Michael Barone: The mainstream press hasn’t shown much interest in reporting on unions’ campaign spending, which amounted to some $400 million in the 2008 cycle. And it hasn’t seen fit to run long investigative stories on why public employee unions — the large majority of which work for state and local governments — contribute so much more to campaigns for federal office. Nor has it denounced the Supreme Court’s Citizens

Eyewitness report from the court room, for those of you interested. Me, I relished it. And not even Jesus was pissed at me for doing so.

I know, shocking, isn’t it? Let’s say America axed mortgage-interest deductions, child tax credits and the ability of employees to pay their portion of their health-insurance tab with pretax dollars. All these are mentioned in a Wall Street Journal story on Monday. Analysis by Americans for Tax Reform finds the net effect would be a $2.4 trillion tax hike over the next five years. (Mortgage interest deduction: $638 billion; child

Well. This is certainly one way to ensure the “correct” electoral outcome… Meh. Probably nothing. And clearly not worth pursuing, even if it turns out to be something. Get in the back, racists. (h/t Matt; via Drudge)

Thomas Sowell on “tax cuts for the rich”: Between 1921 and 1929, tax rates in the top brackets were cut from 73 percent to 24 percent. In other words, these were what the left likes to call “tax cuts for the rich.” What happened to federal revenues from income taxes over this same span of time? Income tax revenues rose by more than 30 percent. What happened to the economy?

Which means, of course, that either the numbers are skewed, or about half of all Americans are some of the dumbest people on earth.

— And doing so with the kind of confident non-elitist elitism that makes elitist non-elites practically purple with elite envy: Forget cultural insularity or smugness. The main problem with the “new elite” is that they’re not an elite at all. That is, they aren’t particularly smart, or competent. They are credentialed, but those credentials aren’t so much markers for smartness or competence, or even basic education, as they are admission

Comeuppance? You tell me. At the very least, it’s a nice start — and probably a welcome relief to anyone who’s ever been unlucky enough to draw her attention. Enjoy the accommodations, Deb! I’m sure orange jumpsuits and canned beans really bring out your eyes. **** update: I’ll post more info as it comes it, starting with this, via email: “Judge Vogt gave [Frisch] far more [than] the prosecution asked

So says Charlie Cook — or rather, so says the email alerting me to the findings — in a special report for National Journal. What Cook himself says is that the Senate is hard to read. Which is, in effect, saying nothing much at all: It’s easy to look at what appears to be a gigantic Republican 2010 midterm election wave in the House and feel a little slack-jawed, but