Going to knock off a bit early today, unless anything major occurs. Have a safe New Year, and wish along with me for a better decade starting tomorrow.

• A Rasmussen poll shows majority support for waterboarding Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. The Cheneyites are thrilled. The moment we started having a debate about torture in this country, those who reject torture lost that debate. Meanwhile we’re actually interrogating Abdulmutallab anyway, and since torture is completely counter-productive, we’re getting better results.

• Juan Cole points out the myths and lies of Republicans politicizing terror. I would add Newt Gingrich’s call to “discriminate” and “profile” radicals. Um, have you seen the pictures of Abdulmutallab? He looks like a young Marshall Faulk. So every black guy’s off the plane, now? And what about all the Caucasians and Mediterreneans convicted of terrorist bombings over the past couple decades? Should we “profile” their types, too? Sen. Dorgan is right – knock it off.

• Anwar al-Awlaki, who was implicated in the Fort Hood shooting as an associate of Malik Hassan, is now being discussed in association with the failed underpants bombing. He’s becoming the Zelig of modern-day terror attacks.

• 9/11 commission chairmen and counter-terrorism experts alike are pointing the finger at the NCTC for missing the warning signs on Abdulmutallab, though I’m not entirely sure. But I fully agree with this from Amy Zegart:

This plot was hatched in Yemen and Nigeria. Just two of the roughly 60 countries in which al Qaeda operates. So why exactly are we putting more blood and treasure into Afghanistan?

• Yemen says they’ve got themselves a “dangerous” terrorist. Maybe he’s the #3 of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

• Weekly unemployment claims are down, which is definitely a good thing, but data in this holiday week is often unreliable. Let’s wait a couple weeks before declaring victory.

• Ben Nelson is defending his health care vote. He’s putting up a brave front, but I wouldn’t suggest that his vote is all that secure, given the serious disapproval for the bill in Nebraska.

• Democrats cannot find a decent challenger to party-switcher Parker Griffith. All of the best possible candidates have declined to run.

• The whine of the bankers: the head of the industry in Britain hates the new tax on bonuses, accusing the government of acting “emotionally and not logically”. And one AIG bigwig resigned because he couldn’t take the executive pay limits.

Here’s to more upset bankers in 2010!

• The US International Trade Commission voted in favor of 10-15% steel tariffs on Chinese imports. Now we’ll see if Obama accepts the advice and moves forward with the tariffs, as he did on tire imports.

• It will be very interesting to see if the Obama Administration follows through on immigration reform next year. I’ll believe it when I see it.

• The seven CIA officers killed in Afghanistan in a suicide bombing were felled by a man wearing an Afghan National Army uniform.

• The Washington Post is outsourcing its news pages to Pete Peterson.

• David Leonhardt looks at Richmond, Virginia’s health care system, where reductions in hospital beds have not led to rationing or affected the quality of care, which is reportedly improving.

• And finally, a reminder to think twice before eating red meat this New Year’s Eve. It may have ammonia in it.