KRAUTHAMMER: “Late Clintonian Minimalism.”

A GOOD REVIEW for Paul Ryan.

WHY THEY’D RATHER TALK ABOUT SARAH PALIN (CONT’D): Jobless Rise in 20 States as Workers Still Laid Off. “The unemployment rate rose in 20 states last month as employers in most states shed jobs. . . . Employers in most states didn’t add any net new jobs last month. The number of jobs on employer payrolls fell in 35 states in December, the department said. Only 15 states reported gains. Layoffs have slowed dramatically in the past year, but hiring has yet to pick up. Texas and South Carolina reported the biggest net job gains in December. Texas added 20,000 positions; South Carolina gained 9,000.”

FORGET HIGH-SPEED RAIL: We need a monorail! “But Main Street’s still all cracked and broken!” “Sorry, ma’am, the mob has spoken!” “What about us lazy slobs?” “You’ll all be given cushy jobs!”

JENNIFER RUBIN: Where was Obama the centrist in his State of the Union?

ASSOCIATED PRESS: “WASHINGTON – The ledger did not appear to be adding up Tuesday night when President Barack Obama urged more spending on one hand and a spending freeze on the other. Obama spoke ambitiously of putting money into roads, research, education, efficient cars, high-speed rail and other initiatives in his State of the Union speech. . . . But Obama offered far more examples of where he would spend than where he would cut, and some of the areas he identified for savings are not certain to yield much if anything.”

“A MILLION POINTS OF TRITE.”

FROM FACEBOOK: “I have smoked a salmon, but I never inhaled it.” From Lurleen Blogovitch.

HEARING ECHOES OF Jennifer Granholm.

UPDATE: Investor’s Business Daily: Obama Refuses To Learn From Government’s Clean Energy Failures.

ROGER KIMBALL gets the joke.

WELL, I’M NOT ENJOYING THIS THAT MUCH, BUT AT LEAST I’M NOT ALONE. From just before the high-speed rail bit. Are we having fun yet?

NICK SCHULZ: It Depends on What the Definition of ‘None of Us Can Predict’ Is…

LIVE SOTU COVERAGE AND PREGAME SHOW AT PJTV NOW.

UPDATE: Ann Althouse is Fisking the prepared text. Excerpt: “He’ll work together with Republicans, but only if they offer little tweaks to the big overhaul he rammed through, with no consideration for their opinion, when they didn’t hold the seats in Congress.”

STEPHEN GREEN will be drunkblogging the State of the Union. They’ll also be liveblogging over at United Liberty.

Stephen Green opens: “Word is, the President’s forward-looking speech will place heavy reference on Sputnik, launched in 1957 by a country which ceased to exist 20 years ago.”

UPDATE: They’re also liveblogging at Cato.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Brian Gates emails: “Re Sputnik – They told me if I voted for McCain the President would get nostalgic for 1950s America….” And they were right!

PSYCHOLOGY: WHY PEOPLE LIKE burning other people’s money. And what that means for politics.

MARKDOWNS ON men’s shirts and warm flannel.

EUGENE VOLOKH ON the ethics of publishing cease-and-desist letters. I think it’s fine. I’m not surprised that people who are doing the bullying feel otherwise.

THERE’S MORE TO A SMILE than lips and teeth.

MAKING DENTISTRY more appealing.

WHY THEY’D RATHER TALK ABOUT SARAH PALIN (CONT’D): Price Drop Points to Likely Double Dip in Housing Market.

SANDMONKEY IS tweeting events in Egypt.

A SHAMWOW FOR OIL SPILLS: “When Osorb comes into contact with oil or other water-hating (nonpolar) chemicals, such as oils, fats and other hydrocarbons, its stacks of benzene-silicon plates expand like an accordion to absorb the contaminants. Each gram of material can hold up to eight times its own weight. Because electrically charged liquids, like water, don’t interact with Osorb, the contaminated material can easily be filtered out of it, making Osorb an ideal candidate for cleaning up all kinds of water pollution.”

EGYPT ROCKED BY ANTI-GOVERNMENT PROTESTS. More here.

SCIENCE: Mutant Enzymes Created Through “Artificial Selection” Protect Against Nerve Gas.

REVIEWING THE REVIEWERS: A roundup of book reviews from all over.