Scandinavian scandal: Reuters reports that Sweden’s supreme court on Tuesday cleared an evangelical preacher of inciting hatred after he labeled homosexuality “a cancerous tumour” responsible for AIDS during a 2003 sermon.
The case has acted as a rallying point for Christian groups in Sweden and abroad that have defended the pastor’s right to freedom of speech [...]

Replacing Scottie: Let America Pick Next White House Spokesman with TV Show, ‘America’s Top Liar’

All talk: From former CIA agent Larry Johnson:
I was contacted by an MSNBC booker late today (Monday, 28 November) who asked if I would appear tonight on the Joe Scarborough Show to discuss whether or not the media are hypocrites when it comes to covering the leak to the Washington Post about the CIA secret [...]

Obstruction: Raw Story says Patrick Fitzgerald’s case against Bush lackey Karl Rove appears to hinge on instructions Rove gave his assistant for logging calls from reporters:
Why does this alleged felon, who is accused of lying to the U.S. government, still have a top-level U.S. security clearance?
Rove has remained under intense scrutiny because of inconsistencies [...]

Delusional: The president’s religiosity is over the top:
“He doesn’t feel any pain. Bush is a believer in the adage ‘People may suffer and die, but the Church advances.’ ”
Bush’s closest advisers have long been aware of the religious nature of his policy commitments. In recent interviews, one former senior official, who served in [...]

Dr. Masato Tashiro, a Japanese World Health Organization consultant, believes that China has had 300 human deaths from avian influenza and is hiding the true extent of the disease from the rest of the world. Masato, Director of the WHO Collaborating Center on Influenza at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, and head of [...]

Dirty dealings: Decorated Vietnam vet and U.S. Congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham, took a plea deal and resigned his seat at his trial on corruption charges today, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. In return for bribes to the tune of $2.4 million, Cunningham, an eight-term Republican representative from Southern California, steered Pentagon contracts toward [...]

Watch out for the cough police: If you thought the Patriot Act put the kibosh on your personal liberties, wait till you see what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are asking the gubmint for. According to Medical News Today, the CDC is asking for the first major changes to its quarantine protocols in [...]

The average member of Congress holds on to high-level folks for four to five years, but nine months is about all anyone can stand with Florida U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris. Great job by the Sarasota Herald Tribune, which uncovered the red flag in the Harris office.
Her turnover rate is so rare it prompted a longtime [...]

Lott’s spite: A New York Times article yesterday covered former Senate Majority Leade Trent Lott’s mouthing off against his enemies inside the GOP as if they had significance beyond a petty need to exact revenge:
The senator has also thrown darts in the direction of Karl Rove, President Bush’s chief political adviser. With Mr. Bush’s [...]