ANN COULTER'S MESSAGE 'TO THE PEOPLE OF ISLAM'

To The People Of Islam: Just think: If we'd invaded your countries, killed your leaders and converted you to Christianity YOU'D ALL BE OPENING CHRISTMAS PRESENTS RIGHT ABOUT NOW!
Merry Christmas - From anncoulter.com

MALAYSIAN NATIONAL NEWS AGENCY: 400,000 POSSIBLY DEAD?

The death toll in Acheh, the region worst hit by last Sunday's tsunami, may exceed 400,000 as many affected areas could still not be reached for search and rescue operations, Indonesia's Ambassador to Malaysia Drs H. Rusdihardjo said Thursday.

He said the estimate was based on air surveillance by Indonesian authorities who found no signs of life in places like Meulaboh, Pulau Simeulue and Tapak Tuan while several islands off the west coast of Sumatera had "disappeared". Read the rest...

UPDATE: PROBING POSSIBILITIES OR ATTEMPTING THE DESIRED RESULT?

An FBI official said there have been six recent incidents involving laser beams being aimed into cockpits of commercial airliners.

A federal law enforcement official said the bureau is investigating one such report in Cleveland and two in Colorado Springs, Colo., as well as three others.

The first three took place on Monday, and all planes involved landed safely. There's no word on when or where the other three incidents occurred, although the official indicated they all happened over the last four days. More...

THE AIRLINES ARE GETTING PROBED.

Six commercial airliners in the past four days have had their cockpits illuminated by laser beams while attempting to land, a government official told CNN Wednesday.

The incidents have happened "all over the place" and in "kind of odd places," the official said without elaborating. Read the rest...

HERO TO THE LEFT

Former US attorney-general Ramsey Clark is to join Saddam Hussein's defence team, a spokesman for the ousted Iraqi president's lawyers says.

Ziad Khasawna said on Wednesday that Clark, who held the office of attorney-general under US president Lyndon Johnson, had "honoured and inspired" the legal team by agreeing to help defend Saddam.

The former top US justice official, who arrived on Tuesday in Jordan where the defence team is based, has become known as a left-wing lawyer and firm critic of US foreign policy since leaving office.

He visited Saddam in Baghdad in February 2003 just before the US-lead invasion and has also been involved with the defence of former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic, on trial for war crimes at a UN court in The Hague. More...

TSUNAMI DEATH TOLL BY COUNTRY

Relief officials are working to assess the death tolls from Sunday's tsunami that killed thousands of people in at least 11 countries.

CNN has confirmed that the undersea earthquake off Sumatra and the giant waves it triggered killed 67,739 people, and that number is expected to rise. More than 67k reported dead - toll by country...

TSUNAMI VIDEO - AND TSUNAMI INFORMATION LINKS

Videos, tsunami info, and contribution links from Cheese and Crackers...

ISLAM'S DARK SIDE SHINES BRILLIANTLY IN TSUNAMI AFTERMATH

Israel has cancelled plans to send a 150-person rescue mission to Sri Lanka after the devastated island objected to the military composition of the team.
The delegation - including 60 soldiers - had been due to set off on Tuesday to help after Sunday's tsunami disaster.

Instead, a smaller team will escort a convoy carrying emergency supplies, Israeli officials said. Read the rest...

AMAZING: TSUNAMI SURVIVOR STORIES FROM THE SUN

A BRITISH survivor was hit by the killer tsunami while diving 50ft below water.

The force of the monster wave threw Amy Harding and fellow scuba divers halfway up a hillside on the Thai island of Ko Phi Phi.

Amy, 24, raised the alarm with her family in the UK by sending them TEXT messages on her mobile phone.

But for more than a day she was frantic with worry about boyfriend Evya, who had disappeared.

Yesterday she was finally rescued from the hillside — and discovered that Israeli Evya was safe and well. More...

SHOCK: U.N. CRITICIZES U.S. TSUNAMI AID

The Bush administration yesterday pledged $15 million to Asian nations hit by a tsunami that has killed more than 22,500 people, although the United Nations' humanitarian-aid chief called the donation "stingy."
"The United States, at the president's direction, will be a leading partner in one of the most significant relief, rescue and recovery challenges that the world has ever known," said White House deputy press secretary Trent Duffy. More...

ASIAN DISASTER RELIEF LINKS POSTED BY SCRAPPLEFACE'S SCOTT OTT

In the wake of the earthquake and tsunami which has struck people around the Bay of Bengal, in addition to your prayers for the victims' families you may be looking for a trustworthy organization through which you can help with disaster relief. Other bloggers have provided links to the Red Cross, UN agencies and Indian government agencies, but if you're interested in giving through an agency that is committed to sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ through effective disaster relief, read on...

MOSUL TENT ATTACK CAUGHT ON VIDEO?

The militant group Ansar al-Sunna posted a video on the Internet today purporting to show the explosion last week at a military mess tent in Mosul that killed 18 Americans and four others. The group, which earlier took credit for the attack, said its suicide bomber had spent a long time observing the camp and slipped inside during a change in the guards.

The authenticity of the five-and-a-half-minute video - posted on a Web site that in the past has carried messages from insurgent groups - could not be determined. The Pentagon declined to comment early this afternoon, and officials from the military base in Mosul said they had not seen the video. More...

GOD REST THEIR SOULS: 10K FEARED DEAD IN MOST POWERFUL EARTHQUAKE IN 40 YRS

The world's most powerful earthquake in 40 years struck deep under the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Sumatra on Sunday, triggering tidal waves up to 20 feet high that obliterated villages and seaside resorts in six countries across southern Asia. Nearly 10,000 people were killed in the devastation. More...

PRESIDENT BUSH: CHRISTMAS MESSAGE

Good morning. On this Christmas day, as families across the nation gather in our homes to celebrate, Laura and I extend to all Americans our best wishes for the holidays. We hope this Christmas is a time of joy and peace for each of you, and we hope it offers you a chance for rest and reflection as you look forward to the new year ahead.

The Christmas season fills our hearts with gratitude for the many blessings in our lives. And with those blessings comes a responsibility to reach out to others. Many of our fellow Americans still suffer from the effects of illness or poverty, others fight cruel addictions, or cope with division in their families, or grieve the loss of a loved one. Read the rest...

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY CHANUKAH TO ALL FROM PREVENT TRUTH DECAY

Thank you for your continued support in 2005... :-)

DAVID LIMBAUGH ON THE CONTINUED PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS AND THEIR HOLIDAYS

If anything, the assault on Christianity I chronicled in my book, "Persecution," is getting worse. Perhaps the perception that "moral issues" contributed to President Bush’s re-election has heightened the secular Left’s irrational fear of Christians.

We’ve seen the acceleration of attacks on Christmas throughout the nation: the discriminatory banning of Christmas carols, Christmas cards and nativity scenes, the substitution of politically correct terms to replace "Christmas," and the systematic effort to paint Christmas as a symbol of exclusiveness and intolerance. More...

MORE BAD NEWS FOR THE MAINSTREAM (LIBERAL) MEDIA

Americans are more likely to get their news from local TV and newspapers than national sources, according to a Gallup Poll released today. But of all sources, only news on the Internet is gaining in popularity.

The poll found that 51% say they get news from local TV every day, with 44% saying they get it from local newspapers. Lagging are cable news channels, at 39%, and network newscasts, at 36%.

An additional 14% say they get news from newspapers several times a week, bringing that total to 58%. More...

SLOW DOWN!! MY SOCIAL SECURITY RETIREMENT $ IS GROWING TOO FAST !!

48% of people disagree with allowing workers to invest part of Social Security in stocks or bonds? I'd say those 48% haven't seen returns on the equity market juxtaposed against their social security returns.

BUSH CONTINUES COMMANDING THE WAR ON TWO FRONTS: TERRORISTS ABROAD AND LIBERALS AT HOME

US President George W. Bush expressed frustration with efforts to train security forces in Iraq, and made clear that Iraqi elections set for January 30 would not spell the end of deadly violence.

Facing reporters during a 53-minute press conference, Bush also stood by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, insisting that the embattled Pentagon chief and Iraq war planner was "doing a really fine job" and would stay on.

Bush vowed to keep working with Russian President Vladimir Putin despite sometimes sharp disagreements; said "now is the time" to make progress on ending the Middle East conflict; and said multilateral diplomacy was the best way to deal with surviving "axis of evil" members Iran and North Korea. More...

THEY SHOULD CUT HER OPEN AND TAKE OUT HER HEART - IF THEY CAN FIND IT

In the end, it wasn't a fingerprint or a blood spatter that led authorities to the woman suspected of strangling a mother-to-be and cutting the baby from her womb. It was an 11-digit computer code. Police zeroed in on Lisa Montgomery in the most 21st century of ways, by trolling computer records, examining online message boards and — most important — tracing an IP address, 65.150.168.223, to a computer at her Melvern, Kan., home.

"That in and of itself led us to the home," Jeff Lanza, an FBI spokesman here said of the IP, or Internet protocol, address, the unique number given to every Internet-connected computer.

Investigators say that just before the slaying, Montgomery had corresponded over the Internet with the victim, Bobbie Jo Stinnett, about buying a dog from Stinnett. The same technology that makes instantaneous communication possible enabled authorities to crack the case in a matter of hours and rescue the premature baby. More...

UKRAINE DEBATE: YUSHCHENKO ATTACKS, YANUKOVICH DUCKS

Ukraine's presidential rivals faced off in a live television debate, with opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko slamming his opponent for vote fraud while Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich scrambled to distance himself from his own government.

"The election of November 21 was stolen by my opponent and his team," Yushchenko said, speaking in Ukrainian, in his opening remarks in reference to a vote officially won by his rival but later annulled by the supreme court because of fraud.

"You stole three million votes," he repeatedly said to his opponent during the debate.

"They tried to steal our future," said the leader of the "orange revolution" that embroiled Ukraine and enflamed tensions between Russia and the West for weeks after the poll.

"The motivating force of this process is the people who no longer want to live under criminal power and in a shadow economy," Yushchenko said.

Yanukovich, speaking in Russian, said in his opening remarks that he was also fighting against the regime of outgoing leader Leonid Kuchma. More...

HOWARD DEAN FOR DNC CHAIR !!

After a brief burst of hope, passion and pride, the Democratic Party is lost again.

We emerged from the 2004 primaries confident of our case against George Bush. Our nominee made that case clearly and convincingly—but it was not enough. Across the country our candidates failed to make the case for the Democratic Party.

The Republicans and media elites who manufacture conventional wisdom diagnose our problems for us: we’re wrong on the issues, they say, and we’re on the wrong side of what they call culture. They are wrong.

Our first problem is message. We let Republicans define the debate. They run on guns, God and gays—and instead of standing up for our values we try to excuse their extremism. We move further and further to the right and we fear standing up against what we know to be wrong. We compromise our values for the sake of victory and wind up with neither integrity nor victory. More from DraftHoward.com...

FUNNY, ...DOESN'T BUSH CARE ABOUT THE RICH?

Bush administration officials on Sunday refused to rule out the possibility that high-income earners would be required to make larger payroll tax contributions as part of Social Security reform.

John Snow, Treasury secretary, left the door open to an increase in the payroll tax base in an interview on Fox News. “We don't have a detailed plan yet,” he said. “What the president said was no increase in rates.” Andrew Card, White House chief of staff, said President George W. Bush did not want to see the payroll tax rate increase but refused to comment on the tax base.
More...

BUSH: MAN OF THE YEAR... AGAIN.

After winning re-election and "reshaping the rules of politics to fit his 10-gallon-hat leadership style," President George Bush for the second time was chosen as Time magazine's Person of the Year.

The magazine's editors tapped Bush "for sharpening the debate until the choices bled, for reframing reality to match his design, for gambling his fortunes - and ours - on his faith in the power of leadership."

Time's 2004 Person of the Year package, on newsstands Monday, includes an Oval Office interview with Bush, an interview with his father, former President George H. W. Bush, and a profile of Bush's chief political adviser, Karl Rove.

In an interview with the magazine, Bush attributed his victory over Democratic candidate John Kerry to his foreign policy and the wars he began in Afghanistan and Iraq. More...

NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR AIRMAIL?

North Korea could flight test at any time a ballistic missile potentially capable of reaching parts of the United States with a nuclear-weapon-sized payload, the State Department's top arms control official said on Friday.

Making the case for President Bush's drive to build a missile shield days after a failed test of the system, Stephen Rademaker, assistant secretary of state for arms control, said North Korea was pushing plans to develop its ocean-leaping, multiple-stage Taepo Dong 2 missile. More...

INTERESTING STRATEGY. PERHAPS HE SHOULD REHIRE GERAGOS.

An ebullient Michael Jackson greeted about 200 children who were brought Friday to the fairy-tale theme park at his countryside ranch - and looked at one point like he might even stay to play.

"I hope you have a wonderful day. Merry Christmas. I love you," the pop singer called out from the driveway of his estate.

When one of the youngsters shouted, "We love you!" Jackson replied "I love you more" before putting an umbrella over his head and walking back toward his house. More...

FIDEL REACTS TO U.S. CHRISTMAS DISPLAY: SWASTIKA ON THE MALECON

Cuba retaliated for the U.S. diplomatic mission's Christmas display supporting Cuban dissidents by putting up a billboard Friday emblazoned with photographs of American soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners and a huge swastika overlaid with a "Made in the U.S.A." stamp.

The billboard, erected overnight facing the U.S. Interest Section's offices, stands on the Malecon, Havana's famed coastal highway. More...

WHY IS THIS ANIMAL NOT HANGING FROM THE GALLOWS YET?

Saddam Hussein met Thursday with an attorney for the first time since his capture last year, a member of his legal defense team said.

Jordanian Issam Ghazzawi, who is in Amman, told CNN that the ousted Iraqi leader talked with lawyer Khalil al-Dollemeh for about four hours. More...

"GOOD MORNING MORONS" AWARD

Katie Couric: Time magazine's Person of the Year issue
hits newsstands today, and this year it honors the
American soldier. Jim Kelly is Time's managing editor and
veteran war photographer James Nachtwey was embedded
with the Army's First Armored Division in Baghdad and
took the remarkable images in this week's issue. He was
also wounded while on assignment. Gentlemen, welcome,
good morning, nice to have you both. I was so, I have to
say, just personally, I was so pleased to see this .... Tell me
why you all decided to honor the American soldier? Wondering
why there's no woman on the cover, too?
Time's Jim Kelly, pointing to cover: This is a woman.
Couric: Oh, there you go, oh sorry .... I couldn't tell because
of her helmet.
- Discussing a Time cover showing three U.S. soldiers in
combat gear, NBC's "Today," December 22, 2003

For a recap of the rest of the Media Research Center's 17th Annual Awards for the Year's Worst Reporting, click here.

FAKE BOMB MAKES IT TO AMSTERDAM

Neal Boortz comments on this airline security debacle: Since September 11, 2001, billions of your tax dollars (most of it borrowed money) has been poured into homeland security, designed to make us all safer. Responsibility for airport security has been handed over to federal employees at the Transportation Security Agency, or TSA. So how's the TSA been doing?

Not good. A story out of New Jersey earlier this week continues to prove the point that we are no safer at airports today than we were before 9/11. Baggage screeners at Newark Liberty International Airport lost a fake bomb that was planted in luggage for a training exercise. It was later recovered by security officials in Amsterdam, after making its way onto a flight there.

The "bomb" even had wires, a detonator and a clock. Hard to miss, but the TSA did. Their spokeswoman says it was too soon to say if anyone would be disciplined for the failure. Is it too much to ask to get some real airport security in this country?

These people will grope breasts ... but can't keep their eyes on a bomb with wires and detonators. Feel safe, do you?

SWASTIKA-SHAPED FLOWER ARRANGEMENTS DURING JEWISH CELEBRATION WEEK... WHAT A "BLUNDER"

A FLORAL foul-up has left a city street lined with swastika shapes in a week of major Jewish celebrations.

Gardeners hired by Melbourne City Council intended to arrange the purple and white pot plants into neat geometric shapes.
But they left six 3m garden beds along Swanston St displaying large Nazi symbols.

Jewish community representatives were appalled last night by the timing of the blunder. More...

KERIK HANGOVER INTENSIFIES

From Drudge: An apartment near the World Trade Center site that former Police Commissioner Bernard B. Kerik used to engage in an extramarital affair with publisher Judith Regan, was originally donated for the use of weary police and rescue workers who were helping after 9-11! One bedroom faced the pit of ground zero... Regan would visit it while Kerik was police commissioner, meaning between Sept. 11 and Dec. 31, 2001. Kerik refused to answer any questions Tuesday regarding the apt... NYT planning coverage... Developing...

SUPPORT OUR TROOPS

Thousands of Americans are asking what they can do to show their support for service members, especially those serving overseas in this time of war.

Listed here are Web sites for several organizations that are sponsoring programs for members of the armed forces overseas. While it would be inappropriate for the Defense Department to endorse any specifically, service members do value and appreciate this support. Find out how...

PAY ATTENTION CONDI: YOU'LL HAVE TO DEAL WITH THIS.

Cuba pressed on with its biggest military exercises in almost 20 years, with 400,000 reservists joining regular forces and millions of civilians in wargames which the authorities say are to deter a US invasion.

About 100,000 Cuban regular troops are also taking part in the "Bastion 2004" exercises which started Monday, officials said.

"The enemy will never catch us by surprise," the official communist party daily, Granma, trumpeted Tuesday in its coverage of the wargames which proceeded as ailing President Castro welcomed Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, his only close ally in the Americas, whose government helps keep Cuba's energy-starved economy afloat with cut-rate oil.

"The only way to stop aggression is to make it abundantly clear that, in this case, Cuba will become from one end to the other an enormous wasp's nest that no aggressor, however powerful, will be able to overcome," Defense Minister Raul Castro said Monday. More...

BERNARD KERIK AFFAIRS: JUDITH REGAN AND JEANETTE PINERO

Former NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik all but admitted having affairs with two women, as the fallout from his failed bid to become homeland security czar continued to explode yesterday.
The women - publishing tycoon Judith Regan and Correction Officer Jeanette Pinero - were simultaneously involved in extramarital affairs with Kerik, sources told the Daily News.

In the harrowing weeks after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Kerik romanced both women at a secret Battery Park City apartment, according to the sources, who have intimate knowledge of the liaisons. More...

ANNAN DENIES OIL-FOR-FOOD CHARGES. A 'WITCH HUNT'... YEAH, THAT'S IT.

Kojo Annan, the son of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, says he had no involvement in the troubled Iraqi oil-for-food program that has drawn both men into multiple investigations.

Kojo Annan, in his first public comment on the subject, told CNN in a written statement: "I have never participated directly or indirectly in any business related to the United Nations." More...

THANK YOU JURY.

A jury recommended Monday that Scott Peterson, the former fertilizer salesman whose case grabbed national headlines, be sentenced to death for killing his 27-year-old pregnant wife, Laci.

Cheers went up from a crowd of several hundred outside the courthouse as the jury announced its decision after 11 1/2 hours of deliberations over three days. More...

VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO POISONED: PICTURE

Dioxin poisoning caused the disfiguring illness afflicting Ukraine opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko, doctors at an Austrian hospital have said.

Doctors told a news conference Saturday they suspect a "third party" administered the poison, possibly by putting it in Yushchenko's soup. More...

PUT THESE GUYS ON TRIAL AFTER SADDAM IS CONVICTED

Iraqi judges and prosecutors chosen to try Saddam Hussein are "nowhere near ready", according to western officials who saw them at a secret training session in London.


Amid growing recriminations, the advisers have claimed that the United Nations and Europe are refusing to provide the tribunal with desperately needed help.

Lt-Col Michael Newton, a US military lawyer from the West Point academy who took part in the training session in October, said: "The judges and prosecutors have much to learn about conducting complex trials in accordance with international law. But their calls for help are not being answered." The week-long session, kept secret for security reasons, brought together 42 Iraqis - almost the entire complement of the special tribunal - and a number of American advisers, including Col Newton, who are providing support. More...

'THE RIGHT-WING MEDIA'

Retiring "journalist" Bill Moyers:

"I'm going out telling the story that I think is the biggest story of our time: how the right-wing media has become a partisan propaganda arm of the Republican National Committee," Moyers says. "We have an ideological press that's interested in the election of Republicans, and a mainstream press that's interested in the bottom line. Therefore, we don't have a vigilant, independent press whose interest is the American people."

Bill, as Han Solo once said, "I'm so glad you're here to tell us these things!"

PEGGY NOONAN NAILS HILLARY CLINTON

We have been writing lately about Republicans. Let's pay some attention to Hillary Clinton, just for fun.

I wrote a book about her more than four years ago. The idea came from a friend, a bright former-Republican-now-Democrat who thought my Wall Street Journal pieces on Mrs. Clinton's looming senatorial candidacy could be turned into something longer that made the case against her. I immediately thought: Yes, that could make a difference. I went to my publisher, who agreed, and I hit it hard, speaking to Mrs. Clinton's friends and enemies, scouring the record. What I concluded was that Mrs. Clinton was an unusually cynical leftist political operative who had no great respect for the citizens of the United States or for America itself, but who saw our country as a platform for her core ambitions: to rise and achieve historic personal and political power both with her husband and without him. Read the rest...

REMEMBER THIS GUY?

Former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry will travel to Iraq next month as the war-torn country prepares for elections.

The Massachusetts senator, who lost his bid for the presidency in November, is expected to visit several Middle East countries, with the focus on the situation in Iraq and the war on terror. More...

WE KNOW THIS. THAT'S WHY YOU KEEP LOSING ELECTIONS.

Liberal powerhouse MoveOn has a message for the "professional election losers" who run the Democratic Party: "We bought it, we own it, we're going to take it back." More...

SHARPTON STEPS UP: SAYS THERE SHOULD BE 'OUTRAGE' OVER ATTACKS ON CONDI

The Rev. Al Sharpton denounced recent attacks on soon-to-be Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday, saying that descriptions of her as an "Aunt Jemima" and racist caricatures by mainstream cartoonists should have provoked "outrage."

"I do think some of the things I've heard about Condoleezza Rice are over the line," Sharpton told WWRL Radio's Steve Malzberg and Karen Hunter. "I think there should be outrage [over the Rice attacks]." More...

SHOCK: MIKE TYSON ARRESTED AGAIN

Former heavyweight boxing champ Mike Tyson has been arrested in Scottsdale. Police say Tyson was busted on suspicion of misdemeanor criminal damage for allegedly jumping on the hood of a car outside a city nightclub. More...

WHO'S IN THE MANGER... BABY SANTA?

Christian leaders on Wednesday denounced a Nativity scene at a London wax museum featuring soccer star David Beckham and his wife, Victoria, a former Spice Girl, as the parents of Jesus.


The waxwork tableau at Madame Tussauds museum included President Bush as one of the three Wise Men, actors Hugh Grant and Samuel L. Jackson as shepherds and Australian disco diva Kylie Minogue as an angel. More...

'ZERO INTELLIGENCE' POLICY IN FULL EFFECT

An 8-year-old girl was suspended for nine days for bringing to school what appeared to be about 30 "Jell-O shots" -- though it was unclear whether they contained alcohol.

The incident occurred Nov. 29, as the girl stood after classes outside Geraldine Boudreaux Elementary School in Terrytown, a New Orleans suburb. A teacher spotted liquid dripping out of the student's bookbag and found what looked like the small cups of alcohol-laced gelatin that are sold in bars, schools spokesman Jeff Nowakowski said.

The girl told the principal that her mother, who works in a bar, makes alcoholic shots at home and sells them at work. The fourth-grader said her mother had instructed her to take the shots to school and sell them, three for $1, to make some money for Christmas, Nowakowski said.

The gelatin was turned over to the sheriff's department for testing to see if it contained alcohol.

The girl was suspended for violating school rules against possessing or trying to distribute a "lookalike," or something that appears to contain drugs or alcohol. More...

RUMSFELD ANSWERS QUESTIONS FROM TROOPS

After delivering a pep talk designed to energize troops preparing to head for Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld got a little "talking to" himself from disgruntled soldiers.

In his prepared remarks, Rumsfeld urged the troops -- mostly National Guard and Reserve soldiers -- to discount critics of the war in Iraq and to help "win the test of wills" with the insurgents.

Some of soldiers, however, had criticisms of their own -- not of the war itself but of how it is being fought. More...

U.S. ELECTIONS AREN'T THAT BAD AFTER ALL

Doctors at the Austrian clinic that treated Ukraine’s opposition leader confirm there was a plot to kill him. Medical experts have confirmed that Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine’s opposition leader, was poisoned in an attempt on his life during election campaigning, the doctor who supervised his treatment at an Austrian clinic said yesterday. More...

LEAVE IT TO McAULIFFE TO POLITICIZE PEARL HARBOR

Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe, in a special Pearl Harbor Day statement, said national unity 63 years ago enabled Americans to go forward and defeat the country's enemies, but the same kind of unity needed now was being undermined by Republican disagreements over provisions of the yet-to-be-voted on intelligence reform bill.

"While we as a nation are united in this fight, there are clearly deep divisions within the Republican Party, divisions that are impeding our fight against terrorism," he said.

"Moving forward, it is my sincere hope that the Republicans running Washington will stop playing their political games and start fighting for the American people, just as our honored veterans did 63 years ago." More...

SHOCKER: LATRELL SPREWELL CURSES FAN

Latrell Sprewell was suspended for one game by the NBA on Tuesday for yelling a sexual vulgarity at a female fan during a game, the latest episode of a player clashing with spectators. More...

ISLAMAPHOBIA IN EUROPE?

It was not what she said, but the way she looked and her manner of dress that had the crowd hooting and jeering as she addressed a conference in Paris last year.

When Salma Yaqoob, a 32-year-old British Muslim activist, took the stand at the November 2003 European Social Forum, she was taken aback by the ruckus.

As chairwoman of the Stop the War Coalition in Birmingham, England, Yaqoob was in Paris to talk about the backlash against British Muslims sparked off by the war on terror during a session titled "Dimensions of Islam." But it was her veil, or hijab, that turned into the subject of an acrimonious dispute.

This was months before France passed a controversial law banning head scarves in public schools, and Yaqoob, a psychotherapist who took up community service shortly after the 9/11 attacks, says she was rattled by the audience hostility. More...

WASN'T PRIME MINISTER ZAPATERO ELECTED ON A TERROR-FRIENDLY TICKET?

Five people were slightly wounded when seven bombs exploded in as many Spanish cities following warnings by Basque separatist group ETA, according to officials.

Monday's blasts came just three days after a similar warning was issued about five bombs in Madrid that later exploded.

A spokeswoman for Spanish Interior Ministry said two of the wounded people were police officers who were evacuating a cafeteria in the southern city of Ciudad Real when a bomb exploded. More...

THE REAL NEWS HERE IS THAT JOHN McENROE'S SHOW LASTED THAT LONG

From a TV standpoint, it was a straight-sets loss: John McEnroe's talk show was axed Friday by CNBC after barely six months on the air.

McEnroe may have had more people watch his tennis matches -- in person -- than watched his talk show some nights. More...

THE WAR AGAINST JUSTICE THOMAS BEGINS...

Incoming Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid on Sunday had harsh words for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

When asked to comment on Thomas as a possible replacement for Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Reid told NBC's "Meet the Press": "I think that he has been an embarrassment to the Supreme Court.

"I think that his opinions are poorly written. I just don't think that he's done a good job as a Supreme Court justice." More...

PERHAPS YOU SHOULD LOOK AT THE STATE OF YOUR COUNTRY BEFORE YOU MAKE THOSE ASSUMPTIONS

The U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was a mistake that has made the world a more dangerous place, but a swift withdrawal would make matters worse, Pakistan's president said this weekend.

"I think it's less safe," Gen. Pervez Musharraf said on CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer." Asked whether he considered the invasion a mistake, the Pakistani leader said, "With hindsight, yes. We have landed ourselves in more trouble, yes." More...

BUSH ANSWERS TOMMY THOMPSON'S RESIGNATION WARNING

President Bush played down on Saturday a stark warning from his resigning health chief that the nation's food supply is largely unprotected from terror attack.

Bush said that the government is doing what it can to safeguard the public from threats, but much work remains.

"We're a large country, with all kinds of avenues where somebody could inflict harm," said Bush, asked about the issue after an Oval Office meeting with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. "We've made a lot of progress in protecting our country, and there's more work to be done, and this administration is committed to doing it." More...

McCAIN THREATENS TO FEDERALIZE BASEBALL

Sen. John McCain demanded immediate action by representatives of major league baseball's players and owners to tighten the sport's drug-testing policy "to restore the integrity of baseball" or face possible congressional action.

"I warned them a long time ago that we needed to fix this problem," McCain told reporters Saturday after attending the Army-Navy football game with President Bush. "It's time for them to sit down together and act. And that's what they should do. If not, clearly, we have to act legislatively, which we don't want to do." More...

MISS PERU WINS MISS WORLD, WANTS WORLD PEACE WE'RE SURE

Good pick.

OK, WE GET THE MESSAGE - BU THE eeLECTION'S OVER!

A decades-old cargo plane went down in a lake in a Miami suburb Saturday, but the pilot and co-pilot climbed onto the fuselage and were plucked to safety by rescuers.

The Miami Air Lease plane -- with the words "Eelect (sic) George W. Bush" running the length of the fuselage -- had trouble with one of its two engines shortly after takeoff, said company office manager Alina Nodarse. More..."

IT'LL HAVE LEGS, BUT NOT THE LEGS ABU GHRAIB HAD: THERE'S NO ELECTION TO SPOIL

The U.S. military has launched a criminal investigation into photographs that appear to show Navy SEALs in Iraq sitting on hooded and handcuffed detainees, and photos of what appear to be bloodied prisoners, one with a gun to his head.

Some of the photos have date stamps suggesting they were taken in May 2003, which could make them the earliest evidence of possible abuse of prisoners in Iraq. The far more brutal practices photographed in Abu Ghraib prison occurred months later. More...

YOU SHOULD'VE TOLD THEM HOW TO DO IT TOMMY

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson resigned Friday, warning of a potential global outbreak of the flu and health-related terror attacks. "For the life of me, I cannot understand why the terrorists have not attacked our food supply because it is so easy to do," he said. More...

THE 28TH ARNOLDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION?

Abolishing slavery. Giving women the vote. Establishing the income tax. Limiting presidents to two terms.

Through more than two centuries, it usually has taken a weighty cause to survive the burdensome process of amending the U.S. Constitution. Americans hold the work of the Founding Fathers in such reverence that they've added to it only 17 times since 1791. That's when the first 10 amendments were codified as the Bill of Rights.

Now, debate over a proposed 28th Amendment is focused on the popularity and political future of one man: macho Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former bodybuilder and action-movie star who has been California's governor for barely a year. Read the rest...

AMBER ALERT FOR STOLEN SPONGEBOBS

Burger King really wants its SpongeBob inflatables back, and the burger chain is even willing to offer a one-year's supply of free Whoppers, salads or any other item on its menu as a reward for information leading to their safe return.

Miami-based Burger King has been inflicted with a spate of "Spongenappings" that began Nov. 11 in which vandals made off with several gigantic blow-up SpongeBob Squarepants figures that were perched on rooftops of different restaurants across the country. More...

CONTROVERSIAL ISALMIC GROUP CONDUCTS... GET THIS: 'SENSITIVITY TRAINING' WORKSHOPS FOR FBI COUNTER-TERRORISM AGENTS (!)

ptd comment > What is this War on Terror coming to?

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FBI counter-terrorism agents in Florida attended a "sensitivity training" workshop yesterday conducted by a controversial Islamic lobby group.

Although it has been described by two former FBI counter-terrorism chiefs as a spin-off of a U.S. front for the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, led the workshop on "Islam and the American Muslim community" at the FBI's Jacksonville Division All Employee Conference.
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ED KOCH GIVES VALUABLE ADVICE TO DEMS. WILL THEY LISTEN?

Since the elections, Democrats have declined to take any action to start moving the party in a different direction. It may happen, but I doubt it. If changes don't take place, I have no doubt that the reverses the party suffered this year -- a four-seat loss in the House, a five-seat loss in the Senate and, of course, an unsuccessful presidential bid -- will continue. Read the rest...

DICK MORRIS: CUT THE U.N.'S DUES

Whether the United Nations were located in New York or in Geneva, Congress cannot and should not continue to spend our money paying dues to an organization that will not open its records to our elected officials who are seeking to investigate numerous reports of corruption reaching high up in the U.N. organization. Read the rest...

VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO'S OP-ED IN TODAY'S WALL STREET JOURNAL

We will lead the Ukrainian people to a legitimate victory - Viktor Yushchenko - Read it

IT'S KERIK!

When Bernard Kerik was New York's police commissioner, he helped turn Gotham from an urban war zone into one of the safest big cities in the world.

His expertise as a crimefighter and his oversight of the New York Police Department's heroic efforts during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks earned him international fame and a role as a special adviser to the Iraqi government, which drew on his help to establish a fledgling police force. Kerik Profile...

GO GET 'IM DEMS... TREAT KERIK LIKE YOU TREATED CONDI

President Bush will nominate former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik to take over as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, two administration officials said Thursday. More...

BERNARD KERIK FOR HOMELAND SECURITY HEAD

Former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik is the likely choice to head the federal Homeland Security Department during President George W. Bush's second term, according to sources close to Homeland Security officials.

Kerik would replace Tom Ridge, the first head of the department, who on Tuesday announced his intention to resign once a successor is in place.

Kerik, 49, served as police commissioner for 16 months during 2000 and 2001 and gained national prominence during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He previously was city corrections commissioner. More...

ON THE CUSP OF SOCIAL INSECURITY REFORM

The White House is considering larger Social Security personal investment accounts than the 2 percent plans often linked to President Bush's proposals to overhaul the New Deal era retirement system, according to advisers who have attended administration briefings. More...

MADELINE ALBROOCH

In light of their reaction to the nomination of Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state, I gather liberals have gotten over their enthusiasm for multiculturalist milestones. It's interesting that they dropped their celebrations of the "first woman!" "first black!" "first Asian!" designations at the precise moment that we are about to get our first black female secretary of state.

When Madeline Albright was appointed the FIRST WOMAN secretary of state, the media was euphoric. (And if memory serves, Monica Lewinsky was the first Jewish female to occupy her various positions on the president's, uh, staff.)

With Albright at the helm of the State Department, Osama bin Laden ran wild throughout the Middle East, the North Koreans began feverishly building nukes under her nose, and we staged a pre-emptive attack solely for purposes of regime change based on false information presented to the American people by Albright about a world leader who was not an imminent threat to the United States. Slobodan Milosevic wasn't even a latent, long-term, hypothetical threat.

But the girls in the mainstream media were too smitten with Albright's brooch collection and high heels to notice the shambles she was making of foreign policy. Read the rest...

A LIFE WORTH SLAUGHTERING

Scott Peterson's father took the stand Wednesday in the penalty phase of his son's murder trial and described a friendly boy who sang at a senior citizens' home on Sundays, tutored young students, and distributed clothes and food in Tijuana.

"You don't know who Scott Peterson is, and it's going to be our job to show you," defense lawyer Pat Harris said on the second day of testimony in the penalty phase of Peterson's trial.

"What we're going to now show you is the 30 years that preceded this. And when we show you those 30 years, I believe that you will agree that this is a life worth saving."

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BRING ON BERNARD KERIK

Tom Ridge's successor as chief of the Homeland Security Department will have to unify a sprawling bureaucracy, a deadly serious job where failure could put the United States at risk of another terror attack.

Ridge, who announced his resignation Tuesday, acknowledged the frustrations of working out the kinks in the broadest government reorganization in half a century, a job critics say remains largely incomplete. "I like going to work every day," Ridge said, before addi