It’s that time of year again: Time to promise that we’ll do better in the next 12 months than we did in the prior 12. I won’t bother you with my personal or familial resolutions for ’09, but I do want to share a few blogging-related resolutions. In the past year, I’ve increasingly found it necessary to withdraw elements of, or entirely delete, certain posts — usually because I have either rushed to judgment or proffered a woefully unsubstantiated opinion. Of course, such failures...

One of my former bosses from the late 1990s recently penned a guest commentary for our hometown daily, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. It was published yesterday and essentially asked, if certain financial companies have become ‘too big to fail,’ why did U.S. regulators allow them to get that big in the first place, and why do they continue to protect said firms’ disproportionate size? An excerpt: It is disturbing, to put it mildly, that almost everything that’s been done so...

In today’s NYT, Paul Krugman frets about “state governors who are slashing spending in a time of recession, often at the expense both of their most vulnerable constituents and of the nation’s economic future.” Krugman’s worries are sparked, in part, by reports like this one, published in Friday’s WaPo: States from Rhode Island to California are being forced to curtail Medicaid, the government health insurance program for the poor, as they struggle to cope with the...

Adding to the “reality-stranger-than-fiction” genre, Matthew Parris — who spent some of this childhood in Africa and part of his adult years as a conservative member of the British parliament — argues today in The Times (London) that the value of the work of Christian missionaries in Africa transcends their charitable/civic contributions, that their faith plays an equally critical role in advancing the prospects of tribal Africans. The money paragraph: Christianity, post-Reformation...

In one corner — weighing in as the named leader of Obama’s National Economic Council — is Lawrence Summers, boasting a “have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too” treasure chest of hope. In the other corner — weighing in as one of those lonely voices in the wilderness who predicted the current mess — is Peter Schiff, offering nothing more impressive than a “pain-before-gain” bucket of cold water. I predict this match will go the full 15 rounds with no knock outs. My gut hopes...

At least we hope so. Taking the religious to the secular, FactCheck.org’s Brooks Jackson — whom I had the pleasure of interviewing a year-and-a-half ago — publishes, at Newsweek.com, a summary of claims he and his colleagues have “debunked just since Election Day.” It’s good for Brooks-and-crew, I suppose, that there’s so much bunk around to keep them busy — and good for the rest of us that they’re passionate about (and good at) their jobs. PS:...

Possibly not, per this brief report by Dave Schuler at OTB. For context, Schuler offers the following: Over the period of the last 60 years hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, have died in three wars between the two countries. The most recent of those wars in 1971 was the most severe … Violence and threats of violence are far too plentiful this holiday season.

In case you’re bored by Friday and looking for suggestions, here’s my prospective line up — a combo “wish list” and “catch up list,” for those slow moments between now and Jan. 5. Gary Becker’s and Richard Posner’s respective takes on the Bernard Madoff scandal, published Dec. 21 at their shared blog, one of my newly discovered favorites Various articles from the two most recent print editions of Foreign Affairs and The Economist — plus...

As a reminder: I voted for Obama and volunteered time to help his campaign, making calls to and knocking on the doors of undecided voters. Net: I was a willing and enthusiastic member of what Campaign Manager David Plouffe — in a Dec. 19 email to Obama supporters — characterized as “the most powerful and effective grassroots movement in America.” Acknowledging those past realities, I still experience a recoil reaction when I read lines like this one from Plouffe’s...

Last week, I thought Andrew Sullivan’s post, “Taking Yes for an Answer” — re: the Rick Warren/Obama inauguration debate — would prove to be the definitive post on that subject, after all the dust had settled. I now think Sullivan has been trumped by the self-dubbed “Hollywood Farm Girl,” in a post titled “the big rick’s yamaka.”

If you read nothing else this holiday season, read this contribution to the NYT — a short, true story about the “real meaning” of the season.

After reading the divergent opinions of the professional punditry, after consulting polls of public sentiment, after making a withdrawal from the ideological deposits in our respective brain-banks — many of us remain undecided on the import of the so-called bailout of America’s “Big 3″ automobile manufacturers. We understand and appreciate the various arguments and counterarguments. We nod when we consider Judge Richard Posner‘s conclusion that “domestic producers...

Sing along to the classic tune by The Doors as you read this slice of life (courtesy Nate Silver) from the ongoing saga of “The Minnesota Recount That Would Never End.”

Andrew Sullivan is inspired by this animated clip … as I think every resident of the USA should be. (Note: The first time I pressed “play,” the video zipped through to the end. Once it was over, I hit “play” again, and it proceeded more slowly. That slower pace the second time around was, IMHO, the better effect.) Immigration to the US, 1820-2007 v2 from Ian Stevenson on Vimeo. Here’s hoping that — as/if we update immigration policies to advance security...

At the US News-hosted “Capital Commerce” blog, James Pethokoukis offers his list of “The 10 Dopiest Business and Economy Leaders of 2008,” acknowledging that … In a year when Wall Street imploded, the Big Three automakers neared collapse, and the economy plunged into its worst downturn in at least a generation, finding business and economy “leaders” who messed up badly isn’t too hard. I’ll say this much for Pethokoukis: He’s not afraid...

After returning from a brief respite last week, Andrew Sullivan has been on a tear regarding torture, the Bush Administration, and prosecuting the latter for the former — penning (by my count) 12 posts on the subject since yesterday morning, a number that may have increased by the time you read these words. Sullivan builds a compelling case, especially when you consider VP Cheney’s unabashed confessions to ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl. If the same acts had been condoned and conducted...

President-elect Obama continues to impress with his cabinet picks. The WaPo has a good primer on one of his latest: Arne Duncan for Secretary of Education. Duncan’s résumé appeals to those identify themselves as reformers and tend to support tough accountability, charter schools, performance-pay plans and other steps that shake up the status quo. But his calls for increased funding and willingness to partner with teachers also wins the approval of unions and school officials who think...

When not over-analyzing the Blagojevich scandal, the MSM has focused much attention on Obama’s cabinet picks. But any active student of government knows that the chairs of the various Congressional committees are every bit as influential, if not more so. Nothing much happens on the Hill without their input. Today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced his recommendations for the Senate committee chairs in the 111th Congress. The list is below the fold. Final approval of this list,...

Malcolm Gladwell — the freaky-haired author of smart, nonfiction bestsellers — tackles the challenge of identifying good teachers. (Don’t be fooled by the first part of the article, where Gladwell focuses on football and quarterbacks; it’s only a set up for the rest of the article.) In examining the good-teacher question, Gladwell offers this: Eric Hanushek, an economist at Stanford, estimates that the students of a very bad teacher will learn, on average, half a year’s...

In case you missed it in the December 2008 issue of The Atlantic, Henry Blodget offers a remarkably accessible analysis of the mess in which we currently find ourselves. In fact, it’s the clearest, cleanest such analysis I’ve seen so far. If you take time to read it, I highly recommend you print it first, or pick up a copy of the magazine at a newsstand. An easy read — but even easier in hard copy. Meanwhile, f you’re wondering who the hell Henry Blodget is, he offers the...

Commenting on the Obama team’s promise to conduct its own review of “who talked with disgraced Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and when — and precisely what they said,” Politico quotes a “top Washington defense lawyer,” who does not approve of the effort and is willing to say so. His summation: “It never helps when you dig up the dirt in your own yard and you find stuff.” Really? Would this “top lawyer” give his clients the same advice? I can...

I turned 40 in 2005. The resulting ‘midlife crisis’ was remarkably subdued. I didn’t buy a fancy sports car. I didn’t cheat on my wife. I didn’t join a rock band. I didn’t start drinking more or visiting casinos every night. I did, however, attempt to write a book. In fact, I completed a draft of 200-some-odd pages; a treatise on re-imagining the practice of public relations, my profession of 20 years. In those pages, I proposed a transformation of public relations, moving the...

And now for something that has nothing to do with the Governor of Illinois: “The defeat of the Republican Party in the November election is widely thought to signal the decline of conservatism in the United States. But it is important to distinguish between the Republican Party and conservatism rather than to equate them.” Thus Judge Richard Posner opened a Nov. 30 post at the blog he co-writes with fellow University of Chicago academic Gary Becker. In the same post, Posner confesses: I would...

UPDATE #4 The American Prospect‘s Adam Serwer helps decode the Senate-seat candidates referenced by numbers only in the criminal complaint against Gov. Blago. —————— UPDATE #3 A rumor is afoot that Obama CoS Rahm Emanuel may have helped spark the beginning of the end of Blago: (Note: Scroll down our home page for Blago-Saga reactions from other TMV contributors.) —————— UPDATE #2 Full text of the complaint. Per RCP’s...

Courtesy of Megan McArdle: While the progressives are shocked, shocked that Obama hasn’t made Bill Ayers attorney general and Ingrid Newkirk Secretary of Agriculture, many of the conservatives who were mad about my supporting Obama continue to assure me that he is making card check and confiscatory taxation the centerpiece of his administration. Maybe the hard conservatives and the progressives should be consoling each other. Priceless.