TEN YEARS AGO ON INSTAPUNDIT: Praise for a letter on terrorism. Plus, James Lileks catches a reference.

Also, a “Walk For Capitalism.”

SYRIAN AUTHORITIES arrest woman blogger.

HMM: Iran Showed Al Qaeda How to Bomb Embassies.

JEFFREY CARTER: Clarence Page Is Tone Deaf. “Clarence Page sees Newt Gingrich, and thinks the Tea Party is dead. I see Newt’s rise, and think the Tea Party is very much alive. How can two different people have such divergent views?”

STOP THE PRESSES: Study: More Exercise Could Make For Better Sleep.

THE NEW YORK TIMES ASKS IF POLICE ARE GETTING TOO MILITARIZED.

I said yes back in 2009.

UPDATE: Policing White People. “From the point of view of policing norms, these actions were totally appropriate. But the only way that our society has even come to tolerate these police norms has been with the tacit agreement that they would not be used on white folks.”

CITIZEN SCIENTISTS: “Ordinary people are taking control of their health data, making their DNA public and running their own experiments. Their big question: Why should science be limited to professionals?” No good reason.

PUSHBACK: Putin’s Party Suffers Election Blow. “Incomplete results showed Putin’s United Russia was struggling even to win 50 percent of the votes in Sunday’s election, compared with more than 64 percent four years ago. Opposition parties said even that outcome was inflated by fraud.”

Well, when you’re roughing up election monitors people will say that.

THANKS FOR SHOPPING AMAZON though the links on this page and the searchbox in the right sidebar. By doing so you support this blog at no cost to yourself. It’s much appreciated!

PUZZLING RESULTS on Dark Matter.

#OBAMAFAIL: Saturday Night Live Mocks White House Impotence.

UPDATE: Reader James Doherty writes: “I can’t believe you’re falling for this. As with the GQ article about Obama being among the ‘Least Influential,’ this is just a part of the upcoming 2012 narrative that Obama has had nothing to do with America’s woes the last three years. You are treating these pieces as if they are criticism of Obama, but they are aimed at defending him.”

That may be their strategy, but Don’t Blame Barack — He’s Impotent! isn’t a winning slogan.

MY SUNDAY WASHINGTON EXAMINER COLUMN IS UP: The higher ed bubble is bursting, so what comes next? (Bumped).

JIM MORHARD: Are Prosecutors Above the Law? Despite their shocking misconduct, federal prosecutors in the Ted Stevens trial may not be charged with criminal contempt. “The first duty of a prosecutor, as an officer of the court, is to uphold the rule of law. By withholding exculpatory evidence, these prosecutors failed to do so. A judge should not have to give a prosecutor an order to follow the law. Perhaps it will be argued that charging these prosecutors with criminal contempt of court could have a chilling effect on future federal prosecutors. A reasonable person might respond that charging them might have a chilling effect only on future prosecutors who think they are above the law.”

UPDATE: Related: Durham DA Wrote False Motions. “Durham District Attorney Tracey Cline presented motions with false information to a Durham judge to obtain confidential documents from the state prison system about two inmates challenging her prosecutions and ethics, according to interviews and records obtained by The News & Observer.”

First Nifong, now this? What’s up with Durham?

ROGER KIMBALL: Pilot, Co-pilot, and Gunner: or, Ending the TSA Tyranny. “The TSA is itself an admonitory tale whose toxic significance far transcends its quotidian inconveniences. It is a model of a certain form of bureaucratic tyranny. It should be resisted and dismantled wholesale at the first opportunity.”

HEH: InstaPundit is a clue in today’s L.A. Times Crossword. Thanks to reader Randall Current for pointing it out.

SO DON’T BE SO NICE IF THAT BOTHERS YOU. Five Reasons Why Women Don’t Like Nice Guys. Of course, there’s nice, and there’s Nice.

I THINK THEY WOULD HAVE PREFERRED TEA: Angry Taxpayer Dumps Snakes In Tax Office.

AT AMAZON, Christmas deals in Sports & Outdoors.

Also, a sale on men’s, women’s, and children’s denim.

“SURPRISINGLY GREEN:” New Australian Desert Located.

EUROPE: Fiddling As The Euro Burns.

GOVERNMENT HEALTHCARE: Legless man denied wheelchair. “A man from Nyköping in eastern Sweden has been denied a power wheelchair despite having had both of his legs amputated as the local health authority remained ‘uncertain if the impairment was permanent’.”

FROM REMY: An Ode To The Incandescent Light Bulb.

It’s still not too late to stock up!

GOING GALT: Kennewick Construction Company Auctions Itself Off.

It took Bob Bertsch 25 years to build his construction business and just a day for it all to go away.

Bertsch’s Kennewick-based Ashley-Bertsch Group went on the auction block Friday at 9 a.m. By 4 p.m., Booker Auctions had sold off almost two dozen vehicles and trailers, tons of power tools and supplies, even the gas-fired fireplace in the office.

Bertsch, 65, said he is down-sizing because the tax burden got too expensive to stay in business.

After a quarter of a century of building a successful enterprise at 5903 W. Metaline Ave., Bertsch sat back and watched as about 200 people bid on what was left of his company — boxes of electrical parts, a drafting desk, high-end office furniture, TVs, computers and even the phone system.

Anything that could be carried away, was.

“I am tired of carrying all the tax load,” Bertsch said. “I renew 13 licenses here every year just so I can spend money in this city.”

Bertsch makes no attempt to conceal his frustration with the costs government imposes on small businesses like his.

“Government is killing small business. We used to have 24 employees at our peak. Now, all of those people who used to work here are in unemployment lines,” he said.

Hope and change.

#OCCUPYFAIL: Occupy Hartford Tried to Keep Sexual Assault Quiet.

FASTER, PLEASE: FDA speeds development of artificial pancreas systems.

CAN YOU WRITE A FULL-LENGTH STORY ABOUT WEAKENING SUPPORT FOR GLOBAL-WARMING REMEDIES AND NOT MENTION CLIMATEGATE? You can if you’re Neela Banerjee in the L.A. Times.

IN THE MAIL: When Life Strikes: Weathering Financial Storms.

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: It All Begins With Football.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Study finds faults in S.C. colleges and universities. “Many South Carolina public colleges and universities are excessively expensive and have strayed too far from their core mission: educating students, according to a recent study by a Columbia-based think tank. Tuition is rising faster than household income in South Carolina, says the study of eight colleges and universities by the S.C. Policy Council, a public policy research and education foundation that advocates for more limited government.”

KATIE GRANJU: Read It For Yourself: Investigative File in Judge Baumgartner Case. “Remember that as full of information as this 150 page chunk of the TBI file is (your jaw will drop when you read what’s in it), this is only 1/10th of the complete file, which has not been released publicly. And there are quite a few redactions in this piece of the file. So as bad as this stuff is, there’s more of it. . . . The basic question that now must be asked until there are definitive answers is this one: what did those with these special obligations to protect the integrity of our criminal justice system know, and when did they know it?”

WHERE BLACK STUDENTS FROM ELITE SCHOOLS GO TO WORK: “Black students who graduate from elite colleges consistently gravitate toward less prestigious – though by no means less important – jobs in fields perceived as directly addressing social and racial inequities, such as education, social work and community and nonprofit organizing, the author found.” Oh, I think they probably are less important. But I also think they’re fields where affirmative action is likely to play a bigger role in hiring.

AT AMAZON, bestselling books in Science Fiction.

Also: Today only: Up to 60% off on select fitness equipment.

#OCCUPYFAIL: MAN FOUND DEAD AT OCCUPY DENTON ENCAMPMENT.

THE AYN RANDING OF AMERICA: Lululemon Athletica Combines Ayn Rand and Yoga. “Lululemon Athletica, the retailer of yoga pants and hoodies, has long decorated shopping bags with slogans that appear to have been lifted from self-help books. But this month its bags have asked a question that some may find more provocative: ‘Who is John Galt?’” Somewhere, Ms. Rand thanks Barack Obama.

REGIME UNCERTAINTY: “Are economic and policy uncertainty discouraging businesses — and small businesses in particular — from hiring? Is such uncertainty a factor discouraging economic recovery? A new analysis by Mark Schweitzer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and Scott Shane of CWRU’s Weatherhead School of Management suggests some pundits and policymakers have been too quick to dismiss this possibility.”

TRANSPARENCY: Energy Committee to consider contempt citation against White House for Solyndra stonewalling.

ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: If Everyone Else Is Such An Idiot, How Come You’re Not Rich? “When internet commentators see odd behavior that they don’t understand, why do they assume that the most parsimonious explanation is that management must be a bunch of drooling morons?” Isn’t the “drooling morons” explanation the go-to for pretty much anything for Internet commentators?

#OCCUPYFAIL: Some Occupy L.A. arrestees feel traumatized, might seek therapy.

EVERYTHING’S AMAZING AND NOBODY’S HAPPY:

HEH: The Revenge of the Nerds: How the 80′s movie foretold the rise of Geek Culture. It probably did, but this piece doesn’t do an especially good job of making that point.

DAN FROOMKIN: Suskind’s Confidence Men Raises Questions About Obama’s Credibility.

Barack Obama is heading back onto the campaign trail, running as a champion of the middle class and even hoping to harness the Occupy movement’s public anger at Wall Street.

But the higher he soars with his populist rhetoric, the more he calls attention to the enormous gap between the promise of hope and change that he campaigned on in 2008 and the actions he has taken as president — especially regarding the economy, which is still stagnating, and Wall Street, which remains unpunished and unbowed even after causing the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression.

As a result, voters will inevitably be asking themselves: Who is this guy, really? Does he mean what he says? Will he do what he says? And would a second-term Obama be different?

Yes. He’d be worse.

SWATI PANDEY: How The Snowglobe Went Global.

MICHAEL YON: The Army Ain’t Dumb.

TEN YEARS AGO ON INSTAPUNDIT: Thoughts on multiculturalism.

AT AMAZON, it’s the Holiday Toy List.

Also, 75% off on select winter outerwear. Get ready for the cold.

THE HILL: New documents detail how Justice sent faulty info on gun walking. “Over 1,000 pages of emails detail officials’ debate on how to defend the ATF.” By lying?

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: UNLV: Over student objections, regents raise undergraduate tuition 8 percent.

IS RON PAUL about to win Iowa?

IS THIS A GOOD IDEA? Replacing the LSAT with psychological testing?

ED DRISCOLL: Dropping the A-Bomb on History. “What causes an ideology to completely turn its back on its culture’s past and descend into what Australian historian Geoffrey Blainey calls ‘Black Armband History?’” Puerile leftism, driven by Oikophobia.

Plus this: “If conservatives ever want to recapture the high ground of culture, just creating an alternative news media is nowhere near sufficient. they have to — somehow — recapture academia, where culture is ultimately created. And destroyed as well.”

ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Why can’t skycaps be allowed to work in the ever greater distance between the security checkpoint and the departure gates?

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: The Rise Of The Fifth Reich? “Over at the always interesting Small Wars Journal, Tony Corn has a stimulating piece on the implications of the European crisis for world politics. He sees a clueless German policy establishment recklessly moving toward an unsustainable quest for power reminiscent in too many ways of problems Germany has had in its past. . . . This is much more exciting than the usual bland pap about European politics one reads in the US, and Corn’s analysis is deeply grounded in what serious people are thinking and writing in Paris, London and Berlin.”

HOPE AND CHANGE: Black Friday Bestseller: Guns.

Numbers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation show an all-time one-day high for background check requests from gun buyers last Friday. There were 129,166 requests to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS)–a third more than the previous record of 97,848 on Black Friday 2008, FBI spokesman Stephen Fischer said. On Black Friday last year, there were 87,061 requests.

The numbers, first reported in USA Today, reflect the experience of gun-sellers on the ground. “It was the biggest rush we ever had. Some of the people at the gate sent their kid running to the gun counter to get in line,” said Tom Ritzer, store manager at MC Sports in Springfield, Mo., which opened its doors at 5 a.m. on Black Friday. Gun buyers had to wait until NICS opened at 7 before they could leave with their purchases, he said.

This reflects the sort of optimism about the future that has characterized Obama’s time in office.

BARRY RUBIN: Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta Shows How the Obama Administration Is Selling Out Israel…And U.S. Interests.

Related: Obama Fundraiser and Ambassador Blames Israel for Anti-Semitism.

UNDER ASSAULT FOR LIBERAL BIAS, Politico’s Traffic Dives. Come to think of it, I think I’ve been linking them less lately. They just seem less interesting.

RUSS ROBERTS’ PODCAST: Gary Taubes on Fat, Sugar and Scientific Discovery.

I like his book.

APTERA UPDATE: Another Electric-Car Company Officially Closes Its Doors. I’m sad about that, as their car looked promising. But the market didn’t agree: “President and CEO Paul Wilbur explained in a statement that the company couldn’t find private investors to match a proposed $150 million loan from the Department of Energy. In an effort to attract that investment, the company had switched focus from that interesting three wheeler to a more conventional four-wheeled electric car.”

SO THE KINDLE FIRE REVIEWS continue to accumulate over at Amazon. The people who love it seem to see it as a Kindle-with-benefits. The people who hate it (and there are some) seem disappointed that it’s not an iPad. Well, it’s not, but it’s less than half the price.

RATS ON THE WESTSIDE, BEDBUGS UPTOWN. What my yearlong battle with Nix- and RID-resistant head lice taught me about the future of the American louse.

100 INCREDIBLE VIEWS OUT OF AIRPLANE WINDOWS.

“RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT IS A DIRTY GAME:” Herman Cain suspends campaign.

UPDATE: Reader John Lunde emails: “Cain missed his chance for immortality: what he should have announced is that he’s taking a seventeen-day vacation.”

Now that sounds . . . Presidential!

PRE-CHRISTMAS MARKDOWNS ON TOOLS.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Obama Invites College Leaders to Closed-Door Meeting on Affordability.

The White House and the Education Department did not respond to questions about the meeting, which was first reported on Friday by Inside Higher Ed, an online news source.

But an official of a higher-education association, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that the presidents and other leaders in attendence will include F. King Alexander, president of California State University at Long Beach; Francisco G. Cigarroa, chancellor of the University of Texas system; Jared L. Cohon, president of Carnegie Mellon University; William (Brit) Kirwan, chancellor of the University System of Maryland; Holden Thorp, chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and Nancy L. Zimpher, chancellor of the State University of New York. The names of other invitees could not be learned late Friday.

The discussion will be a candid conversation about how higher education can remove barriers “to college access, affordability, and success for students,” according to a letter of invitation, from the White House to the higher-education leaders, that was obtained by The Chronicle.

The letter says the Obama administration wants to discuss ways to bring down “overall campus costs” and to make other innovations so college is more affordable for students.

More here:

President Obama has invited the presidents or chancellors of 10 colleges or state university systems to a meeting at the White House on Monday to discuss affordability and productivity in higher education. The move is highly unusual: While administration events often feature college leaders in various roles, a meeting called on such short notice, with the president himself in attendance, is rare.

Hey, maybe someone over there has been reading my stuff.

It would be smart if they invited Andy Rosen, too, but he’s from the hated for-profit sector and this — if cynicism offers a correct guide — is more about shoring up a key source of Democratic support before November of 2012.

But maybe, for once, the cynics are wrong. Anyway, for those journalists and pundits who are interested in the substance of the matter, just go here and keep scrolling.

THE KINDLE FIRE in an Age of Distraction.

THE MOST AND LEAST TAXING STATES to retire and live in.

“ARAB SPRING” UPDATE: After the hope of the Arab Spring, the chill of an Arab Winter. “One year after a Tunisian fruit vendor set himself on fire in an act of defiance that would ignite protests and unseat long-standing dictatorships, a harsh chill is settling over the Arab world. The peaceful demonstrations in Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Syria and Yemen that were supposed to bring democracy have instead given way to bloodshed and chaos, with the forces of tyranny trying to turn back the clock.”

A NEW BLOG ON HIGHER EDUCATION: Dissident Prof.

AFTER WHICH, HE LEFT ON VACATION: Obama: Congress ‘shouldn’t go home’ until tax cut is extended.

And no, I’m not really kidding about the vacation bit: Exhausted From Grueling Fundraising Trips, POTUS to Vacation for 17 Days. But to be fair, he’s not leaving for a couple of weeks.

CLIMATEGATE UPDATE: DailyTech: Climatologists Trade Tips on Destroying Evidence, Evangelizing Warming. “The emails contain outright requests for the destruction of professional communications regarding research in an effort to cover up public scrutiny of public flaws. The leaks add yet another humiliating scandal to Pennsylvania State University as they implicate prominent Penn State climatologist Michael Mann even more directly than the last release.”

You might also want to read my paper on science fraud.

IN THE MAIL: From Richard Cox, Thomas World.

#OCCUPYFAIL: Dead Movement Walking: Top Six Signs the Left And Mainstream Media Have Hung Occupy Out to Dry.

BARBARISM IN THE 21ST CENTURY: “Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday pardoned an Afghan woman serving a 12-year prison sentence for having sex out of wedlock after she was raped by a relative.” Well, maybe the pardon represents progress.

On the other hand, there’s this: “Karzai’s office said in a statement that the woman and her attacker have agreed to marry. That would reverse an earlier decision by the 19-year-old woman, who had previously refused a judge’s offer of freedom if she agreed to marry the rapist.”

KEY BIT ON THE UNEMPLOYMENT NUMBERS: “If the the labor force participation rate were back at its January 2009 level, the U-3 rate would be 11.0 percent. As it is, the broader U-6 rate — which includes part timers who wish they were full timers — is still a sky-high 15.6 percent, down from 16.2 percent last month.”

SPENGLER: Corruption And Islamism In Egypt. “Egypt under Mubarak was a tightly-controlled kleptocracy, and Egypt since Mubarak has been an uncontrolled kleptocracy, in which public officials steal whatever isn’t tied down. Shiploads of rice, diesel fuel, and other tradables are leaving Egyptian ports for hard-currency markets, while the country–which imports half its caloric consumption–runs out of money. Mubarak’s elite has helicopters revving on their roofs. It’s no surprise Islamists swept this week’s parliamentary elections. Whom do we expect Egyptians to vote for? . . . Stripped of a thin Western veneer, what remains of Egypt is one of the world’s most backward societies, despite the veneer of sophistication that beguiled reporters who parachuted into Cairo for the Tahrir Square theatrics in February. Nearly a third of Egyptians marry cousins (because they count on their clan to protect them). And 45% are illiterate, while 90% of adult women suffered genital mutilation.”

HEALTH: It Could Be Old Age, Or It Could Be B12.

Her mother couldn’t remember the names of close relatives or what day it was. She thought she was going to work or needed to go downtown, which she never did. And she was often agitated.

A workup at a memory clinic resulted in a diagnosis of early Alzheimer’s disease, and Ms. Katz was prescribed Aricept, which Ms. Atkins said seemed to make matters worse. But the clinic also tested Ms. Katz’s blood level of vitamin B12. It was well below normal, and her doctor thought that could be contributing to her symptoms.

Weekly B12 injections were begun. “Soon afterward, she became less agitated, less confused and her memory was much better,” said Ms. Atkins. “I felt I had my mother back, and she feels a lot better, too.”

Now 87, Ms. Katz still lives alone in Manhattan and feels well enough to refuse outside assistance.

Still, her daughter wondered, “Why aren’t B12 levels checked routinely, particularly in older people?” . . . A severe B12 deficiency results in anemia, which can be picked up by an ordinary blood test. But the less dramatic symptoms of a B12 deficiency may include muscle weakness, fatigue, shakiness, unsteady gait, incontinence, low blood pressure, depression and other mood disorders, and cognitive problems like poor memory.

It’s rare for vitamin levels to be checked in general. My doctor told me he’s started checking Vitamin D levels and is astounded at how low they’re coming in.

UPDATE: Physician/reader Bernard Davidoff writes: “Measuring B12 levels in older people with memory and thought problems is completely routine.” Well, I said “in general.” But shouldn’t we be measuring levels before someone has these kinds of problems?

ANOTHER UPDATE: Another physician reader, Dr. Russell Barr, writes:

I am a physician (internal medicine and geriatrics) who treats many older patients, and orders a lot of vitamin B12 levels.

You comment about making vitamin B12 a routine screening test struck a nerve, as I have considered that as well.

The main problem is that measuring it, although common and nearly routine, is expensive. Several years ago I considered putting together a package of lab tests for wellness exams in the elderly. I was considering a thyroid stimulating hormone level(screen for low thyroid hormone levels), 25-OH vitamin D, and B12. These would be offered to geriatric patients at just a little above my cost, as Medicare does not pay for screening tests (except for limited things like mammograms and flu shots.)

The cheapest I could find for a vitamin B12 level was $75. That is the wholesale price, offered only to doctor’s offices who pay reliably. Tests billed directly to the patient (retail) were double or quadruple that price. My patient population has very few who could afford a $200 package of screening lab tests. Vitamin D is also somewhat expensive.

My compromise was to order B12 levels at just the slightest hint of symptoms, fatigue, tiredness, minimal memory lapses etc. I do perhaps 10-15 levels a month, and maybe 5-10% are low enough to treat. Another 5% are borderline and deserve to be repeated in a year or so.

And reader Charles Hill writes: “My own D.O. noticed that my Vitamin D level was low, and recommended supplements. This hadn’t been a problem for me previously, though I can’t tell whether it’s due to changing metabolism – I’m now 58 years old – or a change in summer activity level due to the ridiculous heat last July and August. I’m assuming that if I had B12 issues, he’d have told me.” Maybe, maybe not.

MORE: A reader emails:

As a patient in his 40’s I’ve experienced B12 deficiency. I’ve had multiple abdominal surgeries over the past 15 years for colon cancer (3 separate times – so OK I’m a bigtime outlier in the data). All the cancer treatment has been done with an excellent team at MD Anderson. Without them there’s no question – I would have been dead long ago. Instead I’m healthy, happy and living a quite normal life.

During the most recent surgery, the end of my small intestine was removed and I really got hit pretty hard by B12 deficiency. Came back from the hospital post op feeling pretty good. But after a week at home I could barely get out of bed. Was hit with fatigue, was disoriented and had a hard time concentrating. Worked out with my primary care doc (who’s also very good) that I’d completely used up my reserves of B12 (mostly stored in the liver) and took quite large B12 supplementation for about 3 months. I still supplement with B12 10,000-15,000 mcg/day (sublingual).

The change after supplementation was dramatic after only a couple days.

B12 wasn’t the only nutrient that I had to start supplementing. There were a couple others. But without question the B12 deficiency hit me hardest.

I’m not an MD, but have begun to seriously wonder if a large portion of what we experience as aging symptoms is more specifically malnutrition that creeps up as our diet and our ability to efficiently process/digest food deteriorates. What percentage of Alzheimer’s could be mitigated with B12 supplementation? I don’t know but fear it could be a pretty high number. The only reason I discovered B12 was the root cause of my symptoms was because it happened very fast after a major change to my GI tract. Not sure anyone’s really looking when the problem creeps up over 10 or more years in a 70-something….

Well, you’ll age regardless, alas. But it’s certainly possible to feel old before your time.

AT AMAZON, bestsellers in Mystery, Thrillers, and Suspense.

FRANK CAGLE ON HOMEOWNERSHIP: America Is Going Back To Being A Renter Nation. “Up until the 1950s, the percentage of homeowners stayed at 40 percent. Aggressive government subsidies drove the percentage in recent years to above 65 percent. The housing ‘industry’ ran out of buyers. A good 35 percent of Americans prefer the freedom of movement and lack of responsibility that comes from being a renter. We will likely return to being maybe a 55 percent homeowner nation.”

Plus this: “We will likely go back to having multi-generational families living in the same house. Can your children buy a house?”

Hope and change!

MICKEY KAUS: Tom Edsall, Murdoch Stooge?

“THANK GOD FOR THE LAWYERS:” In light of the ongoing ClimateGate revelations, I thought some people might be interested in this paper on science fraud that I published a while back. It’s adapted from a chapter in The Appearance of Impropriety. Download early and often — it’s free! (Bumped).

UPDATE: As about a gazillion readers tell me, the scan’s missing a page. Sorry — I’m on travel, so I’ll have to try to get my secretary to fix it on Monday. I’ve never had that happen before. (Bumped again.)

JOSEPH BOTTUM WRITES FOR A PLUG:

As part of their “Kindle Singles,” Amazon asked me for a slightly expanded version of my old essay of childhood memoir, “Dakota Christmas,” to help lead the Kindle sales for Christmas this year, and it’s now available.

I know I’m in no position to ask a favor, but you’ve posted about my work on Instapundit in the past, and if you get a chance, do you think could mention this?

Only 99 cents, and a Christmas classic, says Andy Ferguson. Of course, he’s a friend, so what else is he going to say? Still, he points to lines like these, of which I’m a little proud:

“Her hair was the same thin shade of gray as the weather-beaten pickets of the fence around her frozen garden. She had a way with horses, and she was alone on Christmas Eve. There is little in my life I regret as much as that I would not stay for just one cookie, just one cup of tea.”

No worries if you don’t have space.

I found some. That’s the nice thing about these website thingies.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: The Ancient Virtues And Modern Sins. “Without memory we are nothing. That is what scares me about the present electronic age: everything is the next nanosecond; the last one had become absolutely nothing.”

CREEPY CONDOM AD causes controversy.

Brazilian ad agency, AGE Isobar, has come up with a novel campaign for their client, Olla condoms. They’ve created Facebook profiles of the babies guys could have if they don’t practice safe sex.

The company actually targeted specific guys’ profiles (like poor William Silva, above) and created a fake profile of their hypothetical “jr.” version (see William Silva Jr.). Once accepted, Jr. posts an innocent comment about how awesome Olla condoms are on dear old dad’s page.

The campaign is called “Unexpected Babies” and it’s bound to scare at least a few guys into double-bagging it.

Adfreak, Adweek’s industry blog, called the concept “kind of clever…[but] surely against Facebook’s usage guidelines.”

You think?

YES, THERE ARE women gamers.

#TSAFAIL: Teen stopped at airport for design on purse. “Vanessa Gibbs, 17, claims the Transportation Security Administration stopped her at the security gate because of the design of a gun on her handbag.”

But wait, there’s more. Read this:

Gibbs said she had no problem going through security at Jacksonville International Airport, but rather, when she headed home from Virginia.

“It’s my style, it’s camouflage, it has an old western gun on it,” Gibbs said.

But her preference for the pistol style didn’t sit well with TSA agents at the Norfolk airport.

Gibbs said she was headed back home to Jacksonville from a holiday trip when an agent flagged her purse as a security risk.

“She was like, ‘This is a federal offense because it’s in the shape of a gun,’” Gibbs said. “I’m like, ‘But it’s a design on a purse. How is it a federal offense?’”

After agents figured out the gun was a fake, Gibbs said, TSA told her to check the bag or turn it over.

By the time security wrapped up the inspection, the pregnant teen missed her flight, and Southwest Airlines sent her to Orlando instead, worrying her mother, who was already waiting for her to arrive at JIA.

Really, that’s just pathetic.

HMM: ARE YOU SAVING TOO MUCH FOR RETIREMENT? This seems politically convenient at a time when so many people’s 401k funds have taken a hit.

UPDATE: Reader John MacDonald writes that no, you’re not saving too much:

Financial planners factored in 6-8% returns on your nest egg.We’re in an environment where the banks pay a whopping 1% on your money.So if you had $500,000 and took out 4% a year ($20,000)- supposedly it would last 25 years.However real inflation is about 3% (gas gone down? food prices gone down? what about the printing presses?) so you’d be taking out 4% + 3% inflation so you’d run out of money sooner….and if taxes, “service” fees go up??

Today’s seniors are having a difficult time since their stocks have been shot, housing’s in the dumps and their CD rates are negligible….and that’s for those who have diligently saved for 40 years.

Yeah, as I’ve said before, if we had a Republican President there’d be a lot of tear-jerking press pieces about senior citizens living on dog food because of low CD rates. Now, not so much.

WELL, THAT SAYS IT ALL: Meghan McCain: Bachmann Is ‘Just More Smarter’ Than Palin.

WE’RE FROM THE GOVERNMENT AND WE’RE HERE TO HELP: Federal Housing Authority Poised to Re-Sink the Economy. “Back in the innocent days of 2007 or so, it was customary for experts to say that housing had led the recession and housing would lead us out. Whatever measure of truth there may have been in that cliché, the reality is that by refusing to accept the real estate correction as the healthful and decades-overdue solution it is, America’s leaders have created a new dynamic: Housing led us into the recession, and it continues to lead us into newer, deeper and more destructive recessions.”

IT’S COME TO THIS: Barbi twins: Obama abandoned the horses.

TEN YEARS AGO ON INSTAPUNDIT: I brag about my nanotechnology speech being quoted in Wired.

AT AMAZON, post-Cyber-Monday deals on watches.

Also, last-chance Cyber Monday deals on electronics.

HOW TO GIVE A GOOD GIFT: Despite an Asperger’s-induced empathy deficit, I’ve learned to choose meaningful presents for my wife. You can, too.

SHOCKING NEWS: Men think about other things besides sex sometimes.

FINALLY: The World’s First Stretchable, Elastic Electrical Cord.

AT THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT, A CONVENIENT “MISTAKE:” “The Justice Department on Friday provided Congress with documents detailing how department officials gave inaccurate information to a U.S. senator in the controversy surrounding Operation Fast and Furious, the flawed law enforcement initiative aimed at dismantling major arms trafficking networks on the Southwest border. In a letter last February to Charles Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Justice Department said that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms had not sanctioned the sale of assault weapons to a straw purchaser and that the agency makes every effort to intercept weapons that have been purchased illegally. In connection with Operation Fast and Furious, both statements turned out to be incorrect.”

UPDATE: Law Prof. Joseph Olson emails: “It was so simple to lie and they thought it would do the trick. Exactly how every cover up commences. Then the ball of string unravels.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Prof. Stephen Clark writes:

They dump this stuff on Friday afternoon. Why? Does anyone even pretend to be surprised anymore?

You lie to the DOJ and you go to prison. The DOJ lies to you and it’s just another day at the office.

Indeed.

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MICKEY KAUS SPOTS “the latest, strange GOP trend: reasonableness. What caused it and what does it mean?”

100 CAMERAS IN 1: An iPhone Camera App review.

THIS IS A REAL DEAL: Today Only: Panasonic Lumix LX5 Camera for $269. I’ve got one, and it’s a great camera. (Bumped, because this is a good deal.)

TECHNOLOGY: Can big companies harness disruptive innovation?

TIM BLAIR: The Sacrament Of The Bulb.