JEFFREY SINGER: Why Medicaid Is No Longer A Voluntary Program.

SO IS ROMNEY’S SQUEAKER PROOF THAT EVERY VOTE COUNTS?

Related: Rick Perry to “Reassess” Campaign.

UPDATE: Peter Ingemi not so convinced about this whole Romney electability thing.

But is the big news the record turnout in Iowa?

More thoughts here.

MORE: Huntsman? Who he?

EDWARD JAY EPSTEIN: The Lesson of ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’: Intelligence agencies are loath to correct mistakes, especially when careers are at stake.

Here’s something from InstaPundit, nearly ten years ago: “Organizations that succeed — especially in wartime — do so by ensuring that bad news gets to the top. Eisenhower made a big point of that in World War Two. The Vietnamese made a big point of it when they were fighting us. The suppression of bad news and the concealment of failure are the hallmarks of dysfunctional organizations. Look at the security establishment, and see where it fits in, based on the evidence so far.”

UPDATE: Reader Phil Manhard writes: “Sounds eerily like the Traditional Media’s relationship with the Obama administration.”

And Jason Whitworth emails: “This is the best description of public education in the U.S. that I have seen.”

BRENDAN O’NEILL: Liam Byrne is right – we need ‘radical reform’ of the initiative-zapping, soul-destroying welfare state.

WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS: Booming Food-Price Volatility. “With non-existent wage growth and a dearth of investment opportunities, these price advances in food costs have much more impact than it appears. What asset classes are keeping pace with the year-over-year increases in food? . . . On a year-over-year basis through November, according to USDA, beef prices are up 9.8%, egg prices are up 10.25%, and potato prices are up 12%.”

Buy a freezer, clear out some pantry space, and start your strategic shopping.

UPDATE: Reader Alysia Lucas writes: “Thanks for linking the strategic shopping article. I just blast emailed it to my friends and family. I’m not much of a couponer so this information will come in handy (but now I’ll need to invest in a backup generator for the freezer!)” I just fill the empty space in mine with those “blue ice” things, but we don’t get many (or lengthy) power outages around here. But yeah, that’s a great post, which is why I’ve linked it a couple of times. Well, that along with my expectations for the coming year . . . .

Meanwhile, reader Linda White emails: “Professor, for long term freezer storage (in excess of a couple of months in Ziploc freezer bags), it is essential to freeze food in vacuum sealed bags to prevent freezer burn. At the slightest taste of freezer burned meat, my husband refuses to eat.” Yes, the Insta-Wife’s fussy that way.

JAMES TARANTO (HE’S BACK!) Bad-Faith Journalism. “Regardless of PolitiFact’s motives, by practicing a style of journalism that centers on baselessly impugning the motives of others, it has managed to earn distrust across the political spectrum.”

ACCENTUATING THE POSITIVE: Neely Steinberg: 20 Things I Love About Men.

IS THERE ANYTHING THEY CAN’T DO? Can donuts do what Mideast peace talks haven’t?

JOHN LOTT: Obama Has Learned Nothing From the Mortgage Meltdown Mess.

JOHN HINDERAKER: Obama’s Surrender of Afghanistan Continues Apace?

DANIEL HANNAN: Eurozone leaders warn that a recession is coming. Yup: and whose fault is that?

TEN YEARS AGO ON INSTAPUNDIT: Cynthia Tucker issues a call to draft young people for “community service,” I respond with a call to draft middle-aged editorialists instead. “Being older and better-educated, they should have more skills. And they seem almost universally in favor of national service schemes, so they shouldn’t complain. Right?”

OUCH: “We have nearly reached the Rubicon when the ‘not Romney’ crowd is pining for Jon Huntsman.”

AT AMAZON, markdowns on new and used textbooks.

Also, you can sell them your old textbooks.

IRA STOLL on Santorum’s surge.

ROBERT WRIGHT CELEBRATES the greatness of Ron Paul.

THE MIAMI HERALD ON Univision’s war against Marco Rubio.

ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Where Do Old Broads Hang Out?

AT AMAZON, warehouse deals in kitchen gear.

LIVEBLOGGING the Iowa caucuses.

WHY CAN’T HOLLYWOOD get Washington, DC right? “I mean, yes, these are small things. But they are also really cheap things to get right. You could just, like, email someone who lives in Washington DC and ask them the name of a neighborhood where assistant professors of middle eastern studies might be found. You could contact the housing office at one of our area’s many fine military bases and ask them where their staff sergeants usually live, then let your fingers do the walking through the local real estate listings to see what the houses there look like. This is the sort of thing that, in my experience, interns can usually dig up in a few hours.”

ROMNEY AS CHIEF EXECUTIVE: A look at his Big Dig crisis management.

I DON’T KNOW ABOUT IOWA, BUT LOOK WHO’S WINNING the Althouse Caucus.

BRYAN PRESTON REPORTS FROM IOWA: The Undecideds.

OBAMA’S LEGACY: US Closes 2011 With Record $15.22 Trillion In Debt, Officially At 100.3% Debt/GDP. I guess the “Debt Star” really is his emblem.