This time of year, newspapers and magazines swell with retrospectives on the year that was, predictions for the year to come, and cogitations on meaningless trends and contrived fads.

Against this backdrop, there�s an added poignancy to the death of Samuel P. Huntington, who died Christmas Eve at the age of 81. A decent, profound, and profoundly consequential man, the Harvard professor was one of the lions of 20th century social science. He spotted trends and made predictions, too. But he did so not with a wet finger to the air but with his nose in the books, his hands on the facts, and his eyes fixated on the Big Picture.

	  	Goldberg: The Squeegee Men of the New World Order Goldberg: Samuel Huntington�s True Vision Malkin: The UAW�s Money-Squandering Corruptocracy Kudlow: Time for a Choice � Not an Echo Robbins: Excessive Force? Ledeen: Wrong Story Lukas: Modest Wishes Sowell: Art of the Impossible Editors: Hamas Fantasy R