VINTAGE JULIA CHILD RADIO.

ED DRISCOLL: In The Future, Everyone Will Be Edward R. Murrow For 15 Minutes. Well, hell, I was already Time’s Person Of The Year.

A SIXTH-CIRCUIT ANTI-OBAMACARE BRIEF from Randy Barnett and the Cato Institute.

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION ATTACK ON FOR-PROFIT SCHOOLS meets “extraordinary bipartisan opposition” in Congress. I think that whatever scrutiny is applied to employment of graduates should be applied to all schools, whether for-profit or traditional.

UPDATE: Reader Tony Benvin writes:

In your post regarding applying like standards to the examination of for-profit v non-profit schools you would do your readers a favor to distinguish the difference. As a person in the financial services industry I find that a large number of people believe that non-profits must literally not make a profit; they are not aware of the fact that a non-profit is nothing more than a for-profit corporation without stockholders.

Non-profits never make that distinction because the public confusion of non-profits with public charities (which, of course, are decidedly different) works to the non-profit fund-raising advantage. For many people there is no apparent difference between a donation to an Ivy league school’s foundation which charges $50,000/year in tuition and a donation to the Salvation Army which provides social services without charge.

Yes, many “nonprofits” simply pay big salaries to insiders in place of dividends to shareholders. In a related note, several readers have suggested that we eliminate nonprofit tax status for universities and regulate them according to the same standards as publicly traded corporations. Transparency!

SHIKHA DALMIA: ObamaCare Criminalizes Medicine. “There are a great many things wrong with Obamacare, but the biggest is perhaps one that neither party is paying any attention to: It is one huge entrapment scheme that will turn patients and providers into criminals.” That’s okay. They’ll only prosecute people who are unpopular, or whom the authorities have a grudge against. Everyone else is safe!

TODAY ONLY: Panasonic wet-dry Vortex shaver on sale.

THIS NEVER TURNS OUT WELL: America’s Dangerous Rush To Shrink Its Military Power. “Just as in the 1930s, the economy is the supposedly humanitarian excuse for reducing the military—although the endless miseries of the world will not be alleviated if, due to an imbalance of power, great and little wars rage across it.”

CHANGE: Local ACLU to Aid Tea Party Group.

THINGS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED OVER THE HOLIDAY WEEKEND, if you were, you know, off having a life or something:

Public Has No Idea How High Police And Firefighter Salaries Are.

No pain-free path to a revived housing market.

Der Spiegel not so hot on Obama anymore.

Bloomberg “in cahoots” with Ground Zero Mosque planners.

Will we soon hear that “Washington Is Broken?”

It’s not “caroling” when they scream “Fuck You!”

Joe Biden: Pat Robertson Is A Squishy Pothead-Lover.

TSA Goes After Its Critics.

IowaHawk’s guide for defeated politicians.

America’s most bankrupt mayors.

Lindsey Graham not quite grasping the situation.

Questions about Juan Williams and intellect.

Mike Bloomberg’s anti-gun mayor’s group — a nest of felons?

Praise for Snap Circuits and other hands-on toys.

What do do about Beggar States.

After-Christmas bargains galore!

RON FUTRELL: Where Are The Stories On The Death Of The Democratic Party? Don’t get cocky.

LOOKING FOR WAR ON TERROR UPDATES? Check out Fred Pruitt’s Rantburg.

RANDY BARNETT: Why the Medicaid Mandates on States Violate the General Welfare Clause.

ROLL CALL: Black RNC Members Not Backing Michael Steele. He’s been a disappointment to everyone.

CALLIE OETTINGER: The Elephant In The P.R. / Marketing Room.

Related item here.

HSBC: A bank that proudly does business in Iran. Related thoughts from Ed Driscoll.

HANS BADER: TIME FOR BIG CUTS IN EDUCATION SPENDING? “America spends far more on education than countries like Germany, Japan, Australia, Ireland, and Italy, both as a percentage of its economy, and in absolute terms. Yet despite this lavish government support for education, college tuition in the U.S. is skyrocketing, reaching levels of $50,000 or more a year at some colleges, and colleges are effectively rewarded for increasing tuition by mushrooming federal financial-aid spending. Americans can’t read or do math as well as the Japanese, even though America spends way more (half again more) on education than Japan does, as a percentage of income.”

I HAD SOMETHING ON THIS EARLIER, BUT IT’S WORTH REPEATING: Cooking the Books: The 2010 Deficit Was $2.1 Trillion.

DEROY MURDOCK: The Rich Are More Like Santa Than Like Scrooge. I dunno, Mike Bloomberg’s rich, and he’s sounding more Scrooge-like every day.

HUGH HEFNER ANNOUNCES ENGAGEMENT. “Hefner, 84, said on Saturday in a posting on Twitter that he and his girlfriend Crystal Harris, 24, got engaged on Friday.”

WHEN JOURNALISTS DISLIKE balance.

A CHRISTMAS MESSAGE FROM GEORGE W. BUSH. Without any neener-neenering about outselling Bill Clinton. That must have required self-control.

DAN MITCHELL: According to Census Data, People Vote with their Feet for Less Government.

HOW TO AVOID ENHANCED PAT-DOWNS: Demand a fresh set of gloves?

SOLAR ELECTRICITY in its most logical markets. “With the advent of cheap solar panels and high-efficiency LED lights, which can light a room with just 4 watts of power instead of 60, these small solar systems now deliver useful electricity at a price that even the poor can afford, he noted. ‘You’re seeing herders in Inner Mongolia with solar cells on top of their yurts,’ Mr. Younger said.” Yet another cyberpunk cliche comes true.

NEW YORK’S TAX PROBLEM: “It’s no sweat for 10-figure-net-worth Bloomberg to say his city and state overtax. It’s worth perspiring when professionals who earn into six figures give New York City the finger to live large in Dallas, Atlanta or Phoenix.”