Cold hard facts

Trying to catch up on some long neglected links on this chilly Sunday. I've been remiss in linking to so many people. First of all, after yet another hiatus, The Mayor of Simpleton is back to blogging. I'll be updating the link on the sidebar again. And not sure how I could have missed this Atriot, but Spork in the Drawer is also being added to the blogroll. Click over and check them both out.

Also been way too long since I linked to Dan at Pruning Shears. His latest post on our US Intelligence Appartus isn't comforting reading, but necessary for anyone concerned about our civil liberties. This one item alone is cause for concern.

First was the report that Sprint Nextel provided customer location data over eight million times in the last year. Even taking into account the important caveats raised by Kim Zetter, there clearly is a great deal of data being accessed with no oversight by or reporting to Congress. As seems usual in these cases, we have only the earnest assurances of those involved as guarantee that abuses are not happening.

And our friend Hart has been blogging up a storm. He rightly chastises lefty bloggers for failing to pushback on the wingnut kerfluffle over "Climategate." I have to admit, I've been just as remiss as the A-listers on this score.

A bright spot on this story is 56 newspapers will publish the same editorial urging the participants at Copenhagen to stop dithering and take some meaningful action on climate change before it's too late.

Avedon also devotes a whole post on the left's dismal failure to have pushed single payer health care. Now we're stuck with the lamest "compromise" bill that probably won't even include a decent public option. Feeling a little red-faced about this one too. Not that I didn't push single payer at all, but I came in late and promoted the alleged compromise way too much.

Avedon also posts her annual roundup of Advent calendars. Scroll through her later posts for more.

Sully gets squee of the day with this pix. Only 34 of these little guys are left in the wild.

Meanwhile, this one is for Capt. Fogg. Bet he doesn't usually check out the LOLz cats but watertiger posts some very wise kittens. Think he'll approve of this one.

And I can't remember if I ever posted this here, but it's worth looking at again. Very cool cutouts from empty toilet paper rolls. I wish I was talented enough to do these things.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]