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ROGER KIMBALL: Our Masters In Washington.

Tootling around Washington, I was struck by—well, not by its prosperity, exactly, but by what is clearly a lavish outlay of funds—your funds, in fact. Everywhere I turned there were huge building cranes. In one spot, I counted 7 over the space of a few blocks. It looked a little like a Third World country suddenly flush from newly discovered mineral reserves of some sort. Which I suppose describes the situation in Washington accurately enough, except that for “mineral reserves” you need to substitute “deficit spending.” I remember meeting my friend Edward Shils several years ago in Washington: “My, they live well on our money,” he said. What would he say today, I wonder, when Washington has come more and more to resemble Versailles circa 1780.

I’m sure it’s somehow racist to make that comparison. But what the hell — everyone who criticizes Obama is racist now. So:

UPDATE: Reader Douglas Bass says that racism isn’t the problem: “Frenchmen the world ’round will rise up in fury at your odious comparison!”

ALSO, IT’S LAME: Privacy group calls for federal investigation of Facebook’s Timeline. “EPIC says Timeline might violate a settlement that Facebook reached with the FTC last year.”

THE DRUG WAR — WHICH SIDE ARE WE ON AGAIN? U.S agents HELPED Colombian drug lord ‘The Rabbit’ to launder millions of dollars. “U.S drug enforcement agents secretly helped a Colombian cocaine supplier launder millions of dollars in drug proceeds so they could infiltrate cartels working through the Mexico border, it has been revealed. . . . They carried out wire transfers for tens of thousands of dollars, smuggled millions in bulk cash and even escorted a shipment of cocaine through Ecuador, Dallas and finally Madrid.”

WELL, OBAMACARE AND THE STIMULUS SET A PRECEDENT OF PASSING BILLS THE PUBLIC DOESN’T WANT: Lawmakers seem intent on approving SOPA, PIPA: So far, strong opposition to the controversial copyright bills hasn’t changed many minds in Congress.

If you’d like to communicate your sentiments, you can contact your members here.

IT’S NOT JUST SOLYNDRA: Solar Energy Sagging.

MIA B. LOVE: A POLITICAL STAR rises in Utah. In addition to David Kirkham, who I guess has already kinda risen.

MICKEY KAUS ON RECESS APPOINTMENTS: Obama vs. The Constitution.

POLLS: Gallup: Obama In Trouble. “While the debates of last night and today focus on the Republican candidates for the president, the Democratic nominee is in trouble. Gallup polls in the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day showed voters were not in the holiday spirit when thinking about His Excellency. His overall approval/disapproval numbers were 42% approval/49% disapproval. So much for winning that ‘Payroll Tax Cut’ issue.”

WIRED: Four Contradictions In Obama’s Defense Plan. “Sometimes the analysis in the strategy suggests a policy choice that the strategy actually disavows. Sometimes it walks back controversial points. Sometimes it makes pledges that sound sensible at first blush — but don’t actually make sense the more you think about them.”

UPDATE: Herschel Smith writes: “The ironic thing about your link of Spencer’s post on Obama’s new defense policy is that it could have been titled ‘another rube self-identifies.’ Ackerman was a big Obama supporter.”

FRANK J. FLEMING: Lessons From Global Warming: Scientifically Sexing Up The Debt Crisis.

CONTRACEPTIVES, STEPHANOPOULOS, AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT THE DEBATES: “Let’s put an end to the interlocutors. We don’t need media filters — left, right or center,” Roger L. Simon writes. “I am interested in the candidates and what they have to say to each other — mano-a-mano — in the style of Lincoln and Douglas.”

Read the whole thing.™

PAUL BARRETT: Gun Control: A Movement Without Followers. “More Americans favor Second Amendment rights, and lower murder rates in big cities convince some that tough laws are unnecessary.”

A NEW BOOK FROM WILLIAM GIBSON: Distrust That Particular Flavor.

NAME THAT PARTY: Associated Press: Calif. lawmaker pleads no contest in shoplift case. You have to go 9 paragraphs before you find out she’s a Democrat.

HMM: Gas Prices Set To Spike Next Summer.