THANKS TO THE EPA, get ready for higher gas prices. “Closure of the St. Croix refinery may well effect U.S. domestic gasoline prices adversely, particularly on the East Coast. . . . A clean and healthy environment is good, but there are limits to how closely we can approach what some see as perfection. Excessive regulatory burdens are not good and the United States needs, rather quickly, to strike appropriate environmental balances while taking into account the potential difficulties and disadvantages of securing oil from unfriendly countries as well as from friendly countries subject to attack by others. Nevertheless, we continue increasingly to neglect these factors and therefore continue to fund hostile countries more handsomely than seems to be in our national enlightened self-interest. Lately, we have been galloping off in all but the right directions.”

KEYSTONE UPDATE: Congressional Research Service Report: Congress Can Require Keystone Pipeline Approval.

Capitol Hill lawmakers probably have the Constitution at their back if they require a permit for the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline that President Obama rejected days ago, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.

Republicans are mulling bills that require approval of Keystone XL, which would bring oil sands crude from Alberta to Gulf Coast refineries.

The Jan. 20 CRS legal analysis notes that while the executive branch has historically handled the approval of border-crossing facilities, it doesn’t have to be that way. “[I]f Congress chose to assert its authority in the area of border crossing facilities, this would likely be considered within its Constitutionally enumerated authority to regulate foreign commerce,” the analysis states.

Republicans are highly unlikely to have enough political support to win Senate passage of bills that require a permit, let alone Obama’s signature. But the CRS analysis may buoy Republicans rallying around the bills to attack Obama’s Jan. 18 denial of TransCanada Corp.’s permit application.

This seems like a no-lose issue for the GOP.

A NEWSPAPER PROFILE of Robert Bidinotto and the success of his new novel, Hunter.

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: The Great Minnesota Pension Scam. “If you are a current or former state employee in the state of Minnesota, watch out. Your pension depends on hot air, sketchy arithmetic, and the willingness of future taxpayers to make huge sacrifices to cover the deceit, wishful thinking and sketchy math at the heart of your pension system.” Of course, this problem isn’t limited to Minnesota. It’s endemic.

Plus this advice: “Under modern conditions, for younger workers especially plans where you make contributions matched by your employer are safer bets than defined benefit plans. In defined contribution plans, they can’t touch your money to pay pensions for older workers; in other plans they can suck you dry to keep the better connected and better organized geezers happy. Your union reps and state legislators won’t tell you about this, but it’s true: badly funded defined benefit programs will be looted to pay the oldsters in full as long as possible, and younger workers will be stiffed when the bill finally comes due.”

AT AMAZON, bestsellers in Science Fiction.

Also, on sale today only: The Total Gym XLS Trainer.

SOUTH CAROLINA: Hear The Roar.

Byron York: Why Gingrich Won, Why Romney Lost.

And Howie Carr asks: “Why is Mitt ashamed of having a lot of money? If Newt, the born-again Catholic, can brush off his cheating past, how come Mitt can’t explain coherently why it’s OK to pay a 15 percent capital gains rate on money you’ve already paid the top 35 percent income tax rate on when you first earned it? This is Mitt’s problem: He comes across in these debates as a wimp. Dudley Do-Right didn’t play in South Carolina. He’s afraid of his own shadow. He’s overtrained.”

But also a cautionary note: “The Republican primary voters have this dream of a snarling Newt disemboweling Barack Obama in the debates this fall. Talk about myths. How many debates is Barack going to agree to? Two maybe, tops, and both of them will be MSNBC-style — ‘Mr. Gingrich, when did you stop beating your first ex-wife?’ Follow-up: ‘When you did you stop beating your second ex-wife?’ To the “‘Jersey Shore’ MTV crowd, Newt would come across as a fat, nasty, pasty old man. They’re not going to realize what a boob Barack is, because they’re boobs, too.”

And, from Professor Jacobson: A reader poll: Should Santorum drop out before Florida?

What primary voters like about Newt is that he fights, and that he doesn’t concede moral legitimacy to the left or to the media. Romney should have taken my hammer-and-tongs advice.

Plus, how Newt roared back. “Newt Gingrich has had the wildest ride in a primary season since Bill Clinton weathered womanizing charges in 1992.”

And here are more thoughts from Michael Walsh. “What counts is passion. The 2010 midterms proved that, but the GOP bonzes seemed embarrassed by the Tea Party’s success.”

UPDATE: On Facebook, Ray Patnaude is not so impressed with all the hoopla: “Wow, I am so totally shocked that a social con sorta won Iowa, a northeasterner won New Hampshire and a southerner won South Carolina. Look out establishment, it’s anything goes!!!!”

ANOTHER UPDATE: C-SPAN Video: Newt Gingrich responds to Romney’s charge about a weak link to the Reagan Revolution.

MICKEY KAUS addresses a constitutional crisis.

LIVING WITH a sociopath. “Despite propensities to find sociopaths enticing, there are ways to avoid them. First and foremost, listen to what they say. They can’t help brag of past bad behaviors and promise future ones. Infidelity is not shame; it is triumph. They lie incessantly. When their lies ask you to suspend disbelief, don’t. If you challenge a lie, it will predictably be covered up with an even greater lie. You really can’t change them. Don’t identify with them. Try identifying with their victims. Think about the people they hurt, the lives they’ve upset, if not ruined.”

#GREENFAIL: Labor union quits alliance with greens over Keystone pipeline.

JAZZ SHAW: The War Of Northern Aggression Against Paula Deen.

REPORT: Compression Garments Reduce Muscle Fatigue.

DAVID BERNSTEIN ON Glenn Greenwald’s Double Standard On Anti-Semitism. “Obviously, Greenwald’s sensitivity to offensive language depends on whether he likes/agrees with the target. When his favored candidate, Barack Obama, was being attacked by John McCain, he was extremely quick to accuse McCain of using language designed to appeal to racist sentiment. When pro-Israel activists and politicians, a Greenwald-disfavored group, are being attacked by his anti-Israel compatriots, suddenly they are inherently immune from any hint of using anti-Semitic (a form, of course, of racism) language unless, perhaps, they are wearing swastikas and celebrating Hitler’s birthday.”

NOBODY IN HIS RIGHT MIND WOULD TAKE THIS BET: “Is there any chance that Mark Steyn won’t use the Italian captain fleeing the sinking ship as the lead metaphor in a column on EU collapse?”

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? Subculture of Americans prepares for civilization’s collapse. “We could see a cascade of higher interest rates, margin calls, stock market collapses, bank runs, currency revaluations, mass street protests, and riots. . . . The worst-case end result would be a Third World War, mass inflation, currency collapses, and long term power grid failures.”

TEN YEARS AGO ON INSTAPUNDIT: “WITH AN ALMOST PALPABLE SENSE OF DISAPPOINTMENT, the BBC is now reporting that there’s no torture going on at Guantanamo.”

NEWT’S VICTORY SPEECH: No More Bowing To The Saudi King. “An American president who can create a Chinese-Canadian partnership is truly a danger to this country.”

Mitt should have listened to my “hammer and tongs” advice.

UPDATE: Thoughts from Ira Stoll.

BLOG COMMENT OF THE DAY: “I remember during the last Administration when the operative MSM narrative was that Bush DOJ was ‘completely politicized.’ Now we have important DOJ officials taking the Fifth. More hope and change, I guess.”

NBC’S DATELINE will cover the Henry Granju case.

THE REAL LESSON OF SOUTH CAROLINA: “Go To Hell, ABC News.”

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Law School Applications Fall 15%. Number of applicants falls even more.

GALLUP: Only Jimmy Carter was less popular. Well, Jimmy didn’t benefit from the soft bigotry of hopenchange.

AT AMAZON, markdowns on select MP3 players.

SOUTH CAROLINA EXIT POLL: Ninety-seven percent are worried about the economy, 79 percent describe themselves as “very worried.”

DIRTY HOLLYWOOD: The Hill: Consumer group accuses Hollywood of ‘threatening politicians’. “Consumer group Public Knowledge on Friday accused the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and its head, former Sen. Chris Dodd, of trying to intimidate lawmakers into supporting a pair of controversial anti-piracy bills.”

I say, repeal the Eisenhower Tax Cuts!