KNOXVILLE OPERA FESTIVAL rivals U.T. football for turnout. Somebody tell Jeremiah Wright.

TOM MAGUIRE: Such language from a "Baptist Minister!"

KATIE GRANJU ON the value of a few skinned knees.

TOM ELIA: Is Obama in bigger trouble than anyone thinks?

WHOOPING COUGH, MEASLES, POLIO: Diseases making a comeback because of anti-vaccine hysteria.

That's what happens when you neglect the advances that have produced fewer dead babies. As a commenter says: "Lucky, hell! Maybe it's the direct result of improvements in basic hygiene, waste collection and disposal, water treatment, vaccinations, medical improvements and, yes, much better environmental living conditions." All the stuff that people, and politicians, take for granted.

UPDATE: Reader Kevin Menard emails:

Those anti-vaccine folks need to talk to some one who has been a medical missionary. There are still place sin the world where all these diseases still kill people or cripple them for life. Any tendency you have to buy the crap goes right out the window with the horror stories of what measles, chicken pox, polio etc do to people.

Of course, that might mean they might have to talk to a Christian or a Mormon as most missionaries I know are led to it by faith...

Indeed.

HMM: Futures Traders Bet on Dollar Gain For First Time Since 2005.

ANDY MCCARTHY WAS INTERVIEWED on Limbaugh today about his new book, Willful Blindness: A Memoir of the Jihad. The transcript is here.

STRICTER CREDIT CARD REGULATIONS: "The Federal Reserve and two other banking regulators are set to unveil today one of the most aggressive efforts in decades to crack down on the credit card industry, prohibiting practices such as arbitrarily raising interest rates on outstanding balances."

These industries operate as what Scott Adams calls "confusopolies," taking advantage of complexity to bilk customers. I'd prefer transparency to outright regulation, but that's probably hard to accomplish.

TIM MONTGOMERIE has a roundup on "Red Ken" Livingstone's defeat at the hands of Boris Johnson. Overall, a good election for the Tories, though whether that will translate into actual improvements in Britain is less clear. Plus, a defeat for Islamic extremists? Those are always good.

UPDATE: Roger Kimball is happy: "Boris Wins! And so does London."

DOWN THE MEMORY HOLE? "Kos Disappears Kantor 'WWN' Diary."

UH OH: States Aim To Tax Private Jets, Yachts. First they go after Harvard, now this . . . .

UPDATE: Aleta Jackson emails:

A lot of people who have airplanes are not wealthy. We save up for our trips, and are frugal with the extra cash we have. And with avgas prices at $4.50 or more per gallon, you can bet that owners of small airplanes are looking for good deals on where to go, places where we will be welcomed. Maine has just closed the door to any visit by me or my plane. When we fly to a place we usually stay for at least three days. So Maine just lost three days of bed taxes, meal taxes, rental car taxes, plus taxes on the goodies we usually carry back for our friends. Then there's the revenue that won't be going to Maine residents, and let's not forget the taxes Maine won't get because I won't be filling the plane's tanks for the return flight.

The flying community learns fast where general aviation is unwelcome or discouraged.

I hadn't realized that Maine was in a position to turn away trade.

FROM THE BBC, a look at the new survivalism: It's not just for deranged loners and religious cults anymore!

This story has already been addressed here, and here. But I'm happy to see these ideas get more attention. Everybody's better off with some emergency skills and supplies, just in case. You don't need a bunker, but more of what Massad Ayoob calls "soft survivalism."

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