Here's what Rumsfeld said Friday: "I think all of us have a sense if we imagine the kind of world we would face if the people who bombed the mess hall in Mosul, or the people who did the bombing in Spain, or the people who attacked the United States in New York, shot down the plane over Pennsylvania and attacked the Pentagon, the people who cut off peoples' heads on television to intimidate, to frighten – indeed the word 'terrorized' is just that. Its purpose is to terrorize, to alter behavior, to make people be something other than that which they want to be.

Women who are overweight or obese are more likely to get pregnant while taking birth control pills than women of normal weight are, new research finds.

The death toll from the earthquake and tsunamis that devastated coastal areas in southern Asia soared to nearly 77,000 on Wednesday, and the Red Cross said it feared that it could exceed 100,000 once bodies buried in the mud and wreckage are counted.

Thousands of stranded holiday travelers unable to reach their Christmas destinations over the weekend were stunned to learn that the airline they had booked seats on, Comair, does not exist.

At first, Comair had blamed the cancellation of thousands of flights on a computer glitch, but with the possibility looming that travelers would soon discover that the airline itself did not exist, it decided to come clean.

“We are sorry if our imaginary status has in any way inconvenienced holiday travelers,” said non-existent company spokesman Cheryl McKree. “I want to apologize to all of them on behalf of Comair and its 1500 fictitious employees.”

She added that while the passengers’ checked baggage did in fact exist, Comair had absolutely no idea where any of it was.

He is in the middle of speaking to the press and he suddenly drops his head and mumbles something and then immediately continues speaking. It is seriously one of the oddest things I've ever seen. Can anyone tell what he says? What the hell was that? Does he have tourettes? Is he talking into his tie? Did his shoe fall off? Seriously, I have never seen anything like this.

I don't know what the facts are but somebody's certainly going to sit down with him and find out what he knows that they may not know, and make sure he knows what they know that he may not know.

I believe what I said yesterday. I don't know what I said, but I know what I think, and, well, I assume it's what I said.

Well, um, you know, something's neither good nor bad but thinking makes it so, I suppose, as Shakespeare said.

An alarming trend has been making news recently. It's nothing new; in fact, it's been going on for years. We're talking about the Pharmacists' Refusal Clause—referred to by its anti-choice advocates as a conscience clause—which allows pharmacists to refuse to fill certain prescriptions because of their own "moral objections" to the medication. Only a handful of states have passed refusal clause legislation specific to pharmacists, but more and more state legislatures are considering adding it, an effort that the majority of people living in the U.S. oppose.

"It's striking how weak he is right now," says presidential historian Richard
Shenkman, editor of George Mason University's History News Network. "You'd have to go back to Woodrow Wilson to find a president who was reelected in a position as weak as this one. There's been no euphoria around Bush's win."

More than 1,300 U.S. troops have died in Iraq since the 2003 invasion -- most of them during the guerrilla campaign that has raged since the collapse of Saddam Hussein's government in April 2003.

NASA is on a collision course with a comet, and scientists say they can't wait to see what happens.

The collision, which is to take place between a projectile fired from the space agency's Deep Impact spacecraft and a 4-mile-wide comet known as Tempel 1, is scheduled for July 4, 2005. That's when Tempel 1 will be close enough to Earth for astronomers to monitor the debris that the impact kicks up. If the mission is successful, it will help the scientists see for the first time just what comets are made of.

Well, this weekend, I also happened to hear a Wal-Mart ad bragging about this. They claim to give $5/sec. Target's $2 million a week works out to $3.30/sec.

That works out to $104,000,000 donations for Target and $157,248,000 for Wal-Mart. Indexing it to total revenue, Target gives $1 for every $444 spent at its stores, while Wal-Mart gives $1 for every $1,425 spent. Target donates 3.2X more than Wal-Mart, who donates less than 1 tenth of 1 percent of its revenue.

I know where I'm shopping, and I suggest the National Clergy Council call off its Target boycott. That whole, forest for the trees thing.

In response to reports that actor and comedian Chevy Chase called President Bush a "dumb f---" while co-hosting a December 14 People For the American Way awards ceremony in Washington, DC, FOX News host Bill O'Reilly asserted on the December 16 O'Reilly Factor that "you don't see this kind of thing on the right." He added: "You don’t see prominent conservatives cursing out Democratic members of Congress, for example."

Acknowledging mistakes in Iraq by the Bush administration, leading Republicans expressed reluctance Sunday that the White House replace Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who has lost the confidence of some GOP lawmakers over the conduct of the war.

[...]

More than 1,300 American troops have died since the war began in March 2003. On Sunday, car bombs rocked Iraq's two holiest Shiite cities, killing 62 people and wounding more than 120. In Baghdad, the capital, dozens of gunmen killed three Iraqi election officials during an ambush on a car in the middle of morning traffic.

[...]

"I find it astounding. ... Things are worse than they've ever been" in Iraq, [Sen. Chuck] Hagel told CBS' Face the Nation.

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- U.S. President George W. Bush's bold, uncompromising leadership and his clear-cut election victory made him Time magazine's Person of the Year for 2004, its managing editor said Sunday.

A 21-year-old Perth man is lucky to be alive after having his stomach ripped open during a beer-skolling game using a home-made device powered by an electric pump.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Federal Communications Commission rejected a request Wednesday to begin imposing indecency standards on satellite radio, where frequent agency target Howard Stern is taking his show.

The FCC's media bureau turned aside a radio station owner's request that broadcast indecency regulations apply to subscription satellite services.

Steen had only lived in the home about three weeks when he decided to enjoy the Saturday evening air. But some suspicious activity on the street impaired his view.

Steen saw what he thought was a drug deal in the street. When those involved noticed him watching, they simply told him to "look away," Steen said.

Instead of looking elsewhere, Steen ran the suspects' license plates. It led to a search of two houses and a vehicle, then the arrest of James MacArthur, 46.

MacArthur is charged with possession of marijuana with intent to deliver, unlawful possession of a firearm and possession of drug paraphernalia.

About 16 grams of marijuana was confiscated, along with a rifle and a shotgun, Steen said. The investigation is continuing.

From Nov. 5 to Dec. 3, Firefox's share of the U.S. market grew to 4% from 3%, a 33% gain, WebSideStory said this week. The nonprofit Mozilla Foundation, which oversees the development of the browser, released the first commercial version of the browser, Firefox 1.0, on Nov. 9.

Firefox's market-share gain was 13% from Oct. 8 to Nov. 5.

WebSideStory Chief Marketing Officer Rand Schulman said Firefox's goal of capturing 10% of the market in the next year "no longer seems unattainable."

(CBN News) - "Holiday trees" instead of “Christmas trees,” "Season's Greetings" instead of "Merry Christmas." We seem to be editing Christ right out of Christmas and it is getting pretty ridiculous.

A New Jersey high school brass ensemble was not allowed to play Christmas carols at their annual concert, this year, even instrumentals, which made a lot of students and parents angry.

Well, I was also upset that I was forced to sing Christmas carols at my public high school, because I didn't want religion interfering with my education. So I can understand the decision to not make a band play Christmas songs.

One female student said, "This is censorship at its most basic level, and political correctness to the extreme. You are supporting ignorance and I think it's very sad."

Personally, I believe Christianity itself supports ignorance, but asking a band to play different songs isn't censorship when it's publicly funded and religious in basis.

Across the nation, Christianity is under attack by those who do not want religion in the public square.

One Chicago school dropped the words “Merry Christmas” from a traditional holiday favorite, singing it as "We wish you a swinging holiday."

A Christian church was told they could not enter a religious float in Denver's holiday “Parade of Lights.”

Many Americans are outraged at the growing trend that takes Christ out of the holiday that celebrates his birth.

Doug Newcomb of Faith Bible Chapel said, "Without Christ in the holiday celebration, what do you have? Money. Greed. What do you have?"

Demetrios Stratis, of the Alliance Defense Fund commented, "It's legal and it's right, so celebrate religion publicly. We need to recognize that religion is part of our culture, whatever the faith may be."

But others say religion has no place in public life.

Mark Browstein said, "Holiday celebrations where Christian music is being sung make people feel different. And because it is such a majority, it makes the minority feel uncomfortable."

But not everyone feels uncomfortable, and it is important to have the freedom to hang on to holiday traditions.

One Jewish parent says it is ok with him if his son plays Christmas songs in the ensemble.

Eric Chabrow remarked, "We need to look at the center. The center in this country is vanishing."

That man, Jewish or not, is an idiot. The center is vanishing, but the center is miles and miles away from Christmas in school.

Christmas will be over in just a few weeks, but it is clear the debate over religion in public life will not be resolved any time soon.

"LIMBAUGH: Miss Plastic Surgery. (chuckle) And – I’d – I’d – I – I don’t – I don’t know what the winner – I – and, oh, I didn’t print out both pages, so I don’t know what the – I don’t know what the winner gets. Probably a certificate to go to San Francisco to have an add-a-dick-to-me operation. "

Not long ago, at the kind of dinner party I rarely attend, I made the mis­take of admitting that I not only liked to sleep but liked to get at least eight hours a night whenever possible, and that nine would be better still. The reaction – a 'complex Pinot Noir of nervous laughter displaced by expres­sions of disbelief and condescension – suggested that my transgression had been, on some level, a political one. I was reminded of the time I'd confessed to Roger Angell that I did not much care for baseball.

[...]

The alarm rings and we're off, running so hard that by the time we stop we're too tired to do much of anything except nod in front of the TV, which, like virtually all the other voices in our culture, endorses our exhaustion, fetishizes and romanticizes it and, by daily adding its little trowelful of lies and omissions, helps cement the conviction that not only is this how our three score and ten must be spent but that the transaction is both noble and necessary.

4. The Beatles: The Beatles are generally seen as the single most important rock band of all time, because they wrote all the best songs. Since both of these facts are true, the Beatles are rated properly.

The campaign aims to spur action against Sinclair Broadcast Group's use of the 62 television stations it owns or operates to systematically promote partisan political interests. Of particular concern is a nightly "news and commentary" segment titled "The Point," in which Sinclair vice president Mark Hyman consistently espouses one-sided, conservative rhetoric without any counterpoint.

We believe the fairest way to remedy this situation is for Sinclair to provide a meaningful opportunity for those with an opposing point of view to respond to editions of "The Point." With your help, we can hold Sinclair accountable for its slanted news programming and demand that it become a responsible steward of the airwaves to which it has been granted access on behalf of the American people.

We are hopeful advertisers will join our effort to encourage Sinclair to balance the content of their news programming by offering equal air time for a counterpoint.

Google, the operator of the world's most popular Internet search service, plans to announce an agreement today with some of the nation's leading research libraries and Oxford University to begin converting their holdings into digital files that would be freely searchable over the Web.

It may be only a step on a long