Recommended reading

• George Will introduces us to Senate candidate Ted Cruz. At the risk of being pollyannaish, it seems that the rise of the internet and empowerment of grassroots activists is paving the way for true believers in limited government such as Cruz, Rand Paul, Mike Lee, etc. to reach the national stage. This bodes well.

• John Stossel highlights budget lessons from Canada and Puerto Rico.

• Sen. Dick Durbin provides the quote of the day.

• Walter Olson says we can thank Washington meddling for a hospital drug shortage. In contrast, I doubt there is much of a shortage of, er, non-hospital drugs here on the streets of the nation's capital.

• The Senate has voted to kill an ethanol tax subsidy. 14 Republicans and 13 Democrats voted against the measure, which makes the Democrats a bit better better on the issue than the GOP. Full credit to them. Update: Just checked the vote breakdown: it was a regional rather than partisan affair, with every senator from IA, NE, KS, IL, SD, ND, MI, MN, IN, MS, OH and MO voting to preserve the tax subsidy. The only three states where the votes were split -- GA, PA and WI -- saw GOP freshmen Johnson and Toomey vote against the subsidies while their Democratic colleagues voted to preserve them, while GA saw the two Republican senators cast opposite votes.