Topic - The Weekly Standard

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  Inside the Beltway

  Even the most connected Democrats are not above handicapping the potential Republican ticket and the likeliest team to seriously challenge President Obama come November.

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  BOOK REVIEW: 'Holidays in Heck'

  Patrick Jake "P.J." O'Rourke is often called a humorist, but the term has become a stretch. I bet he's sick of it by now. Sure, he writes many things that make you laugh, but he rarely writes just for laughs. One reason for this is his aging audience. Mr. O'Rourke used to be the managing editor of National Lampoon and foreign affairs gonzo for Rolling Stone.

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  FIELDS: Message matters more than the new-fangled medium

  T his is the week that pits the old fogies against the rising generations in determining "what's in" for 2012 and "what's out" from 2011. Fashion and political opinions traditionally have made for a showdown at Generation Gap, but this year, as we move into a new year, there's a communication gap, too. It's as much about process as substance in how we see the future.

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  Surprise Kindle Single best-seller a 'Dakota Christmas' present for conservative writer

  As far as Christmas miracles go, it ranks somewhere between virgin birth and the Sisyphean persistence of fruitcake.

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  BOOK REVIEW: 'Gossip'

  Surely I'm not the only reader amazed at how downright boring professors, assorted "experts" and too often even the reverend clergy can be when addressing some of the more basic forces in our lives.

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  Inside the Beltway

  In 24 hours, Republicans descend on Florida en masse for a grand old party for the Grand Old Party. On Thursday, the mighty eight presidential hopefuls meet once again for another debate, this one hosted by Fox News and the Florida Republican Party, staged in Orlando. That's just the opening act, though.

• Embassy Row

  Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned Tuesday of growing religious intolerance in Arab nations that overthrew autocratic governments this year.

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  Libya action has GOP rethinking nation-building

  In the first sign of possible change in Republican orthodoxy, potential 2012 presidential hopeful Haley Barbour is speaking out against nation-building - a central focus of U.S. foreign policy for nearly two decades and of President George W. Bush's administration.

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  BOOK REVIEW: College: Bubble that won't burst

  If you've written a college application letter or helped a child with one recently, you probably know what Andrew Ferguson means when he writes that the college admissions process "didn't force kids to be Lisa Simpson; it turned them into Eddie Haskell."

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  BLANKLEY: Regulations and rhetoric

  Last week, President Obama wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal head- lined "Striking the Right Balance on Regulations," in which he announced that he had issued an executive order to review all government regulations on a cost-benefit ratio basis. In itself, this is a good idea, although the president makes it explicit that the cost-benefit analysis must take account of intangible "benefits" such as "equity, human dignity, fairness and distributive impacts." Plenty of leeway there for career regulators and liberal political appointees to justify almost any oppressive regulation they may stumble over.

• Culture Briefs

  "Mark this down as another win for capitalism — and Israel, too. Recently, on the Princeton University campus, a student-led referendum sought to urge 'Dining Services to provide an alternative brand to Sabra hummus in retail locations on campus,' according to the Daily Princetonian. The measure failed by a vote of 1,014 to 699," writes Daniel Halper at the Weekly Standard blog.

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  CROUSE: We don't believe

  Christianity Today recently documented the fact that America's churches are not only "failing to attract younger worshipers," but they are also "not holding on to the ones" raised in the church. Research studies indicate that "70 percent of young people leave the church by age 22" and that figure "increases to 80 percent by age 30." The American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) revealed that the "percentage of Americans claiming 'no religion' almost doubled in about two decades" (8.1 percent in 1990 and 15 percent in 2008). Among the young (18 to 29 years old) the number doubled (11 percent in 1990 to 22 percent in 2008), with 73 percent coming from religious homes and 66 percent describing themselves as "de-converts." Consequently, according to the Southern Baptist Convention (America's largest Protestant denomination), church growth is not keeping up with the birth rate.

• Culture Briefs

  "I can hardly complain that Cab Calloway never got his due. ... Even so, I can't help wondering what he might have achieved," writes Ted Gioia in the Weekly Standard.

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  DE BORCHGRAVE: Examining the world's woes

  President Obama's reset button for a new America as the shining beacon on the Hill for the rest of the world to look up to is jammed. And the prophets of doom and gloom are soaring.

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  Obama use of foe's tax records reviewed

  A federal inspector general is looking into whether the Obama administration used confidential taxpayer information in an effort to attack a political opponent, Koch Industries.

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