BUT NOTHING LIKE THIS WILL EVERY HAPPEN UNDER A NATIONAL HEALTH CARE SYSTEM!

The U.S. Interior Department said on Friday it took disciplinary action against government workers who had sex, used drugs and took gifts from employees of regulated oil and gas companies.

The punishments stem from an investigation by the department’s inspector general, who found there was “a culture of substance abuse and promiscuity” among employees at the department’s Minerals Management Service, which handles billions of dollars in oil and natural gas supplies that are turned over by companies as in-kind royalty payments for drilling on federal lands.

It’ll be different, this time. Really!

MEGAN MCARDLE ON CHRISTMAS AND THE ECONOMY: “The only good thing that I can possibly think of about this financial crisis is that it may break the rat race of constantly ratcheting consumption, which has surrounded most Americans with nice things that don’t really make them happy. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with buying whatever you want, when you have the money to afford it. But when you start thinking that you need toys and television sets to have a happy life, we’re all in trouble.”

She’s right, if overoptimistic. But what’s really nice about today’s world is that lots of things that were luxuries a few years ago are cheap — flat-screen HDTVs for under $500, for example. It’s possible to live quite well, even luxuriously in many respects, by the standards of previous decades on not all that much money, if you don’t insist on having the biggest, latest and trendiest. (One of her commenters notes this too).

Of course, for us academics, recessions can be good times. I know quite a few faculty types who’ve acquired boats, lake houses, cars, etc. at bargain prices from stockbrokers and other commision- and bonus-dependent folks when times turned bad. As an academic, you don’t make much (if any) more when times are flush, but your salary is still there when times are not-so-flush, and that supports buying opportunities. People who habitually save money and have cash in the bank are in a similar position. People who borrow against their 401K plans to buy their kids robot dinosaurs are not. (Not that there’s anything wrong with robot dinosaurs — I would have liked one when I was a kid, I suspect — it’s just dumb to be buying them when you can’t afford them).

Will this recession encourage people to save more and borrow less? Possibly. I think it would be a good thing if it did, anyway, though paradoxically recovery seems to depending on getting people to spend instead of save. Meanwhile, the Insta-Daughter is buying presents for people with money she’s saved, which has the added benefit of making her appreciate what the people who buy presents for her are doing.

JERRY POURNELLE: “It is probably irrelevant given the election results, but my remedy is simple: any company that is too large to be allowed to fail is too large, and ought to be subject to anti-trust regulation.”

VIA HERITAGE, HERE’S A SITE where you can submit comments on the EPA’s proposed carbon regulations.

UPDATE: Reader Neal King writes: “I was happy to start using the pointed-to site – until I found out that it was set up so that I could submit ‘their’ comments, not ‘my’ comments.” Well, you can type your own stuff in place of the boilerplate that’s generated automatically. But it is a bit heavy-handed.

A ROUNDUP OF sports and outdoor gifts at Amazon. Plus, a a sale on scooters, kick-powered, gas-powered, and electric.

OBAMA’S ENRON PROBLEM.

RAW CRUCIFEROUS VEGETABLES cut lung cancer risk.

UNFORTUNATELY, THE SHOW ITSELF SUCKS: Knight Rider’s KITT is a Hydrogen Electric Hybrid. At least, I watched a few minutes of the new Knight Rider a while back and found myself unexpectedly admiring the comparative genius of David Hasselhoff.

UPDATE: Making the ultimate sacrifice. Plus, the truly appalling.

TEXAS INVESTS IN anti-cancer nanotechnology.

IN THE MAIL: From Harold Coyle, Vulcan’s Fire.

JOHN ROSENTHAL: Obama’s ties to Bertelsmann are a massive conflict of interest yet to be fully disclosed.

THOUGHTS ON ethnic business and the underground economy.

THE SHAM OF SEX HARASSMENT TRAINING: “It’s little more than politically correct indoctrination.” I’m shocked, shocked to hear this.

SPYING: Checking Out ‘Joe the Plumber’ Has Gotten One State Official an Unpaid Vacation.

LEARNING FROM Col. Jeff Cooper. You could do a lot worse than read his Principles of Personal Defense.

Cooper video at the link.

QUESTIONS: “Do you now own, or have you ever owned, a gun?”

Now, I like these questions.

GOOLSBEE UNDER THE BUS? Megan McArdle is “flabbergasted” at stories that Austan Goolsbee may not be tapped as chair of Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers. But Chris Suellentrop thinks Goolsbee’s chances may still be good.

IN THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: The Car Makers Are Already Bankrupt.

HAPPY V.I. DAY!

USING THE LAW as an excuse to do nothing.