SPENDING CHRISTMAS ON YOUR OWN? Join the discussion.

OKAY, WE’RE NOT HAVING THE TROPICAL CHRISTMAS that we had last year. But it’s still a nice one. Hope yours is, too.

MERRY CHRISTMAS: Space-based solar energy for Palau:

In September, American entrepreneur Kevin Reed proposed at the 58th International Astronautical Congress in Hyderabad, India, that Palau’s uninhabited Helen Island would be an ideal spot for a small demonstration project, a 260-foot-diameter “rectifying antenna,” or rectenna, to take in 1 megawatt of power transmitted earthward by a satellite orbiting 300 miles above Earth.

That’s enough electricity to power 1,000 homes, but on that empty island the project would “be intended to show its safety for everywhere else,” Reed said in a telephone interview from California.

Reed said he expects his U.S.-Swiss-German consortium to begin manufacturing the necessary ultralight solar panels within two years, and to attract financial support from manufacturers wanting to show how their technology — launch vehicles, satellites, transmission technology — could make such a system work. He estimates project costs at $800 million and completion as early as 2012.

Plus, it’s greenhouse-friendly:

“The climate change implications are pretty clear. You can get basically unlimited carbon-free power from this,” said Mark Hopkins, senior vice president of the National Space Society in Washington. . . . Some seem to hear the call. The European Space Agency has scheduled a conference on space-based solar power for next Feb. 29. Space Island Group, another entrepreneurial U.S. endeavor, reports “very positive” discussions with a European utility and the Indian government about buying future power from satellite systems.

I hope it works.

A CHEERFUL CHRISTMAS IN BETHLEHEM: For the first time in years.

THE YEAR IN REVIEW: The media, the military and the surge.

THE NEXT 25 YEARS IN MILITARY ROBOTS: Some people would rather their robots make love, not war.

FINISHED THE NEW Harry Turtledove book last night. It was good — a bit more scattered since it’s really several novellas loosely knit together, but still good.

PEACE ON EARTH? “While the headlines concentrate on peace breaking out in Iraq, that’s but part of a worldwide trend for the last few years. Violence has also diminished, or disappeared completely, in places like Nepal, Chechnya. Congo, Indonesia and Burundi.”

REASON INTERVIEWS TONY SNOW. (Via Newsbusters).

EMAIL without electronics.

ROBOTS OF LOVE:

Here’s a prediction that’ll make you squirm: In the future, people will fall in love with robots. Robots will not be cold, predictable machines, but actual lovers — precocious, sexy, and remarkably humanlike in appearance. Humans will even marry robots in certain obliging jurisdictions. Now send the kids into the other room while we mention the obvious, bizarre implication: Someday, people will have sex with robots.

And not just cold, mechanical sex that barely incites a feeble meep-meep-meep from your robot lover: No, we’re talking about real elbow-pads-and-helmets sex. Electrifying sex! (And afterward the robot will take a drag on a cigarette and say, “That really recharged my batteries.”)

Hey, I’ve already got a bionic wife. On the other hand, here’s a warning about the dangers of dating robots.

Does this count as computer-generated cartoon sex? It’s safe for work — but just in case, don’t tell Hillary!

I’M WATCHING MIKE HUCKABEE ON KUDLOW RIGHT NOW, and he’s holding forth on “overpaid CEOs.”

What about governors? “Mike Huckabee’s $35,000 in speaking fees from stem cell researcher Novo Nordisk is getting attention. As is his overall speaking fee policy. I’m still scratching my head at the $138,500 for fifteen speeches Huckabee collected last year.” The more I learn, the less I like him.

UPDATE: Reader Ken Kemper emails:

I saw a portion of that while at the gym, and found his comments on the “overpaid executive” a tad frightening. He wants the boards of (presumably) all corporations to rein in and control the pay of these CEOs, and if the boards do not then as President he will push for congress to pass laws to do so. But only as a last resort.

So he’s playing the populist “no CEO should cash out for millions while the poor schlub working the factory floor loses his retirement” shtick, and he’s not afraid to campaign as a BIG government type who as president will want laws overturning free-market principles?

Tell me again why any conservative is listening to him?

Beats me. But the more he talks, the fewer will do so, I suspect.

THOSE HELPFUL POLLS:

Continuing to prove that nobody knows who is going to win the Democratic nomination, the latest University of New Hampshire-administered poll (PDF) contradicts a poll the survey center took just four days earlier. Over the last two weeks, Obama’s support has gone from 30 percent to 26 percent to 30 percent, while Clinton’s has ranged from 31 percent to 38 percent to 28 percent. Obama and Clinton are now statistically tied, as if it matters.

The last few elections, the polls haven’t proved especially reliable.

MORE THOUGHTS ON lawfare.

LIBERAL FASCISM: Will Smith says nice things about Hitler.

Nobody tell Jonah Goldberg! (Via NewsAlert).

UPDATE: Reader Chris Greve emails:

Did you notice the last paragraph in the AP story you linked to?

“Hitler’s totalitarian leadership as Fuhrer during 1934 until his eventual suicide in 1945 resulted in the persecution of an estimated six million Jews in the Holocaust, and his invasion of Poland in 1939 led to the start of the Second World War.”

Thats right, no one was exterminated – they were simply persecuted.

I don’t think it’s an AP story, unless “World Entertainment News” is part of AP. But the point stands.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Charles Martin emails:

I don’t think you’re being fair to Will Smith, frankly, Glenn. He’s saying that Hitler didn’t wake up and, like Simon LeGree, wring his hands and say “I want to do Evil today. Eeeevilll.” He’s saying that even though it was twisted, it made some kind of twisted sense *to* *him*. Do you doubt that? it’s seems pretty obvious to me.

Now, whether he could have been “reprogrammed” after 1930, I dunno. Sometimes mad dogs have to be put down. But I don’t think Hitler could have done the things he did if he were merely doing evil as an avocation.

Well, yeah, maybe. But actually that’s part of the point of Goldberg’s book, Liberal Fascism. Hitler was a nurturer . . . . Meanwhile, reader Dede Bright writes:

“Stuff like that just needs reprogramming.”

Isn’t Will Smith a member of Scientology? That sounds like a very Scientology thing to say, doesn’t it? Quite frightening.

I don’t know. I don’t keep track of Scientologists.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Eugene Volokh looks behind the story. Plus, some related thoughts from Bill Quick.

MORE: Will Smith says he was misinterpreted.

STILL MORE: Dave Price comments: “He has said some truly cringe-inducing things before; I remember seeing him on Letterman, maybe ten years ago, saying he believed AIDS came from a government laboratory (he cringed himself when he said it, so maybe he understood that statement was a little out there). He was pretty young at the time, so maybe chalk that up to youth and the life of an entertainer. Let’s be clear on what this is not: this is not anti-Semitism or sympathy for anything Adolf Hitler did. Smith is a nice, well-meaning, fairly bright guy; this isn’t an drunken rant about Jews or telling a new mother she shouldn’t take antidepressants, but rather just a somewhat naive philosophical statement to the effect of ‘everyone thinks they’re doing good even when they’re not,’ the theme of I Am Legend, the screen adaptation of which he is starring in.” I don’t actually believe that everyone thinks they’re doing good, but okay. More at the link.

FELONS ON Hillary’s Tennessee Steering Committee? A.C. Kleinheider has a roundup.

PETER WEHNER on Mike Huckabee. “Some of us — in my case, a political conservative and evangelical Christian — are getting a queasy feeling when it comes to the presidential campaign of former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, and much of it has to do with his use of faith in this political campaign.”

UPDATE: Reader Bill Brown emails:

When I was engaged in rental housing I found that when a prospective tenant I was interviewing volunteered as one of the reasons I should rent to him that he was a Christian, it almost always followed that his tenancy would result in poor payment and/or damage to the house. If I found out later that he was a Christian we could have great fellowship, but I soon learned to be very cautious, and hopefully go on to the next applicant, if his Christianity was put forth in the dicker.

Yes, a phenomenon similar to “The longer he spoke of his honor, the tighter I held to my purse.”

BECAUSE SHE DOESN’T JUST SOUND LIKE A NANNY: Clinton Would Crack Down on Computer-Generated Cartoon Sex.

IT TAKES A VILLAGE to kill a terrorist.

THIS SOUNDS ABOUT RIGHT: “If a nuclear war between Israel and Iran were to break out 16-20 million Iranians would lose their lives – as opposed to 200,000-800,000 Israelis, according to a report recently published by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.”

REVIEWING THE REVIEWERS: A roundup of Sunday’s book reviews.

PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: The Wall Street Journal editorializes on pork. It’s subscription-only, but this link ought to work for nonsubscribers for a while. Excerpt:

Our suggestion is that Mr. Bush instruct his cabinet not to spend money on earmarks that aren’t specifically mentioned in the language of the spending bill. Most are listed in accompanying Appropriations Committee reports that lack the force of law. The point of this Congressional ruse, in part, is to let Members “air-drop” earmarks at the last minute and thus escape scrutiny by other Members who might try to expose their “Bridges to Nowhere” on the House or Senate floor. Mr. Bush assailed this habit in this year’s State of the Union address, and the Members cheered. So why not force Congress to live up to its applause?

Some in the White House fear that such a move would sour relations with Congress, including GOP leaders who love their earmarks as much as Democrats do. We hear that senior Republicans, especially in the Senate, have told the White House that if Mr. Bush refuses to fund these earmarks, he will be courting retribution. There’s a reason no Members will make this threat in public, however. They know how unpopular earmarking is with the voting public.

Meanwhile, 19 taxpayer groups and individuals have written an open letter to Mr. Bush picking up on our proposal. The letter asks the President to issue “an executive order formally directing all Federal agencies to ignore non-legislative earmarks tucked into committee reports and statements of managers. Such an action is within your Constitutional powers, and would strike a blow for fiscal responsibility now while setting a valuable precedent for the future.”

I agree. And here’s the full text of the PorkBusters letter that’s quoted above.