It is simply amazing how the man can stand there in front of god and everybody with his bare face hanging out and endlessly repeat lie after lie after lie.

Rethugs do believe "we the people" are too stupid to either know or figure out what is the truth.

"Mr. Gates, do you believe that we are currently winning in Iraq?" Mr. Levin asked.

"No, sir," Mr. Gates replied

He added that the United States is not losing the war, either.

President Bush's nominee to be Secretary of Defense said today that the United States is not winning the war in Iraq, and that an American failure there could help to ignite "a regional conflagration" in the Middle East.

There are too many quotable quotes in it, so one should go read it in toto.

A few snippets: (There is much more at Townhall including a pretty restrained smackdown of the left...considering the insults levied at him by same.)

In addition, there was widespread coverage on left-wing blogs, which, with no exception I could find, distorted what I said, charging my column and me with, for example, racism (see below), when race plays no role at all in this issue or in my column. For the record, because I deem this a significant statement about most of the Left, I found virtually no left-wing blog that was not filled with obscenity-laced descriptions of me. Aside from the immaturity and loathing of higher civilization that such public use of curse words reveal, the fury and hate render the leftist charge that it is the Right that is hate-filled one of the most obvious expressions of psychological projection I have seen in my lifetime.

I think TL can count itself in the small group that did not devolve into such childishness. Kudos.

Response: I never even hinted that there should be a religious test.

Even the vast majority of Jews elected to office have used a Bible containing both the Old and New Testaments, even though Jews do not regard the New Testament as part of their Bible. A tiny number of Jews have used only the Old Testament. As a religious Jew, I of course understand their decision, but I disagree with it.

Keith Ellison is ending that powerful tradition, and it is he who has called the public's attention to his doing so. He obviously thinks this is important. I think it is important. My critics think it isn't.

America derives its laws from its Constitution. It derives its values from the Bible.

In fact, it is as a Jew that I am so aware of the fragility of all civilizations, including ours. I am therefore aware of how uniquely good America has been for all its citizens, including and especially its Jews. This uniqueness does not stem from secularism alone, but from an extraordinary Judeo-Christian value system that has been our civic religion. Europe is secular and is a failing civilization; one that is also increasingly judenrein [empty of Jews] because of its anti-Semitism.

It is not I, but Keith Ellison, who has engaged in disuniting the country. He can still help reunite it by simply bringing both books to his ceremonial swearing-in. Had he originally announced that he would do that, I would have written a different column -- filled with praise of him. And there would be a lot less cursing and anger in America.

[Prager is] therefore entitled to insult as many people as possible with his radical religious agenda.

Obama praises Hillary in New York. Once again, I see a Hillary-Obama ticket in our future.

I have my doubts on the viability of a ticket that I would oppose until it was inevitable, especially after it turned out my similar attitude towards Howard Dean for Prez so dramatically held the day.

The linked article, from a sports blog, recounts the tasering, arrest, trial and acquittal of Dale Davis, an NBA player:

After a two-day trial, Dale Davis was acquitted of all five misdemeanor charges levied against him following an August 1 incident in Miami Beach.

Read that one more time.

Davis had the misfortune of being arrested and Tasered in the dog days of summer when there was little else to cature the attention of NBA fans. That, combined with the the fact that someone being Tasered is inherently funny in a twisted Jackass/Three Stooges/Tom & Jerry sort of way, resulted in everyone in the media (including myself) having a good deal of fun at his expense. It was wrong, and Davis should feel vindicated.

  Key to the defense was a surveillance video which, uh, gave the lie to the police version of things:

In any event, what's important is that Davis was cleared of any wrongdoing. From the Freep:

Surveillance tape from the incident that took place in the Miami Beach Marriott -- obtained by Davis' defense attorney, Scott Kotler -- was key evidence during the trial.

"I truly believe one particular officer was baiting him, and as soon as Dale got under his skin, he Tasered him and that put them in a real predicament," Kotler said. "They had an issue because he was an NBA basketball player and they had just used 50,000 volts on him. The officer had to legitimize what he did and then all the charges came raining down. ... I used the video to basically set up my whole defense."

Nice work, counsel.

There you have it: a young man + a baiting cop + a response = Taser => the "oh sh*t he's someone prominent" moment => the natural cop response:  Legitimize misconduct in a flurry of charges....

Haven't seen it in the news much lately.

No it's the poor people that suffer more.

Had no idea that so many rich white people were being gunned down by the police in NYC.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 -- Pictures of Martian gullies taken years apart strongly suggest that liquid water still flows on the surface of the planet, scientists announced on Wednesday.

The Washington Post reports that, "just as the Hill is staffing up...to investigate administration officials," former Justice Department spokespersons Mark Corallo and Barbara Comstock are forming a law/PR firm -- Corallo Comstock -- to help defend Bush administration aides.

think progress

And this:

"Important Bush Administration officials

are ready to leave the government rather than undergo two years of hell from Democratic committee chairmen in Congress. Leading the exodus are officials of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), fearing investigation by two chairmen, Representatives Henry Waxman (D-CA) and John Dingell (D-MI)," according to the Evans-Novak Political Report.  

The US Department of Justice today took a major step against impunity for atrocities in bringing its first-ever criminal charges for torture committed outside the United States, Human Rights Watch said today.  The Justice Department indicted Charles "Chuckie" Taylor, Jr., son of the former Liberian president and currently in custody in Miami, for torture committed in Liberia.

link