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Ouch!

*** Congratulations to Stephen and Melissa Green.

*** A nomination that I agree with.

*** An excellent post on the information war, Islam and radical Islamism. It think it helps to have read the novel Snow Crash.

INDC Contributor Hubris is "hanging up the spurs," a decision arrived at only after a courageous struggle with crippling blogging ennui. While it's uncertain if he'll ever be back in action, this door is always open for Hubris to projectile post his inanely funny perversions and eminently reasonable political thoughts, should either itch present itself.

I'm very pleased and thankful that INDC had the brief opportunity to feature one of the best humorists in the 'sphere. Godspeed, sweet Hubris. Godspeed.

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Found at Instapundit, linked here for emphasis:

Must Read #1, The Chicago Tribune:

Did President Bush intentionally mislead this nation and its allies into war? Or is it his critics who have misled Americans, recasting history to discredit him and his policies? If your responses are reflexive and self-assured, read on.

Must Read #2, Bill Roggio:

Monday’s Washington Post featured an article written by Jonathan Finer and Doug Struck titled Bloggers, Money Now Weapons in Information War - U.S. Recruits Advocates to the Front, Pays Iraqi TV Stations for Coverage, of which my embed in Iraq was the subject of scrutiny as a military information operation.

There are three problems with this article which require a response: the use iof incorrect facts which could have been easily checked; the portrayal of my embed as an information operation; and equating U.S. military information operations with al-Qaeda propaganda efforts.

An accord has been signed on the Island of Misfit Toys.

Merry Christmas, everybody!

The story about how a leak to a newpaper led to Osama giving up his satellite phone seems to be an urban legend. Cliff Notes version: The (Clinton) White House and intelligence community thought a Washington Times story led to OBL ditching the phone. The story said he had a satellite phone (which had been previously reported in other major news outlets), but didn't say anything about us listening in. Oh, and although OBL stopped using it shortly after the Washington Times piece, the Times piece ran the day after the cruise missile strikes, and according to the Islamabad Daily News, he used his phone 30 minutes before the strikes. 30 minutes. Maddening isn't it? (via Gary Farber)

If it makes you guys feel any better, the Stalin-super-monkey-soldier story still looks rock solid. I want my monkey-man!

This diagram represents the Circle of High School. It's a delicate balance that paradoxically leads to a many-layered foundation of incredible strength, the kind upon which societies can be built. Actions lead to predictable outcomes:

• Jock gets too cocky, geek makes him or her look stupid in Calculus class; alternatively, punks intimidate him/her off campus
  
• Preppy makes fun of someone's clothes, shitkicker looks up threateningly from sharpening his knife in homeroom and scares the shit out of him
  
• Geek thinks he or she is soooo smart, punk/shitkicker knock books out of his/her hand in front of crowd of kids; or, jock makes him/her puke with carefully aimed dodgeball throw
  
• Punk pushes flouting of social conventions too far, jock/preppy/shitkicker pisses in his/her locker
  
• Shitkicker goes too redneck, preppy girls laugh at him/her and make him/her feel like an asshole

This diagram, on the other hand, illustrates the dynamics of blogging:

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*** X-Men 3 teaser trailer.

*** A Saturday Night Live skit that's actually funny: The Chronic of Narnia.

(Via John Cole)

*** An ex-Marine takes the field in the War on Christmas:

A former Marine took a stab at saving the Christmas spirit yesterday -- knocking over a bloody, knife-wielding Santa that was part of a controversial display outside a Manhattan home. Julius Spohn, 64, of Newark, said he had read about the display in The Post and wanted to see the macabre scene in front of the East 18th Street brownstone belonging to Joel Krupnik and Mildred Castellanos.

Furious after seeing it, he opened the gate, walked into the small front yard and knocked down the "Bad Santa."

"I think it's atrocious," said Spohn of the display, adding that he acted spontaneously when he pushed the gruesome dummy to the ground.
...
Spohn said that this was the first time he had ever done anything like this -- and promised not to do it again.

But this display wasn't considered the sort of freedom he was protecting while serving in the military, he added.

Er, he might need a refresh on that concept.

(Via RA)

*** For all you Llama fans: Orgleback Mountain.

Scarlett Johansson says Woody Allen was obsessed with her love life. “He’s not always sure of himself, and that’s a sexy quality,” the “Love Match” star tells the upcoming issue of Life magazine regarding her director. “But you know what cracks me up? He’s fascinated with my love life."

Hey, that's completely normal. I know that when I do volunteer work at the nearby nursing home, the ladies invariably ask to go over my love life in excruciating detail, right after I read them excerpts from Hustler.

Meanwhile, the famously hermaphroditic Johansson (or as I like to call her, "Hank") has fabricated a crazy-ass story about her revealing dress being confiscated, in a clumsy attempt to cover up her secret man-body.

The White Stripes: Seven Nation Army

(Realplayer file. A Windows Media version is here.)

*** A shoplifter's awful luck: "Stop! U.S. Marines!"

(Via Florida Cracker)

*** The Llamabutchers have a new Christmas logo at the top of their site. For some reason, it's the first LB logo I can recall where Robbo the Llama's likeness is not depicted in drag.

This upsets me greatly.

*** This history and import of the Christmas wreath:

So what could be a wreath? The history of the wreath is so tangled, so choked with symbolism, that the wreath has come to mean everything and nothing: a perfectly secular symbol of Christmas. Among the first people to embrace wreaths were ancient Persians, who wore diadems made of fabric and jewels—the wreath standing in for wealth and power. The Greeks awarded wreathlike headwear to early Olympic champions—the wreath, in that case, meaning victory. Germanic tribes used wreaths to anticipate the end of the long winter, a tradition which under Christianity morphed into the familiar advent wreath, with candles lit in the weeks leading to the Christmas. For the current wreath craze in America, we may thank the European settlers who, anticipating the future colonialism of Martha Stewart, brought wreath-making techniques to the New World.

*** The War on Christmas turns even uglier: Santa joins the Intifada.

*** Have you bought one of these t-shirts yet? Christmas and Chanukah, just around the corner ...

A key point from the judge's ruling in the Dover ID case:

The citizens of the Dover area were poorly served by the members of the Board who voted for the ID Policy. It is ironic that several of these individuals, who so staunchly and proudly touted their religious convictions in public, would time and again lie to cover their tracks and disguise the real purpose behind the ID Policy.

Last month, Dorkafork mentioned similar natural incongruities between the stated scope of ID and the credentials of those advocating it:

A post at Balloon Juice points out that the "totally-doesn't-have-a-connection-to-religion" and "isn't-religiously-based" Intelligent Design movement is being represented in the Dover Trial by the Thomas More Center, whose mission, according to its website, is to "be the sword and shield for people of faith, providing legal representation without charge to defend and protect Christians and their religious beliefs in the public square." Oops! Looks like somebody didn't get the memo.

Under that comment thread I responded to Russell Wardlow's scornful assertion that overt religious advocates pushing ID don't undermine the legal and social legitimacy of ID as a non-religious scientific theory:

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A father reflects:

My response is that Mike didn't die for a "just cause", he died JUST BECAUSE - just because he loved his country enough to want to serve it since the time he was in middle school; just because he loved his family enough to want to protect them; just because he loved his friends enough that he would rather fight a war "there" than here; just because he believed in our order of government whereby the civilian government rules and the military obeys, and when the President, with lawful authority, calls upon soldiers to go and fight, he believed it was not only his duty, but his honor to go; just because he wouldn't let his fellow soldiers - his guys - go it alone; and just because he wanted to do for others - the Iraqi people - what he would do for his own country.

Read the rest.

(Via IP)

Dean Esmay profiles Carl Levin's unfrozen caveman lawyer defense, as well as the political absurdity of pretending that history started in 2001. I haven't fully digested the legal implications of this latest scandal/legitimate intelligence operation - opting for "wait-and-see" mode - but I've already developed an inkling that the Donks are overplaying their hand. Again.

But that's how they've conditioned me, the Pavlovian sadists.

UPDATE: Commenter Milowent links Orin Kerr's analysis over at Volokh:

Was the secret NSA surveillance program legal? Was it constitutional? Did it violate federal statutory law? It turns out these are hard questions, but I wanted to try my best to answer them. My answer is pretty tentative, but here it goes: Although it hinges somewhat on technical details we don't know, it seems that the program was probably constitutional but probably violated the federal law known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. My answer is extra-cautious for two reasons. First, there is some wiggle room in FISA, depending on technical details we don't know of how the surveillance was done. Second, there is at least a colorable argument — if, I think in the end, an unpersuasive one — that the surveillance was authorized by the Authorization to Use Miltary Force as construed in the Hamdi opinion.

There's much, much more, as it's a hella thorough analysis, a prerequisite for ideologues prior to passing judgment.

UPDATE: Goldstein posts another thorough round-up in the course of his take.

Rush: Roll the Bones (Live)

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Jackson Diehl reviews the to-date results of the Wolfowitz proposition:

Though Iraq has now held the freest election in Arab history, conventional wisdom in Washington and the Middle East still dismisses the Bush administration's hope that its military intervention will catalyze democratic change around the region. A recent survey by Brookings Institution scholar Shibley Telhami found that 58 percent of Arabs outside Iraq said the war had produced less rather than more democracy. In the United States, a Pew poll released last month showed that only 34 percent of Americans believed Middle East democratization would happen.

That's one of the perverse effects of the war: Amid all the noise of suicide bombings, talk of a quagmire for U.S. troops and a sectarian conflict that could lead to Iraq's disintegration, most people haven't noticed that in the rest of the Arab Middle East, the political momentum of the past year has been . . . distinctly democratic.

Read the rest.

Via Jim Treacher.

I know it's hard to believe, but I wasn't always the devil-may-care rebel that I am today. I was once a sober and responsible child, destined to enter the world of investment banking and aid in the fortification of traditional social mores.

Then, one fateful day, instead of giving my hard-earned two bits to the local soda jerk, I splurged on a glossy copy of Cracked. I was never the same.

As Jim indicates, Jay Pinkerton's* involvement is a great sign.

*I'm eternally grateful to Ilyka for formally introducing me to the joy of Pinkerton.

*** Lies.

*** A brand new Carnival of the RINO's.

*** The Commissar releases a new blogger map.

*** A stunningly positive new development from Iraq:

Sunni Muslim leaders in Iraq’s violent Anbar province say they are ready to cooperate with the United States.
...
The truce resulted from weeks of negotiations between U.S. officials and insurgents. Sunni religious leader Sheik Abed al-Latif Hemaiym told The Times in an interview in Amman that Sunnis were prepared to work with the United States.

“We now believe we must get on good terms with the Americans,” Hemaiym said. “As Arab Sunnis, we believe that within this hot area of Iraq, facing challenges from neighboring nations who want to swallow us, especially the Iranians, we feel we have no alternative."

*** A tough rhetorical challenge for those who are anti-war:

Before I had the chance to change the channel to something else, I saw the first few minutes of Attack of the Show on G4, whatever it is. Its two hipster anchors led off with a self-consciously earnest-sounding "history in the making" editorial about the Iraqi election that seemed to sort of catch one of them off guard—the guy suddenly went off on a bit of a tirade, out of nowhere, about the Iraqi purple fingers and what significance they have, what a momentous day this is, and so on. The girl picked up on it quickly, kept trying to spin jokes off it, but the guy was focused and serious about acknowledging how huge a milestone this is for Iraq and how exhilarating it is and ought to be for anyone whose pulse quickens a little at the thought of seeing a new democracy being born. "Even after all the Bush-bashing and jokes we've made," he said, "you've just gotta step back and realize what an amazing thing this is."

Read the rest.

"I just wanna thank each and every one of y'all, for all you've done to your bodies."

Shock!

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I was a bit worried that I’d be called as a witness, since I've had at least seventeen sex romps with Hatcher myself. That is, if the definition of "sex romp" includes furiously abusing oneself while watching Hatcher on a well-worn VHS tape of Tango & Cash, then enjoying a nice grilled cheese sandwich.

Actually, there would be little surprise in an actress having sex in a van. It's how they usually get their start in the business, and union rules require them to return to it as their main vocation immediately after turning thirty. It's sort of like the Circle of Life, with fewer lions.

You’ve changed the world for the better by totally helping me to score that night in college when I strategically started playing "With or Without You"encouraging wealthier nations to forgive the debts of the third world.

Whodathunk that someone who wears pink sunglasses inside could be a Person of the Year? Perhaps there’s hope for me to accomplish something big yet, despite my predilection for chaps.

Tom Cruise performs “The Cruiser,” wherein the wayward subject is treated to a vigorous hair-pulling while being threatened by a sheet of flame. This is based on a traditional Scientology practice¹, but Cruise refined it and really made it his own during his training for The Last Samurai. I heard that it took him months to get the accompanying cold smirk just right.

I’ve had trouble defining “torture,” but if I see anything like the glassy-eyed smile Katie’s been sporting lately, I’m going to give the alleged victim the benefit of the doubt.

¹UPDATE: Since this post has been linked by a Scientology site, I should emphasize that it's just a joke. I think Scientology is awesome. There is certainly no need to send Scientology lawyer-goons to my apartment to convince me otherwise.²

²Just kidding again! There's no such thing as Scientology lawyer-goons!³

³Mommy!

Massive Attack: Protection

Alternately ...

Faithless: Muhammad Ali*

* Warning to those that need it: thar be rapping, though a lyrical variety.

Rhetorically waterboarding Andrew Sullivan:

And Andrew Sullivan -- pursuant to his apparent brand differentiation strategy, I guess -- is bravely standing up to the "NRO-Reynolds chorus," whatever that means. I don't think I really agree with Mark Levin, Rich Lowry, et al. on the specific subject at hand, though I confess that I haven't followed that particular pissing match very closely. However, I do agree with them that Andrew has been consistently, pompously, and annoyingly moralistic and irritatingly unspecific. So if that's the chorus, well yes -- but it's a song that has a lot of notes, most of them struck by Andrew himself. And I'm irritated with him, not for the reason you might think -- because I disagree with Andrew -- but more the contrary, because every time I read one of his preening posts, I find my opposition to torture weakening in response, even though I've been consistently in opposition to torture since 2001 (and before). God help me if he ever starts blogging in support of nanotechnology and bans on cloning -- I'll probably start looking at Leon Kass more sympathetically. It's like listening to Robert Bork talk about original understanding jurisprudence.

Ah, that's the stuff. Call me a sadist.

*** Iraqi election commercials, interesting as Hell. The first is oddly goofy, the last (3:42) is very good.

*** I couldn't believe this:

“Mr. Trump, I firmly believe that this is ‘The Apprentice,’ that there is one and only one apprentice, and if you’re going to hire someone tonight, it should be one,” Randal said. “It’s not ‘The Apprenti,’ it’s ‘The Apprentice.’”

Stone cold. And just a little bit bizarre.

*** Researchers discover the genetic mutation that gave rise to white skin:

Scientists said yesterday that they have discovered a tiny genetic mutation that largely explains the first appearance of white skin in humans tens of thousands of years ago, a finding that helps solve one of biology's most enduring mysteries and illuminates one of humanity's greatest sources of strife.

The work suggests that the skin-whitening mutation occurred by chance in a single individual after the first human exodus from Africa, when all people were brown-skinned. That person's offspring apparently thrived as humans moved northward into what is now Europe, helping to give rise to the lightest of the world's races.

Fascinating. Can the "Michael Jackson Institute for Gene Therapy (Manama, BHR)" be far behind?

Ba-rump-BUMP.

Someone get me a job with Leno.

And the war is also being portrayed in film:

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... my new sponsor. I may buy the "It Was Just a Theory" shirt. Whimsical, informative.

When Will the Killing Stop?!

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A holiday display is getting some negative attention from neighbors. A homeowner's display in the Hunter's Creek subdivision features Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer hanging from a tree.

One red light represents its nose and the rest appear to be blood draining from Rudolph's body. The display represents a hunting technique called field dressing, which is what hunters do to a deer they kill, but many neighbors say it disgusts them.

Related: Perhaps surprisingly, The Raving Atheist decries the rash of violent Christmas displays.

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Another big step forward:

Iraqis started voting for a National Assembly that may reduce the power of the governing Shiite coalition as secular and Sunni parties win more seats.

A total of 15.5 million Iraqis are today eligible to decide the composition of the parliament for the next four years, giving the country its first permanent government since the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Final results won't be known for several weeks.

Good luck. The degree of Sunni electoral success will have a great deal to do with how the insurgency progresses or folds from this point forward, obviously.

I particularly like this Aussie ABC headline ...

Iraqi voters ignore sporadic violence

... contrasted with this American ABC headline:

Large Blast Heard in Iraq As Polls Open

As per usual for significant benchmarks of Iraq's democratization, a google news search displays interesting ideological rorschach results of media focus.

Emiliana Torrini: Gollum's Song*

* The large version might take a bit, but the improvement in sound quality is worth it.

Bonus Torrini: Sunny Road (Live)

(Right click and 'save as' second link)

And I mean double-time:

When I told people that I was getting ready to head back to Iraq for my third tour, the usual response was a frown, a somber head shake and even the occasional "I'm sorry." When I told them that I was glad to be going back, the response was awkward disbelief, a fake smile and a change of subject. The common wisdom seems to be that Iraq is an unwinnable war and a quagmire and that the only thing left to decide is how quickly we withdraw. Depending on which poll you believe, about 60 percent of Americans think it's time to pull out of Iraq.

How is it, then, that 64 percent of U.S. military officers think we will succeed if we are allowed to continue our work? Why is there such a dramatic divergence between American public opinion and the upbeat assessment of the men and women doing the fighting?

(Via IP)

There's a civil conflict brewing at the Washington Post:

A debate is raging at The Washington Post, pitting the newspaper's traditional print staff (and newly appointed ombudsman) against a representative of a new generation of journalists who work for the company's Web site. The Post's Politics Editor, John Harris, fanned the flames with a post Monday evening, in which he suggested some in the newsroom wish to spike the Web column in question, although he does not.

WaPo National Politics Editor John Harris discusses the criticism and confusion over the column - the partisan "White House Briefing" by Dan Froomkin - with PressThink:

Q: What sort of complaints or reactions have the political writers received (and from whom) that would lead them to think that White House Briefing is harming their credibility?

John Harris: I don’t keep a running log, but I regularly run across people who think Dan is one of our White House reporters. One of them was a very news-saavy source of mine who actually runs campaigns. That tells me there is a large chunk of readers—I’m not saying most but a lot—who are not clear who he is and that he is writing as a commentator and not a White House reporter.

The ombudsman says she regularly gets comments on the theme of how can you pretend to objectivity when your White House reporter writes “insert Froomkin quote here.”

The question is has the website done enough to address such confusion? They are doing better. Most of the time (but with some slips) he is presented as an “opinion columnist.” But I think the title “White House Briefing” (which, as Dan acknowledges, is really a pretty minor issue) invites confusion.

On average, the WaPo has always been the most level-headed of the major dailies, my 21st Century choice for "The Paper of Record," so this type of public introspection doesn't surprise me (whereas similar discussions by anyone at the NYT might send me into psychogenic seizure). And even the muted shades of reality presented in quotes like this ...

John Harris: How Dan would be writing about a Kerry administration is obviously an imponderable. Does Dan present a liberal worldview? Not always, but cumulatively I think a great many people would say yes—enough that I don’t want them thinking he works for the news side of the Post.

Without agreeing with the views of this conservative blogger who took on Froomkin, I would say his argument does not seem far-fetched to me.

... strike an encouraging note.

Now if only they'd do something about Dana Milbank's V-8 starved "objective analysis," we'd be in biz-naz ...

Chronically cranky Bill Quick takes a darker view:

My first reaction to this - well, my second, since my first is how little this fraternal spat really matters in the larger scheme of things - is that Froomkin is practicing Mary Mapes/Dan Rather journalism: It doesn't matter if he is biased so far to the left that Walter Duranty is nodding his head in approval down in hell, because Bush deserves it. And since Bush deserves it (left unsaid is why nobody else seems to deserve it, at least not from Froomkin), why, then, the obligation of all good journalists should be to give it to him hot and heavy. For some reason, the fishwrap newsroom takes offense at this notion. I suspect they agree with it on a personal level, but feel uncomfortable with Froomkin making the liberal bias they'd rather conceal so unapologetically obvious.

Regarding personal ideology, well, sure. But I still maintain that with notable exceptions, the WaPo deserves a good deal of relative credit for evenhandedness. One only has to compare last fall's investigative analysis*** of the Swift Boat Vet allegations and the relatively good coverage of Rathergate with other dailies to get a sense of positive perspective about the WaPo's attempts to play it straight.

Credit where credit is due, even when the overall bar for ideologically-neutral reporting in the MSM is set so darn low ...

*** Despite the thrust of the headline and subjective focus elements of the Swiftie story, it was a fair and thorough account, as evidenced by this quote from the liberal Kevin Drum:

it's just absurd for Dobbs to treat both sides as equally credible in his story.

And the conservative National Review:

... as Michael Dobbs recently did in an evenhanded front-page Washington Post story on the Bronze Star incident ...

INDCBill: hey jeff
INDCBill: I saw Brokeback Mountain
proteinwisdom: No you didn't
INDCBill: yeah I did
INDCBill: good movie
proteinwisdom: Heath Ledger got a Golden Globe nomination
proteinwisdom: Unsurprisingly.
INDCBill: had a lot of drama
INDCBill: and good acting
proteinwisdom: I hear he was good
INDCBill: Yeah he was
INDCBill: very dramatic
proteinwisdom: and gay cowboys tend to be very compelling characters, in my experience.
INDCBill: yeah
INDCBill:
INDCBill: hey
INDCBill: you wanna maybe go fishing sometime?

"If I don't win album of the year, I'm ... I'm really gonna have a problem with that."

*** Beautiful Atrocities' Essential Guide to Meth:

As Napa is to Chardonnay, the Central Valley is to meth, turning out a product with E-cup personality & a caustic yet delicate bouquet with flavors of battery acid, lighter fluid, Maximum Strength Dristan, chloroform, Mountain Dew, pine tar, MSG, & a whisper of balsamic vinegar. The ammonia finish lingers forever. Literally.

Mmmmmmm.

*** Stratego for Democrats!

*** Hope for Oliver Willis can't be far behind.

*** What does INDC Contributor Dorkafork do on his day off? Saves his best jokes for his blog, apparently:

Superfreakonomics: Finance You Don’t Bring Home To Mother

Can Israel prevent Iran from going nuclear with military strikes? I used to think so. Are they publicly readying for such strikes?

Israel's armed forces have been ordered by Ariel Sharon, the prime minister, to be ready by the end of March for possible strikes on secret uranium enrichment sites in Iran, military sources have revealed.

The order came after Israeli intelligence warned the government that Iran was operating enrichment facilities, believed to be small and concealed in civilian locations.

Or are they bluffing (long but thorough, interesting read, pdf):

Page 148 Israeli Operational Capabilities vis-ŕ-vis Iran.

Iran is situated more then 1,000 kms from Israel. It is a vast country,and all the meaningful nuclear targets are, and most probably will continue to be, situated far from its Western borders. That means that once Israel decides to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, it will have to plan a sustainable attack on a number of targets that are situated 1,500-1,700 kms from Israel. For that purpose, Israel can use only its air force. The targets usually are far from the Indian Ocean, and Israel has no significant seaborne air power assets.

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Visit our sponsors!

Otherwise, I won't be able to afford the intrepid, hard-hitting citizen journalism (see post directly below this one) that you've come to expect from INDC.

As Andrew Sullivan might reason in a similar shakedown, that digital film is expensive.

Think about it.

UPDATE: Context on that porn-looking ad.

Who's the baddest ass stone-cold stone mamma-jamma in the District of Columbia? In possibly the entire monument world? Why, it's ...

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Story here via Scribal Terror.

Can you even imagine someone holding up a banner with the n-word at an American football game?

*** Babalu Blog sticks it to Code Pink. Boo-ya.

*** The GOP's new ad campaign: I love it.

*** They love us, they really love us! Or not quite love, but lovely nonetheless, despite ABC's caveated negative spin:

Eighty-three percent of Afghans express a favorable opinion of the United States overall, similar to the 87 percent who call the U.S.-led overthrow of the Taliban a good thing. That compares to favorable ratings of a mere 8 percent for the Taliban, and 5 percent for bin Laden. People who are unhappy with their local living conditions are twice as likely to have an unfavorable opinion of the United States.

Support for the United States is less than full-throated. Far fewer, 24 percent, regard it "very" favorably. And while 68 percent rate the work of the United States in Afghanistan positively, that's well below the ratings given to Karzai, the United Nations or the present Afghan government (83 percent, 82 percent and 80 percent positive, respectively).

Still, an 83 percent favorable rating for the United States, and a 68 percent positive work performance rating, are remarkable — in sharp contrast to negative views of the United States in many other Muslim nations. (Another contrast is Karzai's job rating — 83 percent positive — compared with President Bush's in the United States, where 39 percent of Americans approved in the last ABC News/Washington Post poll.)

*** As anyone with a heritable genetic illness or that's studied the wild inefficiencies of metabolism can tell you, "incompetent design, indeed:"

The thing that perhaps is closest to all of us is our own skeleton, and there are certainly all kinds of stupidity in our design. No self-respecting engineering student would make the kinds of dumb mistakes that are built into us.

All of our pelvises slope forward for convenient knuckle-dragging, like all the other great apes. And the only reason you stand erect is because of this incredible sharp bend at the base of your spine, which is either evolution's way of modifying something or else it's just a design that would flunk a first-year engineering student.

Is it me, or did he just call God out?

*Ahem*

I'm sorry, the "intelligent designer."

(Via John Cole)

Things in Iraq must be getting better: Howard Dean now believes America can win the war. In all fairness to Dr. Dean, he claims his statement that the "idea that we're going to win the war in Iraq is an idea which is just plain wrong" was taken out of context. And it was. The full quote:

Today is opposite day. The idea that we're going to win the war in Iraq is an idea which is just plain wrong. Cheney doesn't have cooties.*

*quotes may be made up (found through ResurrectionSong.)

Though the War on Christmas is a grand conflict, a cultural struggle for the heart and mind of an entire country, it's also the sum of a vast number of small, interlocking, human parts. Millions of fighting men. Millions more stories. And sitting with some of those parts, those men, on the cusp of battle, it's hard to stare at their achingly young faces, bright eyes perched within the dewy skin of youth - alternately mottled with teenaged blemishes and scraggly beatnik facial hair - and not think on the duality of war: such startling humanity forced to attempt such startlingly inhumane things.

They stand nervously in the fluorescent parking lot of a Super-8 Motel on the outskirts of Akron, the jitters and early morning chill causing fingers to fumble as they check and re-check weapons and equipment, the vast majority making ready for a first taste of combat. A sampling of the unit I'm embedded with - the 432nd Special Secular Operations Squad, the "Fighting Sekkies" - is a cross-section of America itself, with eager diplomats seemingly come from every humanities department, independent coffee shop and underground hash den across this great land.

There's Pfc. Gino Spiratelli, a scrappy high school drop-out from the Bronx, equally spry with his feet and tongue. A compact man with an olive complexion and wide brown, flashing eyes, Spiratelli's quick to tell you that he's here for the "action."

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