IN THE MAIL: Mattaponi Queen: Stories by Belle Boggs.

IRA STOLL on why Pat Toomey might be a good choice for Vice President.

My uncle Dave in Scranton, who's precisely the sort of Truman Democrat (they're not extinct in Pennsylvania) Romney needs to win in order to take the Keystone State, says Toomey's a standup guy. And more than anyone else, Toomey was responsible for driving the odious Arlen Specter from the Senate.

BY READER DEMAND, here's an adorable video of a puppy defending its food bowl from a duck.

Remember, this site is run by the readers and for the readers. Vox populi, vox Dei.

WHICH MEDICAL PROCEDURES SHOULD YOU CONSIDER REJECTING DURING A PREGNANCY? Personally I trust this sort of advice a lot more when it comes from Consumer Reports than when it comes from a panel of experts appointed by the government. That's because unlike the government, Consumer Reports has never lied to me.

DOES AMERICA DESERVE EDUARDO SAVERIN? Our loss is Singapore's gain, and it's safe to say that none of the people calling for Saverin's head has created anything as useful as Facebook.

Has created anything, period.

ON THE ONE HAND I'M HAPPY TO SAY that I've eaten barbecue cooked by five of the people on this list.

On the other hand, I'm sad that I haven't traveled widely enough to try the other five.  Based on the half I've tried, I'll bet their 'cue is damned great.

I CAN'T SAY THAT "EPIC" IS THE WORD TO DESCRIBE THIS.

But it's true that Darth Vader was able to lop off Luke Skywalker's hand in less time than it took these two to work out their differences.

MANY APOLOGIES FOR TODAY'S LIGHT BLOGGING, but I had to take a deposition this afternoon.

I'd like to thank guest-blogger David for picking up the slack.

AT AMAZON, a celebration of all things Diablo. I recently dusted off my copy of Diablo II, and while it may not be true that you can't go home again, sometimes you don't want to stay very long. Diablo II was one such case.

IS DAVID BROOKS AMERICA'S WORST COLUMNIST?

But, more than it just being lousy writing, there is a distinct and depressing sense of distance that comes with reading all these dialed-in, spiritually be-khaki'ed D.C. types writing themselves in circles about Obama "spiking the football" or "punting" or whatever. It's not just that these sports metaphor is often the only living image in a waste of off-brand snark and to-be-sure equivocation and flatlined evenhandedness, although that is indeed a bummer. It's that the inevitably and invariably off-key sports stuff brings home just how far from regular human idiom the elite political conversation is pitched; this one thing that can be talked about, more or less well, by people all across the spectrum of class and race and lived experience and political and sexual orientation is somehow thoroughly beyond so many who write about politics.

The competition is fierce. The answer may surprise you. Read the whole thing.

ONCE UPON A TIME, the making of secret laws kept hidden from the people was cause for revolution, and condemned by all right-thinking men.

In this modern progressive era it's business as usual.

IT TAKES COURAGE TO TESTIFY AGAINST A KILLER, especially when the killer is a cop.

Had Patricia Cook shot the officer under similar circumstances, I doubt that the District Attorney would have needed ten weeks to complete his investigation.

BECAUSE EVERYONE IN FRANCE IS BORN WITH SEVEN FINGERS ON EACH HAND?

If Obama wins a second term, expect an explosion in the population of fourteen fingered American children.

CURIOUS. Trayvon Martin autopsy shows injury to knuckles.

I'm sure there's a good explanation for this. Doubtless the prosecution and NBC will produce evidence that George Zimmerman initiated the fight by scraping Martin's knuckles with his teeth.

UNEXPECTEDLY: Retail sales cool after warm weather spree.

A few more months of this, and we'll find the mainstream media blaming Obama's sagging poll numbers on global warming.