BAH HUMBUG!!!
Washington State Police are celebrating the Christmas season by dressing up like the homeless to trap motorists who are not wearing a seat belt. The trick works so well that a trooper in Pierce County issued tickets at the rate of $760 an hour on Saturday.The officer, who was not in uniform, wore a cardboard sign around his neck reading, "Happy Holidays, Buckle Up." Charitable drivers passing by would offer him money to buy food.
(COLUMBIAN, unearthed by Brent Gourley)

NOW THIS IS TAILGAITING!
Police in Tampa busted a 40-foot motor homeconverted into a strip club on wheels, offering alcohol and lap dances to football fans outside the stadium before kickoff of a Tampa Bay Buccaneers game.
Six women performed lap dances inside the motor home, charging $20 to $40 depending on whether they danced topless or totally nude, police said Tuesday. The vehicle, adorned with a sign for strip club Deja Vu, was parked across the street from Raymond James Stadium.
(AP, unearthed by Joel Sogol)

PLAINTIFFS SOUGHT TO ATTACK DRUG POLICY
"Students for Sensible Drug Policy, one of the largest student organizations in the country, in partnership with the American Civil Liberties Union, is seeking plaintiffs for a lawsuit challenging the law that denies federal financial aid to students convicted of drug offenses. Since taking effect in 2000, more than 175,000 students have been deprived of aid under the drug provision of the Higher Education Act (HEA), often for minor offenses such as possession of marijuana."
(DARE GENERATION BLOG, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

KATRINA MADE WORSE BY POLITICAL INFIGHTING
Louisiana Sen. David Vitter (R) delivered a message that stunned aides to Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D), who were frantically managing the catastrophe that began two days earlier when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast.
White House senior adviser Karl Rove wanted it conveyed that he understood that Blanco was requesting that President Bush federalize the evacuation of New Orleans. The governor should explore legal options to impose martial law 'or as close as we can get,' Vitter quoted Rove as saying, according to handwritten notes by Terry Ryder, Blanco's executive counsel."
(WASHINGTON POST)

KIDS SCARED STRAIGHT
A Moscow wax figure exhibition highlights the dangers of drugs by showing such things as the corpse of a glue sniffer. If this won't scare your kids nothing will.
(MOSCOW NEWS)

BOYCOTT SONY CDS, THEIR SUBSIDIARIES AND BEWARE OF BEST BUY
On November 16, 2005 Sony announced that it had instructed retailers to remove any unsold music discs containing the rootkit software from their shelves.CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO THAT STORY This came on the heels of a firestorm of controversy and criticism from no less than the Department of Homeland Security. CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO THAT STORY
I went to the local Best Buy yesterday (26th) and purchased a few CDs. I have been avoiding Sony CDs because of the latest hoopla. However, when I took my purchases home I noticed an acknowledgement to Sony/BMG on the liner notes to Carlos (Mr Free Spirit himself) Santana's newest Arista album. Apparently Sony has put this software on their other labels. Had I not read the liner notes prior to putting the CD in my machine it would have infected it. And, what is Best Buy doing selling recalled (if the recall extends to Arista) materials?

PRUNO ANYONE?
"Back in December 2002, the warden at Lancaster prison in Los Angeles County removed fresh fruit from box lunches in the maximum-security lockup, as an effort to reduce violence. Apparently, sober, scurvy-addled felons are much easier to control than drunken, violent convicts. "
(THE BLACK TABLE, unearthed by Matt McCarthy)

TORTURE SHOW HIGHLIGHTS RUMSFELD COMPLICITY
The recent PBS program Frontline illuminated the complicity of the 'small circle of lawyers who surrounded the president' and 'together would create a legal theory that would permit the United States to act unilaterally in defining the 'rules of war' and justifying the unprecedented powers to be given to George W. Bush including the authorization of torture. "
(VILLAGE VOICE)

PUBLIC RADIO'S HEAD ROLLS
Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, whose controversial leadership of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's board of directors sparked an internal investigation into his tenure, resigned from the board Thursday in advance of the imminent release of the report, which is expected to contain criticism of his actions.

In the last six months, Tomlinson — whose two-year term as chairman expired in late September — provoked a heated debate with his aggressive efforts to incorporate more conservatives into public broadcasting, both on the air and behind the scenes. He said he was merely following federal law requiring the corporation to ensure objectivity and balance in public broadcasting, and argued that his actions would expand the appeal of the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio.
(COMMON DREAMS)

COLIN POWELL AIDE SAYS FOREIGN POLICY HAS BEEN USURPED BY CHENEY/RUMSFELD "CABAL"
"Lawrence Wilkerson, Secretary of State Colin Powell's former chief of staff, has offered a remarkably blunt criticism of the administration he served, saying that foreign policy had been usurped by a 'Cheney-Rumsfeld cabal,' and that President Bush has made the country more vulnerable, not less, to future crises."
(NEW YORK TIMES)

DORGAN WITHDRAWS CUBA TRAVEL AMENDMENT
Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) withdrew the Cuba travel amendment, saying:

"I am withdrawing my amendment, one that is germane and relevant . . . The reason I am withdrawing my amendment is because a fellow senator submitted a second degree amendment to mine dealing with abortion . . . The use of a second degree amendment on abortion is unbelievable. Procedurally legal, but unbelievable . . . Elementary and high school students should all be watching today to see how politics really works . . ."
(LATIN AMERICAN WORKING GROUP)

FEMA OFFICIAL IGNORED EMAILS WARNING OF DISASTER
E-mails released today by one of his subordinates show that former FEMA Director Michael Brown blew off warnings about deteriorating conditions in New Orleans and the dire need for help.
Marty Bahamonde, a FEMA regional director, told a Senate panel investigating the government's response to the disaster that he gave regular updates and, in most cases, he was met with silence. 'I think there was a systematic failure at all levels of government to understand the magnitude of the situation,' Bahamonde said.
(YAHOO, unearthed by Talking Points Blog)

COPIER CODE CRACKED
"The Electronic Frontier Foundation said this week that it had cracked the code used in Xerox printers to embed details about the printer, including serial number, along with time and date information.
The EFF reported the existence of the watermarks this summer, and this week published source code of a Xerox decoding program. Speculation launched as to what other technology the government was tracking. And bloggers almost immediately began figuring out ways to get around the tracking."
(BLOGMA, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

DOG BITES LEGISLATOR
"Bob Schwartz, who also is New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson's crime adviser and the author of a new state law that allows felony charges against owners of dangerous dogs was hospitalized over the weekend after his own dog attacked him."
(SFGATE, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

CHECK OUT GAS PRICES
Just plug in your zip code and check out the gas prices for your area.
(MSN, unearthed by Gary L. Blume)