Dec. 23: Ron Paul  —  MR. TIM RUSSERT: Our issues this Sunday: Our Meet the Candidates 2008 series continues, an exclusive interview with Republican Ron Paul.  He has served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 18 years.  In 1988 he was the Libertarian Party candidate for president.

Rush responds to Huck peace offering  —  Rush Limbaugh — responding to Mike Huckabee's peace offering — said today that he doesn't need to talk with the former Arkansas governor.  —  “I saw his comments and accept them as honest, sincere and genuine,” Limbaugh wrote in an e-mail.

U.S. Officials See Waste in Billions Sent to Pakistan  —  ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — After the United States has spent more than $5 billion in a largely failed effort to bolster the Pakistani military effort against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, some American officials now acknowledge that there were too few controls over the money.

CIA chief to drag White House into torture cover-up storm  —  THE CIA chief who ordered the destruction of secret videotapes recording the harsh interrogation of two top Al-Qaeda suspects has indicated he may seek immunity from prosecution in exchange for testifying before the House intelligence committee.

Daily Kos Supporting the Troops for Christmas  —  As I write, this is currently the number one recommended diary at Daily Kos: a long exercise in crackpot moral equivalence that compares US troops holding Bibles with a Palestinian female suicide bomber holding a Koran.

Gaza's Christians keep low Xmas profile  —  GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Gaza's tiny Christian community is keeping a low profile this Christmas, traumatized by the killing of a prominent activist in the wake of Hamas' takeover of the coastal territory.  —  Few Christmas trees are on display …

Election-Winning GOP Coalition Could Splinter Amid Wide-Open Presidential Race  —  Is the winning coalition that not just held the Republican Party together in recent years, but impressively sprung into action during Presidential campaigns about to splinter?

U.S. illegal immigrants ‘self deport’ as woes mount  —  PHOENIX (Reuters) - Mexican illegal immigrant Lindi sat down with her husband Marco Antonio in the weeks before Christmas to decide when to go back to Mexico.  —  She has spent three years working as a hairdresser in and around Phoenix …

Vote for me & gas costs will skid, says Hil  —  MANCHESTER, N.H. - Hillary Clinton predicted Saturday that just electing her President will cut the price of oil.  —  When the world hears her commitment at her inauguration about ending American dependence on foreign fuel, Clinton says …

GI saves Iraqi boy in long-shot adoption  —  MAUSTON, Wis. - Capt. Scott Southworth knew he'd face violence, political strife and blistering heat when he was deployed to one of Baghdad's most dangerous areas.  But he didn't expect Ala'a Eddeen.  —  Ala'a was 9 years old …

How to Avoid Recession?  Let the Fed Work  —  THE economy is teetering on the edge.  Many economists, as well as online betting sites, put the risk of recession next year at about 50 percent.  Once we get the final numbers, we might even learn that a recession has already begun.

Aquatic Apes  —  Someone calling himself “Scylla” decided to try waterboarding himself on an experimental basis to see if he thought it should qualify as torture: … Seth Roberts read the account and made some musings about human evolution: … Well, someone else read that post …

Obama: ‘A common good and a higher interest’  —  The morning of Jan. 20, 1961, dawned under a bright sky.  Despite a heavy snow, the blinding sun's reflection forced poet Robert Frost, 86, to put aside the copy of the inaugural poem he had prepared and instead recite from memory “A Gift Outright.”