Midday Open Thread

• There's this guy Markos, who runs a really awesome blog.  Looks like his first Newsweek column has been published online:

  For a party that won historic gains in 2006, the Democrats have proven surprisingly reluctant to deliver on their chief campaign promise: forcing George Bush and his Republican Party to change course on their disastrous war in Iraq.

  Check out the rest.  It rocks.

• Harry Reid PWNz Bush by keeping the Senate in session over the Thanksgiving holiday to prevent any recess appointments.  Why is this important?  Because Bush is planning to recess-appoint the homophobic James Holsinger as Surgeon General:

  A source in Wilmore tells Bible Belt Blogger that Holsinger is resigning because he expects to be recess appointed as Surgeon General:

  Holsinger’s nomination, opposed by several leading Democrats, has stalled in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. But Holsinger is telling people the president plans to appoint him to the post anyway once the Congress goes into its holiday recess.

• Kudos to the "Is That Legal?" blog for digging this one up:

  In 1926, the Mississippi Supreme Court called the water cure [slang for waterboarding] torture. No qualifiers. No hedging. Just plain, good ol' fashion torture . . . and therefore a forbidden means for securing a confession. These men were hardly a group I'd call activist or liberal and certainly not bent on subverting our country in the name of coddling criminals.

• Memo to Heather Wilson: if you want fundraising help, don't invite Dick Cheney. (Swing State Project has more.  Great picture.)
• WaPo's Dana Milbank says Clarence Thomas is stuck in a time warp.
• As always, Jeff at the Nukes of Hazard blog has a national security legislative wrap-up this week.
• The Federation of American Scientists Strategic Security blog analyzes  a new Congressional Research Service report on US arms sales to Pakistan.
• Last, but not least, your weird news for the week: a man and his bike.