REASON TV: Anarchy In Detroit: Threat Management.

SCANDAL WITH A HUMAN FACE: Profiling One of the IRS Scandal’s Early Victims. “Littleton, who gave up trying to get tax-exempt status and shut the organization down because of the hassle, went on to start two more groups that were among 162 organizations on a list obtained by USA Today and released last week. . . . ‘We just thought we were doing something wrong in the application process … but we also jokingly said that if there was a government list for the IRS, the NSA and the TSA, we were probably on it,’ said Littleton. ‘At the time, it was funny. It isn’t so funny anymore. To me, this just proves our point even more that our government has gotten too big, especially if they can get away with stuff like this.’”

YA THINK? High Profile Cases Show A Pattern Of Misuse Of Prosecutorial Powers.

It’s hard to imagine the U.S. as a place where citizens have to fear overzealous prosecution, but last week’s reversals in the cases of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and five New Orleans police officers are part of a troubling pattern reminiscent of the Soviet criminal justice system — a system in which the state is always right, even when it is wrong.

In both cases, the judges who overturned the original trial-court verdicts cited instances of prosecutorial overzealousness and abuse of power, making the two cases the latest high-profile trials to run aground on the basis of misconduct by the state’s attorneys.

The high-profile cases in recent years run the gamut from the ancient offenses of murder and rape to increasingly esoteric details of campaign finance and contractor law.

In 2008, Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, the longest-serving Republican in the U.S. Senate, was charged by federal prosecutors with failing to report gifts. During the campaign season, Barack Obama said Stevens needed to resign “to put an end to the corruption and influence-peddling in Washington,” and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, moved to have Stevens expelled.

Stevens lost the election, but three months later, FBI agents accused prosecutors of withholding exculpatory evidence that could have resulted in the senator’s acquittal. Newly appointed U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. asked the court to vacate Stevens‘ conviction, but the damage already had been done.

The prosecutors’ misconduct destroyed Stevens‘ reputation and political career and affected the balance of power in the U.S. Senate in favor of Democrats.

Circumstances were not entirely different in the prosecution of former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who was accused by local Democratic prosecutor Ronnie Earle to influence state elections with corporate money.

Hmm. If only we could find a common factor here. Meanwhile, the tribunes of the press are acting more like party organs: Networks That Touted Tom DeLay’s 2010 Conviction Now Silent About His Acquittal. Love the Stephanopoulos pic.

But if you want to rein in prosecutorial misconduct, I have some suggestions.

TRAIN WRECK: “Family Glitch” in ObamaCare could leave 500,000 children without coverage. Old spin: If you oppose ObamaCare it’s because you want kids to die! New spin: Hey, what’s a half-million kids in the scheme of things?

JAMES TARANTO ISN’T SANGUINE about defunding ObamaCare. But hey, at the very least it’s a chance to force a lot of vulnerable Democratic Senators to vote in favor of that turkey with an election on the horizon.

REMINDER: In 2009, President Obama “Joked” About Having His Enemies Audited By The IRS.

HMM: Former F.B.I. Agent Pleads Guilty in Leak to A.P.

Federal investigators said they were able to identify the man, Donald Sachtleben, a former bomb technician, as a suspect in the leak case only after secretly obtaining A.P. reporters’ phone logs, a move that set off an uproar among journalists and members of Congress of both parties when it was disclosed in May.

Mr. Sachtleben, 55, of Carmel, Ind., who was an F.B.I. agent from 1983 until 2008 and was later hired as a contractor, has agreed to serve 43 months in prison for the leak, the Justice Department said. His case is the eighth leak-related prosecution under the Obama administration. Only three such cases were prosecuted under all previous presidents.

Call me cynical, but I think these prosecutions are less about national security, and more about keeping people from talking about the many looming Obama scandals. Particularly with the phone-records angle here. The Obama Administration is acting like it has something to hide — and, no doubt, it does. Meanwhile, is the kiddie porn thing trumped up as punishment? Or is a guy with a Top Secret clearance really involved in kiddie porn? Either way, it doesn’t make the national security apparatus look very good.

AFRAID OF DISCOVERY: John Hinderaker: Obama Administration Quietly Caves On True The Vote Case. “Is this related to the retirement of Lois Lerner? I don’t know, but it seems that the Obama administration has decided to cut its losses on the IRS. . . . Maybe Obama really is President Asterisk.”

DANA MILBANK JUMPS ON THE DEMOCRATIC BANDWAGON, proclaiming that the GOP is dangerously moving us close to a government shutdown. But as I keep noting, there won’t be a shutdown unless Obama vetoes the budget. Why not equal time for how Obama’s ego has put him in another dangerous “red line” situation?

UPDATE: From the comments: “If the federal government shuts down, who will be left to conduct armed raids on Amish dairy farmers and guitar manufacturers?” Quelle horreur! And speaking of damaged brands. . . .

JEFFREY LORD: Cruz Leads The Reaganite Rebellion.

BYRON YORK: GOP flinches at Obamacare plan devised by Sens. Ted Cruz, Mike Lee. I don’t think things are as disorganized as they seem. I see it this way: (1) Effort to defund — if it succeeds, it’s a win. If it doesn’t, it’s forced a lot of vulnerable Dems to vote in favor of ObamaCare just before it goes into effect: (2) ObamaCare goes into effect, producing a train wreck of increased premiums, implementation snafus; (3) In 2014, GOP can say if you want this repealed, you’ve got to give us both houses of Congress — and, in 2016, the White House.

IRS SCANDAL UPDATE: IRS Has Produced Only 10% of Docs Responsive to Demand by Congress.

GALLUP: Americans’ Belief That Government Is Too Powerful Hits New High. “Six in 10 Americans (60%) believe the federal government has too much power, one percentage point above the previous high recorded in September 2010. At least half of Americans since 2005 have said the government has too much power. Thirty-two percent now say the government has the right amount of power. Few say it has too little power.”

IRS SCANDAL UPDATE: Disgraced Lois Lerner out at Internal Revenue. Disgraced is right. She’s radioactive. It’ll be interesting to see who, if anyone, is willing to hire her.

Related: “Lois Lerner is being held responsible for her gross mismanagement of the IRS tax-exempt division.” Well, it’s a start.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: College-educated workers are taking jobs that don’t require degrees. And in doing so, driving the less-educated out of those fields. Old argument for college: Go to college so you don’t have to be a waitress! New argument for college: Go to college so you have a shot at that waitressing job!

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

THE NEW REPUBLIC: Scandal At Clinton, Inc.

PERHAPS THIS WILL BE THE COMPROMISE IN THE DEFUNDING-OBAMACARE BUSINESS: Movement To Strip Congress Of ObamaCare Exemptions Gains Momentum.

HMM: Crossfit’s Dirty Little Secret.

This seems kinda like the New York Times scare piece on deadly, deadly Yoga. Any exercise overdone or done badly is dangerous.

MICHAEL BARONE: History matters in German elections, and in ours, too.

WELLNESS PROGRAMS: A reader emails:

Today at my Knoxville primary care Doctor’s office I had the now mandated annual “Wellness” visit for those over 62, per Medicare. At the last visit the Dr. said he was required to provide it (no cost to me, right…) or be fined, so I relented and scheduled it. They gave me a four page questionnaire to take and fill out. I filled it out in pencil, fwiw. Essentially, my and my familie’s history. Now understand, I have been with him 16 years and have a least 3 volumes of ‘charts’. As we finished I asked her where this report went from here. She said it would be scanned and be available to Humana, for the reimbursement. From there, she didn’t know…HHS? So I asked if I could request it not be ‘shared’. A slow smile came over her face and she looked up and said – of course! Ha! I found a way to allow their compliance and resist this dubious exercise. Maybe we can start a movement! If you expand on this, please leave me anonymous. When it’s death by a thousand cuts I want to pick my spots.

Or break the knife.

BRYAN PRESTON: Obamacare Shutdown Showdown: 2013 Is Not 1995, and Cruz Can Win.

MSNBC’S TOURE: “Kenya Is Located On The North Coast Of Africa.”

A CULTURE OF IMPUNITY: Fed-Up NY Man Sets Up Hidden Camera to Find Out Who Was Repeatedly Stealing His Pro-Gun Sign – What He Discovered Blew Him Away. “He just didn’t expect that person to be a uniformed police officer.”

DAVE HARDY PUBLISHES a leaked White House document relating to the NRA.

IT’S POLITICAL: The Campus Rape Myth.