AT AMAZON, rolling out the Cyber Monday deals a day early.

CLIMATEGATE: FROM JIM TREACHER, A friendly chat with the global warming evangelist who lives in my head.

Related: The worst scientific scandal of our generation?

Plus, the dog ate my climate change data! “SCIENTISTS at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have admitted throwing away much of the raw temperature data on which their predictions of global warming are based. It means that other academics are not able to check basic calculations said to show a long-term rise in temperature over the past 150 years.”

How convenient. Kinda like the “flood” that “destroyed” Michael Bellesiles’ probate records . . .

UPDATE: “Botch after botch after botch.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Investigations Beginning in the UK.

PAUL MIRENGOFF: The Obama-Holder Justice Department turns a blind eye to ACORN. “DOJ has initiated grand jury probes of major businesses, and government contractors, with far less in the way of evidence than is available in the public domain on ACORN right now. It’s also ironic that the DOJ has had in place for several years a Procurement Fraud Task Force that goes after contractors who receive federal funds through fraud or collusion, or bribery, or the like.” But not connected contractors . . . .

MICHAEL BARONE: Global Warming Consensus: Garbage In, Garbage Out.

THIS IS INTERESTING: Women lead Swiss in vote to ban minarets. Why would women, in particular, be opposed to the visible spread of Islam in Europe?

UPDATE: Some thoughts from Roger Simon.

HOW TO HANG HDTVs using wall hangers.

UH OH: Black Friday weekend spending down 8 pct per person. “U.S. consumers spent significantly less per person at the start of the holiday season this weekend, dimming hopes for a retail comeback that would help propel the economy early in 2010.” I hear that ammo sales were strong, though.

UH OH: Man sought in Washington police ambush was freed by Mike Huckabee.

UPDATE: More from Michelle Malkin.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Huckabee’s statement.

HOW WIDESPREAD IS THE DAMAGE? Rand Simberg on ClimateGate.

And “hockey stick” graph creator Michael Mann is being investigated by Penn State.

THE WEEK IN WINDOWS: PC vs. Mac for the Holidays. Windows 7 has already outpaced Mac OS in adoptions.

ANOTHER GITMO OFFICIAL RESIGNS: Who Is Accountable Now?

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT ON XM/SIRIUS RADIO, the latest PJM Political is now online, with Alvin Toffler, Mark Hemingway, Michael Malone, and Jennifer Burns.

RON ROSENBAUM: When Global Warming Advocates Trivialize the Holocaust.

SURPRISE: Poll: Most respondents don’t believe stimulus has helped economy.

THE REVOLUTIONARY POTENTIAL of CCDs.

JENNIFER RUBIN: Will Obama Repair His Wimp Image? “Frankly, it might be a good time for the president to battle his left flank and demonstrate some moxie, if he has it. The world and a vast number of centrists in America, not to mention conservatives, think he’s a wimp. This is his time to prove them wrong.”

RADLEY BALKO interviewed by The Economist.

MICKEY KAUS: STOP STIGMATIZING STIGMA!

But a stigma placed on cash-like welfare (which food stamps are) remains a positive sign of a healthy work ethic. If you came across two societies–Society A, in which food stamps were stigmatized, with families reluctant to go on the dole even if they were eligible, and Society B, in which they weren’t, you would want to bet on (and live in) Society A. It’s one thing to relax the stigma on welfare in times of epic economic decline. It’s another if the stigma doesn’t return with the possibility of employment.

Indeed.

L.A. WEEKLY: L.A.’s Medical Weed Wars: How the Potheads Outwitted Antonio Villaraigosa and the L.A. City Council. Okay, even for a bunch of potheads that’s not a huge challenge. But as Xeni Jardin has noted, it’s producing some real quality-of-life problems.

TIGERHAWK: Thoughts on the ClimateGate Video.

Related: ClimateGate: The Destroyer Of Worldviews.

CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS created or saved.

Check out the list of Candidates. With this kind of PR, I’m starting to take my run for Tennessee’s 29th District more seriously! What do you think?

BUILDING A NATION OF CAMERAMEN. And women.

MODELING THE ECONOMY AS A PHYSICS PROBLEM. I’d prefer building lots of new nuclear plants to total economic collapse, please.

SO HOW’S THAT “SMART DIPLOMACY” THING WORKING OUT? Iran Plans Ten New Uranium Enrichment Plants.

POP SECRET: Microwaves at a nuclear warhead plant.

IN THE MAIL: From David Weber and Eric Flint, Torch Of Freedom. It’s an “Honorverse” book.

CLIMATEGATE AND AN ARMY OF DAVIDS: My Sunday Washington Examiner column is up.

SALENA ZITO: Bedford Falls, USA:

Main Street America has entered an era of populism that embraces neither party. People are tired of government bailouts, spending and unchecked corruption, as well as the media’s perceived lack of curiosity or investigation into all three.

They are really tired of being told their values and way of life are not politically correct.

Sounds kind of familiar. Read the whole thing.

DANIEL GROSS: China Is A Communist Country, But I Have Yet To Meet An Actual Communist.

Plus these words of wisdom: “If somebody just went out in the street and shouted, ‘I will divide the property of rich people into poor people,’ I think he would be elected. But it is useless, as parity will not solve the problem of economic development.”

RASMUSSEN: 81% Disagree With New Mammogram Recommendation.

WOMEN WHO WANT TO WANT: Desire follows arousal.

THE PAJAMA SHOPPING REVOLUTION? Black Friday store spending edges up; online soars.

Shoppers who endured long lines and sometimes-frigid temperatures spent only slightly more during their Black Friday shopping sprees than they did last year, according to data released Saturday by a research firm.

At the same time, their pajama-clad counterparts, a much smaller group that accounted for only a fraction of overall sales, shopped online from the warmth of their homes and dramatically boosted their spending.

And yet online advertising was down last quarter.

INSIDE THE TUBE: Incredible Wave Photography.

ROGER SIMON: ClimateGate: Time To Postpone Copenhagen.

MY EARLIER POST ON WILLIAMS-SONOMA led people to ask which coffeemaker I bought — a reasonable question in light of past coffeemaker blogging. It was this one from Cuisinart. A few years ago I rejected a similar model because it had a “ready” beep that couldn’t be shut off (such noisemaking by appliances is a pet peeve of mine). But this one has an easy-to-use silencing feature. So far it’s doing fine.

UPDATE: Reader Dan O’Brien writes: “I have this one. It’s my second. If this one dies, I’d buy another exactly like it.”

LISA FAIRFAX ON The Financial Literacy (or Lack Thereof) of Young Americans. Of course, the older Americans in Congress aren’t looking so hot either . . . .

IT’S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS — in Afghanistan.

Plus, helping the troops stay warm.

STILL FIGHTING OVER TRAFFIC CAMERAS IN OAK RIDGE: “More than four months after special cameras to photograph traffic offenses were installed in four high-traffic locations, they remain as controversial as Oak Ridge City Council’s narrow vote to approve them. More than 5,000 violation notices a month are now being mailed out, mostly for speeding on Oak Ridge Turnpike, records show. Through September, the cameras generated $337,427 in revenue from the $50 citations.” Which is the point, no matter what else they say.

Plus this: “By far, out-of-city drivers receive the majority of traffic violations, O’Connor said. In October, he said, 4,015 nonresidents and 1,002 residents were mailed speeding notices, he said.”

DEFENDING A PROFESSION that no longer exists.

IS DUBAI A Financial China Syndrome? Beats me. On the one hand, if rich Arab sheikdoms can go broke, who’s safe? On the other hand, anyone can spend more than they should, and stupidly — and people with lots of money may even be at more risk for that. So does it tell us anything about the state of other sovereign debtors? Doubtful. Will it bring down the system itself? Also doubtful, but who knows?

UPDATE: A hedge-fund reader emails:

Dubai could be bailed out its by its Arab pals in the blink of an eye. This is about WILLINGNESS to pay, not ABILITY to pay.

The public list of Western bank exposures shows some institutions are wounded, but not mortally so.

The big financial enterprise at stake here is the recently created industry known as “Islamic Finance” which purports to create debt instruments consistent with arcane Moslem-friendly rules.

No one knows, or CAN know, how these spanking-new pieces of paper will be honored or valued. And only insiders know who holds the paper, and what process will be used to manage their first crisis.

Given the obvious conspiracy to spring this de facto default on markets before a lengthy Islamic holiday, it’s clear this will be very much an insiders’ game.

A worst case outcome, structurally, would be the collapse of the entire Islamic Finance complex, with unknowable consequences. At the very least we’d be looking at another drain on global liquidity/financing capability, at the margin dampening global growth further and pushing the US recovery further into the future.

Interesting. Well, stay tuned . . . .

A GADGET GIFT GUIDE, from Popular Mechanics.

THE EXAMINER: Growing Public Backlash Over Obamacare.

JONATHAN ADLER ON CLIMATEGATE: “‘We’re the Experts, Trust Us,’ Has Clearly Gone by the Wayside.”

A BUNCH OF INTERESTING FOOD LINKS. And a photo of a “bacontastic” Thanksgiving turkey.

OH, GOOD GRIEF: Polanski’s Release Secured by Sarkozy.

KING BANAIAN: Not an economist, just wrong.

DID F.D.R. actually die from cancer?

TV CALIBRATION: The Easy Route.

MANCESSION: The Jobless Gender Gap: Unemployment for men is growing at a much faster pace than for women. “Imagine the outcry if women amounted to roughly three in four lost jobs in this recession.”

This was not by accident, but a matter of Administration policy in response to interest-group pressure.

MARK STEYN: Major Nidal Hasan Had An Enabler.

CANADIAN BORDER GUARDS WANT TO BE SURE THAT foreign journalists don’t criticize the Vancouver Olympics.

Good thing I didn’t go, then. . . .

MARKDOWNS ON home and garden stuff.

GATEWAY PUNDIT: 4000 Patriots Join James O’Keefe At St. Louis Tea Party Protest.

WORLD WAR II VETS: This isn’t the Britain we fought for. “As a group, they feel furious at not being able to speak their minds. They see the lack of debate and the damning of dissenters as racists or Little Englanders as deeply upsetting affronts to freedom of speech.”

DANIEL DREZNER on the global governance of apocalypses.

FLIGHT TESTING A magnetic heat shield.

ED DRISCOLL: Ron Ziegler Redux.

AT THE WHITE HOUSE, an “into-the-breach rapid response.”

READER DAN ROHR sends this photo and report from today’s St. Louis Tea Party rally.

A worthwhile event I’d say. About 1500 people, 4 K9s, about 10 speakers. A poem was very well thought out. I’d rate a few of the speakers pretty high:
James O’Keefe – nailed ACORN
Jay Steward – He was the highlight, me thinks.
Some fellow from pre/post Castro Cuba was inspiring.

UPDATE: Stephen Green writes:

From that photo on your site, it looks like the event was held at the St. Louis Muny. It’s an amphitheater in a huge natural bowl in Forest Park, and seats more than 10,000. So it really is huge. People sitting in the back rows (where that pic was taken) would have a lousy view. Were people sitting up there just because they wanted to? Or did they have to, and attendance was much higher than the reported 1,500? Can’t tell from the shot, but it’s got me curious.

Here’s the view of the stage from the back row, where that picture was taken.

Yes, later reports are saying over 4,000 people. Plenty of crowd shots there, but is it the same venue? Looks similar, but I think it’s a different one . . ..

ANOTHER UPDATE: Christopher Johnson emails: “From what I understand, it was held at Kiener Plaza downtown, a few blocks west of the Gateway Arch. There’s an amphitheater there and various events are held there all the time.”

L.A. TIMES: A Daughter’s Cure Is Priceless.

PJTV: Sonja Schmidt: Box Office Poison.

TAXPROF: Tax Court Awards $323k in Attorneys’ Fees to Two Kersting Tax Shelter Investors Because of IRS Misconduct.

KOS POLL SHOWS poor morale among Democratic voters, as reflected in low likelihood-of-voting reports. Republicans, on the other hand, are much more likely to say they’ll turn out to vote next time.

GIZMODO: Roku Channel Store Opens, But Hulu Is A No-Show.

COMING: A Toyota MR2 Hybrid? Where’s the hybrid RX8?

RETAIL SUPPORT BRIGADE UPDATE: Early holiday shopping has merchants optimistic.

THEY MUST BE PREPPING HIM FOR A CABINET SPOT! IRS files $79,000 tax lien against Schwarzenegger.

ANDREW BOLT: IPCC too “politicised” to survive.

Plus, from Tim Blair, a ClimateGate wrapup.

MORE POTENTIALLY MONEY-SAVING NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF HEALTHCARE RESEARCH: Research Shows Chronically Ill Patients Might Be Happier if They Give Up Hope.

MICHELLE MOORE WRITES that she’ll be streaming video from the St. Louis Tea Party on her blog this afternoon.

WILL HIGHER OIL PRICES DRIVE PEOPLE INTO CITIES, or move businesses out to ex-urbs?

CHEER UP! Phil Bowermaster reminds us that things are getting better all the time.

IN THE MAIL: From Michael Ledeen, Obama’s Betrayal of Israel.

CATO: ObamaCare’s Cost Could Top $6 Trillion.

PJTV: Stephen Green’s The Week In Blogs is up.

VOTER ANGER IS BUILDING OVER DEFICITS: “The generic poll shows a 16-point swing to the GOP over last year.”

Plus this: “When Mr. Obama was sworn into office the federal deficit for this year stood at $422 billion. At the end of October, it stood at $1.42 trillion. The total national debt also soared to $7.5 trillion at the end of last month, up from $6.3 trillion shortly after Inauguration Day.”

HMM: Tiger Woods: Injuries Caused by Wife, Not SUV.

UPDATE: A reader wonders how his Dubai deal is holding up. (Via FreeRepublic).

ANOTHER UPDATE: If this report is true, will Tiger get the full-blown Rihanna sympathy treatment? Or will it be treated as a joke?

EUGENE VOLOKH ON DATA SHARING AND CLIMATE RESEARCH: “My inclination would be to say that data should nearly always be shared. If you share your data, this lets others check the conclusions you draw from the data, as well as verifying the accuracy of the data against other available sources. They might disprove your arguments, or lead you to improve your arguments, or, if they reproduce your results, they might help prove the validity of your arguments. But in either case, science progresses better, and the decisions made based on the science are more reliable, than if you keep the data secret.”

OLD STORY: Bloggers stealing from Old Media. New Story: bloggers reporting actual news while Old Media covers up.

Then there’s this assist for the CBC.

CHANGE! “Who says the Democrats haven’t moved public opinion in the health care debate? According to a new Rasmussen poll out today, they have steadily persuaded more and more Americans that the health care system we have is a good one.”

RUSSIAN TRAIN CRASH “caused by bomb.”

IN BRITAIN, talk of privatizing the NHS?

THE U.S. CIVIL RIGHTS COMMISSION takes on the Black Panther voter-intimidation case. “Attorney General Eric Holder has so far ignored requests for relevant documents despite a statutory mandate to cooperate.” Now they’re subpoenaing Justice Department people.

AT THE NEW YORK TIMES DOT-EARTH BLOG, a climate scientist talks about how ClimateGate is discouraging young researchers, and how to respond. “If climate science is to uphold core research values and be credible to public, we need to respond to any critique of data or methodology that emerges from analysis by other scientists. Ignoring skeptics coming from outside the field is inappropriate; Einstein did not start his research career at Princeton, but rather at a post office. I’m not implying that climate researchers need to keep defending against the same arguments over and over again. Scientists claim that they would never get any research done if they had to continuously respond to skeptics. The counter to that argument is to make all of your data, metadata, and code openly available. Doing this will minimize the time spent responding to skeptics; try it! If anyone identifies an actual error in your data or methodology, acknowledge it and fix the problem. Doing this would keep molehills from growing into mountains that involve congressional hearings, lawyers, etc.”

Excellent advice, though perhaps a bit late now. Plus, another comment: “It is possible that some areas of climate science has become sclerotic. It is possible that climate science has become too partisan, too centralized. The tribalism that some of the leaked emails display is something more usually associated with social organization within primitive cultures; it is not attractive when we find it at work inside science.”

Read the whole thing.

TUNKU VARADARAJAN: Punking the White House.

It’s funny, but I remain concerned about security. My guess is that White House security isn’t frequently tested, and hence doesn’t stay as sharp as it should. (On the other hand, a convenience market has people trying to buy beer with fake ID every day.)

PEGGY NOONAN: A White House That Is Coming To Seem Amateurish. “When longtime political observers start calling for wise men, a president is in trouble.”

MORE AMAZON Black Friday Sales.

ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER: Jerry Brown Needs To Get Serious About Investigating ACORN.

COMPUTERWORLD: Data-Leak Lessons Learned From The Climategate Hack.

MICHAEL SILENCE: Memo #4,618,903,347 to some journos: Online discussions are a good thing.

CONGRATULATING the prescient Joe Biden.

Plus this: “The Times also ignores their own reporting of two weeks back by retelling the story of Biden and the Kurds with no mention of Biden adviser Peter Galbraith, who made millions advising the Kurds.”

IT’S THE FRIDAY SALE at Amazon.

MORE ON CLIMATEGATE, in the Financial Times: Secrecy In Science Is A Corrosive Force.

TEST-DRIVING the world’s fastest personal submarine.

DAVID HARSANYI:

With good reason, the prevailing economic concern of most Americans is jobs.

With this in mind, two Democratic congressmen have cooked up a plan to help us out. The strategy entails sucking another $150 billion of capital investment out of the market each year and handing it to an organization that can’t balance a budget, borrows money with abandon, runs massive deficits and excels at creating fairy tale jobs.

What could go wrong?

SPARE TIRES ROT YOUR BRAIN? Waist Fat Doubles Dementia Risk In Women.

A DARK MATTER ROCKET?

TOP 20 UNFORTUNATE LESSONS girls learn from Twilight.

ANNALS OF GOVERNMENT MEDICINE: “Hundreds of patients died needlessly at NHS hospital due to appalling care.” Plus this: “As is typical in government medicine, there has been no accountability even though Basildon has been criticized publicly since 2001, when the Royal College of Nursing described conditions there as ‘third world.’”

MEGAN MCARDLE ON CLIMATEGATE: “This interview with the head of the UN’s climate experts is ridiculous. He responds to concerns about the peer review process being stacked by saying . . . all the work was peer reviewed. I am open to being convinced that I should not care about hacked information, and I am a confirmed believer in AGW. So why can’t, or won’t, the climate change community mount a more compelling defense?”

Plus this: ClimateGate: The end of credibility and the need for process control. “Increasingly, the average concerned citizen without a particular ax to grind will no longer trust the climate scientists simply because they say so, or because Al Gore says so on their behalf. So how do we regain that trust? By agreeing that we will not use data or the output from climate models to inform public policy unless they have been developed according to established quality systems for mission critical software and have been audited accordingly by a genuinely disinterested third party. Because of the implications for the global economy and the well-being of literally billions of people over the next century, requiring that the models and the data used to feed the models be subject to at least the process control and auditing that we would require of a medical device seems the absolute least we should do.”

Also, is it all about power?