Yes and no:

“Guns cause crime like flies cause garbage.”

Hmmm?

“It used to be a teacher standing in front of the classroom knows things, tells them to students, they spit them back,” District 97 Data Administrator Harla Hutchinson said. “You can’t learn everything you need to know with that model of education anymore.”

Well when you put it that way, Harla, sure. But it also used to be — no more? — a teacher standing — or sitting or walking around, gesticulating, calling on kids, INTERACTING WITH THEM, FOR GOD’S SAKE, as when they are asleep or who knows what, providing a bit of humanity in the midst of data.

Ah, the data administrators to whom we give our children for becoming lifelong learners or whatever . . .

. . . without checking.

. . . and then disappeared, having anointed a crash victim and inexplicably calmed everyone down, including the rescue team working frantically to extricate her.

USA Today has a much fuller account.

New bio of Francis plots the lows and (then) highs of the man’s career. He seems not to be the man he once was.

R. Simon column today, Sun-Times (and elsewhere, for all I know), has lede for “folks,” as we say for anyone these days, dying to settle in with good ol’ Roger:

A few days go, I sat down with Dan Balz and interviewed him about his new book, Collision 2012: Obama vs. Romney and the Future of Elections in America, a searing look at presidential politics. Earlier this week, I presented the first part of our conversation, and this is the second:

Dan Balz? Good ol’ Dan?

Good for you, Rog. It must have been fun, and Dan must be a household word in houses coast to coast, or at least in Cook and the collar counties. Now tell us what you did on your vacation. Please.

(Reader, note: The copy desk supplied a hard head,

Obama campaign tracked TV viewing habits

which goes to show how literal and unimaginative those people are, sigh.)

Let it die, says LaZBoy.

Shut down the gummint, as some Repubs threaten, wanting to defund the coming trainwreck, otherwise known as ObamaCare? Perish the thought!

Oh? What about this? In 1995, when Repubs did that, what happened?

The House Republicans lost only nine seats. Nine. In fact, nationally, the House GOP got 47.8% of the popular vote to the Democrats only getting 48.1%. In fact, the House GOP outperformed Bob Dole who only got 40% of the vote. The total loss wound up being a net of eight as the GOP picked up one Democrat seat. At the time, Gingrich credited the hard line the GOP took as helping the GOP hold their own.

The Senate Republicans actually gained seats. Two.

I would argue that these losses had much more to do more than a year removed from the government shutdown with Bob Doles anemic, struggling campaign and national infrastructure, than with the government shut down. Likewise, the nine who lost were the most vulnerable House Republicans.

In other words, Erick of RedState argues, all that does not glitter may actually be a good idea.