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  THE CORNER

Yuletide Bipartisanship: An "impeach Bush" Christmas tree ornament will hang at the White House? When Laura Bush asked members of Congress to pick local artists to decorate the White House Christmas tree, Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) turned to a local arts organization who assigned the task to Deborah Lawrence. The Seattle-based artist said, "I was at first nauseated, then realized it was an opportunity to highlight Jim McDermott because he's a hero of mine." So Lawrence, who frequently combines politics and satire in her work, covered a nine-inch ball "with swirly red and white stripes -- and, in tiny glued-on text, salutes the . . . Go

  MEDIA BLOG

Atlanta/Austin Newspaper Publisher Closes DC Bureau: Cox is closing up shop in Washington: WASHINGTON (AP) - Cox Newspapers announced plans to shut its Washington, D.C., office in April. The Washington bureau was established in 1974—the same year that Richard M. Nixon resigned the presidency in disgrace. The bureau has provided national and international news to 17 Cox newspapers around the country. The closure will affect about two dozen newspaper staff members, most of whom will be offered severance packages. Cox publishes the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Austin American-Statesman, among others. Will the DC bureau be missed? That's not a facetious question -- . . . Go

  PHI BETA CONS

Move Along, Nothing to See Here (Literally): Over at FIRE's must-read blog, the Torch, Samantha Harris notes Edinboro University of Pennsylvania's decision to hide their unconstitutional speech code behind a password-protected website. One of the more curious aspects of the university's behavior has been its administration's persistent refusal to change unconstitutional policies in the face of unanimous case law or even -- in Edinboro's case -- controlling legal authority. It's almost as if universities have an ideological commitment controlling student expression. But that couldn't be right, could it? Edinboro may hide, but it can't run, and I have little doubt that its speech code will soon be repealed (perhaps . . . Go

  PLANET GORE

Obama on the Big-Three Bailout: The President-Elect remains noncommittal. [And you thought presidents couldn't vote "present," didn't you?!] From Henry Payne's home base, the Detroit News: Gov. Jennifer Granholm met privately with President-Elect Barack Obama today about the auto industry crisis, saying afterward "I urged him to be supportive," and adding that Obama expressed personal interest in seeing the details of the auto companies' recovery plans. She said Obama made no specific promises about the auto-bailout package, but added that he has been generally supportive of the domestic auto industry and she expects that to continue. The governor made her comments during a conference call with the media while riding . . . Go

  THE CAMPAIGN SPOT

Is the Stimulus Debate Just a Contest of Who Can Name the Biggest Number?: Thinking about Fred Thompson’s economic message from earlier today, I’m a little worried that not many political figures have echoed his diagnosis of a national “borrowing, spending and consuming binge” in recent years.  People look at a recession as a dip from “normal,” and our concept of “normal” was probably wildly skewed in recent years. Many Americans spent everything they had, spent more from easy credit, and put away little or nothing for a rainy day. The personal savings rate by quarter only exceeded three percent once this decade; since 2005 it exceeded one percent only once. The housing bubble heavily . . . Go

  BENCH MEMOS

The "Most Conservative" Court in 70 Years?: Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of the law school of the University of California at Irvine, argues that the Roberts Court is "notably more conservative" than its predecessors and the "most conservative court since the mid-1930s."  In this forthcoming paper, I argue that Dean Chemerinsky's claim is completely unsustainable.  Even if one accepts that one can reach a definitive conclusion about the Roberts Court after three terms, that the terms "liberal " and "conservative" are useful descriptions of judicial doctrine, and even if one finds it meaningful to compare the ideological leanings of Courts across decades, Chemerinsky's claim falls apart.  While the . . . Go

  THE TANK

Small ISI Kashmir Op Morphed into LeT Mumbai Massacre: I strongly recommend you read the following: Syed Saleem Shahzad, a source I generally trust in Pakistan, writes that an al-Qaeda "hijack" of a smaller ISI operation intended for Kashmir led to the Mumbai attack. After a concise (and required) historical recap of the al-Qaeda/India/LeT dynamic, he gets to the meat and potatoes: Under directives from Pakistan’s army chief, General Ashfaq Kiani, who was then director general (DG) of the ISI, a low-profile plan was prepared to support Kashmiri militancy. That was normal, even in light of the peace process with India. Although Pakistan had closed down its major operations, it . . . Go