TERROR STRATEGY: Eric Holder Doubles Down.

BIG JOURNALISM: James O’Keefe vs. Max Blumenthal: How the Left Distorts, Invents and Lies.

At this point, my first impression is that any accusation of racism from the left is probably a political tool, made by a political tool. Because that’s how it’s mostly been, lately.

UH OH: UK Greenpeace Chief Calls on Pachauri to Resign: Al Gore Still Silent. “Even the leadership of Greenpeace UK understands that low scientific standards and reckless disregard for the truth are destroying the credibility of the global warming community, and John Sauven has the courage and integrity to speak up about it. Al Gore, who shared the Nobel Prize with Rajendra Pachauri and the increasingly discredited IPCC, has a special responsibility to environmentalists and others in the United States to clearly state that bad science and poor judgment have no place in the leadership of the movement to stop climate change.”

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT IS LOOKING FOR a few good retarded lawyers. No, really. Two thoughts: (1) This explains a lot, lately. (2) Does Rahm Emanuel know?

Plus, from the comments: “On the other hand, maybe this explains why the DoJ dropped a civil rights case after winning a default judgment?”

THE COUNTRY’S IN THE VERY BEST OF HANDS: US debt to hit proposed ceiling by end-February: Treasury. “The US debt is on track to hit a congressionally proposed debt ceiling of 14.3 trillion dollars by the end of February, the Treasury said Wednesday, a day ahead of a key vote to raise it to that level.”

CHARLIE MARTIN: ClimateGate Consequences: The Mann Report. “The investigations prompted by Climategate have just started, but scientists involved are already feeling the heat.”

Plus: “Add to this that Rajendra Pachauri, the head of the IPCC, has been caught in a number of conflicts of interest. He pushed the disappearing glaciers story in order to get millions in grants. He is implicated in defending the conclusions after he knew they were unsupported, when it became clear that the IPCC reports misstated peer-reviewed science to suit its pre-defined conclusions and when IPCC authors admitted the results were slanted to have a political result. Pachauri has, so far, resisted calls to resign, but the calls continue, and it seems impossible that Pachauri won’t develop a desire to move on to other challenges before too long.”

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Katie Couric And The New Populism.

What’s interesting is that Obama’s egalitarian “J’accuse!” movement was largely supported by those who — logically, at least — were precisely the individuals Obama was railing against: people earning more than $200,000 a year who make x-times more than their lowly coworkers.

So, given the new mood of the country and the new tax codes on the horizon, can we expect law professors, actors, media celebs, and others gladly to pay 65 percent of their ill-gotten gains in state taxes, federal income taxes, new payroll taxes, and health-care taxes?

Not law professors, surely. We’re the salt of the earth.

JUST REMEMBER, THE TAXPAYERS HAVE A LOT MORE: IRS Orders 60 Shotguns.

REVOLVING DOOR ALERT: Washington Post’s Thomson the 14th Journalist to Join Obama Administration.

UPDATE: “These rats are so dumb they jump to a sinking ship.”

L.A. TIMES: Countdown begins for end of Keith Olbermann’s ‘Countdown’?

UPDATE: An Olbermann defense.

RUBES: Europeans “Shattered” by Obama’s Indifference: “Bush Was Not the Problem, Obama Is Not the Solution.” Some of us tried to point this out at the time, amid all the fashionable Bush-hatred, but we were ignored. You know what they say: To see what is in front of one’s nose requires constant effort . . . .

UPDATE: Jim Bennett emails: “Next Le Monde headline: ‘Au moins je n’étais pas la fille d’Edwards’!'”

GREAT: Muslim chaplain ‘smuggled’ box-cutter blades into jail. “A Muslim chaplain for the city Department of Correction was arrested this morning for allegedly trying to smuggle in three box-cutter blades and a pair of scissors to a lower Manhattan jail, The Post has learned. The chaplain, Zul-Qarnain Shahid, has worked as a DOC jail chaplain for the past three years, department sources said.”

UPDATE: The Associated Press flies cover.

DO BIG LIFTS PRODUCE BIG MUSCLES? J.D. Johannes on the latest information. If you like this stuff, you might want to check out his Fit For Combat.

ANDREW IAN DODGE: An apparently bigoted man is presenting himself to the MSM as a tea party leader, doing the movement’s antagonists a favor.

FROM ASTRONAUT TOM JONES, a critical take on the new Obama space policy.

VIDEO: Solar Eclipse Seen From Space.

CLIMATEGATE UPDATE: Mann Handled.

JACOB SULLUM: They’re Not Necessarily Jobs, and They Weren’t Necessarily Created or Saved, but We Gave These Guys Money, and They Gave Us Some Numbers.

CENSUS DATA MAKE hacking email easier.

A BUNCH OF new releases on Blu-Ray.

AT PJTV, Post-American Bandstand. And, yes, that’s really Pat Boone.

Plus, Zo and the Zolettes:

And, yeah, after the double-blunder on Vegas it’s a good time for “You Talk Too Much.”

VEGAS, BABY: Las Vegas mayor: Obama is “a real slow learner”; Update: Reid questioning Obama’s patriotism?

SPACE POLICY UPDATE: X Prize CEO Thinks Obama’s 2010 NASA Budget Good for Space.

FIGHTING TRAFFIC CAMERAS IN TENNESSEE: “It is no longer one nation under God…..It is one nation under surveillance.”

APPLE’S iPAD Rattles The e-Bookshelves.