MERRY CHRISTMAS:

Via Molly Lewis. Entire Wade Johnston Christmas Extravaganza here.

CHANGE: E.U. APPROVES AVASTIN FOR OVARIAN CANCER: “The European Commission has approved Roche’s drug Avastin for treating women with newly diagnosed, advanced ovarian cancer, offering new options to sufferers previously limited to surgery and chemotherapy. . . . In two late-stage studies, Roche found that women with newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer who used Avastin and chemotherapy and then continued on just Avastin lived quite a bit longer without their disease getting worse compared with those who received only chemotherapy.”

PEACE ON EARTH: Radical Muslim sect claims bomb attacks on Nigerian churches; at least 25 killed.

MERRY CHRISTMAS from the TSA.

CHRISTMAS WEEKEND NEWS DUMP: Obama Campaign, DNC Return Corzine Contributions After MF Global Collapse.

WHAT DO WE DO When The Internet Mob Is Wrong?

PUBLIC SCHOOLS TODAY: School accused of putting autistic student in bag: ‘He was treated like trash and thrown in the hallway,’ mom says.

CNN POLL: Americans still prefer ‘Merry Christmas’ over ‘Happy Holidays.’

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, and to all a good night.

MARK STEYN: Silent Night. “On this Christmas Eve, one of the great unreported stories throughout what we used to call Christendom is the persecution of Christians around the world. In Egypt, the ‘Arab Spring’ is going so swimmingly that Copts are already fleeing Egypt and, for those Christians that remain, Midnight Mass has to be held in the daylight for security reasons. In Iraq, midnight services have been canceled entirely for fear of bloodshed, part of the remorseless de-Christianizing that has been going on, quite shamefully, under an American imperium. Not merely the media but Christian leaders in the west seem to be embarrassed by behavior that doesn’t conform to their dimwitted sappiness about ‘Facebook Revolutions’.”

TEN YEARS AGO ON INSTAPUNDIT: “EUROPE IS MERELY A GEOGRAPHICAL EXPRESSION, Jim Bennett writes, and the Euro-alchemists are busy turning gold into lead.”

SECURITY: Stratfor Hacked, 200GB Of Emails, Credit Cards Stolen, Client List Released, Includes MF Global, Rockefeller Foundation.

PROF. LARRY RIBSTEIN HAS DIED. That’s terrible. My condolences to friends and family.

AT AMAZON, bestsellers in health, fitness, and dieting.

HOW’S THAT “SMART DIPLOMACY” AND “ARAB SPRING” STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? Egypt: Islamists consolidate gains in 2nd round of parliamentary elections.

RUSSIA: Tens Of Thousands of Protesters Pressure Putin.

PETER INGEMI: Under the Fedora: Communists, Lies, and the Unseen Wound.

MEDICAL MYSTERY: “Large areas of northern Uganda are experiencing an outbreak of nodding syndrome, a mysterious disease that causes young children and adolescents to nod violently when they eat food. The disease, which may be an unusual form of epilepsy, could be linked to the parasitic worm responsible for river blindness, a condition that affects some 18 million people, most of them in Africa.”

VITAMIN C AND AGING. Hmm. I’d like to see more studies on this.

UPDATE: Reader Joseph Schuster, MD writes:

Several years ago there were a number of studies concerning beta carotene, smokers and lung cancer. The first study was an epidemiological study suggesting beta carotene protected smokers from lung cancer.

The next several studies gave beta carotene to smokers (and a placebo to a control group) to see if it protected them from lung cancer. The study was cut short because beta carotene caused more lung cancers and a higher mortality. Here is a follow up study showing that the excess adverse events persistent even after the supplement was stopped.

It was then thought that beta carotene was a marker for a diet high in fruits and vegetables and that other unknown factors protected the smokers in the first study.

This study in Japanese women who did not take supplements may yet again be a similar red herring and that the high vitamin C level may simply be a marker for a diet high in fruits and vegetables and not the actual protective factor.

To prove any benefit would require a study giving vitamin C to people and then see what happens to health and well being and eventual longevity.

Until then eat your broccoli.

Yeah, that’s what I was getting at. Even if the high C levels just indicate vitamin-taking, my guess is that vitamin-takers are more conscientious about their health overall.

AT AMAZON, Top Deals In Electronics.

And if you’re looking for a present, you can still send a gift card for Christmas. Or, you know, Frank J. Fleming’s book, on Kindle. Or, actually, any book on Kindle.

Also, top albums of 2011 for $3.99 on MP3.

RON RADOSH: How the Left sees the Life of Vaclav Havel, and why they Do Not Mourn his Passing. “Now that a week or more have passed since Havel’s death, some on the Western Left have decided to let their true feelings about Havel out. Despite having to give some lip service to Havel’s integrity and what he accomplished, these men of the Left quickly get to what they really think: Havel helped destroy the great ideal of Communism as a worthy goal, and for that, he cannot be forgiven.”

Also read this piece by Pejman Yousefzadeh. Those who defend communism are on the same moral plane as those who defend Nazism.

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Will Desperate Egyptian Christians Seek Refuge In The U.S.? “Christians are being threatened with violence if they fail to convert; women who do not cover their hair are harassed, harangued and threatened on the street; churches are burned and the wall of isolation around this ancient community deepens every day. Under US and international law, growing numbers of Egyptian Christians will qualify as refugees if these conditions continue to worsen.”

I predict a chilly reception from the Obama/Clinton State Department.

HOW TO SPEND LESS ON EVERYTHING.

INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY: The Obamas, in Hawaii beach house, urge Americans to help the less fortunate.

WELCOME TO CAIROSTAN.