In case you been on vacation on another planet, the conventional wisdom now solidifying among the D.C. Beltway elite is that old people are a huge problem we just can’t afford, and the only solution is to take money from them, even if it’s their money they’ve been saving for decades.

It’s a sad state of affairs that you have to bribe state governments to get them to give health insurance coverage to children, but that’s where we are in this new cruel version of America.

For whatever reason, people don’t like being forced to become paying customers of a pernicious cartel.

We here at FDL headquarters have spent a productive holiday season putting together data banks of information relevant to the Wikileaks-Bradley Manning- Adrian Lamo story. It feels like “Plame II, Electric Boogaloo,” because not since Scooter Libby has a story been so full of holes, contradictions and completely implausible events. And the journalism involved (if that’s what you want to call it) makes Judy Miller look like I.F. Stone.

As much as I’d like to see Goldman Sach’s highly accurate economic prognosticator Jim O’Neill as a prophet, I don’t think he’s accounting for the whole picture.

When you have such a disparate network of enemies, you could literally tell a positive or negative story about Afghanistan and the Taliban every day.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center has been suing the Department of Homeland Security because it refused to engage in the public rule-making process before it adopted RapeAScan machines as part of the primary screening at airports. DHS responded to EPIC’s suit the other day. While I think their response will be largely successful as written, [...]

I don’t know how you can be optimistic about the economy over the long term when you concede almost three years of unemployment over 9% (and of course, that’s just the topline number; the real number is much higher). I see no energy or fervor at any level of government to bring that number down. And I see no willingness among the private sector to generate the kind of growth necessary to reduce that number.

• Porno scanners are here to stay.
• Obviously, what’s needed is more tax cuts.
• Thanks to the GOP, the DREAM is dead.
• Krugman: a finite world.
• Better be careful there, Juan.
• Welcome to the new House.

The Arts are going to kill us all…hopefully sooner rather than later.