HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: My German Professor Made Verbal Love To Obamacare. “When I enrolled in an advanced German for beginners class last fall at The College of New Jersey, I intended to improve my ability to speak and write in conversational German. What I did not expect to learn in German 103 was that the Affordable Care Act – a.k.a Obamacare – is the answer to our prayers, the Tea Party is made up of ‘old,’ ‘very moronic’ people, life is far better in Europe, and Occupy Wall Streeters were really on to something. Now that my grade is securely documented on my transcripts, I feel safe sharing my recent experiences inside the classroom, during which lessons on the German language frequently morphed into soliloquies on the benefits of universal health care.”

“Old” and “very moronic?” Report him to the Office Of Equity And Diversity for ageism and prejudice against the mentally challenged.

GOODBYE, SUBSIDIES: Spain’s Solar Pullback Threatens Pocketbooks. Plus: “It seemed so safe. It was a government guarantee.”

SO DEREK LOWE WROTE TO THANK ME FOR LINKING ARTHUR LEFF’S Memorandum From The Devil. “That, I have to say, is a wonderful piece of writing, and it deserves to be more widely known. I don’t know when I’ve enjoyed an article more; it’s the sort of writing that you’d like to use as an example and say that the point of an education is to be able to experience the fun of reading it. Did you have Leff as a professor when you were at Yale?”

Alas, he died just before I got there, but through his writings he was still a big influence on me. And yeah, that’s one terrific piece.

NOBODY NEEDS AN AK-47, until they do.

IS THERE A FORD IN YOUR FUTURE? Ford Exec: ‘We Know Everyone Who Breaks The Law’ Thanks To Our GPS In Your Car.

JOURNALISM: MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow hunkers down on Koch Bros. claim.

TRANSPARENCY: Dem Senator Mark Udall Asked State To Cook Books On ObamaCare Cancellation Figures. “At the height of controversy surrounding President Obama’s promises on the federal health care overhaul, U.S. Senator Mark Udall’s office worked assiduously to revise press accounts that 249,000 Coloradans received health care cancellation notices. Because the 249,000 figure was produced inside the Colorado Division of Insurance, Udall’s office lobbied that agency to revise the figure, or revise their definition of what qualified as a cancellation.”

TAXPROF: The IRS Scandal, Day 245.

FRACKERS ARE AMERICAN HEROES: Shale Is Hale: American Energy Booms On. “America is sitting pretty when it comes to energy production, and a new report suggests things will be getting even better. In its January Short-Term Energy Outlook, the Energy Information Administration bumped up its forecasts for U.S. oil and gas production. Oil output is set to hit a 43-year high next year, while annual natural gas production is expected to rise to an all-time high for the fifth straight year in 2015. Even better, burgeoning domestic production means less of a need to import oil and gas. Natural gas imports are forecast to drop to a near 30 year low next year, and as the WSJ reports, America’s oil trade balance is at its healthiest state in 20 years.”

MEGAN MCARDLE: Wellness Programs Sort of Pass the Pepsi Challenge. Sort of.

A recent study by Rand found that in 2012, about half of employers with at least 50 employees — and more than 90 percent of those with more than 50,000 — had one of these programs in place.

They range from discounted gym memberships and wellness workshops to ultimatums; the Cleveland Clinic monitors its employees’ blood levels for various conditions, and it won’t have sugared soda on its campuses. Moreover, the legendary institution refuses to hire smokers, and it forced those already working for them to quit — smoking, or the job. There are also programs that focus on the behavior of people with expensive chronic conditions such as diabetes or asthma. Usually these involve a nurse regularly reaching out to these patients, cajoling them into taking their medication and monitoring their symptoms, and possibly catching potential problems early.

Such programs should reduce a company’s health-care spending. But until now, we haven’t had data showing whether they actually do.

Rand researchers have now released an article in Health Affairs that takes an in-depth look at PepsiCo Inc.’s Healthy Living program, which features both kinds of intervention: one aimed at encouraging all its employees to live healthier, and one that focuses on people who are managing chronic conditions. Unfortunately, it’s not a randomized controlled trial. But nonetheless, it does provide some information about what works, and what may not, in wellness interventions.

I’m skeptical of these innovations, which seem more like nannying than anything else. But read the whole thing.

HOPEY-CHANGEY: Under Obama, Youth Misery Index Hits All-Time High. “The index, released Wednesday, was calculated by adding youth unemployment and average college loan debt figures with each person’s share of the national debt. While it has steadily grown over the decades, under Obama the figure has shot up dramatically, from 83.5 in 2009 to 98.6 in 2013.”

WE’VE ALL GONE SOFT: School Wasn’t Canceled for Bad Weather in 1882.

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HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Victor Davis Hanson: The Outlaw Campus: The university has become a rogue institution in need of root-and-branch reform.

I BELIEVE THIS DAMAGE WAS LARGELY INTENTIONAL: ‘Great Society’ agenda led to great — and lasting — philosophical divide. It’s certainly not hard to tell, though, that Karen Tumulty sides with the “progressives” on this divide.

JAMES TARANTO: Road Rage: Chris Christie, the George Washington Bridge and the IRS.

We’d like to develop the point with a bit more specificity. Christie’s reputation as a straight talker has made for a flattering contrast with the smooth-talking Barack Obama. Obama’s deceptions, most notably his fraudulent claims about ObamaCare, have seriously damaged public trust in Washington. Christie’s supposed candor made him look as if he might be the man to restore it.

Worse, the Christie administration’s evident abuse of the Port Authority is reminiscent of the Obama administration’s abuse of the Internal Revenue Service. Neither the governor nor the president has been shown to be directly involved, but each must bear a measure of responsibility for his subordinates’ actions. One of Obama’s worst traits is his unvarnished contempt for his political opponents. The new revelations from Trenton suggest that Christie’s administration, if not the man himself, has a similar quality.

Its sheer pettiness is what distinguishes the GWB scandal from the ObamaCare and IRS ones. The ObamaCare fraud was in the service of an ambitious ideological agenda, and as we have argued, the 2012 election was close enough that it is possible the IRS’s suppression of opposition was necessary to secure the president a second term. Christie, by contrast, is not much of an ideologue and was cruising to an easy re-election.

Indeed. The press seems less excited about the IRS story though.

UPDATE: From the comments: “For pettiness, I believe this bridge fiasco is more on a par with the shutdown of federal parks during the government shutdown than the IRS abuses. The IRS abuses appear to be intimidation for election purposes. The park blockades appeared to be pettiness to prove a point. The bridge fiasco also appears to be pettiness to prove a point.” Good point.

BIG CITY PROBLEMS: New Hollywood Fault Map Curbs Development in Hollywood, WeHo, Los Feliz. “State Geologist John Parrish dropped a political bomb today: a ‘regulatory’ map of the Hollywood Earthquake Fault that creates a slender, six-mile-long restricted zone starting at the trendy intersection of La Cienega and Sunset, crossing Hollywood and Los Feliz and even affecting Atwater Village. The new quake danger zone throws into chaos perhaps millions of dollars in proposed developments in L.A. and West Hollywood, cities which under law must ensure that all projects planned within its boundaries are earthquake-safe.”

AT MINDING THE CAMPUS, an excerpt from my book. Read it for free, then, intrigued, buy a copy! Heck, buy three!

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE UPDATE: U.S. Sending Additional Troops To South Korea. What, the Dennis Rodman mission didn’t ensure peace in our time?

ADVENTURES IN CRONY CAPITALISM: Your light bulb loss is manufacturers’ gain. “Big business lobbies for big government in order to profit in ways the free market would never allow. All the time. The light bulb law is a great example.”

You can still stick it to the man, by stocking up.

OLD DEM SLUR: REPUBLICANS TOO DUMB TO READ. New Dem Slur: Sen. Durbin to GOP: Put down Ayn Rand books. Sorry, Dick, but you bear way too much resemblance to an Ayn Rand villain to be persuasive here.

WITCH HUNT NEWS: The Real Victims of Satanic Ritual Abuse: The dangers were imaginary, but the consequences were not.

Among the atrocities that Frances and Dan Keller were supposed to have committed while running a day care center out of their Texas home: drowning and dismembering babies in front of the children; killing dogs and cats in front of the children; transporting the children to Mexico to be sexually abused by soldiers in the Mexican army; dressing as pumpkins and shooting children in the arms and legs; putting the children into a pool with sharks that ate babies; putting blood in the children’s Kool-Aid; cutting the arm or a finger off a gorilla at a local park; and exhuming bodies at a cemetery, forcing children to carry the bones.

It was frankly unbelievable—except that people, most importantly, a Texas jury, did believe the Kellers had committed at least some of these acts. In 1992, the Kellers were convicted of aggravated sexual assault on a child and each sentenced to 48 years in prison. The investigation into their supposed crimes took slightly more than a year, the trial only six days.

And now, even the Travis County district attorney agrees that the trial was unfair.

After multiple appeal efforts and 21 years in prison, the Kellers are finally free. Fran Keller, 63, was released from prison on Nov. 26 on a personal bond, just in time for Thanksgiving. Her daughter was waiting for her with a bag full of the first clothes that weren’t prison-issued that Keller had seen in years. Dan, who turned 72 in prison and now walks with a cane, was released on Dec. 5; this time, Fran was there to greet him. (The Kellers divorced while in prison yet remain close, as close as two people locked up in separate prisons for crimes they say they didn’t commit can be.)

The Kellers were released after the doctor who had testified at their trial and provided the only physical evidence that any sexual assault had taken place recanted his testimony.

This was, of course, only one of numerous such dumb cases. But “dumb” is too kind a word. Evil might be better. And in asking this question — “Why did psychotherapists and investigators conclude that these fantastic allegations were true?” — it’s worth noting that the supposedly scientific nature of our current age doesn’t seem to provide much protection against mass hysteria, with tragic consequences.

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SALESMAN OF THE YEAR: Obama’s political agenda backfires, gun sales in 2013 smash all records. Of the year? Who am I kidding? Nobody in all of human history has sold as many guns as Barack Obama.