NEWS YOU CAN USE: How the NSA Misleads the Public Without Technically Lying.

SULTAN KNISH: We’re Turning Japanese Now. “Japan hurled itself into the future, but didn’t find anything there. . . . The cultural eccentricities that Americans fixate on come from a society of young men unmoored from normal human connections, a decline of national values and an obsession with trivial consumerism– all commonplace elements in postmodern American and European life. The difference is that Japan got there first.”

SHOCKER: Research: 2000s anti-war movement was really just anti-Republican. Do tell.

SCOTT RASMUSSEN: Reality Catching Up to the Political Class.

IMMIGRATION: ICE Union Head Wants Congressional Investigations Into Obama’s ICE Policies—Obama Acts “Like A Dictator”, “Overstepping His Authority.”

RASMUSSEN: Startling Findings About Race Relations, Then And Now:

Nearly 2/3 of all voters say that race relations have improved over the last 50 years.

But just one-in-10 say that race relations have improved since President Obama took office in 2008. Blacks are even less convinced than whites and other minority voters that things have gotten better.

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

GET REALLY DRUNK, become Twitter-Famous.

AT AMAZON, Labor Day Deals in Pet Supplies.

Also, save up to 20% off on new Vtech Toys.

And up to 50% off on select backpacks.

Plus, 65% off on French Press coffee makers.

THE ARGUMENT FOR Scott Walker 2016.

RAISING THE STAKES: Obama Lobbies Personally for Syria Vote.

Related: Why Many Republicans Won’t Support Obama On Syria Attack. Key bit:

The lack of confidence in Barack Obama. There’s no doubt the president has been extremely reluctant to take action in Syria. He also showed terrible judgment by painting himself into a corner with his 2012 “red line” comments on chemical weapons. For those reasons, and more, some Republicans will argue that they simply cannot entrust special warmaking powers to a president who they believe is not competent to use them.

Indeed.

SMART MOVE: Rand Paul to campaign for Steve Lonegan. I saw Lonegan speak back in June when I was in New York and I was quite impressed.

OUCH: Ed Rogers on Syria and Obama in the Washington Post: A vote of no confidence is in order.

D.C. ROCK FANS TAKE NOTE: R.I.P. Josh Burdette, 9:30 Club manager. That was one of my old D.C. hangouts. The best rock show I ever saw — Steve Earle double-billed with The Rainmakers, for a lousy five bucks — was there, though that was before Josh’s time. Mickey Kaus was at that show too, I later found out, though we didn’t know each other back then.

I WONDER IF OBAMA IS HAPPY TO HAVE HIM BACK IN CONGRESS NOW? Rep. Grayson: Obama case for Syria ‘doesn’t make any sense.’

FLASHBACK: President Bush complains about Nancy Pelosi’s visit with Assad: “Bush said Pelosi’s trip signals that the Assad government is part of the international mainstream when it is not.”

MCCLATCHY: To some, US case for Syrian gas attack and need for strike has too many holes.

Related: Syria resolution will be ‘a very tough sell’ in Congress, lawmakers say.

You know, I kind of think all that “Bush lied” stuff on Iraq is coming back to bite Obama and the Dems in the ass.

SEE, THIS IS HOW IT’S DONE: NYC Mayor Bloomberg’s anti-gun group rally falls flat, as NRA takes over. “A recent rally staged by members of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s gun-control group fell flat, as nearly 10 times the number of Second Amendment supporters showed up, took over the scene and countered with such a voice that bystanders thought it was actually an NRA-sponsored event.”

ED DRISCOLL: When Alinskyites Collide: Anti-War Protesters Descend on John Kerry’s Townhouse.

SURE, WHY SHOULD HE CARE ABOUT A DISCRETE MINORITY WITH A HISTORY OF DISCRIMINATION AND VILIFICATION? Russian gay activist Alexeyev has huge new anti-Semitic meltdown on Facebook, Twitter.

REST IN PEACE: Ronald Coase and Fred Pohl. Somehow, I think they’d enjoy having a drink together.

Meanwhile, there’s a new tribute anthology out, Gateways, with contributions from David Brin, Greg Benford, Greg Bear, Ben Bova, Neil Gaiman, and a host of other stars.

VOGUE, ASSAD-FLUFFING, AND TODAY’S MEDIA: The Prescience Of The Duranty Prize. “So congratulations to PJ Media and the New Criterion. Their first-ever Duranty Award was prophetic. With hindsight, it honored not just mendacity in journalism, but stupidity in foreign policy.”

WHISTLE WHILE YOU TWERK.

WELL, THAT’S A RELIEF: Eugene Volokh: It’s Not Illegal to Sell Anti-NSA Shirts Bearing the NSA Logo.

HAPPY LABOR DAY: Citing Obamacare, 40,000 Longshoremen Quit the AFL-CIO.

ROGER SIMON: Leaderless America On Labor Day.

Conservatives and libertarians can rejoice, if they wish, at the spectacle of Barack Obama proving once again — and perhaps more definitively than ever — that he is the worst president of the modern era, through his utter mishandling of the Syrian situation.

But they ought to wipe the smirks off their faces, because here’s the bitter truth: The GOP bench — the right-wing or even center right-wing presidents in waiting — isn’t a helluva lot better. Not enough, anyway.

At no time in our history, at least in my increasingly long lifetime, has there been such a dearth of key political leadership in our country on both sides of the ideological divide — and at a moment when the world seems about to explode.

And ultimately, of course, the voters — and the media, which has gotten steadily dumber — are at fault.