TEN YEARS AGO ON INSTAPUNDIT: Praise for a letter on terrorism. Plus, James Lileks catches a reference.

Also, a “Walk For Capitalism.”

SYRIAN AUTHORITIES arrest woman blogger.

HMM: Iran Showed Al Qaeda How to Bomb Embassies.

JEFFREY CARTER: Clarence Page Is Tone Deaf. “Clarence Page sees Newt Gingrich, and thinks the Tea Party is dead. I see Newt’s rise, and think the Tea Party is very much alive. How can two different people have such divergent views?”

STOP THE PRESSES: Study: More Exercise Could Make For Better Sleep.

THE NEW YORK TIMES ASKS IF POLICE ARE GETTING TOO MILITARIZED.

I said yes back in 2009.

UPDATE: Policing White People. “From the point of view of policing norms, these actions were totally appropriate. But the only way that our society has even come to tolerate these police norms has been with the tacit agreement that they would not be used on white folks.”

CITIZEN SCIENTISTS: “Ordinary people are taking control of their health data, making their DNA public and running their own experiments. Their big question: Why should science be limited to professionals?” No good reason.

PUSHBACK: Putin’s Party Suffers Election Blow. “Incomplete results showed Putin’s United Russia was struggling even to win 50 percent of the votes in Sunday’s election, compared with more than 64 percent four years ago. Opposition parties said even that outcome was inflated by fraud.”

Well, when you’re roughing up election monitors people will say that.

THANKS FOR SHOPPING AMAZON though the links on this page and the searchbox in the right sidebar. By doing so you support this blog at no cost to yourself. It’s much appreciated!

PUZZLING RESULTS on Dark Matter.

#OBAMAFAIL: Saturday Night Live Mocks White House Impotence.

UPDATE: Reader James Doherty writes: “I can’t believe you’re falling for this. As with the GQ article about Obama being among the ‘Least Influential,’ this is just a part of the upcoming 2012 narrative that Obama has had nothing to do with America’s woes the last three years. You are treating these pieces as if they are criticism of Obama, but they are aimed at defending him.”

That may be their strategy, but Don’t Blame Barack — He’s Impotent! isn’t a winning slogan.

MY SUNDAY WASHINGTON EXAMINER COLUMN IS UP: The higher ed bubble is bursting, so what comes next? (Bumped).

JIM MORHARD: Are Prosecutors Above the Law? Despite their shocking misconduct, federal prosecutors in the Ted Stevens trial may not be charged with criminal contempt. “The first duty of a prosecutor, as an officer of the court, is to uphold the rule of law. By withholding exculpatory evidence, these prosecutors failed to do so. A judge should not have to give a prosecutor an order to follow the law. Perhaps it will be argued that charging these prosecutors with criminal contempt of court could have a chilling effect on future federal prosecutors. A reasonable person might respond that charging them might have a chilling effect only on future prosecutors who think they are above the law.”

UPDATE: Related: Durham DA Wrote False Motions. “Durham District Attorney Tracey Cline presented motions with false information to a Durham judge to obtain confidential documents from the state prison system about two inmates challenging her prosecutions and ethics, according to interviews and records obtained by The News & Observer.”

First Nifong, now this? What’s up with Durham?

ROGER KIMBALL: Pilot, Co-pilot, and Gunner: or, Ending the TSA Tyranny. “The TSA is itself an admonitory tale whose toxic significance far transcends its quotidian inconveniences. It is a model of a certain form of bureaucratic tyranny. It should be resisted and dismantled wholesale at the first opportunity.”

HEH: InstaPundit is a clue in today’s L.A. Times Crossword. Thanks to reader Randall Current for pointing it out.

SO DON’T BE SO NICE IF THAT BOTHERS YOU. Five Reasons Why Women Don’t Like Nice Guys. Of course, there’s nice, and there’s Nice.

I THINK THEY WOULD HAVE PREFERRED TEA: Angry Taxpayer Dumps Snakes In Tax Office.

AT AMAZON, Christmas deals in Sports & Outdoors.

Also, a sale on men’s, women’s, and children’s denim.

“SURPRISINGLY GREEN:” New Australian Desert Located.

EUROPE: Fiddling As The Euro Burns.

GOVERNMENT HEALTHCARE: Legless man denied wheelchair. “A man from Nyköping in eastern Sweden has been denied a power wheelchair despite having had both of his legs amputated as the local health authority remained ‘uncertain if the impairment was permanent’.”

FROM REMY: An Ode To The Incandescent Light Bulb.

It’s still not too late to stock up!

GOING GALT: Kennewick Construction Company Auctions Itself Off.

It took Bob Bertsch 25 years to build his construction business and just a day for it all to go away.

Bertsch’s Kennewick-based Ashley-Bertsch Group went on the auction block Friday at 9 a.m. By 4 p.m., Booker Auctions had sold off almost two dozen vehicles and trailers, tons of power tools and supplies, even the gas-fired fireplace in the office.

Bertsch, 65, said he is down-sizing because the tax burden got too expensive to stay in business.

After a quarter of a century of building a successful enterprise at 5903 W. Metaline Ave., Bertsch sat back and watched as about 200 people bid on what was left of his company — boxes of electrical parts, a drafting desk, high-end office furniture, TVs, computers and even the phone system.

Anything that could be carried away, was.

“I am tired of carrying all the tax load,” Bertsch said. “I renew 13 licenses here every year just so I can spend money in this city.”

Bertsch makes no attempt to conceal his frustration with the costs government imposes on small businesses like his.

“Government is killing small business. We used to have 24 employees at our peak. Now, all of those people who used to work here are in unemployment lines,” he said.

Hope and change.

#OCCUPYFAIL: Occupy Hartford Tried to Keep Sexual Assault Quiet.

FASTER, PLEASE: FDA speeds development of artificial pancreas systems.