A PUBLIC-HEALTH NIGHTMARE: The Disgusting Consequences of Plastic-Bag Bans. “In a 2011 study, four researchers examined reusable bags in California and Arizona and found that 51 percent of them contained coliform bacteria. The problem appears to be the habits of the reusers. Seventy-five percent said they keep meat and vegetables in the same bag. When bags were stored in hot car trunks for two hours, the bacteria grew tenfold. That study also found, happily, that washing the bags eliminated 99.9 percent of the bacteria. It undercut even that good news, though, by finding that 97 percent of people reported that they never wash their bags.”

TOM MAGUIRE ON LEFTY ECONOMICS: We Had To Tax The Retirement Plan In Order To Save It. “Fuzzy math is a key part of the argument.” It generally is.

TOY GUNS, SCHOOL DISCIPLINE, AND THE NEW MCCARTHYISM: Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.

After a few months of government-sponsored and media-promoted hysteria over guns, the mass roundup of toddlers and preteens wielding high capacity pointyfingers is hardly surprising.

Lefties are fond of lecturing (and writing books, and plays, and movies) about the famously dark days of McCarthyism, where right wing Bircher paranoiacs supposedly were looking for a ‘Red under every bed.’ I suppose to a certain extent they had a point, but the sum total impact of that brief 50’s reign of terror seems to be that a couple of Hollywood writers lost screenplay deals.

Contrast that with our new age of left wing paranoia. Now that the national boogie men are Gunnies rather than Commies, there ain’t no bed, or closet, or playground safe to hide from our brave safety crusaders. No one is above suspicion, and so holy is their cause that even crayon-scrawled representations of Demon Gun must be banned. Obviously, we have to arrest children precisely because it’s For The Children. Welcome to New Salem, with the Reverend Piers Morgan as our new Cotton Mather.

Indeed. And, of course, our public-school educators are prone to fads, hysteria, and uncritical thinking. Which is why parents should think twice about entrusting their kids to them.

UPDATE: Reader Jim Durbin writes:

It’s probably a good time to point out that Obama has waived penalties in the Child Soldiers Prevention Act for 3 years, the latest being 9/28/2012.

The logic of the President on gun control is that I need to jump through hoops to make sure that I’m not a threat to children, but it’s in the national security interest of the United States to provide weapons and training to foreign nations that use child soldiers. And to top it off, this statement from Obama occurred 25 days before the third presidential debate concerning foreign policy.

For those saying Romney ran a great campaign. What if he had brought up that Obama as president supported insurgents that used child soldiers? Think that might have changed the tenor of the final weeks?

I think an Obama double-homicide wouldn’t have changed the tenor of the media coverage in the final weeks. But still, good point.

MEGAN MCARDLE: A History of Budget Projections in 13 Charts. “This year’s projections are substantially worse than last year’s–and much, much worse than 2009 and 2010.”

ECONOMY GOES GREEN WITH ONLINE SHOPPING:

Internet retail is just more efficient than the brick-and-mortar variety, and not only because it can avoid huge real estate costs. New companies like Warby Parker and Frank & Oak are offering free “home try-on” for their products. Indochino sends customized clothing straight to your door, without a visit to the tailor. Other web outlets offer flash sales and other digital promotions that traditional, physical retailers just aren’t able to compete with.

A more efficient and sustainable retail system is just one of the many ways in which the Internet is contributing to the greening of America. Think about how much greenhouse gas emissions will be saved when no one has to drive to and from the mall just to get a new pair of jeans.

Greens, shockingly, have met this trend not with rejoicing but with deafening silence.

I, on the other hand, predicted this years ago.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Richard Vedder: Why Liberals Should Want Less Spending on Colleges. “Why do I suggest this? Because I increasingly believe that public support of American higher education on balance has increased income inequality in the United States.”

THE ATLANTIC: How the Job Market for Law School Grads Crumbled (and How It Could Come Back to Life). There’s a big difference between mostly dead and all dead.

AT AMAZON, recommendations and markdowns for Valentine’s Day gifts.

Also, today only: Bosch Benchtop Router Table, $134.99 (62% off).

CLAIM: Karl Rove Is Not A Conservative. More significantly, he hasn’t had a good election since 2004.

Related thoughts from Mark Levin.

LOWER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Alexandria cops bust 10-year-old for bringing toy gun to school.

The boy, a fifth-grader at Douglas MacArthur Elementary School whose name is not being released, was charged as a juvenile with brandishing a weapon, police said. . . .

When the boy arrived, authorities found the toy in his backpack. He was taken into custody, transported to a juvenile detention center for booking and then released to his parents, Hildebrandt said.

“The safety of our students is always our first concern,” Sherman said. “We appreciate the quick response and action by our police.”

Your students were always safe, because it was a toy gun. Except they’re not safe from overweening officialdom, who can’t tell the difference between a dangerous weapon and a toy gun. Or, more accurately, who choose to ignore the difference.

Sending your kids to public school is looking more and more like parental malpractice.

BORDER SECURITY: Immigration law enforcement union boss: Obama doesn’t care if we die.

ROLL CALL: The Budget War Is Back. How can we have a budget war when we haven’t had a budget in years?

REP. DARRELL ISSA ON AARON SWARTZ: Carmen Ortiz Abused Her Power. “We are going to work out restraints on this kind of abuse in the future.”

By the way, on the subject of Due Process When Everything Is A Crime, yesterday I ran across this passage from Judge John R. Brown’s concurrence in the 1965 case of United States v. Cox, 342 F.2d 167 (5th Cir. 1965). The question in the case is whether a U.S. attorney is obliged to sign an indictment produced by a grand jury. The court held no, but Brown’s explanation of why is revealing:

Putting aside these factors which bear on the delicate nature of governmental decisions, there are technical reasons indigenous to criminal law which are equally compelling. Federal crimes are more and more for violation of highly complex statutes. Federal jurisdiction, indeed, whether the activity constitutes a federal crime, depend on intricate facts, many beyond the knowledge and experience of laymen composing the Grand Jury.

In short: Federal criminal law is beyond the understanding of laymen. If that is so, it seems to me, the body of federal criminal law is itself a due process violation since laymen are required — on pain of imprisonment — to comply with a body of law that is, according to an eminent federal judge, too complex for them to understand.

Perhaps defendants should be allowed to place the statute and regulations before the jury and be acquitted if the jury finds that an ordinary person would not have believed they were committing a crime.

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE UPDATE: White House, Congress square off over Justice Dept. rules for drone strikes.

Lawmakers went on the offensive shortly after details of the memo became public, demanding Department of Justice (DOJ) officials disclose additional information on the specific legal arguments justifying unmanned drone strikes against Americans.

The DOJ memo, first reported by NBC News, outlined the criteria U.S. military or intelligence officials must follow before it can launch a targeted drone strike against terror suspects — even if those suspects happen to be American citizens.

If a suspect can be proven to pose an imminent threat to U.S. national security, and it is not feasible to capture the individual, a drone strike becomes an option, Justice Department officials wrote.

But a strike must be conducted in line with the international laws of war, officials added.

“[The] analysis is now public and the American people can review and judge the legality of these operations … [but] the committee continues to seek the actual legal opinions by the Department of Justice that provide details not outlined in this particular white paper,” Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif) said in a statement Tuesday.

A bipartisan group of 11 senators, including Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), sent a letter to the White House also requesting more information on targeted drone operations overseas, according to recent reports.

Hey, remember the fierce moral urgency of change? Me neither.

Related: Unseen censor can black out broadcast of Guantánamo tribunal hearings. Hopey-changey!

UPDATE: Reader John Taylor emails: “Will the people involved in drafting the memo (let alone implementing it) be subject to the same scarlet letter treatment as John Yoo?” Of course not. They work for the Nobel Peace Prize President.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Calls Increase for a $10,000 College Degree.

UH OH: The Coming War In The Middle East.

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE UPDATE: 16-Year-Old Denver-Born Teen Killed By Drone Strike. “The Obama administration has remained mostly mum regarding Abdulrahman’s death, and at times has struggled to explain it.”

How’s that hopey-changey stuff workin’ out for ya?

JONAH GOLDBERG: Education is important and necessary for a host of reasons. But there’s little evidence it drives growth.

MORE THOUGHTS ON THE Perils of Prosecutorial Discretion in a World Where Everyone is a Criminal.

NEWS: Fed Confirms It Was Hacked By Anonymous.

CAPTAIN’S JOURNAL: When Did The Left Fall Out Of Love With Guns? “The left just doesn’t love guns in the wrong hands, and anyone who isn’t an agent of the state is the wrong hands. Listen to Representative Jim Hines (D – CT) tell you why high capacity magazines are still necessary in government hands.”

AT AMAZON, it’s the Home & Garden Outlet Sale.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS GOING WOBBLY ON GUN CONTROL? If they want primary challengers in 2014, and a third party in 2016, that should do it.

DAILY NEWS: Suit: Money funneled by former ‘Ground Zero’ mosque imam to finance lavish lifestyle. “The former imam of the controversial “Ground Zero” mosque used millions of dollars in donations to fund a lavish lifestyle of travel and cars, a bombshell lawsuit charges. . . . The money — intended to fund a pair of non-profits — was used by Rauf and his wife Daisy Khan to buy real estate, pricey trips and vacations, entertainment and a luxury sports car, the suit charged.”