Editors' Note  —  Earlier this morning, we posted a letter that was signed by Bertrand Delanoe, the mayor of Paris, sharply criticizing Caroline Kennedy.  —  This letter was a fake.  It should not have been published.  —  Doing so violated both our standards and our procedures in publishing signed letters from our readers.

Putting a CAP on Yglesias  —  It's been awhile since there's been a good, old fashioned “you can't do that in the blogosphere” controversy, but this morning Memeorandum brings us one in the form of a public rebuke to nomadic Center for American Progress (CAP) blogger Matthew Yglesias by CAP interim chief executive Jennifer Palmieri.

Sarah Palin: Conservative of the Year  —  Sarah Palin wins HUMAN EVENTS' prestigious “Conservative of the Year” Award for 2008 for her genius at annoying all the right people.  The last woman to get liberals this hot under the collar would have been ... let's see now ... oh, yeah: Me!

With most ballot challenges settled, Franken leads by 48  —  With most ballot challenges settled, Democrat Al Franken holds a 48-vote lead over Republican Sen. Norm Coleman in the U.S. Senate recount, according to a Star Tribune analysis of a draft report from the Secretary of State's office.

5 men convicted of conspiracy in Fort Dix plot  —  CAMDEN, N.J. - Five Muslim immigrants accused of scheming to massacre U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix were convicted of conspiracy Monday in a case that tested the FBI's post-Sept. 11 strategy of infiltrating and breaking up terrorist plots in their earliest stages.

President Bush has an MRI on shoulder  —  Exam done while president visited wounded soldiers at Walter Reed  —  WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush had an MRI of his left shoulder on Monday in an attempt to understand why he has experienced pain recently.

The top ten media blunders of 2008  —  The media took its share of lumps this year, with persistent claims of bias and complaints about often wrong-headed speculation from a seemingly endless parade of talking heads.  Of course, there was great reporting, with journalists breaking news …

Poll finds public split on Obama aides' contacts with Blagojevich  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — A new national poll indicates Americans are split on whether aides to President-elect Barack Obama did something inappropriate in their contacts with embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Toyota Expects Its First Loss in 70 Years  —  TOKYO — Toyota Motor, the Japanese auto giant, said Monday that it expected its first operating loss in 70 years, underscoring how the economic crisis was spreading across the global auto industry.  —  On Monday, Toyota said it expected …

Washington Is Killing Silicon Valley  —  Entrepreneurship was taken for granted.  Now we're seeing a lot less of it.  —  Even as economic losses and unemployment levels mount, America's most effective engine for wealth and job creation is being dangerously — perhaps fatally — compromised.

Obama's Cabinet To The Right Of Democrats in Congress  —  In the 110th Congress, there were 236 Democrats in the U.S. House, 49 in the Senate, and two “Independents” who caucused with Democrats.  Of those 287 congresscritters, 74 were members of the New Democratic Coalition, which is affiliated with the DLC.

Life Without Bubbles  —  Whatever the new administration does, we're in for months, perhaps even a year, of economic hell.  After that, things should get better, as President Obama's stimulus plan — O.K., I'm told that the politically correct term is now “economic recovery plan” — begins to gain traction.

Arabs lavish jewels on Secretary of State Rice  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush's foreign policies may be unpopular in the Middle East, but Arab leaders showered his top diplomat with jewelry worth far more than a quarter of a million dollars last year.

Newspaper Shuns Web, and Thrives  —  With 2008 drawing to a brutal close on the media beat — bankruptcies, daily newspapers that are no longer daily, magazines that are downsizing into brochures — a little ray of light appeared in my e-mail inbox.  It was from a newspaper owner, of all people.

Developers Ask U.S. for Bailout  —  With a record amount of commercial real-estate debt coming due, some of the country's biggest property developers have become the latest to go hat-in-hand to the government for assistance.  —  They're warning policymakers that thousands of office complexes …

Krugman in contact with the Obama team?  —  Yes.  —  When master economist, columnist, and plain ole intellectual (so few left these days) Paul Krugman was asked this morning* about whether or not he was “in communications” with the Obama administration regarding the economy, he declared …

Pope likens “saving” gays to saving the rainforest  —  VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict said on Monday that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behavior was just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction.  —  “(The Church) should also protect man from the destruction of himself.