MICHAEL SILVER: Strategic Metals and American Competitiveness in the 21st Century. “Is America confronting a situation similar to the 1970s OPEC oil embargo? No, the current situation is actually far worse.”

HOLDER AT BAY: Neil Munro: Holder lashes out at The Daily Caller while refusing to address growing calls for his resignation.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE ABROAD: After Decades of Building Colleges, South Korea Faces a Lack of Students.

HANDS-ON TOYS, AND GEEK FODDER: I mentioned the Snap Circuits toys the other day, and it occurred to me that I should also mention this post on learning electronics. There’s also Penny Norman’s Inventions Kit. And I should also mention The Dangerous Book For Boys and, of course, The Daring Book For Girls. (Bumped).

BILL AYERS: Actually, I did host that fundraiser for Barack Obama. “I’d say this sort of relationship merits more coverage than it’s currently getting in the MSM. But maybe that’s why I don’t work in the MSM.”

HOLDER IS IN TROUBLE: Isakson becomes first US senator to demand Holder’s resignation. “Georgia Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson told The Daily Caller on Tuesday that he thinks Attorney General Eric Holder should resign over Operation Fast and Furious, making him the first U.S. senator to demand that Holder step down now. . . . Isakson joins 52 congressmen, three presidential candidates and two sitting governors in demanding that Holder resign immediately.”

Also, the pressure seems to be getting to him: “Isakson’s call comes after Holder lost control and accused TheDC of being ‘behind’ calls for his resignation — rather than address them — during an interview at the White House. Holder scolded a Daily Caller reporter when he asked the attorney general to address the surge in calls for his resignation.”

JAMES TARANTO: The Receding Democratic Majority? “In other words, the economic group that is most pro-Obama consists of those who make their living, directly or indirectly, off government. To some extent, this group’s interests are at odds with those of Republican-leaning private-sector workers. But only to some extent. When government gets so big and intrusive that it suppresses economic growth, it hurts the public sector too. The worst thing a parasite can do is to kill its host.”

No matter how dumb you think voters are, even a flatworm is smart enough to turn away from pain.

WASHINGTON TIMES: It’s Time To Stock Up On Light Bulbs.

Well, it’s not too late!

S.I. HAYAKAWA, WHERE ARE YOU? New Protests At University of California Campuses.

JOHN NOLTE: Bill Ayers Says One Thing, The Obama Campaign Says Another, and The Usual MSM Suspects Don’t Care.

GRATITUDE, IRANIAN STYLE: Israeli lifeguards save two drowning Iranians. ‘When we told them we were Israeli they just got up and fled.’

JIM TREACHER LOOKS AT recent rhetorical history.

#OCCUPYFAIL: Will Wilkinson: The Occupy Movement’s Enthusiasm and Contempt for Democracy. “So, as much as I might love commotions generally, and unauthorized camping specifically, at a certain point you’ve got to ask whether an ongoing commotion really continues to be healthy.”

JIM GERAGHTY: What Do Democrats Really Stand For Today? “You think the Democratic Party cares about wealth? Come on. In their minds, George Soros spending his money to help out his political views is noble, but the Koch Brothers are evil incarnate. Higher taxes are good, but no one will complain if Tim Geithner or Charlie Rangel cut corners on paying them. One might be tempted to argue that the righteousness of unions represent an inviolate principle to Democrats, but in New York, Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo is trimming here and there and living to tell the tale. No, the party really is about identity politics now; us vs. them. And everybody knows which side they’re on.”

“BARNEY FRANK, MODERATE:” The New York Times Sums Up Its Ideology In A Single Headline.

ZEROHEDGE: Record Black Friday Sales Made At A Loss: “Yup. The rumors were all true: record sales… on negative margins. Because it is not difficult to dump product when you are, well, dumping.” Hmm.

OUR SMARTEST PRESIDENT: Does Obama Know the Difference between Great Britain and England? “In a press conference this evening, the president referred in stumbling fashion to the “English Embassy” in Iran instead of the British Embassy. One can only imagine the kind of howls of derision that would greet any presidential contender if that kind of basic error were made before, say, the editorial board of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. You can watch the video above. In case the president is unaware, England forms part of Great Britain, which also includes Scotland and Wales, though not Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. There is no such thing as an ‘English’ embassy anywhere in the world, and there hasn’t been one for several centuries.”

UPDATE: Reader Carl Stritter writes: “Glenn Now that Obama has honed his ‘Austrian’ maybe he can learn to speak ‘Great Britain.'”

TEN YEARS AGO ON INSTAPUNDIT: Thoughts on therapeutic cloning.

MODERN POLICING: At least he wasn’t pepper sprayed or tased.

AT AMAZON, post-Cyber Monday deals in Electronics.

WHITEWASHING the Ku Klux Klan’s progressive ties. Don’t be silly. All the Klansmen were conservative Republicans. And it was that liberal Democrat Abe Lincoln who freed the slaves!

EUROPE: George Osborne prepares for run on banks in troubled eurozone countries. “Behind the scenes Treasury officials are hard at work. They are losing sleep over fears of a run on the banks in Italy and some of the other troubled eurozone members.”

UPDATE: Megan McArdle: “Well, things are getting a little gnarly in Europe.”

BRET STEPHENS: The Great Global Warming Fizzle.

Related: ClimateGate 2.0 In Context.

1979 ALL OVER AGAIN: MORE TROUBLE WITH EMBASSIES IN IRAN: “OK, so this time the Embassy in question is Britain’s not America’s. But the similarities are more significant than the differences. What is happening now is happening for a very particular reason: because the West has lost its authority in the Middle East. By attempting to appease it it has shown the weakness which the Islamic world despises and which it is now exploiting with vicious glee.” See, this problem would be solved with my flamethrower idea.

And, on a more serious note, had Jimmy Carter responded with force instantly in 1979, we’d have been spared a lot of subsequent problems.

BUSTED: Ayers Admits To Obama Fundraiser That Obama Campaign Called ‘Myth.’ “In 2008 the Barack Obama for President campaign went into full denial mode accusing the McCain/Palin campaign of lying about a fundraiser held in domestic terrorist Bill Ayers’s home for Barack Obama’s Illinois State Senate campaign. Watch this clip from October 15, 2008 where spokesman Robert Gibbs flat-out denies the fundraiser story to an inquiring Chris Matthews. Then watch Bill Ayers, in his own words, admit to the event himself.”

What other stories that they denied, and the press dismissed, will turn out to have been true?

UPDATE: Selective Sermon Memory Disorder.