FOUAD AJAMI on Samuel Huntington.

A PROGRESS REPORT on SpaceX’s Falcon 9, with photos.

ANNOUNCING THE 2008 White Collar Crime Awards.

GO TO TRIAL QUICK, WHILE THEY STILL HAVE SOME MONEY: Washington lobbyist sues The New York Times over article linking her with McCain.

“WE ARE SO VULNERABLE, to so many things.” Plus, some thoughts on responding.

MICKEY KAUS: “One seemingly sure sign Obama is actually, really not going left, at least on economic policy.”

A BAD DAY FOR HARRY: Reid Balks at Blagojevich Senate Choice.

A BUNCH OF steep after-Christmas markdowns on men’s and women’s clothes. Nothing says “recession” like $80 leather jackets.

UPDATE: Reader Darren Miller emails:

There’s a chain of stores called Leatherworks–I’ve seen them in Virginia City and Reno, Nevada, and Old Sacramento, CA–in which *everything* in the store is $20 or under. Leather jackets, “chaps”, laptop cases, briefcases, you name it.

Don’t trust those discounted chaps. They don’t hold up under hard use.

JOHN WEIDNER: Richard Cohen – the intellectually insulated man.

UPDATE: Related thoughts here.

ANGRY BLOG COMMENTS: They are, indeed, a world apart.

GENE THERAPY reverses heart deterioration in rats. Faster, please.

STUFF I THOUGHT EVERYBODY KNEW: “Just because your car has been repossessed doesn’t mean you don’t still owe the bank money on it.”

PREACH WHAT YOU PRACTICE: The gospel of leisure.

USING NANOTECHNOLOGY to make teeth too slippery for harmful bacteria.

ADVICE ON toy storage.

BY CONTRAST, I’m sure Richard Cohen makes a point of seeking out people who write that he’s an idiot . . . .

JOHN TIERNEY: “If I’m serious about keeping my New Year’s resolutions in 2009, should I add another one? Should the to-do list include, ‘Start going to church’?”

PRESIDENT OLIVER WENDELL DOUGLAS: A symbolic White House farm?

LAW TALES: Speeding in an electric car.

WHAT HIGH TAXES DO: The example of New Jersey.

MORE ON THOSE OVERGENEROUS / UNDERFUNDED PUBLIC PENSIONS: Public pension scandal investigations mushrooming.

IN CASE YOU DIDN’T HAVE ENOUGH TO WORRY ABOUT: Yellowstone Earthquakes Under Supervolcano Caldera. More here.

JOHN HAWKINS: The Seven Biggest Political Blunders of 2008.

THE LATEST Grand Rounds is up!

FEASTS AND FAMINES for farmers. “The chance of red ink returning to the Farm Belt is prompting rural bankers to tighten their lending standards, which could force farmers to draw down their savings in order to stay in business. Bankers already expect some of their most indebted farmers to get out of the business next year.”