Detainee Says He Was Tortured in C.I.A. Prison  —  The first of the so-called high value Guantánamo detainees to have seen a lawyer claims he was subjected to "state-sanctioned torture" while in secret C.I.A. prisons, and he has asked for a court order barring the government from destroying evidence of his treatment.

Racist is as racist quotes  —  Jim Henley has his say on my present legal woes: … Etc.  The words that so offend him are, indeed "frank bigotry".  However, if you read my racist diatribe, you'll see the bigotry is not mine but Mullah Krekar's: … Hello, Mr Henley?  Anybody home in there?

NBC Decides to Run Conservative-Group Ad  —  WASHINGTON — NBC reversed course Saturday and decided to air a conservative group's television ad thanking U.S. troops.  —  The ad, by the group Freedom's Watch, asks viewers to remember the troops during the holiday season.

Huckabee called homosexuality 'sinful'  —  Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, surging in Iowa polls in the Republican presidential race, wrote on a questionnaire while running for U.S. Senate in 1992 that homosexuality is "aberrant" and "sinful."  —  "I feel homosexuality is an aberrant …

Tom Tancredo boycotts Univision/Spanish Debate: Attacks their entire viewership  —  Tancredo has a little problem speaking English himself, but that's beside the point.  The racist platform upon which his campaign is built is very saddening to witness.  Watch his reasoning for boycotting the Univision debate.

Another Surge Convert  —  In today's Washington Post, Pete Hegseth, executive director of Vets for Freedom, has coauthored an op-ed with...wait for it...Major General John Batiste.  —  Batiste, you will remember, is the formerly "antiwar" general who spoke out against Donald Rumsfeld …

Election 2008: Michigan Republican Primary  —  Michigan: Huckabee 21% Romney 20% Giuliani 19%  —  Mike Huckabee's surging campaign has created a three-way toss-up in Michigan's Republican Primary.  The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds Huckabee earning 21% of the vote.

Oprah says she knows she's not selling books  —  DES MOINES - Oprah Winfrey said this afternoon that she realizes even she can't just recommend a man for president the way she has with books to make them instant best-sellers.  —  "I am not here to tell you what to think.  I am here to ask you to think," she said.

Iran drops dollar from oil deals: report  —  TEHRAN (AFP) — Major crude producer Iran has completely stopped carrying out its oil transactions in dollars, Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari said on Saturday, labelling the greenback an "unreliable" currency.

Refuting, or Feeding, the Rumor Mill?  —  Stories about rumors are tricky and easily misconstrued.  A Nov. 29 story and headline that explored Barack Obama's "connections to the Muslim world" and rumors that he is Muslim were met with a swift Internet reaction that left some staffers stunned at its ferocity.

The CIA tapes continued...  What is incredibly fascinating about the destroyed tapes discussion being had is the the number of angles people are approaching it from.  I was almost entirely focused on the question of orders, who gave them, and who delegated them.  (See here).