The Corner

• Re: Taxing Energy
  I'm with Ramesh on this one.  (Sorry, Iain.)  I think that a deal, such as that outlined by Inglis and Laffer, is definitely worth taking (and have tepidly endorsed a deal of this sort in several NRO columns in the past few years, e.g. here and here).  I explained some of my reasons on the Volokh Conspiracy here on Sunday.  One reason that is worth highlighting is that a "just say no" position, such as that outlined by Jim Manzi in the December 1 NRODT -- even if successful in defeating cap-and-trade legislation -- would not prevent the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.  Now that the EPA has regulatory authority to control GHGs under the Clean Air Act, such regulation is a certainty.  Indeed, it is compelled.  So, if no climate change legislation passes, we will be stuck with even more onerous and unwieldy command-and-controls regs on carbon dioxide.  This reality does not require preemptive compromise, but I think it does add to the argument for an ambitious deal, of the sort Inglis and Laffer have proposed.
• Odd Odds
  Next week is the first week of the NFL playoffs, in which the "wild card" teams play the division champs with the third and forth best records in each conference.  Interestingly, and oddly, enough, the visiting teams are currently favored in all four games.  I suppose home field advantage ain't what it used to be.
• Because None of You Dared Ask for It
  Behold, The Indian Thriller:
• "Senator McConnell -- Idiot of the Highest Order"
  Yes, he must be doing something good.
• I Hope She Got Paid by the Word
  "Yoko Ono presents her latest handwritten instruction piece" in the New York Times.
• Stimulating
  I'm glad Mitch McConnell has some fight in him -- even before the new year and the new Congress.
• Visiting the Visitor Center
  So what does $621 million buy you? Apparently not paper towels in the men's room. This morning around 9 am, the dispensers were empty in Congress's sparkling-new Capitol Visitor Center. I've already written about the CVC's political correctness. Today, I experienced the CVC as a tourist, when I went with my family for a look-see. It sure was convenient to reserve our tour tickets online for the date and time of our choosing. This is a worthwhile innovation. Apart from that, however, the CVC is run with the efficiency you would expect from Congress: We stood in three different lines before we were finally ushered into a theater for a dull 13-minute propaganda video on the wonders of our Congress. The tour of the Capitol itself is the same as it ever was--i.e., perfectly okay, especially given the crowded conditions, though it would be nice if tourists could gain better access to the actual chambers of the House and Senate when they aren't in session. I neglected to make special arrangements with my congressman's office, so we missed the House; the Senate was simply closed to everybody. At least one of the gift shops in the CVC stinks (there are two, we went in one)--it's full of china and jewelry, plus a few uninteresting books. Anybody with even half an ounce of business sense would do a better job of stocking it. The highlight of our trip was unplanned. We walked through the tunnel to the Library of Congress, where our kids studied the Reading Room from an observation gallery. It may be my favorite interior space in the whole city. We discussed the exploits of Nicolas Cage in National Treasure 2, of course. Also, an exhibit of Waldseemuller's 1507 map of the New World--supposedly the first map to use the word "America"--is excellent. I have a special interest in the map because five years ago I wrote about its acquisition and pointed out that the Library was slightly exaggerating the map's significance. I didn't bore my kids with any of these details, and they had a grand time playing with the computerized displays that highlight the map and what's on it. Then we ate burritos in NR's Hill digs and went home.
• Re: Something Wicked This Way Comes
  Jonah, there is of course a way to get people to pay for the road transportation system according to how much they drive that doesn't involve the privacy concerns or unfairness on rural dwellers that is traditional (and therefore right). It's called user fees, or, more traditionally, toll roads. Of course, those of us on the free-market side that have suggested that have been accused of promoting Lexus Lanes... Incidentally, toll roads formed the usual method of paying for highway infrastructure in the U.K. until increased competition from the much faster railways rendered them inefficient (something that is unlikely to happen to their modern equivalents any time soon). Yes, there was a highways bailout in the U.K. in the 1840s or thereabouts...
• This One's for You, Stanley
  Scientists say its "okay" for two first-cousins to marry. (i.e. the risk of genetic defects is about the same as for 40-year-old women). This assumes, of course,  that genetic defects are the "real" rationale for incest prohibitions. Story here. 
• The Pakistani Powderkeg: A New (Occasional) Series
  From the AP: ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Taliban militants are beheading and burning their way through Pakistan's picturesque Swat Valley, and residents say the insurgents now control most of the mountainous region far from the lawless tribal areas where jihadists thrive. The deteriorating situation in the former tourist haven comes despite an army offensive that began in 2007 and an attempted peace deal. It is especially worrisome to Pakistani officials because the valley lies outside the areas where al-Qaida and Taliban militants have traditionally operated and where the military is staging a separate offensive. "You can't imagine how bad it is," said Muzaffar ul-Mulk, a federal lawmaker whose home in Swat was attacked by bomb-toting assailants in mid-December, weeks after he left. "It's worse day by day."
• Africa Needs God
  Via a British atheist: Now a confirmed atheist, I've become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people's hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good. I used to avoid this truth by applauding - as you can - the practical work of mission churches in Africa. It's a pity, I would say, that salvation is part of the package, but Christians black and white, working in Africa, do heal the sick, do teach people to read and write; and only the severest kind of secularist could see a mission hospital or school and say the world would be better without it. I would allow that if faith was needed to motivate missionaries to help, then, fine: but what counted was the help, not the faith. But this doesn't fit the facts. Faith does more than support the missionary; it is also transferred to his flock. This is the effect that matters so immensely, and which I cannot help observing. *** Those who want Africa to walk tall amid 21st-century global competition must not kid themselves that providing the material means or even the knowhow that accompanies what we call development will make the change. A whole belief system must first be supplanted. And I'm afraid it has to be supplanted by another. Removing Christian evangelism from the African equation may leave the continent at the mercy of a malign fusion of Nike, the witch doctor, the mobile phone and the machete.  
• Dying in the Waiting Room
  Your socialized medicine horror story du jour. Update: A bunch of readers -- most apparently directed her from elsewhere -- are quite miffed with the above post. Here's what passes as the most thoughtful so far: Using a sad tragedy as anecdotal evidence to support a position, simply highlights the paucity of intellectual thought that goes on here on this website. Especially when people throughout this country are losing their jobs, their health insurance, and are suffering as a result. I'd like you to address why it is that the USA is the only industrialized, democratic nation where healthcare is provided by employers. (Look towards the labor union movement.) Although you may simply respond by calling me names, as you have others who've disagreed with you, I had to point this out. Me: Uh huh. A few scatter