JOY TO THE WORLD: an election year without Keith Olbermann.

"PERHAPS A DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM can survive having chosen fools as its leaders. But, history shows time and again that a nation of fools is surely doomed."

AN ODE TO THE WELFARE STATE.

ESTABLISHMENT SENATE REPUBLICAN: sets himself up for defeat.

VIDEO OF COMET LOVEJOY as it approaches the sun. Apparently the comet survived it's close approach, although much diminished.

FACT CHECK: Unicorns do exist!

MICHAEL BARONE: Obama succeeds abroad when he follows Bush and Clinton. Reality has a way of 'pushing back'. Obama may control the ship of state, but he can't control the seas in which it floats.

JEFF JACOBY: Hurray for gridlock.

PROBLEMS AND THE PROBLEM: an incoherent view of the economy. It's from the Left, naturally.

THAT'S BEING CHARITABLE: Economists rate Obama's policies 'fair' or 'poor'.

CRIME IN WASHINGTON DC has increased since 'Occupy DC' arrived three months ago.

GOP should stick to tax cutting.

The political reality is that comprehensive tax and entitlement reform was never going to get done in the last two weeks of the year and won’t next year under President Obama, either. Long-term and pro-growth tax and entitlement reform has no chance of occurring till at least 2013.

But that doesn't mean we shouldn't keep trying.

WHY AM I NOT SURPRISED? Occupiers charged with assaulting police.

DON'T ABANDON the conservative message, sell it.

PAUL RYAN: 2011 Conservative of the Year.

DOES THE EARTH WOBBLE? Why yes, yes it does.

NO ICE CREAM FOR CONGRESS: Spoiled brats shouldn't be rewarded for jobs unfinished.

"THE COUNTRY will not accept a permanent class of technocrats that will diminish freedom, enhance crony capitalism and allow the economy to enter some sort of managed decline."

SHOULD YOU WAIT to take Social Security? Generally, yes. The chart presented is identical to the one I made for myself years ago when I had to make the decision to retire at 62 or wait until 67 (my normal retirement age). I waited.

JEFF JACOBY: Affirmative action begets more affirmative action -- to the detriment of the intended beneficiaries.