Automated constructive blog comments cartoon fro xkcd.

If you’re like me, you think of William Shakespeare’s plays as being rendered in an archaic but decidedly upper crust British English. It turns out that this is an artifact of modern theater.

Merle Haggard is not gay. But he’s been retroactively gay married — twice! — for want of a comma.

Charles Murray argues that the Tea Party is right to complain about out-of-touch elites.

The next generation of the Windows operating system is about two years away. Does anyone care?

There’s a trend toward using metrics to identify ways to stem the skyrocketing cost of higher education. The likeliest result is to devalue the “education” component.

Michigan Iraq War veteran gets NOT FUN vanity plate.

Jane Austen was a poor speller and sloppy grammarian but her published words were precise and exquisite thanks to her editor, William Gifford.

New multifunction credit cards will soon change the way Americans handle simple transactions.

Are people actually being influenced to vote based on robo-calls? And, if so, what percentage of people are being influenced to vote against the candidate on behalf of whom the calls are made?

Fast Internet access is becoming a necessity for modern life. Should we subsidize it by eliminating the Postal Service?

Newsweek’s latest poll shows a boom in support for President Obama and the Democrats. It’s the only poll showing that, however.

Nancy Pelosi is irritating some party stalwarts by funneling money into the campaigns of Democratic incumbents running ads against her.

The biggest outside spender in 2010 isn’t the Chamber of Commerce but the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

Virginia’s answer to Joe Biden has put his foot in his mouth once again. It won’t prevent him from getting an 11th term.

John Cole is ashamed that some House Democrats are running against Nancy Pelosi, given her effectiveness. It’s all a matter of perspective.

While the displacement of poor blacks from their neighborhoods by affluent whites may be lamentable, it’s better than the alternatives.

Mickey Kaus quips, “Andrew Sullivan has “small staff of four people to help him handle the blog” says NPR. Er, what’s a “big” staff for a blog? . . . In ten short years Sullivan’s created a bloated blog bureaucracy! “

NPR has fired Juan Williams over controversial comments about Muslims.

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is once again the law of the land.

Tonight’s topics: The foreclosure mess, low GDP growth, and the world-wide Tea Party.

Jonah Goldberg observes, “It took 410 days to build the Empire State Building; four years to erect the Golden Gate Bridge. The Pentagon took two years; the Alaska Highway just nine months. These days it takes longer to build an overpass.”

Andy Borowitz suggests “Three Things to Do When Clarence Thomas’s Wife Calls You.”

President Obama is reportedly avoiding a visit to India’s Harmandir Sahib, or Golden Temple, for fear that he’ll be accused of being a Muslim.

Lisa Murkowski, who lost the Republican primary, may be on the verge of winning re-election as a sore-loser write-in.

Sarah Palin and the Tea Party aren’t as clueless as their detractors think.

Honors go to YahooNews and/or AP for “Levi Johnston wants to be mayor; has no platform.”

Remember that $400 tax cut President Obama gave you? Neither do 90 percent of Americans.

The blogosphere spends more time dissecting the lyrics of a classic Beatles song than John Lennon did in writing them.

Politico says 99 Democratic House seats are “in play.” They’re not. But dozens are.

Tom Brokaw notices something peculiar about the campaign debates: Nobody’s talking about Iraq or Afghanistan.

The retired superstar linebacker drove off a 30 foot cliff at 70 mph and walked away with barely a scratch.

An English instructor commenting at Balloon Juice takes issue with my characterization of taxation as “confiscating” income.

High earners are going to have to pay more than our fair share of the costs of government to make things work. But how we frame the debate matters.

Reason’s Meredith Bragg and Nick Gillespie have a pretty amusing rejoinder to the Obama administration’s attempts to smear the anonymous funding of television ads opposed to their agenda in a video titled “Who is Publius? or, Who’s Afraid of Anonymous Political Speech?”

Today’s college students are 40 percent less empathetic than they were thirty years ago. Is our political culture to blame?

Polls show the Republicans easily retaking the House but falling short in the Senate. But 2006 showed us that wave elections can produce shocking outcomes.

The Pentagon has advised gay soldiers not to come out in the wake of a court order ending Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. This is a very pro-gay move.

Barbara Billingley of “Leave it to Beaver” and “Airplane” fame has died at the ripe old age of 94.

Some Democratic candidates for Congress are working hard to distance themselves from Nancy Pelosi.

Jim Treacher has coined a new term, Oprahturfing, to describe wealthy celebrities funding attendance at political rallies. While clever, the concept of “Astroturfing” is being misused by both sides.

The “Ronald Reagan” that many of today’s conservatives wish today’s Republicans were more like didn’t actually exist.

Glenn Reynolds “The Higher Education Bubble, and What Comes Next” lecture at Clemson (video).

To the extent that these faux debates are a measure of competence to hold the office in question, Sharron Reid’s holding her own against the veteran incumbent demonstrated that she was up to the task. Or, at least, as up to it as Reid.

Paul Krugman argues that recent economic crises demonstrate that America has failed at corporate governance, banking, and the rule of law.

Tonight’s topics: The latest mortgage scandal, lust for a third party, the role of judges in Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, political motorcades and their impact on the little people, and who knows what else. I hear there’s an election coming up, so perhaps that will enter into the discussion as well.

We must abandon an Industrial Age education system that rewards compliance and stifles creativity.