A SOLID COMPLAINT about the New York Times’ list of “Notable Books for 2007:” There is not a single science book on the list of “Notable Books” for the year. (Via Kevin Drum, who observes: “Basically, though, the entire list consists of history, memoir, cultural criticism, and (non-science) biography. Quite an eclectic taste those Times book reviewers have, eh?”).

WITHOUT A COURT ORDER, Google gives up IP of anonymous blogger.

UPDATE: Compare Amazon.

ANOTHER UPDATE: More on the Amazon case from Orin Kerr: “Seems kinda weird to me: can bad reporting by the press make perfectly lawful investigations unlawful?”

MORE: Further thoughts here: “In terms of the law, here’s what I don’t get, or rather, here’s one of the several things I don’t get: If public misunderstanding of Judge Crocker’s decision makes the otherwise constitutional subpoena unconstitutional, can’t Judge Crocker write his opinion in a calming and soothing way to make the subpoena constitutional? Or are bloggers and their fiery rhetoric really that incorrigible?”

RON BAILEY ON THE RISE OF techno-optimistic environmentalism.

THEY TOLD ME THAT IF GEORGE W. BUSH WERE REELECTED, people who even dared to complain about speech restrictions would be in trouble. And they were right!

JOHN TIERNEY: Who’s Afraid of “Soulless Scientism”?

SETTING A NEW HIGH IN JOURNALISTIC LAMENESS: The Details power list. Really, this reads like a parody. And it is one — just not necessarily an intentional one . . .

EVERYBODY MAKES MISTAKES: “Honey, I doomed the Universe.”

But hey, space aliens have probably already done this anyway.

ANDREW LUBIN:

Now that the war in Iraq is over . . . what can the military do better in Afghanistan?

OK, we’ve not exactly won, but Gen Petraeus is sending a BCT home from Diyala Province and not replacing it. The “Concerned Citizens” Groups south of Baghdad, the Sunni “Anbar Awakening” are standing up in numbers and professionalism that was unimagined even 18 months ago. Do the Iraqi’s like us? Hard to say, but so long as they’re not killing us, let’s be thankful for these small victories and let’s pray that the trend continues.

Now, can we do the same in Afghanistan? We’ve got the same impressive military, AND some reasonable support from NATO. Plus we’ve been at it since 2001…so why aren’t we rocking thru Afghanistan?

Because our message sucks.

Read the whole thing. It certainly seems that a lot of different people are worried about our approach in Afghanistan.

GREENHOUSE UPDATE: Has geoengineering’s time come at last?

JOEL KOTKIN on the rise of family-friendly cities. “Married people with children tend to be both successful and motivated, precisely the people who make economies go.” I’ve been a fan on Kotkin’s for a while — this contrarian book, written at the height of Japan-related American declinism, argued that America’s resilience would win out over Japan’s bureaucratic planning. And he was certainly right.

DANIEL SOLOVE ROUNDS UP new books about law and related topics.

EDUCATION ON THE SECOND AMENDMENT, from Naomi Wolf: “Few young Americans understand that the Second Amendment keeps their homes safe from the kind of government intrusion that other citizens suffer around the world; few realize that ‘due process’ means that they can’t be locked up in a dungeon by the state and left to languish indefinitely.”

UPDATE: A couple of readers think that Naomi Wolf meant the Fourth Amendment, not the Second, but I’m sure they’re wrong. First, she’s writing about Constitutional ignorance, so I’m sure she took time to review the Bill of Rights herself. Second, if she had made that kind of error, one of the layers of editors at the Post would have caught it. Third, her statement is correct on the merits.

CAR LUST: Remembering the Jensen Interceptor.

DON SURBER: “We won.”

Perhaps a bit premature, but read the whole thing.

JOURNALISTIC MALPRACTICE at The Christian Science Monitor. They’re usually better than that.

HITLER WASN’T SO BAD: At least he would have killed off all the bloggers!

HEH: “Universal’s CEO Once Called iPod Users Thieves. Now He’s Giving Songs Away.”

IF I WERE A SHAREHOLDER, I THINK I’D COMPLAIN: “Dismal returns for politically themed films in 2007 won’t stop the genre from continuing well into next year.”

It’s as if they don’t care about shareholder returns at all in Hollywood.

CITIGROUP AND ABU DHABI — A “MADE FOR DEMAGOGUERY MOMENT:” Can a Lou Dobbs Presidential run be far behind?

IN THE MAIL: National Lampoon’s Balls! An in your face look at sports, by Steve Hofstetter.

MERYL YOURISH: Girls with guns.

MICHAEL TOTTEN POSTS a new report from Fallujah:

“You’re probably safer here than you are in New York City,” said Marine First Lieutenant Barry Edwards when I arrived in Fallujah. I raised my eyebrows at him skeptically. “How many people got shot at last night in New York City?” he said.

“Probably somebody,” I said.

“Yeah, probably somebody did,” he said. “Somewhere.”

Nobody was shot last night in Fallujah. No American has been shot anywhere in Fallujah since the 3rd Battalion 5th Marine Regiment rotated into the city two months ago. There have been no rocket or mortar attacks since the summer. Not a single of the 3/5 Marines has even been wounded.

But read the whole thing.

UPDATE: Okay, I have to mention this — news to warm Al Gore’s heart:

Brand new solar-powered street lights line the main roads. Now that insurgents no longer sabotage the electrical grid, Fallujah gets around twelve hours of electricity a day on average. (It used to be a lot less.) Getting street lights permanently off the electrical grid not only frees up power for televisions and air conditioners, it prevents the city from going dark even when the power is out.

Reducing the incentive to shut the power down, of course. And it’s greenhouse-friendly!

EVAN COYNE MALONEY: “People will rarely admit they favor surrender. But if we buy in to the politically correct thinking of multiculturalism, that’s exactly where we’ll end up.” Just ask Rowan Williams!

FOER’S LAST STAND? Bob Owens notes new developments in the New Republic /Beauchamp affair.

DEFINING “RICH” DOWN: But $97,000 a year?