to the Mob? “It didn’t get nearly enough national attention Friday, with all the talk of Newt Gingrich’s wives, but the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston unanimously upheld not one but two civil judgments against the federal government for sheltering mobster James ‘Whitey’ Bulger as a confidential source for decades. Bulger now is behind bars, of course, captured last year hiding out in plain sight in California, money and guns hidden in the wall. Maybe now the FBI will use some of that loot to pay off some of Bulger’s victims?”

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Study: Eating Fried Food Doesn’t Increase Risk of Heart Disease.

FORBES: The Breathtaking Hypocrisy of Julian Assange, Kremlin Pawn. “That’s right: Assange, self-styled foe of government secrets and conspiracies of the powerful, is going to be a star on a TV network backed by the Kremlin. The same Kremlin that has done suspiciously little to investigate or prevent the killings and beatings of journalists that have plagued Russia for more than a decade. The same Kremlin accused of blatant fraud in December’s parliamentary elections. The same Kremlin whose control of the country’s broadcast media allowed it to suppress coverage of the massive protests mounted in response to that fraud. The same Kremlin whose embrace of corruption led to Russia being named ‘the world’s most corrupt major economy’ by Transparency International in 2011. And so on. That Kremlin is Julian Assange’s new patron. The same Julian Assange who accused President Obama of putting ‘a chill across investigative journalism’ by prosecuting Army leaker Bradley Manning.”

THESE ARE THE CRAZY YEARS (CONT’D): Woman fired for working through lunch.

IT’S ALL ABOUT REVENUE: Extensive, two-year study finds red-light cameras don’t decrease accidents.

RON RADOSH: Mitch Daniels For President.

VIDEO: Chris Matthews Has No Idea Congressional Insider Trading Exists. On the other hand, Sarah Palin knows. And yet Matthews touts his Capitol Hill experience. . . .