A stimulus that won't sink the US (The Christian Science Monitor)
The Christian Science Monitor - These days, a modern depression seems almost within the realm of possibility. To avert this, we need an enormous, immediate stimulus. But unless it's well designed, it may not pass Congress; it may not achieve its objectives; or worse, it may sow the seeds of a disastrous decline in the dollar's value.

History as Obama's imperfect guide (The Christian Science Monitor)
The Christian Science Monitor - The new millennium may have begun in 2000, but in the US at least, 2009 looks like an historic threshold: An African-American becomes president in the midst of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression and during a long war on Islamic jihadism whose unconventionality still challenges the White House and its allies.

After Gaza, how Obama can pick up the pieces (The Christian Science Monitor)
The Christian Science Monitor - If the crisis unfolding in the Gaza Strip is a reminder of the durability of Arab-Israeli antagonisms, it is also, in its troubling and costly way, a potential blessing to the incoming administration of Barack Obama.

A Lesser Class of Rogue (HuffingtonPost.com)
HuffingtonPost.com - The stories about Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich have been stunning -- with revelations of his boundless intent on corruption, as well as a knack for unceasing profanity. Yet Blagojevich has also displayed a canny audacity at his recent press conference, when he announced his choice of Roland Burris to fill the Senate seat of President-elect Barack Obama.

The Week Ahead (The Nation)
The Nation - The Nation -- I decided to bike to work on Capitol Hill yesterday because I wanted to survey the city, now playing host to the President-elect, and I have to say (maybe I'm projecting) there was an undeniable electricity in the air.

Panetta? Ummmmm... Well..... (The Nation)
The Nation - The Nation -- For an agency whose job it is not to be surprised, nearly everything seems to surprise the CIA these days. So it's not surprising that the agency was surprised by the choice of Leon Panetta to head it. I was surprised too. My first reaction: it's an odd and unsettling choice. Here's why.

Israel Is Exercising Its Right of Self-Defense (RealClearPolitics.com)
RealClearPolitics.com - Opponents and enemies of Israel are in full hue and cry over Israel's attack on the terrorist organization Hamas and its government and military installations in Gaza. The main criticism is that the Israeli response to the rocketing of southern Israel is "disproportionate." There is little, if any, dispute that Israel's goal of ending all rocket attacks on Israel and its civilian population, is reasonable and indeed sanctioned by international law.

Kennedy is Interesting,You Know? (RealClearPolitics.com)
RealClearPolitics.com - Better to keep silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg doubtless wishes she had heeded this admonition.

Letters to the Editor (The Christian Science Monitor)
The Christian Science Monitor - Hamas and Israel: problems in comparing their actions Regarding the Dec. 31 Opinion piece, "Israel, Hamas, and moral idiocy": It seems to me that the distinction drawn in author Alan Dershowitz's commentary between the deliberate targeting of civilians by Hamas rockets and the collateral civilian deaths caused by Israel's military strikes is an important distinction.

Stop picking on Jimmy Carter (The Christian Science Monitor)
The Christian Science Monitor - In this season of new resolutions, Americans would do well to rethink their perceptions of Jimmy Carter. President Carter has suffered the misfortune of having his legacy almost entirely shaped by his political enemies rather than by objective reality or a basic sense of American fairness.

Conservative Successes (The Weekly Standard)
The Weekly Standard - We've stopped counting the number of times we've been told over the past few years that conservatives can't govern. Everywhere you turn, someone is saying that a conservative government is naturally incompetent and naturally corrupt. The idea that conservatives are ideologically incapable of running things is entrenched in liberal doctrine. It's a bedrock article of their faith.

There's Something About Harry (Pat Buchanan)
Pat Buchanan - About the appointment by Gov. Rod Blagojevich of Roland Burris to the U.S. Senate, somebody big is lying, big-time. It is either the governor or Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

What Good Can Come of This? (Mona Charen)
Mona Charen - It was lost amid the news of Israel's counterattack on Hamas in the past few days, but Hamas' leadership passed several new laws for Gaza in December.

WINDS OF CHANGE STIR IN CUBA (Georgie Anne Geyer)
Georgie Anne Geyer - WASHINGTON -- World history is filled with dramatic, often heartbreaking and occasionally redemptive stories of great marches.

The Net-Zero Gas Tax (The Weekly Standard)
The Weekly Standard - Americans have a deep and understandable aversion to gasoline taxes. In a culture more single-mindedly devoted to individual freedom than any other, tampering with access to the open road is met with visceral opposition. That's why earnest efforts to alter American driving habits take the form of regulation of the auto companies--the better to hide the hand of government and protect politicians from the inevitable popular backlash.

Through the Fog of Economic Uncertainty (The Weekly Standard)
The Weekly Standard - Lot's wife looked back at a scene of devastation and was turned into a pillar of salt.

The End of the Line (The Weekly Standard)
The Weekly Standard - NOW WE KNOW how President Bush reads so many books. It's a "discipline deal," the president says. "I don't watch TV," he says. And he reads every morning while doing an hour of exercise and on the many long flights aboard Air Force One.

IF ONLY WE COULD MASTER 'ONLY' (James Kilpatrick)
James Kilpatrick - Every January for 20 years I've written an "only" column. The theme's the same: No little dog trick of the writer's art will sharpen your style quite so effectively as the proper placement of "only." And its mastery is no trick at all.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: THE REAL DEAL? (Richard Reeves)
Richard Reeves - RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. -- Exactly a year ago, like almost everyone else, I knew only a couple of things about Sen.

TEACHING DEMOCRATS NEW TRICKS (Ann Coulter)
Ann Coulter - Fresh off my triumph over Kwanzaa, I thought I'd mention a couple of other facts that some of us are forced to keep repeating because liberals refuse to learn.