Despite the prejudices and frequent legal barriers against them, virtually everywhere where Jews have lived, they've been over-represented in science, medicine, business, and the arts.  Two-tenths of one percent of the world's people are Jewish.  Twenty-two percent of recipients of the Nobel Prize since 1901 have been Jewish. Jews are under-represented on welfare rolls and among violent criminals.  Compared to most other ethnic groups, they've been model citizens. The term "anti-Semitism" also makes no sense, because the people today who hate Jews most, the Arabs, also are Semites (children of Shem).  The term was coined by the 19th Century German journalist Wilhelm Marr, who wanted a more gussied-up name for his prejudice than Judenhass (Jew hate). Anti-Semitism is as popular now in tony left-wing circles in Europe and America as it was in right-wing circles in Germany in the 1930s. Tiny Israel, alone among the nations of the world, is condemned for having the temerity to defend herself. Prime Minister Golda Meir (1969-1974) was asked once how Israel has managed to prevail despite the huge numerical advantage of her foes. "There's the natural way and the miraculous way," she responded.  "The natural way is that God sends a miracle and we win.  And the miraculous way is that somehow we do it by ourselves."

For a change, there is some good news. The double-dip recession that some of us had feared if Congress raised taxes on the most productive people has been avoided for the moment, and as a result, many forecasters have increased their growth estimates for 2011 to more than 3 percent. But the country needs sustained growth rates above 3.5 percent to bring down unemployment in a reasonably rapid way. More good news is that the unsustainable increase in federal government spending is likely to be curtailed because of the efforts of the House Republicans and one man in particular, Rep. Paul D. Ryan, Wisconsin Republican, the new head of the House Budget Committee. Mr. Ryan is a fine economist and a man of courage who understands the real world. His committee will take on both entitlement spending and discretionary spending, and the committee recommendations are likely to be passed by the House. Unfortunately, the still Democrat-controlled Senate will lack the courage and will continue to deny the reality of what needs to be done.

There were no terrorist incidents over Christmas, for which we can all be thankful.  But you may suspect, as I do, that our good fortune was due more to luck than to government vigilance. Last week (12/20), Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told Diane Sawyer on ABC News that under her guidance, "thousands of people are working 24/7, 364 days a year to keep the American people safe." 364? Just how hard are they working, rather than sexually groping, on those 364 days?  Random, covert tests of airport security run by federal agencies show a failure rate of 70% at some major airports. On Christmas Day, prosecutors in the Netherlands announced the arrest of 12 Moslems suspected of plotting terror.  Arrests of suspected terrorists in Germany, Spain and France, and the (thankfully premature) detonation of a suicide bomber in Sweden lend credence to reports al Qaeda is planning massive attacks this holiday season.  So let's hope the day a year Ms. Napolitano suggested her people aren't working at all isn't New Years Eve. 

The biggest consumer ripoff in America today is a college education.  The cost of attending college has increased by roughly four times the rate of inflation over the last decade, and has reached heights that place enormous strain on middle class families.  About 70 percent of high school graduates start college, but barely half earn a degree within the traditional four years.  And many who do get a degree only can find jobs for which college is not necessary.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, of the 49.37 million college graduates who had jobs in 2008, 17.4 million were working in occupations requiring less than a bachelor's degree. For instance, 29.8 percent of flight attendants had college degrees.  So did 24.5 percent of retail salespeople, 17.4 percent of bellhops, 16.6 percent of secretaries,15.2 percent of taxi drivers, and 13.9 percent of mail carriers. The proportion of Americans who attend college has increased dramatically in the last 20 years.  But, according to Ohio University economics professor Richard Vedder, director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, 60 percent of the increase since 1992 worked in low skill jobs, some of which don't even require a high school diploma. This is "the single most scandalous statistic in higher education," Dr. Vedder said.

Merry Christmas Eve!  It's a good time to turn our eyes towards Heaven, for the Congress from Hell has finally ended. The Enemedia is celebrating the 111th Congress and its Lame Schmuck Session as "the most productive in history," modern or even ever.  That's certainly true if you, as does the Enemedia, have a Hate-America agenda.  For anyone Pro-America, the 111th has been the most destructive in US history, modern or even ever. So - the multi-trillion dollar, fate-of-America question is:  will the 112th ride to America's rescue and undo the damage?  The scientifically precise answer is... Maybe. The Zero Presidency and Reid-Pelosi Congress have made many folks aware of this terrifying truth:  that Democrats are more dangerous to America than terrorists. The damage any conceivable attack on America perpetrated by Moslem crazies is miniscule compared to the damage Democrats have already wrought upon our country in the last two years - and they intend via their Man in the White House to perpetrate vastly more. This just-ended Lame Schmuck Congress adds an instructive codicil to this:  that RINO Republicans are just as dangerous as America-destroying Democrats.

America is the story of people arising from adverse circumstances, achieving great success and helping others along the way. If you like stories about overcoming adversity - and who doesn't? - I have a suggestion for a last-minute Christmas stocking stuffer or a great gift to brighten the New Year for someone. It is the just-published autobiography "Up from the Projects", by the influential and even revered economist Walter E. Williams. Mr. Williams is perhaps best known for being a substitute host for Rush Limbaugh. He has been substituting for Mr. Limbaugh since 1992 because, he says, as a professor of economics, it gives him the biggest classroom in America. How does a 6-foot, 5-inch black man born in inner-city Philadelphia well before the civil rights movement and raised by a single mother become one of the country's best-known conservative/free-market/libertarian economists, head of a leading academic economics department and an adviser to presidents?

When Tim Pawlenty became governor of Minnesota in 2003, the state faced a budget shortfall of more than $4 billion.  Mr. Pawlenty balanced the budget without raising taxes, despite fierce opposition from the Democrat-controlled legislature. This is comparable to what Mitch Daniels has accomplished in Indiana, better than what Bobby Jindal and Chris Christie have so far been able to do in Louisiana and New Jersey, respectively. On national issues, Gov. Pawlenty has taken solidly conservative, but frequently imaginative positions.  His political career and personal life have been scandal free. A candidate with more pizzazz who had a record like Mr. Pawlenty's would be prominent in the buzz about the GOP presidential nomination in 2012.  But Mr. Pawlenty is dull, deadly dishwater dull.  Yet Mr. Pawlenty's dullness is the reason why he should be given more consideration, thinks law professor William Jacobson.