ANDY KESSLER:  Ignore The Stock Market Until February.

IN THE WASHINGTON POST, doubts about the Eric Holder nomination. “Ultimately, the call was President Clinton’s, but why did Mr. Holder not object to the pardon of a fugitive millionaire politically connected to the president?”

Some possible answers to that question here.  “So to be clear, Holder helped steer the attorney for Rich, a fugitive whose pardon request would likely have been rejected through normal channels due to his status as a fugitive, to the man Holder wanted assistance with in getting his next job. Now there’s a man who knows something about conflicts of interest.”

HAS APPLE SOLD OUT ON DRM AGAIN?  New MacBooks Have Built-in Copy Protection.

FROM RICHARD EPSTEIN, Libertarian Thoughts on Proposition 8.

MORE FROM the National Book Awards.  I think there were some obvious omissions, such as Jonah Goldberg’s Liberal Fascism — it’s timely, topical, and provocative! — and Michael Yon’s Moment of Truth in Iraq, which turned out to be quite prescient.  Oh, well.  You can hear our podcast interview with Jonah Goldberg here, and with Michael Yon here.

GOD, SCHMOD:  I want my monkey-man!

JIM LINDGREN:  A Simple Argument Against the Auto Bailout:  An Auto Bailout Would Destroy Jobs.  “Anyone who thinks that giving money to a company losing 2-3 billion dollars a month — with overpaid workers and overpaid executives – would usually save jobs in the long run, rather than lose them, doesn’t understand economics.”

MEGAN MCARDLE ON AUTO BAILOUT TALK: “By far the most optimistic estimates in the financial community come from the people who have virtually no dealings with Congress. Anyone who does, recognizes that this is not going to be bridge financing towards a massive restructuring. I’d wager even the supporters in the DC area would admit that GM is probably going to be back for more within the year.”

ILYA SOMIN:  “Polls routinely show that most Americans give very low approval ratings to Congress as a whole, but give much higher ratings to their own representatives. Count me among the minority that would give an even lower rating to their own representative than Congress as a whole. That’s because my representative is Jim Moran.”

BARACK OBAMA’S ONE-STOP SHOP for foreign-policy advisors.

ANNOUNCING the National Book Awards.

ON PJTV, it’s the first video edition of the Glenn & Helen Show, with guest Mike Huckabee.  We talk about his new book, Do The Right Thing, and about whether libertarians (like us!)  are faux-conservatives who should be purged.  Plus, what the Proposition 8 blowback will do to Republican unity, and talk of Mike Huckabee in a teddy.  (No, really).  Free to everybody, with no registration required, at the link.

UPDATE: Some thoughts from Steve Schippert.

JACOB SULLUM: “Barack Obama’s selection of Eric Holder as his attorney general is a very discouraging sign for anyone who hoped the new administration would de-escalate the war on drugs.” Meet the new boss, yada yada. As Nick Gillespie said on PJTV a while back, there was no good libertarian reason to vote for Obama — though some libertarians did.

GIVING OIL SHALE DEVELOPMENT A BOOST. This seems like an obvious good thing to me — opening up access to domestic supplies that don’t put money in terrorists’ pockets or require long sealanes to be defended against foreign powers, pirates, etc. — but some people seem to be giving it a negative spin. One worry regarding the current low oil prices is that they’ll put the kibosh on present efforts, something we’re sure to regret later.

THIS WOULD BE A COOL PRESENT: The 130-in-one electronics project kit. I had one of these when I was a kid and learned a lot. Of course, the Snap Circuits 300 is a little more high-tech-looking, and it’s been very popular with InstaPundit readers in the past. Any other recommendations for hands-on presents for kids?

UPDATE:  Reader Kevin Hritz emails:

I’m an electrical engineer. I purchased the 130 in One electronics kit you highlighted, back in 2001 when my son was one year old in anticipation of him enjoying the electronics hobby as I did as a kid. I had the 150 in One Radio Shack kit back in 1975.

The 130 in One kit has some excellent projects and allows for much more experimentation with different circuit configurations and component values than does the Snap Circuits kit. The projects in the 130 in One kit are quite interesting and really do a great job highlighting basic circuit and electronics theory.

I was also impressed with the quality of the writing in instruction manual of the 130 kit.

Nice to know.

DECLAN MCCULLAGH:  Hey, why not bail out everybody?

THE FINANCIAL CRISIS:  A teachable moment for business schools?

AH, THE MEMORIES:  Ted Stevens on earmarks.

WORSE THAN TERRORISTS, THEY’RE RACISTS!  Al Qaeda No. 2 Insults Obama With Racial Epithet.

ASSOCIATED PRESS:  Will Clinton Pardon of Tax Fugitive Haunt Holder? I heard Nina Totenberg providing air cover for Holder this morning on NPR.  Not clear whether everyone will be so obliging.

A BICYCLE HELMET that protects your spine.

TO SAVE THE AMERICAN AUTO INDUSTRY, let Detroit go bankrupt.

Meanwhile, Katie Granju thinks that such talk is union-busting in disguise.

TONIGHT ON PJTV: In the first TV Glenn and Helen Show, Helen and I talk with Mike Huckabee about his new book, Do The Right Thing, and about whether conservatives and libertarians can just get along.  Plus, Michelle Malkin and I talk about the post-election environment, whether it’s time for people on the right to learn some lessons from folks on the left, and, er, whether conservatives and libertarians can get along.  It’s free to everybody, no subscription or registration required, starting at 7 p.m. Eastern.

IT’S NOT JUST SMOKING IN A CAN:  There’s also meat water.

WHO NEEDS CIGARETTES, when there’s smoking in a can?