An ethnic studies professor from the University of Colorado, Ward Churchill, received a standing ovation last night from a crowd of more than 200 New School students after blaming the 2001 World Trade Center attacks on America's support of Israel and its sanctions against Iraq in 1996...

http://www.nysun.com/article/44971

Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., violated House ethics committee standards by giving reporters access to an illegally taped telephone call involving House Republican leaders a decade ago, the ethics panel said Monday.

In a report released days after Congress adjourned, the ethics panel said that McDermott, a former ranking member of the panel, failed to meet his obligations as a committee leader.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WA_McDermott_Ethics.html

Prince Turki al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States, flew out of Washington yesterday after informing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and his staff that he would be leaving the post after only 15 months on the job, according to U.S. officials and foreign envoys. There has been no formal announcement from the kingdom.

The abrupt departure is particularly striking because his predecessor, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, spent 22 years on the job...

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Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden insists he's not concerned about the possibility that missing the playoffs for the third time in four seasons could cost him his job.

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/NFL/2006/12/11/2737463-ap.html

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has sparked international outcry by referring to the killing of six million Jews in World War Two as a "myth" and calling for Israel to be "wiped off the map," launched another verbal attack on the Jewish state.

"Thanks to people's wishes and God's will the trend for the existence of the Zionist regime is downwards and this is what God has promised and what all nations want," he said."Just as the Soviet Union was wiped out and today does not exist, so will the Zionist regime soon be wiped out," he added.   more »

University sex program arouses excitement, dismay...

My tax money is being used for WHAT?

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/nation/16208824.htm

Get up to speed quickly with Dean Barnett's FAQ from Town Hall's website. - Helpful for anyone who can't quite figure out what the hell is going on with the Sunnis and the Shiites.

Is it worth the read? Just ask U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, House intelligence chair. Pretty sure he wished he was up to speed when he replied "Predominantly -- probably Shi'ite," to the question; "Is al Qaeda a Sunni organization, or Shi'ite?"   more »

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- More than 30 prominent Islamic clerics from Saudi Arabia on Monday called on Sunni Muslims around the Middle East to support their brethren in Iraq against Shiites and praised the insurgency.

The clerics said jihad, or holy war, "is one of the most important tenets of religion, and what has been taken by force can only be regained by force."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061212/ap_on_re_mi_ea/saudi_iraq_1