YA THINK? Atlantic Wire: Huma Has Lost Her Halo. Note the backhanded admission that Michele Bachmann may have been right about something.

UPDATE: Here’s my favorite bit of journalistic Huma-fluffing:

She approached in a knit white top and navy-blue business skirt, her dark, almost black hair down to her shoulders. She wore bright-red lipstick, which gave her lips a 3-D look, her brown eyes were pools of empathy evolved through a thousand generations of what was good and decent in the history of the human race.

Good grief. And that’s from just two weeks ago. Amazing how journalistically beautiful you can become if you hang out with the right sort of people — though I’d say that in the picture accompanying the top item, Huma seems to have lost her mojo, no doubt from the strain accompanying being married to the wrong sort of people.

MICHAEL BARONE: Obama Economy Emphasis Is all Talk.

The president said more about his proposal for universal pre-school education. But the administration’s own studies have shown that the four-decades-old Head Start program produces little in the way of lasting educational gains.

This looks more like an expensive attempt to create more jobs for teacher union members — and more union-dues money to help elect Democratic politicians — than a serious attempt to stimulate the economy.

Amazingly, Obama called for more money to create jobs in wind and solar energy. No mention was made of the hundreds of millions in loan guarantees lavished on the now bankrupt Solyndra and A123 Systems.

To that list he added natural gas. But the boom in natural gas has occurred more despite, not because of administration policies.

Read the whole thing.

IS THERE ANYTHING IT CAN’T DO? Bacon Therapy. “During her hospital stay, a total of 142 larvae were manually extracted, aided by the application of raw bacon which served as an attractant and petroleum jelly occlusion.”

AT AMAZON, Outlet Deals on Clothing for Men & Women.

LOCALBLOGGING on free speech.

THEY KEEP DOING THIS STUFF: ABC’s Misleading Edit of Juror B29.

Yesterday Breitbart News noted the ABC interview with Juror B29. The big news was that Maddy–her last name was never used to protect her privacy–had told Robin Roberts “George Zimmerman got away with murder.” And indeed if you watch the Nightline edit of the interview she does seem to say that without hesitation or reservation.

However, William Saletan at Slate points out that the unedited interview seems to show something different. Maddy actually hesitates twice when answering Roberts’ question which contains the statement “George Zimmerman got away with murder.” As Saletan points out “she looks as though she’s trying to reconcile the sentiment that’s been quoted to her—that Zimmerman ‘got away with murder’—with her own perspective. So she repeats the quote and adds words of her own, to convey what she thinks: that there’s a justice higher than the law, which Zimmerman will have to face ”

I agree with Saletan’s take on this. Maddy appears to be offering a response to a statement that was presented to her. You can see Maddy’s unedited response in the clip below (Scroll in about 2 minutes). . . . NBC is still being sued by George Zimmerman for the misleading edit of the 911 call which made him appear racist. ABC seems to be similarly misleading viewers about what juror Maddy said and meant in an effort to generate headlines.

It’s like you can’t trust journalists to report the news rather than manufacture it.

TEXAS UPDATE: RNC Responds To PJ Media.

AT GOOD STUFF the theme of the issue is contortions, I think. Also dolphin cannibalism.

THOUGHTS ON the evolution of war. (Via Stephen Pinker on Twitter).

FROM CARLOS EIRE: A brief and personal history of 100 years of Cuban history. “One hundred years ago Cuba was a prosperous island that attracted European immigrants at a rate much higher than that of the United States.”

AT AMAZON, Warehouse Deals on Camping and Outdoor Goods.

LETTER ON A DEAD HITLER’S STATIONERY: “The price for ridding society of bad is always high. Love, Daddy.”

WHY DO WOMEN BUY LUXURY PRODUCTS? To Keep Other Women From Stealing Their Man. “We found that a woman who is wearing luxury items and designer brands is perceived to have a more devoted partner and as a result other women are less likely to flirt with him. Regardless of who actually purchased the items, other women inferred that the man had something to do with it and is thus more devoted to her.” The study finds that men and women both spend money on expensive items to impress . . . women, just in different ways.

HOW PLAUSIBLE IS IMMORTALITY? Less plausible than much longer life, certainly. The funny thing is, it’s the allegedly hard-headed Bortz who’s talking about mystical stuff: “To me, aging is the effect of an energy flow on matter over time. That is not confined to life. It’s inorganic as well as organic. It takes in canyons and Chevys and everything.” Meanwhile it’s De Grey who’s talking specifics. I just hope I live long enough to take advantage of technologies that will make me live longer.

TROPICAL STORM DORIAN not looking so good. Fine with me. Dissipate, please.

#WARONWOMEN: Democrat Lori Saldaña Knew of Sexual Harassment Claims, Endorsed ‘Filthy Filner’ Anyway.

HEY, MSNBC HAS BEEN DOING THAT TO ITS VIEWERS FOR YEARS: Scientists Make Mice “Remember” Things That Didn’t Happen.

JOURNALISM: What’s Wrong With This News? The KTVU Purge.

POPULAR MECHANICS: 10 Crazy Red-Light Camera Cases.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: 10 Psychology Tricks You Can Use To Influence People.

IS MAYORS AGAINST ILLEGAL GUNS HIDING FROM ITS OWN MEMBERS?

How many members will it have left? Bob Scott leaves Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

Also: Fargo mayor distancing himself from Bloomberg’s gun control group. Plus: Bloomberg anti-gun group lost 50 mayors this year.

That’s okay. They’ve still got San Diego Mayor Bob “Filthy” Filner. Quite a group you’ve put together there, Mikey. And with NYC taxpayer support.

CHARLIE MARTIN: The Earth From A Great Height.

BRIAN TAMANAHA: Why the ‘Million Dollar Law Degree’ Study Fails (Final Post).

Related: Pasquale and Simkovic Respond to Tamanaha. Plus links to lots of other discussion.

OTHER THAN THAT, THE STORY WAS ACCURATE: The New Republic has corrected Richard Thompson Ford’s Zimmerman piece:

This article has been corrected. Zimmerman called various law enforcement officials 46 times, not just 911, as originally stated. He made the calls over an eight-year period, not over the course of 15 months, as originally stated. The original sentence also cited a call Zimmerman made about a seven-year-old boy; the clause has been removed as it implied that Zimmerman was reporting suspicious activity. It appears that Zimmerman made the call out of concern. We regret the errors.

You can see the list of Zimmerman’s calls here, and it hardly suggests he was an “edgy basket case with a gun,” as the piece still asserts. And of course, there’s the glaring error of treating Zimmerman — who would count as a “diversity hire” at any law school in America — as an honorary “white” for purposes of raising the race issue. If there’s anyone too quick on the trigger to be found in this matter, they appear to be writing for The New Republic. . . .

UPDATE: Just for yuks, here are the first 5 calls on the list:

8/12/04: Reports male driving pick-up without car seat
9/20/04: Neighbor’s garage door open
8/20/04: Reports white male walking in the road carrying a paper bag, presumably drinking
3/17/05: Pothole
4/27/05: Neighbor’s garage door open

Sounds like Death Wish: The Sequel all right . . . .

CARLOS DANGER FALLOUT: Republicans Turn “War On Women” Attack Back On Democrats. Mary Jo Kopechne was not available for comment.

UPDATE: Sex, money and lies: ‘Culture of Corruption’ boomerangs on Democrats as scandals blossom nationwide.