Happy Winter. [photo from Sandy]

Open Thread below...

NY Times (reg. req'd):

Residents in five Southern states rose Wednesday to widespread clusters of destruction caused by an unusually ferocious winter tornado system. At least 54 people were killed and scores more were injured.

Many had spent a harrowing Tuesday night punctuated by breaking glass and warning sirens as the tornadoes tossed trailer homes into the air, collapsed the roof of a Sears store in Memphis, whittled away half a Caterpillar plant near Oxford, Miss., and shredded dorms at Union University in Jackson, Tenn., where crews rescued nine students trapped in the rubble.

Arkansas and Tennessee were the hardest hit, with Arkansas reporting 13 dead and Tennessee 30.

An interactive map with photos of the storm damage available here.

Our deepest sympathies to the family and friends who lost loved ones in Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama in yesterday's tornado outbreak.

To help those who lost so much, you can donate to the Red Cross or The Salvation Army. If anyone has other resources, perhaps local to the affected areas, please post them in the comments.

The Existentialist Cowboy: BBC: The World Rejects Bush's Policies

Brainshrub: A comparison of headlines between Vietnam and Iraq...notice any similarities?

Winter Patriot: Once again, we note the nexus of politics and terror. I guess fighting 'em there won't prevent 'em from coming hereafter all

King of Zembla: An invaluable documentary on America's 'secret' government

On The Media: Your deeply dysfunctional press corpse takes Joe Biden and Chris Dodd seriously, but Dennis Kucinich is treated like an amusing oddity

HOLY CRAP: There are no words to explain this "ex-gay" music video...Did you know the Bible was also a handy marketing tool?...The theological speculations of American athletes...Oh Lordy, wait'll ya see this one!

Kenneth Starr will take the side of an Alaska school board against a student who displayed a banner that said: "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" off school property.

Frederick was suspended in 2002 after he unfurled the 14-foot-long banner -- a reference to marijuana use -- just outside school grounds as the Olympic torch relay moved through the Alaskan capital headed for the Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Even though Frederick was standing on a public sidewalk, school officials argue that he and other students were participating in a school-sponsored event. They had been let out of classes and were accompanied by their teachers.

Principal Deborah Morse ordered the 18-year-old senior to take down the sign, but he refused. That led to a 10-day suspension for violating a school policy by promoting illegal drug use. (h/t Joe)

Mike's Blog Round Up

blogenlust: The administration’s rhetoric on Iran is incredibily similar to their rhetoric on Iraq during the fall of 2002 and the winter of 2003.

After Downing Street: Democrats.com offers $1,000 reward to any reporter who will ask a follow-up question to Bush.

Of Cabbages and Kings: Hybrid car technology was developed by an inventor named Victor Wouk in the 1970s and a bureaucrat with the Environmental Protection Agency killed it.

Ward Sutton's cartoon pretty much sums up the feelings of many of us...

David E’s Fablog: How can one “glorify Naziism”and yet “never express any specific prejudice towards gays”? In a culture that prizes homophobia that’s how.

Iraq: The Musical !

cartoon pretty much sums up the feelings of many of us...

David E’s Fablog: How can one “glorify Naziism”and yet “never express any specific prejudice towards gays”? In a culture that prizes homophobia that’s how.

Iraq: The Musical !

A review by Media Matters

Please go to their site and read the whole article!

Fact check: Sinclair's A POW Story contained errors, only some of which were rebutted

• FALSE CLAIM #1: The Los Angeles Times reported that Sinclair "urged" its stations to air Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal; but Sinclair had not yet determined the broadcast's content or format

• FALSE CLAIM #2: Kerry labeled all veterans war criminals

• FALSE CLAIM #3: Kerry's actions worsened the POWs' treatment when under interrogation
• FALSE CLAIM #4: The Winter Soldier Investigation has been discredited: "those guys he was with were frauds"

• FALSE CLAIM #5: Kerry had secret meeting with North Vietnamese in Paris

that he aired yesterday.

Suspected CBS Source Is Well-Regarded Texan

Friday, September 17, 2004; Page A05 edited version

Despite several requests, Burkett has said nothing publicly since Wednesday, after he was named in news reports as a possible source of the disputed documents CBS News's "60 Minutes" used in a Sept. 8 broadcast that said President Bush received preferential treatment while he was in the Texas Air National Guard.Burkett, a retired lieutenant colonel in the Texas National Guard, mentioned then what he had told several reporters last winter -- that he believes Bush aides ordered the destruction of portions of the president's National Guard record because they might have been politically embarrassing. But that was "tangential" to "the framing of his thesis," Kerr said. "What we heard was to demand more honesty of our politicians."