JAMES TARANTO: American Idle: Work was supposed to be liberating. Now nonwork is.

The decline of marriage among poor and working-class Americans is a result of a variety of social and economic changes. Among them, as Lowrey notes, are “tidal economic forces,” namely “globalization, the decline of labor unions [and] technological change.”

She ignores the tidal social changes that have also contributed, namely the sexual revolution and the expectation that women will spend most of their adult lives in the workforce, which, as we’ve argued, reduced the incentives for both men and women to marry. It is no more feasible to turn the clock back on globalization or automation than on contraception or female labor-force participation. All of these developments represent progress, in that they were solutions to the problems of the past. All of them contribute to the problems of the present.

A fixation on past problems may be making present problems worse. Lowrey quotes W. Bradford Wilcox, director of the National Marriage Project: “Unless we improve the fortunes of poor working people, particularly poor working men, we aren’t going to see marriage coming back.” That’s a modest claim–note that he’s describing a necessary condition, not a sufficient one–but it’s hard to disagree: Why should a woman marry a man who doesn’t offer some economic security as part of the bargain?

But President Obama is committed to reducing male wages relative to female ones. In his State of the Union address, he declared: “Today, women make up about half our workforce. But they still make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. That is wrong, and in 2014, it’s an embarrassment.” Actually, it’s an embarrassment that the president perpetuates this myth–which Slate, in the headline of a 2013 story by feminist author Hanna Rosin bluntly called a “lie.” . . .

Given the high deductibles and narrow networks that make ObamaCare policies unattractive, we wonder if the CBO’s estimate might not turn out to be on the high side. And here’s another puzzlement: Working for pay is supposed to be liberating for women because it frees them from dependency on men. How can one square that with this new claim that dependence on the government is liberating because it allows people not to work?

They told me if I voted for Mitt Romney, our government would be focusing massive efforts on getting women to stay home with their kids. And they were right!

ED MORRISSEY: The Obamacare Jobs Plan: Turn On, Sign Up, Drop Out.

ROLL CALL: Family of Miriam Carey to Sue Capitol Police for Wrongful Death.

On Wednesday, an attorney representing the Carey family filed federal administrative notice of claim to sue the Capitol Police, as well as the Uniformed Division of the U.S. Secret Service.

Valarie Carey, sister of the victim, filed a wrongful death claim against the two government agencies seeking $75 million to compensate the family “for their great loss of a daughter, mother, friend and confidant,” according to a release posted on the website of The Sanders Firm, P.C., a New York-based law firm representing Carey.

“While the United States Department of Justice continues with its’ criminal and civil rights investigation, the Carey Family calls for immediate identification and termination of all police officer, supervisors, managers and other related employees’ involved in this matter who failed to order the immediate termination of pursuing Miriam and failed to establish firearms control; thereby, collectively causing the avoidable death of Miriam,” attorney Eric Sanders said in a statement.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia said “the investigation is continuing and the U.S. Attorney’s Office has not further comment at this time.”

The Capitol Police previously confirmed that officers had been pulled off the street in the wake of the violent incident, but on Wednesday afternoon did not immediately respond to further inquiries about administrative leave for those involved.

I’m sure this DOJ investigation will be as thorough as the one into IRS Tea Party targeting.

THE HILL: Feud escalates between Obama, black lawmakers.

A feud between President Obama and black lawmakers over racial diversity among judges escalated Wednesday.

Valerie Jarrett, the president’s closest adviser, met with Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) members and refused to back down over controversial nominees despite a growing storm of criticism.

Many CBC members say Obama hasn’t fought hard enough to fill the federal bench with the Democrats’ preferred picks, leaving some states with nominees who lack the ethnic diversity of the population they would oversee.

In a closed-door meeting with a handful of CBC leaders, Jarrett brushed back the criticism, saying Obama had a “commitment to diversity” and an “outstanding” record in placing minority judges, she said afterward.

Asked if the White House would consider replacing any of its choices, Jarrett’s answer was a terse, “No.”

They told me if I voted for Mitt Romney, the President would nominate people the Black Caucus would hate. And they were right!

ANOTHER TERRIBLE BIG-GOVERNMENT IDEA PUSHED BY A REPUBLICAN: Mileage Tax Pushed by Bill Shuster to Pay for Highway Bill. “A vehicle miles tax has never been considered on the federal level because of objections to the concept of tracking how many miles people drive to assess and collect the levy. There have been some state- and local-level experiments.”

Like I said before, don’t track me, bro.

UPDATE: Shuster: Bloomberg Is Misreporting What I Said.

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM: English court summons head of Mormon church, to answer charges that Mormon religious claims are fraud.

They’d never do that to a Muslim.

KAUS ON AMNESTY: Psst! Ryan’s Lyin’ . . .

TOM MAGUIRE ON THE CBO REPORT: That Is A Lot Of ObamaCare Losers.

So, a plot twist I have not seen discussed elsewhere: per CBO, the work cutback will represent about 1.5% to 2% of hours worked but only 1% of wage compensation, since the cutback will occur among the lower-earning folks eligible for subsidies (see p. 133 of the .pdf).

However, per this Economic Policy Institute chart based on the authors’ “analysis of Kopczuk, Saez, and Song (2010) and Social Security Administration wage statistics”, we glean that the bottom two quintiles only take about 11% of wage income. So if CBO-projected 1% reduction in wage income falls entirely upon those two quintiles, it is an income reduction of roughly 9% for that group.

But they’ll have a lot of leisure time, in their cardboard box under a bridge.

CHANGE: Senate GOP Buoyant About Return To Majority Status.

Politics was at the forefront of Republicans senators’ minds at their annual retreat on Wednesday.

After hearing from a congressional handicapper and conservative observers at the Library of Congress, there’s growing optimism among GOP lawmakers that their odds of becoming the majority party are on the rise.

GOP strategists have been touting the party’s chances of picking up the six seats they need to take back the Senate for months. But some once-burned veteran senators are skeptical of bold internal predictions, after they saw their caucus shrink two seats in 2012.

“I feel very good about it. However, this time two years ago, I felt good about it, too” said Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.). “Anything can come along and totally change things.”

Senate Republicans note their position looked much worse only a few months ago in the midst of the government shutdown, when the party’s approval rating dropped to a record low.

But hearing Wednesday from Stuart Rothenberg, editor of The Rothenberg Political Report and a respected handicapper, that they are slightly favored to win control of the upper chamber boosted their confidence.

Don’t get cocky, kids.

JOHN HINDERAKER: “What drives me crazy about some groups associated with the Tea Party movement is that all they want to do is attack Republicans.”

TRAIN WRECK UPDATE: New Cover Oregon allegations: ‘If it’s true, someone’s going to prison.’ “Former Republican state Rep. Patrick Sheehan told the KATU Investigators he has gone to the FBI with allegations that Cover Oregon project managers initiated the design of dummy web pages to convince the federal government the project was further along than it actually was.”

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YES, THOSE EFFETE ISRAELIS KNOW NOTHING OF SUCH THINGS: John Kerry to Israeli critics: I’ve been ‘attacked before by people using real bullets.’

I wonder if the experience was seared into his memory? He has the hat to this day.

FROM ED MORRISSEY, much more on the United Nations’ problem with sex abuse.

VIDEO: Reihan Salam Interviews Anya Kamenetz About Student Debt and Higher Education. “It’s unconscionable what we’re doing to people under the guise of offering them opportunity.”

THE WORST IDEA IN THE WORLD.

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Also, featured deals in Sports & Outdoors.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Having Sex Could Prevent The Flu. Well, it certainly didn’t prevent the low-level crud I’m suffering with now. But why take chances?

I RECLINE AND I’M PROUD. If you don’t like it, get in the exit row, where the seats ahead don’t recline. I can’t sit comfortably in an aircraft seat that isn’t reclined, and I doubt that many people over 6 feet can. I also don’t regard it as an invasion of my space when the person in front of me reclines. Perhaps airlines should quit cramming seats so close together?

THE FRAGILE FLOWERS OF HIGHER EDUCATION: Realistic statue of man in his underwear at Wellesley College sparks controversy. “[T]his highly lifelike sculpture has, within just a few hours of its outdoor installation, become a source of apprehension, fear, and triggering thoughts regarding sexual assault for many members of our campus community.”

They told me if I voted for Mitt Romney, America would be overrun with prudes who’d faint at the thought of a Hanes ad. And they were right!

UPDATE: Jonathan Adler emails: “I always thought one purpose of art was to challenge, provoke and, yes, make us uncomfortable.” It’s fine to make squares in flyover country uncomfortable. But not members of the elite.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Brannon Denning writes: “Rene Magritte Phone Your Office! I think the most disturbing thing about the creepy underwear guy is the students’ reactions is their apparent inability to process the fact that it’s a statue not a real person and therefore can’t hurt you. It’s of a piece with people being afraid of toast in the shape of a gun or a picture of a gun. I read these stories and feel like I’m taking crazy pills. Maybe someone ought to put a sign on it that reads: ‘Ceci n’est pas une homme.’”

Confusing the image with the reality is a hallmark of primitive societies.

KYLE SMITH: Here’s Proof The Obama Administration Doesn’t Care Whether You Work Or Not.

Such thinking is consistent with the elite character of the Obama administration — some 40 percent of the president’s men and women hold Ivy League degrees, with more of them receiving degrees from Oxford than from any American public school. When they shrug off jobs as limitations, Obama and Co. have in mind their gifted and talented friends.

This is magical thinking. Most people are not entrepreneurs, geniuses or novelists. Most people don’t have big ideas. Most people get by and advance in small steps, not giant leaps. Jobs are the principal way people improve themselves, their lives and the lives of their families, and leave their children better off than they were.

The White House response to the CBO report is in direct opposition to its supposed stance on inequality and class mobility. More long-term unemployment, even the unemployment of people who leave the workforce willingly in order to “pursue their dreams,” in the Oprah Winfrey-style phrasing of Jay Carney, means more people stuck on the lower rungs of the economic ladder.

You say, “mired in squalor and dependency.” They say, “reliable Democratic voters.” They’ll turn us all into beggars ’cause they’re easier to please.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Elite Colleges More Sizzle than Substance.

Recent studies say two things about the liberal arts. They’re very important…and they’re in a parlous state.

To figure out why they’re in trouble, ACTA looked at America’s finest liberal arts colleges in our new report, Education or Reputation? In addition to classic ACTA topics such as general education and academic freedom, we report on a host of measures of schools’ intellectual seriousness and management competence, including student academic engagement, grade inflation, faculty teaching loads, spending priorities, and the campus party culture. Consider:

Although the average endowment of these schools is almost $1 billion, elite colleges raised tuition and fees 6.2% to 17.1% above inflation over the last few years, a time when many families were cutting back on expenses.

Not a single institution except for the military academies requires a foundational, college-level course in American history or government. Only two require an economics course; only five require a literature course.

Instead of cutting costs to lower tuition and help students graduate without crippling debt, half of the institutions allowed administrative spending to grow faster than instructional spending.

Many of these schools have seen explosive grade inflation. From 1960 to 2000, Williams College saw its average GPA increase by .66 (on a 4.0 scale), Wellesley’s by .82. Vassar’s jumped from 3.12 to 3.48 in less than 20 years.

Eleven of these institutions paid their presidents base salaries of $400,000 or more to run colleges that typically have fewer than 2,000 students. These presidents are paid as well as–or better than–President Obama.

And there are a host of other challenges, from poor academic engagement (many students’ weekly academic work amounts to considerably less than a full-time job) to speech codes and a culture of intellectual conformity.

Caveat Emptor.

THE DANGER TO THE GRID OF sniper attacks on power substations. “The country’s roughly 2,000 very large transformers are expensive to build, often costing millions of dollars each, and hard to replace. Each is custom made and weighs up to 500,000 pounds, and ‘I can only build 10 units a month,’ said Dennis Blake, general manager of Pennsylvania Transformer in Pittsburgh, one of seven U.S. manufacturers. The utility industry keeps some spares on hand.”

If the D.C. sniper had known about this, he could have produced a lot more chaos.

SADLY, NO PORNOGRAPHIC DINOSAUR MOSAICS HAVE BEEN FOUND, THOUGH: Pompeii-Like Eruption Fossilized Dinosaurs in Death Poses.

SPYING: Patriot Act author: Absent reform, we’ll halt bulk metadata program renewal. “In a session of the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Rep. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-WI) said that given the government’s muted response to the Snowden leaks—particularly regarding the bulk metadata collection authorized under Section 215—the White House needs to make further changes.”