Link heap, Tuesday edition

So much going on, so much frustration, outrage (post-Bush edition), uncertainty. Here's a bunch of it...

• Stupid underwear-bomber made my trip home from the holidays hellish. One anticipates another round of pointless reactionary upping of intrusiveness, further diminishing my interest in flying. The best reaction to the whole thing that I've seen is by Fareed Zakaria: Don't panic. Fear is al-Qaeda's real goal. Indeed. His suggestion that breaches of security be treated like airplane crashes -- dispassionately, with a view to learning what could be done better -- is an excellent one that will probably go unheard.
  
  
• Lots of panic, wavering, uncertainty on healthcare reform in the wake of the Great Lost Supermajority. I like Krugman here: the best way to disprove the lies is to pass something and let people see it in action. That's certainly preferable to letting things continue to suck, which will likely benefit the Republicans (and none of the public). The Washington Monthly has a telling observation about how Dems and the GOP respond to defeats; perhaps it's time to learn not to run scared, especially when poll after poll says that the public wants relief from our crazy healthcare morass...
  
  
• The economy seems stalled, with stimulus money still trickling out and unemployment stuck at the painful 10% level. Nothing more that can be done, or is it just that stable prices are more important than people's livelihoods? I'm ready for Bernanke to move along. Leaks about the Obama spending freeze (bleah) appear designed to set up some saner proposal in the State of the Union tomorrow; I hope to hear something promising on both that and the prospects of health care...