MORE Chris Dodd questions? Dodd’s evasiveness has only encouraged this kind of thing.

PROGRESS ON GLOBAL WARMING! “Given that we were told we had to immediately cut back on carbon emissions (even before sustainable alternative energies are in place), largely by curbing our lavish energy-dependent lifestyles, why then all the concern about stimuli and global depression? Surely, the world right now is sort of what the radical Gorists wanted to see, since the current cutback in gasoline usage, and general economic slowdown are radically restricting the burning of fossil fuels in a manner that even the most optimistic green utopian could hardly have envisioned just few years ago?”

CONDI RICE on voting for Barack Obama.

PIRATES 1, INTERNATIONAL LAW 0: “On December 25th, a German frigate off the coast of Somalia, sent its helicopter to interrupt a pirate attack on an Egyptian merchant ship. One member of the Egyptian crew had already been wounded by gunfire, but the German helicopter stopped the attack. German sailors then captured and disarmed six of the pirates. The pirates were then set free. This is because German law only allows the prosecution of pirates who are attacking Germans (or German property.) The Egyptian ship was carrying a cargo of wheat from Ukraine to South Korea. Since World War II, national and international laws for dealing with pirates (which used to mean trying and executing the pirates on the spot) have been discarded. But nothing took the place of those procedures, because it was believed that piracy was no longer a problem.”

AN AMERICAN CAROL is now out on DVD this week. (Also Blu-Ray). I saw a pre-release screening back in September and thought it was pretty good, if you like the idea of Michael Moore being the subject of slapstick humor. And, really, who doesn’t? Also, Kelsey Grammer is surprisingly good as George S. Patton. Let’s see if Alex Nunez is right that it will do well on DVD, though I think they should have taken his advice and brought it out in time for Christmas.

“PUNDIT” VS. “PUNDINT” — more criticism for the Google-impaired Paul Mulshine.

UPDATE: On the other hand, various readers write that Beutler is wrong about “to the manor born.” Which just shows that you can’t get away with anything in the blogosphere . . . .

MORE ON THAT TVA ASH SPILL. Plus, here’s a big link roundup from Jack Lail.

And this seems dumb on TVA’s part: Activists Detained For Taking Ash Spill Photographs.

HMM: Emanuel and Jarrett Will Testify, And The Blagojevich Impeachment Trial Will Be Delayed. Hard to see this as good news for Obama.

JUSTIN KATZ on Joel Stein’s inability to commit. America, he’s just not that into you!

A BUNCH OF half-price Blu-Ray discs. Plus, a lot of other DVD markdowns.

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: Say goodnight, Caroline: How JFK’s daughter flubbed the audition to become the next Senator Kennedy.

NEWSDAY: With Rash of Scandals, Trust Is Gone. “In Congress, prominent members such as House Ways and Means chair Charles Rangel, Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens and Louisiana Rep. William Jefferson are either accused of malfeasance, officially charged with corruption or already convicted. Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has been accused of multiple acts of corruption, including extorting cash or jobs for filling President-elect Barack Obama’s Senate seat. All of this is creating a growing sense of mistrust. But then Americans have always been suspicious of big institutions that can exert a lot of power.”

So how about a little more suspicion of government expansion disguised as “stimulus?”

MORE ON THOSE UNDERFUNDED / OVERGENEROUS PUBLIC PENSIONS:

Paying the price for pension vote buys:

I am hearing that the City of Santa Ana budget has been cut to the bone, but this summer’s retroactive pension formula bump to 2.7-at-55 is greatly exacerbating their financial woes. This explains why they have implemented a hiring freeze.

So why did they spike their public employees’ pensions?

The short answer is that Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido was facing two challengers this year. So he gave the police and firemen everything they wanted so that they would continue to finance “Team Pulido.” Well, I hope they are all happy now that the city’s budget deficit is spiraling out of control.

Meanwhile, in New York City, it’s a pension nightmare. Plus, in Florida, calls for reform. “Those of us who have seen the values of our own retirement savings fall by a third or more this year can’t help but wonder why such windfalls are generally not available outside government.” (Via PensionWatch).

A MACHINE THAT MIGHT save the world. Plus, “Steampunk Fusion.”

A SURGE IN MUNICIPAL BANKRUPTCIES? Wouldn’t surprise me. And note the connection to the public-pension crisis: “State and local public employees comprise approximately 12 percent of the U.S. workforce and have an estimated $800 billion or more of unfunded pension liabilities (not counting other post-employment benefits). By comparison, employees in the private or corporate sector make up about 78 percent of the U.S. workforce with an estimated $450 billion of unfunded liabilities.”

WALL STREET JOURNAL: Rick Warren, Obama, and the Left. “Mr. Obama’s choice of Rick Warren for the Inaugural’s invocation suggests that he is intent on using the momentum of his remarkable victory to build a governing coalition for the long haul. The silver lining for Republicans may be that the left won’t let him do that.”

NEW JERSEY: Pension Fight Signals What Lies Ahead. “Already, Mr. Corzine’s current budget has saved about $1 billion by contributing only half what actuaries said the state should put into the fund this year. The balance of the state’s contribution has not yet been deposited, meaning it could be further reduced to help meet the looming budget shortfall.”

EGYPTIANS open fire on Palestinians.

EARNESTLY WRUNG HANDS.

HEH: Ted Rall: Look for Obama to be as devoted to war as Bush was. Meet the new boss, yada yada. If only these people had been smart enough to read InstaPundit before the election they wouldn’t be so surprised. And if only I had been smart enough to cash in on the t-shirt sales. . . .

UPDATE: Frank Rich will be buying the t-shirt soon, too! “I share these high hopes. But for the first time a faint tinge of Bush crept into my Obama reveries this month.” It won’t be the last . . . .

WIRED: Broadband Stimulus Plan: How About Some Data First? That goes for the other “stimulus” plans, too . . . .

FROM NIALL FERGUSON a look back at 2009.

NETWORK YOUR HOME ENTERTAINMENT with wireless HDMI. Seems kinda pricey to me, but the price is sure to drop.

GAWKER: How Many Times Can Caroline Kennedy Say ‘You Know’ in Under a Minute?

UPDATE: “And to think they used to make fun of Sarah Palin, doncha know.”

I’M GUESSING THAT THIS WILL TURN OUT TO BE NO LONGER OPERATIVE: Obama’s Net Spending Cut Promise:

Lost in the recent talk of $1 trillion stimulus spending by the next administration is a promise President-elect Barack Obama made to the American people on Oct. 7 in the midst of the presidential campaign. Speaking in front of a live national audience, Obama said: ” So we’re going to have to make some investments, but we’ve also got to make spending cuts. And what I’ve proposed, you’ll hear Sen. McCain say, well, he’s proposing a whole bunch of new spending, but actually I’m cutting more than I’m spending so that it will be a net spending cut.” Obama is hardly the first president to promise to rein in spending, but very few have actually kept their promise to the American people.

I’ll be quite surprised if things turn out differently this time around, though I’d like to be wrong. Time for an Insta-Poll: What do you think?