Israel's Gaza surge (The Christian Science Monitor)
The Christian Science Monitor - Israel's land offensive – or is it a "land defensive"? – that began Saturday against the rocket-launching Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip brings an intensity of war not seen between Palestinians and Israelis in decades. As in the Middle East in the past, how the war ends will matter more than why it began.

Public diplomacy begins with you (The Christian Science Monitor)
The Christian Science Monitor - President-elect Obama's intent to help "reboot" America's image in the world is most welcome But as the US retools its efforts to reach out beyond governments to foreign audiences, not all is what it seems.

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.

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.

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.

Franken Named Minnesota Winner (The Nation)
The Nation - The Nation -- After weeks of Minnesota recount wrangling over the close contest between Republican Senator Norm Coleman and Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party challenger Al Franken, the state canvassing board has certified Franken as the winner.

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 - Has Israel overreacted to attacks from Gaza?Regarding the Jan. 2 Opinion piece, "Israel's 'victories' in Gaza come at a steep price": In the mainstream American media, I rarely see articles that explain how Palestinians suffer under Israeli oppression. I think most Americans and Israelis must not know about this cruelty.

Israel's 'victories' in Gaza come at a steep price (The Christian Science Monitor)
The Christian Science Monitor - I hear the voices of my friends in Gaza as clearly as if we were still on the phone; their agony echoes inside me. They weep and moan over the death of their children, some, little girls like mine, taken, their bodies burned and destroyed so senselessly.

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.

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.

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.

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.

FINDING HOPE IN GAZA (Georgie Anne Geyer)
Georgie Anne Geyer - WASHINGTON -- Again.

THE MEN WHO GO TO LUNCH (David Shribman)
David Shribman - Look who's coming to lunch. The old guy who flopped as a president, triumphed as an ex-president and has become the conscience of the nation, maybe the world.

The State of Our Borders 2008 (Michelle Malkin)
Michelle Malkin - If you think the bad economy has "solved" America's immigration problems, welcome to your end-of-the-year reality check. It's certainly true illegal crossings from the south are down and that many foreign workers are returning to their native lands as work dries up. But border chaos, haphazard enforcement, massive backlogs and deportation negligence remain the order of the day.