GALLERY: Evolution Of The Space Suit.

CHANGE: North Carolina Is The New Utah — And D.C. Representation Is Even Deader Than It Was Before.

TEACHING ROBOTS TO WALK like old people.

JOURNALISM: “The idea that they’d fact-check a style story — I don’t think that’s incumbent on them. But there’s a difference between that and publishing a choreographed, self-serving piece of revisionist history for two people who are both members of the media industry.”

JOURNALISM: CBS News airs fake, typo-ridden cover of Bush’s ‘Decision Points’ memoir.

THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST, at Popular Science.

CHIMP GIRLS PREFER DOLLS: Chimps show familiar human sex stereotypes with objects for playing.

CHANGE: Coburn: There Will Be No More Big Spending Bills.

BILL WHITTLE RETURNS TO TRIFECTA. Merry Christmas!

STOP THE PRESSES: Oregon’s Millionaire Tax Drives Millionaires Out Of The State.

A TEA PARTY TAKEOVER of the New Hampshire GOP?

UPDATE: Reader Spec Bowers emails:

The answer is yes! I am a newly elected State Rep and I am a Tea Partier. We have 163 Freshmen Republican Reps (out of 298 Republicans and 102 Democrats) and my impression is that the majority of us are liberty-minded constitutionalist Tea Partiers. That’s not to say that all of have attended Tea Parties but we are sympathetic to the Tea Party fiscal policy: less spending, smaller government, no ObamaCare, etc.

I almost wrote you a couple of days of ago when you had an item about the Tea Parties and Republicans nationwide. Some Democrats no doubt are hoping that the Tea Parties will hurt Republicans by forming a third party. I thought to myself, “No! We’re taking over the Republican Party.” Some of us have been active Republicans for years; some are brand new. In my county, three of the five new State Reps are people I had never previously seen involved in Republican politics.

There have been many solid conservatives/libertarians in the NH GOP but never enough to make a majority. With reinforcements from the Tea Partiers – our new Speaker describes it as “The cavalry has arrived” – we may now be a working majority. So it’s not a hostile takeover, maybe not even a takeover at all. Mostly, I think, it is the grassroots stepping up to make sure that the leadership stays on the right course.

Indeed. (Bumped).

SAYUNCLE ON THE BRIAN AITKEN CASE: “At first, I was not that excited about his sentence being commuted. But after I realized that it was to set up a legal challenge to NJ’s onerous gun laws, I saw what they did there. Nappen is a smart guy.”

WHEN FLASH-MOBS GO WRONG: Oops. “A spontaneous musical concert at a California shopping mall ended with the entire complex being evacuated after some 5,000 people turned up to sing. The incident happened at the Roseville Galleria shopping mall, which is reported to have started shaking due to the volume of people inside. . . . As they burst into song, there were reports that the building’s floor began to move and creak, and witnesses reported hearing popping sounds. Emergency services were forced to evacuate the entire building.”

BEERBLOGGING from Holly Beck.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS ARE OUR FUTURE: “They said the candy canes are weapons because you can sharpen them with your mouth and stab people with them.”

RADLEY BALKO: The vindictive grand jury investigation of pain-relief advocate Siobhan Reynolds. “In the wrong hands, grand juries can even become a tool for harassing a prosecutor’s political enemies. The feud between Assistant U.S. Attorney Tanya Treadway and pain patient advocate Siobhan Reynolds is a good example.” Siobhan Reynolds, I should note, is no relation.

MIKE HUCKABEE sides with Michelle Obama in Food Fight: “Well, he’s not running for President against Michelle Obama. He’s running (potentially) against Sarah Palin. Ironically, Sarah Palin is the one who’s thin. . . . I just want to note that this bill seems to be about telling people what to eat and forcing the government’s desires on people. (Forcing the government’s desires on people? That sounds weirdly rape-y.)”

HOW GOVERNMENT FAILURE caused the Great Recession.

POPULAR MECHANICS: Can E15 Ethanol Really Damage Your Engine? Yes. Here’s How.

CHARLES LANE SLAMS “OBAMA’S ELECTRIC-CAR CULT.” Well, I put down a $99 deposit on a Nissan Leaf, and if I’m less excited than I was back when I did, I’m still not part of a cult, Obama-driven or otherwise. On the other hand, this is a good point: “For a president who claims to make policy based on ‘facts and science and argument,’ lavishing subsidies on electric cars is an intellectual scandal.”

There are plenty of good reasons to be an early adopter where new technology is concerned. But when I’m an early adopter, I’m doing it with my own money. When the government subsidizes these things, it’s distorting the market, and using money extracted from others. Meanwhile, I found Lane’s column via Autoblog Green, where they’re not persuaded.

DAVID HARSANYI: Save The Internet: Abolish the FCC!

BOB OWENS: What Do the ‘Holiday Terror Warning’ Targets Have in Common? “All are places where some states have outlawed concealed carry, which has saved plenty of lives in Israel and elsewhere. . . . Laws of course vary from state to state, but the simple fact is that the large majority of states — even those that allow concealed carry — have lacked the foresight to see a concealed carry permit holder as anything other than a civilian protecting himself or herself. They have yet to grasp the fact that concealed carry permit holders are the first line of defense against a Mumbai-style attack.”

IN THE MAIL: From Ron Reagan, My Father at 100.

AUSTIN BAY: Season’s Greetings From Al Qaeda.

MICHAEL BARONE: Census Reveals Fast Growth In States With No Income Tax. Say, I wonder if that has any implications for, you know, national tax policy? . . . .