Thomas Frank: Totally Extreme Taliban. I'm not sure I buy the conclusion, but the premise is dead-on: the right is firing up the culture-war rhetoric and blaming "liberalism" for the John Walker thing. Reminds me of that time, back in the day, when Newt Gingrich held liberal Democrats responsible for the woman who killed her kids by driving them into that lake. It's sad that we haven't made more progress in the last decade or so.

ZDNet: Microsoft plugs XP security hole. But of course, most people won't do what is necessary to secure their machines, especially on the consumer front. Zombie XP machines being driven by script kiddies are going to be with us for a long, long time. MS isn't being very helpful, either: they won't release stats on how many people have actually downloaded the patch, and they won't send a reminder email to their customers on the importance of installing it.

What kills me is this bug is yet another buffer overrun. Microsoft has been burned by this same issue so many times in the past, you'd think they would actually do something serious to stop them. It's not that hard, really. But sadly, security on the front end does not appear to be a high priority issue.

ABCNews: Tape Missing Subtleties. Apparently, the translation of the bin Laden video released by the US government is missing some bits, like those where Saudi Arabia is acknowledged for the help it provides to bin Laden's movement. Funny, though, I don't hear anyone in the Administration suggesting that we make Saudi Arabia the war on terrorism's next stop.

Colbert King: Saudi Arabia's Apartheid. "McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, and other U.S. firms, for instance, maintain strictly segregated eating zones in their restaurants. The men's sections are typically lavish, comfortable and up to Western standards, whereas the women's or families' sections are often run-down, neglected and, in the case of Starbucks, have no seats. Worse, these firms will bar entrance to Western women who show up without their husbands."

You know it's Chrismas when: after a year of hemming and hawing over $10 here and $20 there, you go out and spend $800 in a single day, and none of it is for yourself. Scratch that: you did rent "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" for tonight's viewing pleasure.

Happy Birthday Sarah!