By the way, Pomplamoose is doing a Hyundai Christmas commercial you’ve probably seen, which is cool.

PEJMAN YOUSEFZADEH: TSA: Crushing The Critics. “I don’t know what the point of this is, other than for the TSA to inform all of us that it does not like being shown up by mere airline pilots. . . . In a sane world, of course, higher-ups at the TSA, and at the Department of Homeland Security would be forced to answer for the huge security lapses documented in the pilot’s video. But we do not live in a sane world.”

Things aren’t any better at Kathleen Sebelius’ HHS.

GOOD NEWS: Jerry Pournelle emails: “It has been a good year for me. The physicians can find no traces of the brain cancer: the radiation seems to have eradicated it entirely. Hurrah.”

THE CHRISTMAS DEALS ARE OVER, but now Amazon’s running Year-End Deals. They don’t miss a trick, do they? Hey, there are a lot of people with gift cards out there, now.

And if you’re stuck for a last minute gift, you can still send Kindle books or gift cards. Otherwise, you’re out of luck, unless you stop at Walgreen’s on the way over or something . . . .

POLIWOOD: Christmas in Poliwood: How The Boomers Killed the Spirit of the Season.

RETAIL SUPPORT BRIGADE SITREP: Not a “Broken Army” After All: “Shoppers came back in force for the holidays, right to the end. After two dreary years, Christmas 2010 will go down as the holiday Americans rediscovered how much they like to shop. People spent more than expected on family and friends and splurged on themselves, too, an ingredient missing for two years.” The surge is working!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

TAXPROF: Increasing Tax Rates on Top 1% Would Make Tax System Less Progressive. As I’ve said before, I think we need fewer people who vote but don’t pay any income tax at all.

UPDATE: Reader Mike Smyth writes:

What we need is to replace the current AMT with a flat 5% minimum income tax rate. No deductions, no credits. All income, includiing wages, interest, dividends, capital gains, inheritance. If you make $10,000, you pay $500. Make $10,000,000, pay $500,000.

Hmm. What I’d like to see is for tax rates for all taxpayers to go up and down each year in tandem with spending.

BABY IT’S frozen outside.

DECEMBER 24, 1968: Christmas Eve Greetings From Lunar Orbit.

HAPPY HINDI CHRISTMAS.

EIGHTH LARGEST ARMY IN THE WORLD deploys, vanquishes foes without suffering any losses. “A rifle behind every blade of grass.” Not sure Yamamoto ever actually said that, but it’s true enough . . . .

THE FAT GUY in Ann Arbor.

A CHRISTMAS-EVE TRADITION: From the London Symphony Orchestra.

JOE BIDEN: Pat Robertson is a squishy pothead-lover. “The more glaring concern for Biden and Obama is that come 2012, there could be several Republicans running for president who are more progressive on pot. Sarah Palin, Ron Paul, and Gary Johnson have all expressed support for drastically reforming marijuana laws. (Johnson and Paul are in favor of legalization, Palin said she supports a person’s right to use it in their home.) You also have establishment Republicans and Tea Party groups citing the 10th Amendment argument for repealing health care–the same argument most libertarians cite when calling for the repeal of the Controlled Substances Act and allowing states to legislate their own drug laws.”

Plus this: “In the unlikely event that someone primaries Obama from the left, I’ll bet money that person agrees more with Pat Robertson than with Joe Biden.”

DAVID HARSANYI TO MIKE HUCKABEE: Actually, Huck, It’s Palin Who Gets It. “In this case, Huckabee is either confused or, judging from his prior work, the kind of guy who dismisses the distinction between convincing someone and coercing someone.”

CONGRATULATIONS TO G.M. ROPER: 5 Long Years and Cancer Free!

RAND SIMBERG: Jeffrey Sachs vs. Victor Davis Hanson. “It’s no contest. In theory, they invented the mercy rule for things like this, but Sachs is undeserving. As a commenter notes, it’s rare to see such a pure, nasty, unadulterated version of ad hominem, but when you do it generally comes from a clueless leftist.”

A LOOK AT Obama Disappointment Syndrome.

DOES NORAD’S SANTA-TRACKING violate the Establishment Clause?

HOW TO KEEP YOUR SHOTGUN safe and handy. Plus, from the comments: “I modified one to hold a chainsaw…for the zombies.” But note the wussy comments from Brits. Pathetic.

THE CAR LUST GUYS review Santa’s Sleigh.

BILL QUICK: What Republicans need to remember about the American Dream.

REASONS NOT TO BUY AN IPAD FOR CHRISTMAS: Including this one:

10. The whole Apple cult is starting to creep me out.

OK, I already knew about the fans. Last summer, three-quarters of the people standing in line so they could buy the new iPhone the moment it went on sale already owned an iPhone. But now it’s the company, too. Look at how it reacted last spring, when a Silicon Valley blogger scooped an early iPhone 4: Next thing he knew he was being handcuffed on his lawn in front of his wife while police ransacked his house. And think of Steve Jobs, complaining that news coverage of the iPhone 4’s troubled aerial had been “blown so out of proportion that it’s incredible.” Hmmm, out-of-proportion media coverage—you sure you want to go there, Steve? This is the guy marketing a new telephone under the slogan “This changes everything. Again.” Maybe this stuff shouldn’t matter to me, but I have to confess it’s turning me off.

Indeed.