A TRANSISTOR THAT COULD GIVE PROSTHETICS a sense of touch.

READER BOOK PLUG: Reader Signe Kopps asks that I plug her novel, Anthra’s Moon. Done! It’s $1.99 on Kindle.

PROSECUTORIAL OVERREACH: Widow who owed $21.6M to feds gets ‘effectively 5 seconds’ of probation, as judge scolds government.

LEGAL EDUCATION UPDATE: Five Defenses Used By Law Schools for Poor Graduate Employment Outcomes.

A NEW ARREST IN THE Mississippi ricin case. Not an Elvis impersonator this time, though. And after one bogus arrest, I’m somewhat skeptical this time. . . .

PROF. JACOBSON: Help me find Media Matters’ apology to Andrew Breitbart on Pigford.

JUST-IN VIDEO: World War II Veterans Cheered At Reagan National Airport this morning.

PERHAPS THE “PUBLIC HEALTH” PEOPLE SHOULD BE PUTTING MORE EFFORT INTO ISSUES LIKE THIS, AND LESS INTO BIG GULPS, GUNS, AND OTHER POLITICALLY TRENDY TOPICS. Bedbugs Invade Hospitals.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Diagnosing Dr. Biden: The second lady exemplifies a bloated class of people with irrelevant, unimpressive titles.

Doctor Biden has joined Twitter as @DrBiden. The account is “run by Dr. Jill Biden’s Office,” and it tells us absorbing things about Dr. Biden — things such as “Yesterday, Dr. Biden hosted an education roundtable” and “Yesterday, Dr. Biden honored the nation’s top teachers.” It retweets praise, too: “Thank you Dr. Biden for your work as an educator and as a voice for all educators in our nation,” reads one tribute. If a tweet is signed “Jill,” the doctoral bio informs us, this indicates that it is a “tweet from Dr. Biden.” “Jill,” if you’re wondering, is Dr. Biden’s nickname. Her formal name is “Dr.”

Wherever she goes and whatever she does, Dr. Biden is always referred to as “Dr. Biden.” “Is Joe Biden married to a physician?” wondered the Los Angeles Times in January. “You might have gotten that impression while watching television coverage of the inauguration.” Yes, you might have indeed.

Dr. Biden isn’t a physician, of course. She has a doctorate – in “educational leadership,” whatever the hell that is. This Ed.D gives her the right to call herself “Dr.” in much the same way as my Master’s degree gives me the right to put MA after my name. Perhaps my Twitter handle should be @MA(Oxon)Charles?

It works: I was actually under the impression that she was a physician before I read this. A doctorate is a doctorate, I suppose, but the question of whether there should be doctorates in “Educational Leadership” seems open to me.

UPDATE: Reader Thomas Williams writes: “Remember how the wife of the previous Vice President was always called ‘Dr Lynne Cheney?’ No? Me either.” Good point. And she’s got an actual Ph.D.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Jeff Mitchell writes: “My wife earned a PhD in Ed Research last year. I’ve never heard her refer to herself as Dr. Mitchell, but she did give a passing thought to changing our stationery letterhead to Dr and Mr Mitchell… What is it about the credentialed elite?”

But it’s not because Jill Biden is black. Or German.

And reader James Rummel emails:

Just read your post about how Dr. Biden is obsessively insistent when it comes to people using her title. It reminded me of something an academic once said that stuck with me.

They claimed that the more worthless the degree, the more harping they would do to make sure people said “doctor” before their name. It seems that people who earn doctorates in race/gender/class studies are more vocal, reacting with angry gusto and claiming a lack of respect, than anyone with a more down-to-Earth degree.

You work in the Ivory Tower. If it wouldn’t step on any toes or bruise any egos to the point where your own career path is damaged, I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Does your own observations of the educator class support this conclusion?

That sounds right, but I have to say I don’t really have the firsthand experience to support it. First, although the law degree is a Juris Doctor, law professors don’t go by “Doctor,” preferring “Professor.” I’m not sure if this a leftover from when law degrees were bachelor’s degrees, or if it’s part of the old physician/attorney rivalry. And most academics, when among other academics, don’t use the title “Doctor” either. So while it sounds plausible, I can’t really say.

But if someone does that and it annoys you, just go all Sheldon Cooper on their degrees.

MEDIAITE: The Narcissism Of The White House Correspondents’ Dinner Hurting The Media’s Already Tarnished Brand.

AT AMAZON, markdowns on bestselling kitchen utensils and gadgets.

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WE’RE PROBABLY BETTER OFF: BREAKING: White House Has Nothing Better to Do Than Dick Around on the Internet.

PRO-LIFE OBAMA SUPPORTERS NOT BEING HEARD FROM: Will Doug Kmiec Please Stand Up?

POLITICO: Obama’s Hubris Problem. “Hubris in a leader is an obnoxious thing, leading to imperiousness in governing. And it’s also a dangerous thing for a second-term president, often spelling trouble. Unfortunately, this president’s acts of high handedness and self-absorption have been accumulating in the past several months at a blistering pace.”

OVERLAWYERED IS MOVING TO CATO. Congratulations to them, and I’m also pleased that Professor Bainbridge remembers the early-blogosphere phrase “takes the Boeing.” Background on that phrase here, and here.

INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY: The Threat Of Mayor Bloomberg’s Personal Reading Of The Constitution.

MICKEY KAUS: Facebook Founder Buys Beltway Fakery. “Is Zuckerberg anti-Obama? Almost certainly not. He hosted a town hall with the President, for example. The ad is pure Beltway bad faith, a triple bank shot disingenuously attacking Obama in order to boost Graham to give him room to support Obama’s immigration amnesty project (which would financially benefit Zuckerberg’s firm by allowing him to import more inexpensive tech workers). Yecch.”

GREENTECH: Becoming a major liability for Terry McAuliffe’s campaign?

CATS AND DOGS, LIVING TOGETHER: Jimmy Carter Lauds George W. Bush As Peacemaker. “That’s what we newspapermen call a man-bites-dog story. . . . As for Barack Obama, he was fittingly if uncharacteristically gracious.”