DANIEL HENNINGER:

There are many criticisms one can make of Washington, and most of them, the result of the intended imperfection of our politics, fall under the heading of “it was ever thus.” But the men and women we send to the nation’s capital have always purported a certain pretense to seriousness on things that mattered–foreign policy and the larger domestic issues. The year 2005 was a large fall from seriousness.

Charles Krauthammer:

2005 was already the year of the demagogue, having been dominated for months by the endlessly echoed falsehood that the president “lied us into war.” But the year ends with yet another round of demagoguery.

Read the whole thing(s).

MORE ON THE IRAQI ELECTIONS from Omar at Iraq the Model, and also at Publius, who seems to be taking charges of fraud seriously.

CASS SUNSTEIN was on Hugh Hewitt’s show talking about the NSA intercepts. The transcript is here.

R.I.P., JIM HAWKINS: Yes, blogging has been light — and somewhat distracted — the past few days. That’s because Jim Hawkins died last weekend. A friend of mine, and an even closer friend of my brother’s, he was a fine human being. He raced cars and snowmobiles, skydived, and played guitar in rundown blues bars. (In Knoxville, he played with the late Sara Jordan of The Jordan Project.) But he died not from any of those activities, but from lung cancer at the age of 40. It was a sad ending to a good life, and more proof that in this world you don’t always get what you deserve.

I remember him as always cheerful, even when things were going badly. At the memorial service, it was obvious how many lives he had touched, and how much he meant to many people. (I found out last night that he went out Christmas carolling every year with the family of a friend from Junior High School, something that I never would have guessed about him).

Jim developed very serious and aggressive lung cancer, fought it through the entire round of chemotherapies, and died with grace and dignity, leaving his wife, family and friends sad, but with memories of his strength and courage that are an obvious comfort to them (and us) even now, and that will be more so with the passage of time. We should all go out so well, if not so soon.

His death is a reminder that we should live life well, while we can. Jim certainly did.

THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE responds on the NSA matter. (Via The Corner).

ENTROPY MANOR WILL BE HOSTING the next Digital Camera Carnival.

HEH, indeedy.

IT’S NOT FUNNY, but it is kind of fitting, somehow: “Three men were stabbed and three were shot during the New York release party for slain rapper Notorious B.I.G.’s CD, ‘Duets: The Final Chapter.'”

KOFI ANNAN LOSES IT: Claudia Rosett talks about why.

CORY MAYE UPDATE: Radley Balko has posted transcripts.

PROBLEMS WITH AMAZON SHIPPING? Reader Nora Cannon writes:

Are you hearing anything about Amazon having an awful Christmas season for delays and cancellations? I have 2 shipments that still haven’t left them and 1 in transit – all ordered at the beginning of December. Our daughter-in-law is in the same situation, even though she ordered at the end of November. I have heard the these sorts of complaints from a couple of other moms, though I don’t know their details of ordering. It has been years since I went “to the mall” for Christmas shopping, because on-line with Amazon and others has always been so satisfactory, but anecdotally at least something is bad wrong.
Nora

PS If they would quit filling my in-box with e-mails suggesting that I order by the 23rd for Christmas delivery, I might be more tolerant, LOL.

Yeah. I’ve been getting some deliveries very quickly — yesterday I got a DVD I had ordered the day before. And I just ordered a book that promised delivery tomorrow. On the other hand, I got an email today saying that the Serenity DVD I had ordered had shipped via UPS — but that I wouldn’t get it until 12/27. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s a UPS problem, or maybe glitches are just inevitable this time of year. I haven’t heard anything, and their home page is still pushing 1-day “accelerated delivery.” What are you folks experiencing?

Anyway, to be safe I just bought one of these (the old one died, and this one has an iPod dock!) and chose to pick it up at Circuit City rather than have it shipped, just in case.

UPDATE: Mixed reviews so far. Reader John Pike emails:

hey, glenn….like a good instapundit reader I ordered serenity (for my geeky but sexy girlfriend) from amazon on 12/19 and specified 2-day delivery….received it yesterday on the 21st…see attached screen shot from Amazon…

I have probably gotten 12-15 packages from Amazon in the past 2 weeks; none took longer than expected (I also ordered a 32-inch LCD tv that made it here in 4 days).

Geeky but sexy? Geeky is sexy! On the other hand, reader David Hodges emails:

I ordered a Christopher Buckley book on December 6 and it still hasn’t come yet. I e-mailed them and said if I didn’t receive it by Friday that I would cancel my order. The only explanation I got was holiday glitches. I suspect they are having a lot of trouble with orders right now.

Reader Kevin Myers emails:

Regarding your post about Amazon shipping, I ordered a digital camera from them to arrive before Christmas. It was advertised to ship within 24 hours, after that time period they placed it in the dreaded “shipping soon” phase where I couldn’t cancel it. They charged my credit card, and it was still “shipping soon”. When I emailed to complain (after 4 days) they assured me it would arrive by the 23rd, even gave me a $15 gift certificate (which leads me to believe they know they’re having problems). The next day the item went back to “not yet shipped” and I was sent an email saying it wouldn’t ship until after Christmas.

As I told them, it would have been nice if I would have been told sooner of their problem in inventory as I could have purchased the camera somewhere else. I also checked the item again on their site, and it is still listed as shipping within 24 hours.

And reader Eric Owens emails:

I had ordered a ton of stuff for Christmas, on December 4. None had been delivered. I finally called, using the online call feature. The problem was that Amazon planned to ship all the items at once (an option I may or may not have selected) and one item (which shall remain unnamed lest the recipient be a reader of instapundit) was backlogged.

I canceled that one thing, causing everything else to get shipped pretty much immediately. Then, I ordered the backlogged item through a z-shop, and I am confident it will arrive on time since most of the z-shops are just little stores throughout the country, without huge warehouses.

Maybe others will have success with this method if they are having problems.

Good point. I’ve had that problem before, though since I got “Amazon Prime” with free shipping, I just set everything to ship as items come available, rather than consolidating orders to save on shipping.

And reader Ryan Kelley emails:

Hey Glenn. I had two shipments put in on the 13th and 15th that hadn’t shipped. One just went out this morning and they put it as 2-day UPS shipping (even though it was ‘Super Saver’). I’m betting the other goes out today too and both arrive on my doorstep tomorrow.

I had the same experience last year. I started to get concerned but they ended up getting it to me on time. Looks like they’re doing it again this year. I don’t think it’s particularly good marketing but this year I’m not freaking out. They did say it’d be here on the 23rd when I ordered them.

It doesn’t sound as if they’re having huge problems, but obviously if you’re ordering stuff today and absolutely have to have it tomorrow, well, you could be taking a chance. But then, it is December 22d.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Lots more emails, reporting both good and bad experiences, in roughly equal proportions. Doesn’t sound like they’re having a big systemic problem, but some stuff is falling through the cracks, which I guess is no surprise. My email is proof that Amazon enjoys a lot of customer loyalty, but that you can lose that loyalty pretty fast if people have a bad experience.

LOOKS LIKE THE NYC TRANSIT STRIKE IS ENDING. Good.

As Ryan Sager noted this morning, the strike opened up a class war — just not the one the union was expecting. “[T]here is a class confrontation of a kind going on — but it’s not between rich and poor. It’s between the working class and what might be called the government-worker class. The gap between the two groups has been growing for a while.” He notes the impact of the quickly (but not quickly-enough) removed blog comments, too.

A HARD-HITTING INTERVIEW by Erin Chapin — though sitting in the interviewee’s lap probably violates some sort of rule of journalistic ethics.

THE BALTICS and the new Berlin-Moscow Gas Pact. Brussels Journal has the scoop.

IN THE MAIL: A new Harry Turtledove book, Every Inch a King. I swear, he’s the most prolific writer in science fiction and fantasy I can think of.

A KERRY CONNECTION for Time-Warner?

NANOTECHNOLOGY UPDATE:

Fashioned by the state’s Blue Ribbon Task Force on Nanotechnology, the report represents California’s second attempt in recent years to position itself at the forefront of a potential superscience, although the approach would presumably be different than in 2004, when voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 71, the $3 billion stem cell research initiative.

The report, obtained by The Chronicle, says the governor, state and federal legislators, and state bureaucracies must jump into nanotechnology, an emerging field that visionaries say could transform much of human life and be a major engine of the future world economy, generating hundreds of billions or trillions of dollars annually. While the report also addresses ethical, safety and environmental concerns, it urges California to act quickly or risk losing its nanotech edge to other states and nations.

True — though lowering real estate prices in Silicon Valley would help that, too.

PEOPLE WANT TO KNOW if I’m going to rerun the Digital Camera Carnival again this week. Nope! If anybody else wants to host one, go ahead.

HMM: “[T]he UK will start recording the movements of all vehicles on the roads, upgrading the already existing CCTV network so that they can automatically read license plates numbers as they pass by, and keeping that information for two years. And with no FISA court authorization.” This gives me an idea: Perhaps Bush should simply say that he’s surrendering to critics’ demands that we take a “more European” approach to national security.

I’LL GIVE UP MY IPOD AND MY XM2Go when they pry them from my cold, dead hands. Which this guy thinks might not be such a bad idea:

“Our culture is about distraction, numbing oneself,” said David Greenfield, a Connecticut psychologist who specializes in high-tech issues. “There is no self-reflection, no sitting still. It’s absolutely exhausting.” . . .

“Part of the reason is the hype, the commercial selling of it,” he said. “Some people feel the products will improve the quality of their lives. But do we really need to be connected in every way, shape or form?”

So are we numbed, or connected? Either way, I think he’s wrong. I think the gadgets really do improve my life, and I’d hate to do without laptops, iPods, etc.

STEPHEN SCHWARTZ: “Why American Muslims Stay Silent.”

TRANSIT STRIKE UPDATE:

New York commuters began Day 3 without subways and buses Thursday, and union leaders faced a court date to explain why they shouldn’t be held in criminal contempt for halting the city’s mass transit system.

As legal and financial pressures mounted on the union, State Supreme Court Justice Theodore Jones ordered Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Roger Toussaint and his deputies to appear in court Thursday, warning jail time was a “distinct possibility.”

Many will cheer, I suspect, if this happens.

ARE BLOGGERS a sickly lot?

MEGAN MCARDLE has more on the NYC Transit strike:

The people being hurt by the strike, unfortunately, are mostly people who make less than the transit workers do. Small businesses are being gutted by this; the last few days before Christmas is the busiest time of the year for most retail establishments, and their customers can’t get to them. One of the news shows had small businessmen complaining that this was going to bankrupt them, and I’ve no doubt that it’s true for at least some of New York’s retail stores, which often operate on a shoestring.

Meanwhile, poor workers, who tend to work hourly, are losing salary that they can ill-afford.

Read this, too.

NANOTECHNOLOGY UPDATE: If you’d like to donate to the Foresight Institute before year-end (disclosure: I’m on their board) you can go here to do it — donations are being matched 1-1 up to $40,000.

And here’s a link to Foresight’s nanotechnology roadmap project.