WASHINGTON’S BIGGEST LOSERS OF 2008. My favorite:

Public Financing. In the words of one former Republican campaign staffer, “It didn’t just lose, it died. Dead dead. Drawn, quartered, its entrails burned while its body was hung.” And while Obama aides are feeling pretty smug about their “small-donor” model, one wonders what will happen when the rock star is just another president presiding over midterms. The policy was a noble goal that died at the hands of a former proponent, a death that’s almost Shakespearean in its symmetry but much much more boring.

Well, the one on John Kerry is pretty good, too.

SUBDIVISION WILDLIFE: A blog devoted to urban and suburban wildlife photos.

ALAN BOYLE: Fusion we can believe in? More progress on Polywell / Bussard fusion. Hope it pans out — we could use something like this about now. One good sign, which InstaPundit readers already know about: “Obama’s team has at least one person who knows about Polywell fusion: Nobel-winning physicist Steven Chu, who will be taking over the Energy Department.”

ROGER SIMON: “I read with amusement that reporters and photographers for the Associated Press are staging (via the Newspaper Guild) a ‘byline strike.’ Say what? To stage a such a strike people have to have heard of you.”

“I DON’T WANT YOU TO WASTE YOUR QUESTION.”

UPDATE: Rick Moran: Rahm Emanuel still won’t come out of his house.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Rahm Emanuel on a milk carton.

MORE: Chuck Simmins emails: “Rahm Emanuel is wherever Joe Biden is. Barry Obama has a home for those people. Suspect JFK and Elvis are also there.”

Politico:

During today’s press conference, President-elect Baracj Obama brushed off a question from Chicago Tribune reporter John McCormick about the Blagojevich scandal, and what interaction any advisers had with the Illinois governor.

“I don’t want you to waste your question,” Obama said.

McCormick asked another Blago-related question, and Obama said he wouldn’t confirm a report in the Tribune from this weekend. Obama also said that the U.S. attorney’s office asked his team to withhold an internal review until next week.

After a few attempts, the reporter finally followed up by asking who had the better jump shot: Obama or incoming education secretary Arne Duncan?

The interaction with McCormick stood out from previous meetings with the press. And speaking about the exchange on MSNBC shortly after, NBC Washington bureau chief Mark Whitaker said that reporters have not been aggressive enough during Obama’s post-election pressers.

“Our job is to hold him to account,” Whitaker said, adding that he thinks “we’re going to have to get tougher.”

We’ll see if that happens.

CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS WITH MOONSHINE-SPIKED EGGNOG, at Harold’s Kosher Deli.

DICK CAVETT VS. CAMILLE PAGLIA on Sarah Palin.

WHAT EVERY KID NEEDS: A Burp Gun!

Hey, they can’t sit around playing Blokus all the time.

UPDATE: A reader emails: “Here’s something better than that burp gun toy. Check out this Nerf machine gun: 3 rounds per second, belt-fed!”

Forget the kids — I want one.

NICK GILLESPIE ON BAILOUTS AND EASY MONEY: “Twas easy money that got us into this mess, say the experts, and it’ll be even easier money that gets us out. . . . Our long national nightmare of inflationary pressures, unemployment, and nationalization of key industries is just starting.”

And yet, the auto bailout, like the Wall Street bailout, is polling badly:

The Washington Post reports that its poll finds 55% of Americans oppose the Detroit handout, while only 42% support it. Democrats have become the party of corporate welfare, with 52% supporting the bailout; majorities of Republicans (69%) and independents (57%) are opposed.

Most surprising finding: “Union households are no more apt than those without a union member to favor the plan, 44 percent compared with 42 percent.” The United Auto Workers wants government money so as to protect the work rules and artificially high emoluments that have helped make Detroit uncompetitive.

So this is really a top-down political-class thing, not a pandering-to-the-masses thing.

IS THE STATE OF ILLINOIS airbrushing Blagojevich? That’s the charge, anyway. Great picture of Obama and Blagojevich, regardless. Shame to see it disappeared.

JAMES PETHOKOUKIS: Barney Frank.

This is a quote, from 2003, that the Massachusetts Democrat would like to have back: “These two entities—Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—are not facing any kind of financial crisis. The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.” Turns out that the two government-sponsored entities were walking farther and farther out onto thin financial ice. And as late as last year, Frank wanted Fannie and Freddie to take on even more subprime risk. Washington and Wall Street have to share the blame for the financial crisis.

Don’t forget Chris Dodd. And don’t miss what he says about John McCain and Barack Obama.

S&W RESURRECTION: Knoxville expatriates will be pleased to hear that the old S&W Cafeteria space, vacant these many years, is being rehabbed into a fancy new art-deco restaurant. Better still, it’s by the folks who run the Northshore Brasserie. I expect it will be very nice.

11 TOOLS TO get for your kids.

JUST WORDS? Don’t tell me that words don’t matter. (I got that from one of the comments).

CELEBRATING IOWAHAWK’S Five Year Anniversary of doing, er, whatever it is he does.

THE RETURN OF REBECCA AGUILAR: At Ed Driscoll’s. Plus, YouTube takedowns and the value of having an attorney spouse.

A BUNCH OF Debut Trailers from the Weekend’s Video Game Award Show.

OBAMA’S NEW NEW DEAL: As bad as the Old New Deal? Or Worse?

RADLEY BALKO: “Lots of interesting new information came out at a pre-trial hearing yesterday in Chesapeake, Virginia for Ryan Frederick, the man charged with capital murder for killing Det. Jarrod Shivers during a botched drug raid on Frederick’s home last January.”

YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN YOU’LL NEED ONE, I GUESS: How to make a DIY gas mask.

FASTER, PLEASE: Progress in turning adult stem cells into pluripotent cells.

GOOD QUESTION: If Barack Obama chose Joe Biden for his “experience,” then why won’t he be given any responsibilities?

Maybe Obama’s just following my advice.

RAND SIMBERG on productivity problems and Detroit’s downturn.

SUN-TIMES: Former Blagojevich adviser Christopher Kelly to plead guilty.

Plus, Judge delays Rezko sentencing. Hmm. (Via NewsAlert).

UPDATE: Pricing a Senate seat.

TOM MAGUIRE IS PRETTY HAPPY WITH Obama’s choice for Education Secretary. More from Steve Diamond. Plus, a roundup of good cheer over at National Review.

UPDATE: More praise from Jim Lindgren.