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There’s a certain amount of self-righteous gloating that goes on, left vs. right, in America today. That’s inevitable. But viewing from just one perspective is surely an error. This weekend’s Common Sense column over at Townhall.com takes a cautious look at the biases below the surface.

Click on over, and then come back for more reading.

Note, though there are a number of links in the article, a few more are worth looking at:

• Breitbart.com’s headlined coverage of the recent Rasmussen Report
• Breitbart.com’s coverage of an earlier Rasmussen Report — it’s worth noting that responses on the issue of gun violence have changed rapidly in recent months
• Wikipedia’s list of cognitive biases
• Herbert Spencer’s The Study of Sociology
• Herbert Spencer’s From Freedom to Bondage, (introduction to A Plea for Liberty, Thomas Mackay, ed.)

This weekend’s Common Sense column over at Townhall.com is about those awful Nixonian reactionaries who use government to suppress opposition and help establish fascist right-wing government here in America.

Oops. No, it isn’t. It’s about those awful Obamanian “progressives” using government to suppress opposition and help establish etc. etc.

Click on over to Townhall for the scoop. Come back here for a few extra scoops.

• BREAKING NEWS: Politico reports “IRS knew Tea Party targeted in 2011“
• Transcript of Lois Lerner’s Remarks at Tax Meeting Sparking IRS Controversy
• CBS: IRS apologizes for targeting tea party organization
• New York Times: I.R.S. Apologizes to Tea Party Groups Over Audits of Applications for Tax Exemption
• New York Times: Scrutiny of Political Nonprofits Sets Off Claim of Harassment
• The Blaze: IRS Admits To Targeting Conservative Groups During 2012 Election, Apologizes
• NPR: IRS Apologizes For Singling Out Conservative Groups

Talk is cheap. And hey: this weekend’s Common Sense column over at Townhall.com is free!

But the president’s sanctimonious talk is cheaper yet, because his actions are about everything but high-minded principles. Including freedom.

Click on over to the column, and then come back here for more links to more reading.

• LobeLog: Obama Condemns Indefinite Detention (And His Own Record)
• New York Times: Amid Hunger Strike, Obama Renews Push to Close Cuba Prison
• Slate: President Obama Can Shut Guantanamo Whenever He Wants
• Breibart: Jon Stewart Mocks Obama for Guantanamo Bay Posturing
• MSNBC: Obama signs 2013 defense authorization, minus indefinite detention ban

So, what country are we living in, today? Well, it’s explicable, if absurd — explicable in terms of the old “Cui bono” idea, of incentives and disincentives; absurd because of . . . well, click on over to Townhall.com, read this weekend’s Common Sense column, and see. Then come back here for further limning of the absurdist status quo.:

• CNN: “Former Atlanta schools superintendent reports to jail in cheating scandal”
• Washington Post: “The danger of how we grade teachers and schools,” by Jena McGregor
• Huffington Post: “The 5 Causes of Test Cheating Scandals,” by Dr. Christopher Emdin
• Washington Post: “Atlanta’s former schools chief charged under law used against Mafia,” by Valerie Strauss
• The Daily Caller: “Ballot-fraud convictions shed light on Obama’s ’08 campaign”
• Washington Post: “Ending retirement abuses in Montgomery County”
• Washington Examiner: “Unions face off with Montgomery County Council, residents over raises,” by Kate Jacobson
• Washington Post: “Congress finds it hard to let Federal Helium Program run out of gas,” by David A. Fahrenthold
• The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics: “Public Choice,” by William F. Shughart II

Over at Townhall.com, the weekend Common Sense column goes west. You go there, and then come back here to be steered in the right direction:

• Mayor Leavitt’s State of the City speech
• Paul Krugman’s New York Times op-ed (quoted)
• John Charles speaks on the subject
• Cascade video comparing light rail w/ bus service (hilarious)
• “High Capacity Light Rail and $ Million Buses, Warranted in Clark County?” by Margaret Tweet
• Court case ruling on duplicate signatures
• “Proposed light-rail ordinance won’t appear on ’13 Vancouver ballot,” The Columbian article on City Attorney opinion
• Columbia River Crossing: Facts You May Not Know (CRC Facts Forum)