The usual right-wing demagogues have wound themselves into their annual pretzel postures of false outrage for being denied the right to use instruments of government to impose their religious rituals on those who do not so celebrate. Despite their hypocrisy, pseudo-sanctimony, and just plain cultural bigotry, there is actually a hidden kernel of truth in their simple-minded sloganeering. For there is an actual war on Christmas, and it is going on right before our eyes. But they don't see it, and they certainly wouldn't want anyone to talk about it, because it's taking place in Iraq, and it is the fault of their political hero, George W. Bush.

One of the biggest (of many) outrages about our political system is the obscene amount of money it takes to conduct a successful campaign. According to Open Secrets, spending on presidential campaigns more than tripled, between 1976 and 2004, while the total spent on the 2004 presidential and congressional campaigns approached $4,000,000,000!

Imagine the many better uses for that money. Instead, it profited corporate media networks, advertising firms, campaign consultants, and the like. Money sucked out of the economy to no good purpose. And, of course, the best-financed candidates almost always win. In 2006, only 26 Congressional candidates won, after being outspent.

The blogosphere is abuzz with praise for Senator Chris Dodd.

digby

The Republicans also acted like asses, as usual, which may have soured some of the Democrats who were trying to give them everything they wanted and yet they wouldn't take yes for an answer.

Whatever the case, while the "Lieberman for Lieberman" senator from Connecticut may have spent the day preening all over the television shilling for war and Republicans, the Democratic senator from Connecticut, Chris Dodd, was acting like a patriot.

Glenn Greenwald:

Whatever else is true, Chris Dodd took a principled stand today, sacrificing his presidential campaign and alienating his long-time colleagues to do so, and he won. He demonstrated what "leadership" is in action, rather than "rhetoric." Acts of that kind on our national political stage are rare indeed.

A lot of excited headlines are reporting an historic climate agreement, in Bali. Don't believe the hype.

This is what they want you to believe:

------------------------------

Agence France-Presse

------------------------------

BBC

------------------------------

Silly season is upon us. The Rec List has been plastered with diaries about Oprah? With Bali and Iraq and torture and Iran and Darfur and immigration and a Republican field that was best described by IOZ:

It is the single most preposterous collection of human beings ever to share a stage in the entire history of the human race, a catalogue of human failure, the ultimate proof of the folly of our species and all its works in this world.

And we're talking about Oprah?

Willard "Mitt" Romney thinks you atheists and agnostics are not free. It sounds like he thinks you might even be detrimental to the cause of freedom.

As quoted by CNN:

"Freedom requires religion, just as religion requires freedom. Freedom opens the windows of the soul so that man can discover his most profound beliefs and commune with God. Freedom and religion endure together, or perish alone," the GOP contender said.

Former Daily Kos Contributing Editor Steve Soto is taking a sabbatical from helming The Left Coaster, and I'll be filling in as temporary principal writer. I should be posting at least twice a day, Monday through Friday, for the next several months. The rest of the site's superb writers will always be there, and when Steve returns, I will remain as a Contributing Writer.

While we're looking the other way, democracy in Russia is about to die. According to the Guardian:

Now that all is going so well in Iraq, and the flower strewing appears imminent, the New York Times has discovered what might just be a small problem:

As Iraqi refugees begin to stream back to Baghdad, American military officials say the Iraqi government has yet to develop a plan to absorb the influx and prevent it from setting off a new round of sectarian violence.

Oops.

Famous varmint hunter Willard "Mitt" Romney has been reported to have said he would exclude any Muslims from his cabinet. According to Monsoor Ijaz, in the Christian Science Monitor:

I despise Colin Powell as much as does anyone. From the My Lai massacre cover-up on, he's been a dangerous yes-man. Senator Hillary Clinton is being lambasted for suggesting she might use him in some foreign policy capacity. Well, apparently, Senator Barack Obama might, too.

It's time to add another star to the flag. We're never leaving Iraq. Ever. The Sun will go red giant in about five billion years, and we'll still be in Iraq.

TPM Muckraker:

So it begins. After years of obfuscation and denial on the length of the U.S.'s stay in Iraq, the White House and the Maliki government have released a joint declaration of "principles" for "friendship and cooperation." Apparently President Bush and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki signed the declaration during a morning teleconference.

As TPMM  points out, the agreement doesn't explicitly discuss a military presence, and when it does refer to our protecting a "democratic Iraq":

Whatever the reality behind the statistical studies of civilian deaths in Iraq, some hard facts are known. In an online chat, Thomas Ricks of the Washington Post, and author of Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq, gave some hard answers. As recounted on the Editor & Publisher website:

Since Judith Miller was let loose to wander, and watch the aspens turn, Sheryl Gay Stolberg has become the New York Times's official Bush Administration sycophant. In an embarrassing front page article, she lets us know that Bush will spend his last year in office doing the warm fuzzies.

The Associated Press reports:

Retired Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top commander in Iraq shortly after the fall of Baghdad, said this week he supports Democratic legislation that calls for most troops to come home within a year.

Despite everything, today I am thankful.

Beyond all the personal reasons, I am thankful that we still have a chance.

We are not starving in Darfur.

We are not being beaten in Burma.

We are not suffering at the hands of our neighbors in Israel and the Occupied Territories.

We are not being terrorized in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

We are not being bombed, tortured, or imprisoned, against international law and basic human morality, at the hands of the United States.

The grand jury investigating the September massacre of civilians by Blackwater guards is also investigating several other "private security firms." According to the Washington Post:

Every one of our candidates is flawed. Every one of our candidates is immeasurably better than any of the Republican candidates. Every one of our candidates is getting more aggressive, as we approach political high noon. Some supporters of every one of our candidates are getting more irrational, as we approach political high noon.