DEPLOYING NUCLEAR POWER in a way that resists proliferation of nuclear weapons.

THE TEN WORST CARS of 2008.

BUSH ANNOUNCES auto bailout loan program.

ETHANOL FACES MONEY PROBLEMS: “North Dakota’s fund for helping ethanol producers hedge against fluctuating corn prices is about to run out, and the producers are getting worried.”

A BUNCH OF DVDs marked at least 50% off.

INSTA-POLL: Via email, I told Tom Maguire that if I’d known how entertaining the Obama transition would be, I probably would have gone out and campaigned for him. But my view is, like my sense of humor, probably skewed. Here’s a chance to express yours!

TIMES HAVE CHANGED in the newspaper business.

HEH: Still Waiting for Law Professors to Boycott the Inauguration:

As previously reported, the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) came under intense pressure to move its annual convention, scheduled to start January 6, 2009, away from the San Diego Grand Hyatt because the hotel is owned by a contributor to the pro-Proposition 8 campaign in California. Proposition 8 amended the California Constitution to recognize only the traditional definition of marriage (one man, one woman, no exceptions).

In response to this hotel boycott, I asked if these boycotting law professors also were going boycott Barack Obama’s inauguration, since Obama did not support gay marriage. While I received many comments, none were from law professors (although Instapundit warned: “Don’t hold your breath on that one”).

One month later, Obama has selected Pastor Rick Warren to give the invocation at the inauguration. Warren is the pastor of the Saddleback Church in California, and was an active supporter of Proposition 8. Gay marriage supporters have held protests outside the Saddleback Church to protest Warren’s role in denying gays the right to marry in California.

So now the question remains unanswered. Will the law professors boycotting the San Diego Grand Hyatt also boycott the inauguration?

Oh, I think the question has been answered — it was all grandstanding. I, on the other hand, will attend neither the AALS conference nor the Inauguration, so my gay-rights credentials are spotless.

BATTLE LINES BEING DRAWN over the Fairness Doctrine. Just one more thing that will wind up driving audiences to the Internet . . . .

MICHAEL YON WRITES in praise of Lithuanian Special Forces. “American soldiers have only one complaint about Lithuanian soldiers: There are not enough of them!” Hard to see how anyone could have interpreted his earlier writing as anything but positive, but those cross-cultural misunderstandings will happen.

SETTING AN EXAMPLE: UT administrators take pay cuts with $100M state shortfall looming. “University of Tennessee President John Petersen and all members of his executive staff will take 5-percent pay cuts and relinquish their vehicles as UT faces up to $100 million in state funding cuts.” How come members of Congress don’t do the same thing, as the budget deficit mushrooms?

STILL MORE jewelry markdowns.

CHICAGO TO ADOPT DC GUN LAWS?

TENNESSEE SAFETY DEPARTMENT denies registering guns.

WALL STREET JOURNAL: Democrats Are The New Ethics Story: “Democrats now have an image problem. The real issue isn’t so much Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s Senate-seat auction, as it is the focus that his scandal has directed toward a wider assortment of Democratic troubles. . . . The Chicago Tribune published a new story about Illinois Rep. Luis Gutierrez, who racked up $420,000 through a series of suspicious real-estate deals. Texas Rep. Silvestre Reyes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, came under scrutiny this fall for questionable earmarking. West Virginia Rep. Alan Mollohan has been under investigation for a separate earmarking mess. And then there’s Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, who has yet to answer questions about the sweetheart mortgage deal he received from Countrywide.” And Charles Rangel, who’s a one-man ethics problem!

HOW TO PREVENT A digital 9/11.

MARK FELT, aka “Deep Throat,” has died.

So has Majel Barrett Rodenberry, whom I knew a bit as we overlapped on the National Space Society board. She was very nice, and very committed.

OBAMA’S SCIENCE ADVISER: This isn’t encouraging: “In his salad days, Holdren was a paid-up member of The Limits to Growth club. . . . Near the beginning of his career, Holdren introduced with his colleague, perennial population alarmist Paul Ehriich, the concept of the I=PAT equation. Human Impact on the environment is equal to Population x Affluence/consumption x Technology. All of which are supposed to intensify and worsen humanity’s impact on the natural world. In the past Holdren has adhered to the common ecologist’s disdain for insights from economics in helping solve environmental problems.” There’s some hope that he’s wised up since: “Holdren now apparently sees technology as a solution to environmental problems and human poverty.” Say a little prayer that that’s right. More here.

NEW HOPES for organ transplants?

MORE ON THOSE UNDERFUNDED / OVERGENEROUS PUBLIC PENSIONS: “Proposals to cheapen pensions for future New York City uniformed employees — pushed this week by Gov. David A. Paterson at Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s urging — are gaining their share of buzz on Long Island. . . . Proposals to shave pension entitlements for new employees emerge in every fiscal crisis, prompting resistance from public-service unions and from the lawmakers responsive to them. Each pension tier marks an effort at what policy-makers call fiscal reform. Over the years the state has had four such tiers. The constitution bars cutting pensions to those already on the job or retired.” The problem is, it’s not the new employees who are causing the financial pain.

MORE CALIFORNIA TOWNS face bankruptcy. “‘California’s fiscal house is burning down,’ State Treasurer Bill Lockyer said in a statement.” If it goes broke, and someone finds accounting problems, will Lockyer be sent to share a cell with Spike?

WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN: L.A. Gay Center criticizes Obama, evangelical preacher defends him.

AND SO the war came. “Screw Lind, and screw his Mussolinian Reconstruction. I may just vote on his idea with my wallet, and buy myself a Bubba Benz for Christmas.”

SOME MORE RECOMMENDED World War II books for kids. And lots more recommendations over at the Books For Kids Blog.

SUN-TIMES: Deeper involvement for Emanuel. “President-elect Barack Obama’s incoming chief of staff Rahm Emanuel had a deeper involvement in pressing for a U.S. Senate seat appointment than previously reported, the Sun-Times has learned.”