SOME TIPS FOR protecting online privacy.

FROM “SILENT MAJORITY” to silenced majority.

IN THE MAIL: Avery Gilbert’s What the Nose Knows: The Science of Scent in Everyday Life.

READER MIKE PARANZINO ASKS: “Will Obama pardon Rezko? Shouldn’t someone ask him BEFORE election day?”

Maybe at his next open press conference. Oh, wait . . . . .

GLAD YOU LIVED, DUDE: Are Tiny, Gas-Saving Cars Unsafe? Today Mine Saved My Life. “I rolled my Toyota Yaris three times this morning after hitting a six-foot-high dirt embankment at highway speed. I crawled out with no more than a bump on my head, seat belt burn, and a massively stiff neck. So, for all you small car safety-doubters out there, I’ve now got personal experience to say otherwise.” But what if you’d hit a Suburban?

THE CAMPAIGN AND the media strategy.

CANADIAN KANGAROO COURT UPDATE: Not just censoring speech, but censoring Ezra Levant’s legal papers in response.

Tar, feathers, and other “out of doors political activity” are beginning to look more appropriate.

CONVENIENTLY ENOUGH, IN PLENTY OF TIME FOR CHRISTMAS: The Toys of the Year are announced.

KATIE GRANJU on insurance for bloggers.

ANN ALTHOUSE: “What do you have to do in Britain to get a life sentence?”

MICKEY KAUS: “At Swampland, Joe Klein has formally entered full Pro-Obama BS Mode. . . . My guess isn’t that the Powell endorsement will fade quickly. My guess is it’s already faded.”

HMM: Iraqi forces detain seven Iranian agents in Iraq. “Iraqi police and border guards have arrested seven members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps since Oct 18. The arrests come as the senior US commander in Iraq accused Iran of attempting to bribe Iraqi members of parliament to vote against the status of forces agreement that will allow US forces to remain in Iraq past 2008.”

MUSTARD SEEDS of hope.

ANOTHER PAPER dropping the Associated Press.

D.O.J. LAWYERS in the tank for Obama? “In all, DOJ lawyers and staff in the metro area have donated at least $150,000 to Obama. No wonder they seem more interested in prosecuting those who warn against vote fraud than enforcing vote-fraud laws.”

VIRGINIA POSTREL: “Now it appears the Postrels are not alone in our doubts about the anti-Prop. 8 campaign. The campaign is still a dead-heat, which is impressive in historical context but depressing in a Democratic state in a Democratic year. I only hope that if the proposition passes it won’t nullify the marriages that have already taken place.”

READER HUGH THORNER WRITES: “You might be unAmerican if . . . A Vice Presidential candidate schmoozes a crowd by calling them pro-American and you immediately think you’re being called un-American.”

The wicked flee when no man pursueth.

PRESERVING power and influence. And what’s more important than that?

JONATHAN ADLER: A real case of voter fraud. “The temptation to manipulate elections is real, and there are activists on both sides of the aisle that would steal an election if they thought they could get away with it, and local election administration often leaves much to be desired.” As I’ve said before, the current system isn’t sufficient to ensure trustworthiness, and that’s a very serious problem.

MCCAIN VS. OBAMA on scientific integrity.

TAKING SANCTUARY IN BARACK OBAMA. As Chris Mead has noted in his terrific biography, Joe Louis was treated as a secular saint by some parts of the African-American community. But Barack Obama seems to be inspiring this messianic fervor among a much wider cohort of the politically involved.

COMPARING MCCAIN AND OBAMA’S VOTING HISTORIES with their statements about space.

CAR LUST: When tuning goes horribly, horribly wrong.

ROGER KIMBALL: Is Obama a “transformational figure”? You don’t know the half of it!

THE RUSSIAN Cyber Militia: “Georgia was not just invaded by Russian troops last August, it was also hammered on the Internet, with the same Cyber War techniques used against Estonia last year. An investigation by a large team of Internet experts concluded that, as with the attacks on Estonia, the Russian government was not directly involved in the Georgia attacks. The Cyber War attacks on Georgia were coordinated from a non-government web site. If there was any Russian government involvement, it was indirect.” How convenient.