NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNERS announced.

HAVE AN AL GORE CHRISTMAS, with this greenhouse-friendly virtual fireplace. It’s carbon-free!

REPORTING VIOLENCE ON THE BORDER.

THOUGHTS ON the meaning of life.

OUCH: “It is like Augustine’s Confessions, if Augustine’s Confessions had been written by a combination of Helen Gurley Brown and Britney Spears.”

Well, Britney did confess: “I’m not that innocent.” But could you get away with this on a sports website?

HILLARY now has an answer on immigration.

PATRICK RUFFINI: “I need 1,165 people before midnight.”

LOOKING AT Hillary’s various positions on driver’s licenses for illegals.

Related item here.

HEH: “Students have complained on blogs about the secrecy, noting the irony of a journalism school asking its students to refrain from asking questions.”

A LOOK AT the Al-Durah blood libel.

OH NOOO! Weak Dollar Equals Expensive Canadian Weed.

TWO VIEWS OF Thanksgiving.

WELL, THIS IS ENCOURAGING: “The U.S. military is examining different contingencies for supplying American troops in Afghanistan if supplies can no longer be shipped through Pakistan, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said today.” More at the link.

UPDATE: A.J. Strata is expecting big things. I hope he’s right.

PULLING UP TERRORISM’S economic roots.

NOVEMBER 19TH IS NATIONAL AMMO DAY: Pick up a box or two. Hey, get some Chinese-made ammo and at least it’ll be something that’s supposed to contain lead!

AT HOT AIR, AN INTERVIEW: CPT Aaron Kaufman, US Army, on the surge and whether we’re winning the war in Iraq.

ROBBER MEETS MATCH IN WEST VIRGINIA:

A guy tried to rob the place around 9 p.m.

A lawyer from D.C. and a few cooks and waitresses stopped him. Cold.

Huntington Police Lt. B.J. Wamsley told the Herald-Dispatch: “When we got there, waitresses, cooks and managers were piled on top of him near the front sidewalk. It was amazing because the man is 6-foot-2-inches and about 200 pounds — that’s pretty big for those small waitresses.”

Heh.

JOHN DICKERSON ON Hillary’s planted questions. “And it’s an anecdote that involves a real, live Iowa voter. A lot of media firestorms take place in Washington green rooms and cable chat shows, but this event took place in their state and to one of their own.”

VIDEO UPDATE: So I tried out the bluetooth wireless microphone that goes with my new HD video camera and it’s great. Very simple setup — just turn both units, the microphone and the one that goes on the camera, on. Even from across a large room the sound was excellent. My only complaint is that you can’t easily stick-mount the microphone, which would be handy. But I’m sure I’ll figure out a way.

JAMES LILEKS ON Outsourcing Holiday Chores – er, Joys.

HOUSE DEMOCRATS and Saudi money.

I SUGGEST “HEH, HEH, HEH,” instead: “THERE’LL be no ho, ho, ho this Christmas. Aspiring Santas have been told not to use the term ‘ho’ because it could be seen as derogatory to women.”

PRAISE FOR THE GUARDIAN’S IRAQ REPORTING, but not for its photo editing.

OUR POPULAR POLITICAL CLASS:

We have a president with a near record-low job performance rating – 24 percent. (The record lows were Harry Truman after he fired Douglas MacArthur, and Richard Nixon the day before he resigned. Both were at 23 percent. )

But the Democrats who run Congress have an 11 percent job approval rating. Let’s just note that in my polling in 1995, O.J. Simpson was at 16 percent.

Ouch.

BROTHERLY LOVE, at the State Department. I haven’t really been following this particular scandal, but this is odd.