The Nightowl Newswrap

Heh. All the wingnut hand-wringing aside, it turns out that an overwhelming majority (62%) of Americans like the idea of Democrats having both chambers and the White House. While the Democratic party has a 62% favorable rating and a 31% unfavorable. The GOP, on the other hand, does not fare nearly so well, pegging a 54% unfavorable/38% favorable rating in the latest CNN poll.

Eight arrested in Klan initiation murder A woman who traveled from her home in Oklahoma to Louisiana to be initiated into the Ku Klux Klan was killed by the leader of the group initiating her. Her body was found after a tip was received by local police and the suspects who were still in the woods nearby were arrested without incident. The leader of the group has been charged with second-degree murder and the other seven were charged with lesser crimes related to the attempted cover up.

The SPLC draws a bead on the Klan in Kentucky The second largest Klan group in the nation is being sued by the Southern Poverty Law Center in civil court after the 2006 severe racially-motivated beating of a black teenager. The SPLC has successfully used the civil courts to confiscate the property and decimate other Klan/white supremacist groups. Jury selection starts tomorrow - here's wishing them luck.

What? You mean he didn't have other priorities today? Dick Cheney emerged from his undisclosed location today to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns today, the last Veterans Day we have to tolerate the draft-dodging prick acting like he gives a rat's ass about those who have, do and will serve this nation he tried to ruin and the Constitution he shredded.

This is NOT a person who should have any contact with children! A Pennsylvania teachers aide has been suspended after disparaging the President-Elect to students in violent and racist terms. "One of the teacher's aides ... said that Obama was going to be shot and killed," Mara Gilligan told KDKA News. "And that our flag is going to be the KFC [Kentucky Fried Chicken] flag and that the new national anthem will be 'Moving On Up' -- and that all my daughter's beliefs were wrong and her children's lives were going to be ruined because Obama was elected."

Thankfully, that teacher is what is known as a "29%-er" Fully 71% of the nation is optimistic about the next four years. By party, 88% of Democrats and 51% of Republicans believe that Obama will be an effective president who will be good for all Americans. By contrast, only 17% of Americans are pessimistic about the coming administration.



Our thoughts are with Congressman Dennis Kucinich and his family Beth Ann Kucinich, an Army Veteran and the youngest sister of Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich succumbed to respiratory distress today at the Veterans Hospital in Cleveland after a three week battle during which she had been on life support.

Too filthy for basic cable: Yesterday, MSNBC's Joe Scarborough accidentally dropped the f-bomb while live on air. After apologizing, Scarborough said, "My wife is going to kill me when I get home." The show will now have a seven-second delay to protect against future outbursts. An MSNBC spokesman said that no other shows on the network will have the delay, which was reportedly a "mutual decision." No, it was not "mutual" because had Scarborough refused, he probably would have been fired. Listen, villagers--we know you have filthy minds and filthy mouths--we lived through the Clinton era, you see. So stop clutching your fucking pearls...

UN needs help in the Congo:UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has made a fresh plea for 3,000 more peacekeepers to be sent to the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. In New York, Mr Ban also called for a ceasefire so aid workers could urgently help "at least 100,000 refugees" cut off in rebel-held areas near Goma. Ban is the worst Secretary-General in a generation--he has no influence or power. He needs to quit so Bill Clinton can finally get the job.

Michael Barone has finally come completely unhinged Michael Barone said today that journalists trashed Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, because "she did not abort her Down syndrome baby." After being booed for making the stupid assertion, he tried to walk it back, saying he "was attempting to be humorous and ... went over the line." Riiiggghhhttt. Does this sound like he was joking? “The liberal media attacked Sarah Palin because she did not abort her Down syndrome baby," Barone said, according to accounts by attendees. "They wanted her to kill that child. ... I'm talking about my media colleagues with whom I've worked for 35 years.”

Public hospitals unsafe in Australia: Australia's public hospitals are unsafe, overcrowded and underfunded, resulting in 1,500 unnecessary deaths a year, a national doctors group said on Wednesday in a report titled "Public Hospitals Flatlining". The Australian Medical Association (AMA) report said not one public hospital was operating at a safe international occupancy level and the hospital network risked "systematic breakdown". The AMA called on the national government to inject A$3 billion (US$1.9 billion) into public hospital funding, warning that hospitals will not cope with the nation's ageing population. Cuts in Australian health funding have resulted in hospital bed capacity slashed by 67 percent in the past 20 years and there was now a national shortfall of 3,750 beds, said the report. "Emergency departments are over full. Corridors are lined with patients on trolleys because beds are simply not available," said AMA President Dr Rosanna Capolingua. Remind you of any countries that happen to be named "the United States"?

The only thing worse than Mexican drug violence is Guatemalan drug violence: Guatemala authorities are hunting for a group of people police believe are behind the burning of a bus full of Nicaraguans last weekend in a rural region thick with drug gangs. Police said they found bullet casings and fuel containers next to the blackened shell of a burnt-out bus where the remains of 16 people were found late on Saturday on a rural road in eastern Guatemala.

Nope--ain't happening: U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates will urge NATO allies this week to place Ukraine on a path to alliance membership despite Russian objections and doubts about the former Soviet state's political future. But Gates, who arrives in Estonia for NATO meetings on Wednesday, will face resistance from allies who want to move more slowly and are concerned about Moscow's response, especially after its war with another NATO aspirant, Georgia. Alliance leaders are already looking ahead to the next U.S. administration under President-elect Barack Obama, who takes office Jan. 20. That leaves little hope for Bush administration aims to give Ukraine and Georgia a path, known as a membership action plan (MAP), to join NATO this year, analysts said.

Lieberman's fate rests with the caucus A Democratic leadership aid confirmed to Talking Points Memo that the entire Democratic caucus would take a vote next week to decide whether Joe Lieberman will keep his chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee. Click here to get the contact information for your Democratic Senators. When I called Claire, I didn't just urge her to vote against him, I recommended a firing squad.

Infortunate headline of the day: Criticism mounts among gays over Calif. ban