Happy Saturnalia, Dullards!

Things are not going right.

Here are two seemingly unrelated examples:
Uno.
Dos.

Kraken on the rocks

Add vodka, garnish with twist, and serve.

Festivus Poles for Sale

Yes.

Nellie McKay leaves Sony in album dispute

Well, she got her wish. McKay battled with Sony execs about the length of her album. I hate to say it, but given the uneveness of her last record, I can imagine the suits at Sony had some valid points about trimming the fat on the record, but.... Whatever.

New York Police - Helping Protect Our Civil Liberties

In much the same way the Bush regime is -- by taking them away from us, for safekeeping. NYC police have attending rallies under cover, posing as protesters, since 2004.

Cheney finds skeptical U.S. forces

Am I the only one who sees the ironic symbolism here?

U.S. forces guarded Cheney with weapons at the ready while Iraqi soldiers, who had no weapons, held their arms out as if they were carrying imaginary guns.

'The Syrian border is back under Iraq control now,' U.S. Lt. Gen. Marty Dempsey told the vice president, pointing to a map of Iraqi troop locations. 'When people say, 'When will Iraq take control of its own security?' the answer truly is it already has.'"

David Sirota on the domestic spying scandal

Sirota raises a good point: why would the President even need to tap the phones of citizens without getting a warrant, unless no good reason could be shown for obtaining a warrant for those wiretaps.

LISTS: Favorite whole numbers between 1 and 10, inclusive

10. 10
9. 8
8. 6
7. 5
6. 7
5. 4
4. 9
3. 2
2. 1
1. 3

Wildflowers for Nicole and the resurrection of El Ron

The LAT takes us inside a $cientology stronghold in the California hills. It's where Tom Cruise (real name: Thomas Mapother IV) and "church" leader David Miscavige, seen here, have had meetings of the mind. It's where Cruise used to take former wife Nicole Kidman. And it's where a mansion on the hill has been built for the possible return of $cientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, who died in 1986.

Dullard holiday setlist

This site has a fairly comprehensive list of modern Christmas-oriented music, categorized by genre and era. Here's my top 5 list:

5. "2000 Miles," the Pretenders. More sentimental than you might expect from Chrissie Hynde, but never sappy.

4. "Little Drummer Boy," David Bowie/Bing Crosby. A spooky and cool duet.

3. "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)," John Lennon. If only this were the dominant spirit of the season.

2. "Do They Know It's Christmas," Band-Aid. Still the most influential charity record. The A-side is fine, but I actually prefer the spoken-word B-side. Many of the contributors ("This is Midge Ure from Ultravox") have faded into obscurity, but the sign-off from Bob Geldof still rings true, especially in the year of Live 8.

1. "Father Christmas," The Kinks. Leave it to Ray Davies to add issues of class and economics to the mix — perfectly iconoclastic.

The Rock Star's Burden

Paul Theroux gets his panties in a twist about Bono and aid to Africa.

Yet another use of Google maps

This one lets you see who your neighbors are supporting with campaign contributions. Just type in the ZIP code and wait a few seconds for the results.

Spies like U.S.

The NYT reports that the federal government has secretly been monitoring phone calls and e-mails of perhaps thousands of people since 2002 — without warrants.