Read it.

For Nikki Tinker, Tennessee’s 9th Congressional District hung as sweetly as a plum in the state’s Democratic primary. It has a black majority, is full of churchgoing African American women like herself, and includes the hallowed ground where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated by a white man.

But in an election season in which racial appeals may be losing their power, Tinker discovered that looks can be deceiving. On Election Day, she was crushed by her white opponent, Rep. Stephen I. Cohen, whom Tinker labeled as anti-prayer in one campaign ad and tried to link to the Ku Klux Klan in another.

“It was the first time in a state election where race could have been a factor and wasn’t,” said Larry Moore, an associate professor at the University of Memphis. “She fit the demographic perfectly. She was active in the churches. The majority of voters are female. And she got blown out.”

To James Lileks.

Read it.

PARIS FOR PRESIDENT

DRILL HERE * DRILL NOW

Read it.

Times have changed.

Read it.

And you can believe as much or as little as you care to.

Andrew Sullivan scored 92% probably male, so I take it with a grain of salt….

Read it.

Sometimes the old ways are best.

Read it.

Markets work even when you don’t want them to: When everyone enforces the law, the law is most efficiently enforced.

I think I’ll call it “democracy”, a term whose original use seems to have faded away.

Read it.

The End Times are here.

Read it.

Read it.

You want plastic? We got plastic.

Read it.

Read it.

Read it.

Keeping you informed about the important trends of the day.

*Universalist Unitarian Obamaists: This denomination believes there are other politicians besides Obama, but they enjoy the fellowship of the weekly campaign events.  They are the least reliable Obamaists, as they aren’t certain if they will vote for Obama, or if he even exists at all.

Read it.

And there was much rejoicing. Break out the jiffy-pop.

Read it.

And the hits just keep on comin’….

Read it.

Read it.

Introducing the Smith & Wesson commemorative Heller v. D.C. revolver! That’s right, the Springfield, Mass.-based gun maker announced Monday it would present engraved Model 442 revolvers (pictured) to the six plaintiffs in the lawsuit that led to the high court’s June 26 decision.

The famous video.

American politics in a nutshell. (Emphasis on the nut — sorry, Jesse, no pun intended.)

Read it.

Swift … silent … deadly….

Read it.

Sort of like IFF for ground-pounders. Makes everyone safer from those idiots in the airplanes.

Read it.

The sweetest voices in the universe.

Read it.

Designed by General Electric Fanuc (GEF) and programmed by Nuvation Research, this thing has been able to crush any human opponent that dared step up to its 32-bit automated ways. In fact, it can typically score around three times as many goals as even the mightiest Earthling, and while folks have been smart enough to find loopholes in the 8-bit software, this guy is pretty much invincible when running the real deal.

I don’t know about you, but I’m thinking “air defense control system”.

Read it.

“What is your target market for the iPhone 3G?”

“Journalists who have to write about it, and white people with more money than sense. We work the same demographic as posh restaurants with rude waiters.”

“So you anticipate brisk sales?”

“Certainly. There’s a lot of affluent insecurity out there, and we hope to tap into that.”

Read it.

Read it.

I’ll take one with a street scene from Nablus.

Read it.

Mississippi is the fattest state in the Union, with 30.1% of Mississippians being obese. That’s almost one in every three inhabitants. Not that the Magnolia State (in red on this map) should be singled out for its massiveness. It is surrounded by four of the eight other fattest US states (in brown on this map): Tennessee (29.0%), Arkansas (29.3%), Louisiana (29.5%) and Alabama (30.1%). Being overweight clearly is a Southern thing – even if the second-fattest state, West-Virginia (30.6%), broke away from the rebellious South in 1863 to join the North.

Read it.

It’s the American way.

Read it.

Read it.

Probably both the Democrats and Limbaugh overstated his actual impact. But Operation Chaos was a triumph of interactive political performance art. Limbaugh appointed himself Supreme Commander, deputized his listeners and turned them into merry pranksters. “Rush is a master at framing an issue and creating a community around it,” says Susan Estrich, who ran Michael Dukakis’s 1988 presidential campaign and has since become a talk-show host herself. Operation Chaos drew a crowd, which is what Limbaugh does for a living. It got people laughing at the Democrats, which is what he lives for. And, ever the devout capitalist, he turned an extra buck by peddling Operation Chaos gear. The stuff flew off the cybershelves of the E.I.B. store, the biggest seller since his Club Gitmo collection (“my mullah went to Club Gitmo and all I got was this lousy T-shirt”).

Apparently Rush has renewed his contract for another eight years and will receive on the close order of $400 million dollars therefor.

Whoever said that talk is cheap?

Read it.

And he’s going to need it.

(Twelve wheels! No waiting!)

Read it.

Not something I’d care to do.

Read it.

Read it.

Free markets work every time they’re tried.

Read it.

Be the first on your block.

Read it.

This could be huge.

Read it.

Read it.

Me want.

Read it.

You can make a mainframe from the things you have at home.

Read it.

Read it.

Read it.

Doesn’t seem like something that I’d care to eat, but that’s just me.

Read it.

Read it.

Starship troopers, here we come.

Read it.

Read it.

Oh, I SO want one of these.

Now, if they only have hard points for missiles….

Read it.

Read it.

Apparently Target has its own crime lab.

Read it.

There’s a Darwin Award waiting to happen….

Slate magazine is doing a series of articles on procrastination.

I wish I’d gotten around to doing something like that….