• Mark Steyn reminds us that “a ‘multicultural’ society needs not sensitivity training but insensitivity training — that’s to say, thicker skins.”
• This infographic reminds us that text fundraising is very, very expensive–and that giving is capped at $10 per gift.
• “Megabus and Coach USA are owned by the British company Stagecoach Group, and they have fundamentally changed the way Americans—especially the young—travel, so much so that they may help kill plans for new railroads.”
• Dependency on government continues apace: 1 in 7 Americans use food stamps.
• Last but not least, The EPA has produced a rap about climate change. Seriously.

James Otteson explains how the welfare state undermines self-government:

Without a shared default understanding that people may not be compelled to work for or otherwise support anyone else against their wishes, we no longer have a society of free and responsible individuals. We may be wealthy, but we do not respect the inherent dignity of each individual. That is a recipe for moral barbarism.

This is self-government as the Founders understood it: each of us has an obligation to govern our own self first and foremost.

• Which Alex Semin will show up in the playoffs? I hope it’s this one.
• Hard work is passé, Hamilton Nolan writes. He suggests Americans not work one minute over eight hours a day. I can’t express how much I disagree.
• Ronald Bailey suggests that even the wisest bureaucrats might not be able to resist the human temptation to overreact to perceived risks.
• Brian Clark argues that concise writing and effective writing may be at odds.
• Is there really a wage gap between men and women?
• Last but not least, the District of Columbia is taking land from private landowners and giving it to a private developer who will use it for politically-approved purposes.

• Prioritizing tasks can be hard. Trent Hamm offers some advice on how to distinguish the important from the merely urgent.
• Why is your marketing copy not converting? Copyblogger has some ideas.
• “Every piece of the ‘success story’ of the auto bailout,” Todd Zywicki argues, would “seem to be in error.”
• Regulatory capture in reverse: heavily regulated industries are protesting a Florida proposal that would remove licensing requirements for professions like interior design and dance instruction.
• Timeliness and concision are the keys to successful marketing on Facebook, Lauren Drell reports. Equally as important: asking your supporters to engage.
• Last but not least, Readability is an intriguing new online tool to make long-form online text easier to read in the browser. The Chrome extension is pretty nifty, but I haven’t taken the plunge to purchase the full service.

• Municipalities are contracting out various public services like libraries and parking enforcement to private enterprises, and the Washington Post outlines some of the challenges of this approach. Unfortunately, the Post inaccurately describes this as privatization, which is when government divests itself entirely from a current function. Contracting the function while maintaining ultimate responsibility for its provision is simply outsourcing.
• Stephen Smith points out that when it comes to “privatization” of government parking facilities, “the ‘owners’ are barely even allowed to set their own prices, nevermind decide to use their land for, *gasp* something other than parking.”
• Adam at PlayNice​.ly looks into what’s required to establish a merchant account for credit card processing. Smashing Magazine covers the same ground and suggests a few payment processors. Fundraisers should take special note of Adam’s warnings about PayPal, which may impose long-run costs hidden by its easy setup.
• The reliably progressive StreetsBlog argues that it would be a mistake to cut federal funding for bike paths and rail transit, which it argues are cost-effective. But even if a program is cost-effective, does that mean the federal government ought to spend money on it?
• Last but not least, Oregon lawmakers rick-roll the legislature.