IN THE MAIL: Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power.

ROBERT REDFORD, ENVIRONMENTAL HYPOCRITE? Well, on the environmental front, “celebrity” pretty much always equals “hypocrite,” unless your name is Ed Begley, Jr. Who, to be blunt, isn’t much of a celebrity these days anyway.

UPDATE: Reader Matthew Moss writes:

Is Robert Redford still a celebrity? Not according to my children, who have no idea who Robert Redford is or ever was. Likewise Warren Beatty, though my oldest thought he might be the fat guy who was raped by hillbillies in Deliverance. ‘That was Ned dear, not Warren.’ ‘No idea then, Dad.’

Strangely, all three knew Clint Eastwood.

Doesn’t seem so strange to me.

ANOTHER YEAR, another racially insensitive cafeteria menu.

JENNIFER RUBIN: “It’s supposed to be flattering, but Maureen Dowd’s interview makes David Axelrod sound like an overwhelmed political consultant.”

WEAK HORSE: Obama And The Ripple Effect.

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Mad Meat Making Scientist Proves Climate Doomsayers Wrong. “If he’s right, and if lab produced meat turns out to be practical and tasty, some big changes are coming — and I’m not just talking about heated debates over how the rules of kashrut and halal apply to artificial pork that has never touched or been touched by a pig or pig byproducts.”

TODAY ONLY: 42″ LCD HDTV for $599.

HOW TO SAVE REAL MONEY IN D.C.

CHANGE: Egypt Woes Bring Global Food Inflation Fears to Fore.

Related: Consumer spending rises more than expected. Which sounds good, except for this: “U.S. consumer spending rose more than expected in December to post the sixth straight month of gains as households drew down on their savings to fund purchases, government data showed on Monday.” If people are drawing down their savings — “savings dropped to their lowest level since March” — is that a good sign?

UPDATE: Reader John Reece emails:

It might be worth a post reminding readers of the dust-up a few months ago between Sarah “Stupid” Palin and Nobel-prize-winning economist and NY Times columnist Paul Krugman over whether there was any food price inflation. “Stupid” said yes citing actual supermarket price experience, Mr. Nobel Prize Winner sneered no, citing US government statistics. I’d say events have her winning it by knockout.

Meanwhile, another reader thinks I’m missing the real story on consumer spending:

We know that with QE2 we have inflation in our future. So isn’t consumers drawing down on savings and buying “things” now a rational response? Holding on to the money means the money will buy less in the future. This is part of why QE2 will potentially provide potemkin economic improvement for 2012 while making the subsequent 4 years worse. Which of course raises the question “Does Obama really want to be president with a GOP majority congress?”

That’s an interesting angle. And yeah, if you think you’re going to be buying things with million-dollar bills later, maybe it makes sense not to defer purchases.

THE WHITE HOUSE, THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD, and Alfred E. Neuman.

UPDATE: White House Still Behind The Curve On Egypt.

OAK RIDGE UPDATE: The Future of Warhead-Making at Y-12.

PERHAPS THIS IS WHY SO MANY CITIES AND STATES ARE BROKE: Almost half Nassau’s cops got more than $150G.

EGYPTIANS: “ElBaradei Won’t Do. He Doesn’t Have the Experience Here and He’s a Little Weak.”

SYRIA’S BASHAR AL-ASSAD: It’s Time For Reform: “Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who inherited a regime that has held power for four decades, said he will push for more political reforms in his country, in a sign of how Egypt’s violent revolt is forcing leaders across the region to rethink their approaches.”

VIOLENCE: Lefty protest arrests vs. Tea Party.

PEJMAN YOUSEFZADEH offers enlightenment to the ignorant.

L.A. TIMES: Overwhelming majority of Americans in both parties tell GOP to heed the ‘tea party’. Also, only 13% want to keep ObamaCare as it is.

I MAY HAVE HEARD BIGGER LIES, BUT OFFHAND I CAN’T THINK OF ANY: MSNBC V.P.: “MSNBC Does Not Have A Political Agenda.” And I am Marie of Roumania.

This is more like the truth: “Palin is MSNBC’s Emmanuel Goldstein, the fictional villain from Orwell’s 1984. Their coverage (and that of much of the MSM) amounts to a daily two minute hate which serves their political and business interests even if–-as in the case of the Arizona shootings-–it has little to do with reality.”

WELL, STICK WITH WHAT YOU KNOW, I GUESS: While the Middle East burns and America goes broke, Charles Schumer opines on bath salts.

A ROUNDUP OF public finance and pensions news. Mostly bad.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: At most N.J. colleges, freshmen have less than 50 percent chance of graduating in 4 years.

TOM SMITH: The last thing I have to say about Tiger Mothers I hope. “But here’s the thing. And here the point has been made easier to make by the curious fact that Tiger Mom is a Yale Law School professor and as Professor Bainbridge has pointed out, it seems almost an epidemic among faculty parents in New Haven. My fear is that little tiger kittens are not being groomed to make things that you and I can buy if we feel like it. I’m afraid, call me paranoid if you like, that those little achievers will want to grow up to, well, rule. . . . Then I worry that all this fierce intelligence, all this ambition, all this work are going toward the building of world in which my children will be mere, well, what do you call the people who support those who so intelligently manage things from on top. Not to mention the unbelievably well educated 35 year old who will tell me someday I didn’t score well enough in some algorithm I can’t even understand to get my arteries bypassed or my prostate cancer treated. I want to live in a world, and I want my children to as well, where we are free individuals, and geniuses can sell us stuff if we want to buy it. When I suspect the little elites of tomorrow are just being made more formidable still, it excites not my admiration as much as my anxiety.”

SOVEREIGN DEBT CRISIS: Pointers From The Past.

“SHE’S SO GOOD-LOOKING THAT SHE LOOKS LIKE A MAN:” Transsexual model stirs Brazil fashion show.

CHANGE: Inflation Slowing China’s Export Engine.