memeorandum: Climate of fear — BACK IN 1961, Rod Serling set an episode of … (Jeff Jacoby/Boston Globe)

Legendary Singer James Brown Dies at 73 — James Brown, the dynamic, pompadoured "Godfather of Soul," whose rasping vocals and revolutionary rhythms made him a founder of rap, funk and disco as well, died early Monday, his agent said. He was 73. — Brown was hospitalized with pneumonia …

Discussion: The Heretik, Don Surber, All Spin Zone, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Reason Magazine, The Moderate Voice and SteveAudio

Associated Press:

'Disco is James Brown, hip-hop is James Brown, rap is James Brown' — He triumphed despite an often unhappy personal life. Brown, who lived in Beech Island near the Georgia line, spent more than two years in a South Carolina prison for aggravated assault and failing to stop for a police officer.

Discussion: protein wisdom and LA Observed

Sam Harris / Los Angeles Times:

10 myths — and 10 truths — about atheism — SEVERAL POLLS indicate that the term "atheism" has acquired such an extraordinary stigma in the United States that being an atheist is now a perfect impediment to a career in politics (in a way that being black, Muslim or homosexual is not).

Discussion: The World Wide Rant, Verum Serum, Liberal Values and digg

Barbara O'Brien / Crooks and Liars:

Happy Holy Day — Good morning! I am guest blogging here this week so that some of the regular crew can get a break. It's the least a Buddhist can do. — Today is the observance of the annual cease fire on the war on Christmas. In celebration, people wallow waist deep in shredded gift wrap and prepare the armistice feast.

Jeffrey Gettleman / New York Times:

Ethiopia Hits Somali Targets, Declaring War — Ethiopia officially plunged into war with Somalia's Islamist forces on Sunday, bombing targets inside Somalia and pushing ground troops deep into Somali territory in a major escalation that could turn Somalia's internal crisis into a violent religious conflict …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, A Blog For All and Donklephant

New York Times:

U.S. Is Detaining Iranians Caught in Raids in Iraq — The American military is holding at least four Iranians in Iraq, including men the Bush administration called senior military officials, who were seized in a pair of raids late last week aimed at people suspected of conducting attacks …

Discussion: Blogcritics Section, Unfogged, Faster, Please!, toohotfortnr, Austin Bay Blog, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Gates of Vienna, The Smirking Chimp, CorrenteWire, The Strata-Sphere, Daniel W. Drezner, Secular Blasphemy, Matthew Yglesias and Larisa Alexandrovna's …

Hindrocket / Power Line:
IT MAY BE CHRISTMAS, BUT... ...our soldiers are still fighting …

Discussion: Tammy Bruce

Greg Miller / Los Angeles Times:

Alarming 9/11 claim is found baseless — A military analysts' chart did not identify hijackers beforehand, senators report. — WASHINGTON — The Senate Intelligence Committee has rejected as untrue one of the most disturbing claims about the Sept. 11 terrorist strikes …

Discussion: Political Animal and Mia Culpa

neo-neocon:

'Twas the Blogger's Night Before Christmas — 'TWAS THE BLOGGER'S NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS — 'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the 'sphere — Bloggers were glad to see Christmas draw near. — Their PCs were turned off and all put away — The bloggers were swearing to take off the day.

Jeff Jacoby / Boston Globe:

Climate of fear — BACK IN 1961, Rod Serling set an episode of "The Twilight Zone" in New York City at a time of uncontrolled global warming. Somehow the Earth's orbit had shifted, and the planet was moving inexorably toward the sun. "This is the eve of the end," Serling intoned in his introduction.

Discussion: Cafe Hayek and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Thomas Cahill / New York Times:

The Peaceful Crusader — AMID all the useless bloodshed of the Crusades, there is one story that suggests an extended clash of civilizations between Islam and the West was not preordained. It concerns the early 13th-century friar Francis of Assisi, who joined the Fifth Crusade not as a warrior but as a peacemaker.

Discussion: The Heretik

Sheila / The Sheila Variations:

CHRISTMAS DAY IN THE MORNING - BY PEARL S. BUCK — (Amazon link to beautiful illustrated copy of this story) — Christmas Day in the Morning - by Pearl S. Buck — He waked suddenly and completely. It was four o'clock, the hour at which his father had always called him to get up and help with the milking.

Peggy Orenstein / New York Times:

What's Wrong With Cinderella? — I finally came unhinged in the dentist's office — one of those ritzy pediatric practices tricked out with comic books, DVDs and arcade games — where I'd taken my 3-year-old daughter for her first exam. Until then, I'd held my tongue.

Discussion: Don Surber and Joanne Jacobs