- Moderate, middle of the road state-despiser Dave Barry wrings out the old year and is reasonably gentle on Mike Vick. Meanwhile, Radley Balko looks at what we can look forward to in 2008.

- The earnest contrarians at Slate, always prepared to act in character, have "brewed up" a fresh pot of revelatory economic theory: competition is ... good?

- Can you dig or fathom this: Justin Raimondo and Michael Medved disagree on What Must Be Done about Iran Pakistan. Speaking of Mike's numeralized war mongering, here's his Baghdad Bob-esque 2002 Iraq piece.

- The Film Of The Year, according to this half: This is England, about an 11 year old boy, grieving and bored son of a dead Falklands soldier, taken in by a group of nice skinheads that soon turns into a group of mean skinheads. It's American History X for grown ups. The fourth-wall-cracking final scene is the clincher; it's the most directly anti-nationalism film to ever feature an oi cover of Louie Louie.

- Re: Ben's 12/31, the $70 million those feds are weeping about would be enough to pay the Administration on Aging to keep its doors open for an entire six months. Old people think $5 is a good birthday present, so they should be fine.

- For more federal budget revulsion, take a hard walk around this sharply designed herald of our disrepair.