After the Fighting in Gaza (Bangor Daily News) With prospects for a cease-fire in Gaza growing after an Israeli bomb reportedly killed dozens at a school there, attention in Israel, the Palestinian territories and the world must turn to what comes next.

Rod Dreher (Jewish World Review) http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | If 2008 taught us anything, it was the danger of listening to people who tell us what we want to hear. Anybody with a lick of sense should have seen that we were living inside a bubble of Panglossian optimism that had little basis in observable fact.

Travel trends in 2009 (Canoe Travel) If you can afford a vacation, 2009 will be "the year of travel deals."