I expect this type of thing from FOX NEWS. The right wingers have been attacking Barack Obama's name for a few weeks now. I'm going to ask CNN to make a correction on the air. Here's the transcript....

(h/t Eugenie and Mary)

Jane has a great post up called: Generation of Thugs...Light posting the rest of the way....

I could not finish this article without crying. The number 3000 is far too staggering to consider when you put it into perspective of each one being a person whose words of wisdom to their loved ones, like First Sgt. Charles King, have been taken so unfairly away. How many children will not know the voice of their parent, like little Jordan? The NY Times Editor Dana Canedy shares her personal loss (reg. req.)

For months before my fiancé, First Sgt. Charles Monroe King, kissed my swollen stomach and said goodbye, he had been preparing for the beginning of the life we had created and for the end of his own.

He boarded a plane in December 2005 with two missions, really - to lead his young soldiers in combat and to prepare our boy for a life without him.

Dear son, Charles wrote on the last page of the journal, "I hope this book is somewhat helpful to you. Please forgive me for the poor handwriting and grammar. I tried to finish this book before I was deployed to Iraq. It has to be something special to you. I've been writing it in the states, Kuwait and Iraq.

The journal will have to speak for Charles now. He was killed Oct. 14 when an improvised explosive device detonated near his armored vehicle in Baghdad. Charles, 48, had been assigned to the Army's First Battalion, 67th Armored Regiment, Fourth Infantry Division, based in Fort Hood, Tex. He was a month from completing his tour of duty.

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Sean Hannity goes to Iraq---never sees daylight and politicizes his stay there as much as possible while complaining that others are politicizing the Iraq war. He's so low there is no bottom to his depravity. Take this picture for example....

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In his quick weekend photo-op appearance, The shameless one has to make sure he attacks John Kerry, a man who actually fought in a war. They tried to turn the election on Kerry's botched joke because they were so desperate, but that didn't work. Spreading the lie is so natural for Hannity, isn't it? I may have to start a new category called "cowards." Please---stop using our soldiers....

Greenwald explains...

This depressing New York Times article by John Burns and Marc Santora details the frantic, reckless manner in which Saddam Hussein was shoved into the noose in clear violation of Iraqi law...read on

LA Times : (h/t NonnyMouse)

Scott Svonkin joined the Los Angeles County Commission on Insurance 10 years ago because he was concerned about an emerging problem: people losing health coverage. Since then, the ranks of uninsured Americans have swelled to more than 46 million.

Svonkin almost became one of them.

It happened after he left a comfortable government job as a legislative chief of staff to start his own marketing and public affairs consulting business. Late last year he started shopping around for health insurance for himself, his expectant wife and his young daughter.

He knew he'd pay more without an employer picking up most of the tab. And he knew he'd have to fill out a medical questionnaire because, unlike job-based coverage, individual insurance in California is contingent on an applicant's health. But that didn't concern him because, he said, "I'm healthy as a horse, never smoked and have had no major surgery."

As it turned out, Svonkin was rejected by not just one but three of California's biggest health insurers, which cited his history of asthma, among other things.

"I couldn't buy it at any price," said Svonkin, 40, who lives in Sherman Oaks. "I remember thinking, 'This can't be happening to me.' "

Svonkin is part of what experts say is a largely hidden aspect of the nation's health insurance crisis: the uninsurables, people whom insurance companies won't touch, even though they can afford to pay high premiums. Some, such as Svonkin, pay steep rates for lean coverage from the state's high-risk insurance pool. Others simply go without. Read on...

YahooNews :

Wisconsin's revenue agency said Friday that it sent as many as 170,000 forms to taxpayers with mailing labels mistakenly printed with their Social Security numbers.

The state Department of Revenue was scrambling to alert taxpayers to be on the lookout for the mailings.

"We want to prevent any chance identity theft might occur," department spokeswoman Meredith Helgerson said. An agency news release included an apology to taxpayers and a statement that steps were being taken "to make sure that this will never happen again."

The misprinted labels, blamed on a computer error while they were being prepared, went to taxpayers who have used the basic Form 1, a long paper form for individuals, according to the department.

As someone who has been a victim of identity theft, I don't find this kind of mistake very humorous, and I hope this doesn't result in too much damage for the taxpayers involved. I am intrigued by the framing of this as a little "computer error". I've done mailing labels. Computers generally don't make errors like this, that's an operator error. Is it that hard in this day and age to just accept responsibility for a screw up?

Booman Tribune: President Bush continues to issue medals...

Categorical Aperitif: Behold this great litany of misdeeds, and then ask yourself: What exactly is healing about letting a man who does such things escape justice?

Unqualified Offerings: Unqualified Successes of 2006

Petrelis Files: Soon-to-be ex congressman, Jim Kolbe says he regrets his vote on Iraq, but in his homosexual heart, he can't find room to say he's the least bit sorry for his shameful vote for the Defense of Marriage Act

Atlantic Review: Remembering Marla Ruzicka

The Daily Background: An illustrated guide to some hidden anti-Bush administration messages in the new film Children of Men from Universal Pictures. The film opened its wide U.S. theatrical release last weekend

The Nation offers some suggestions...do you have any others for C&Lers?