Huckabee wanted to isolate AIDS patients  —  LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Mike Huckabee once advocated isolating AIDS patients from the general public, opposed increased federal funding in the search for a cure and said homosexuality could "pose a dangerous public health risk."

WHAT THE TAPES WOULD HAVE SHOWN....Yesterday we learned that in 2005, despite earlier warnings from Congress, the White House, and the Justice Department, the CIA destroyed two videotaped interrogations of al-Qaeda operatives who had been captured shortly after 9/11.  Why?

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?

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 …

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.

Anonymous anti-Huckabee fliers distributed in South Carolina  —  GREENVILLE, South Carolina (CNN) - As Mike Huckabee surges in the polls, his Republican rivals are beginning to take aim at his record as governor of Arkansas.  But in conservative Iowa and South Carolina …

A Race Nobody Can Win  —  So the latest polls have Mike Huckabee up an implausible nineteen points in Iowa and four points nationally.  But he can't win, right?  I mean, he's vulnerable on practically every non-social issue, he has a variety of skeletons in his closet …

Group Says NBC Refuses to Air Ads Thanking Troops Over Holidays  —  WASHINGTON — NBC has nixed holiday advertisements meant to thank troops for serving overseas in opposition to the inclusion of a non-profit's Web address.  —  The ads, paid for by the non-profit Freedom's Watch …

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.

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.

Krauthammer On Fox  —  It's refreshing, actually.  I just listened to Charles say that the torture of terror suspects in 2002 was justified because the United States was flying blind and had no knowledge of what al Qaeda was planning.  He won't say "torture", of course, although the law is clear that it is torture.