Bush's nominee to replace Donald Rumsfeld as defense secretary, Robert Gates, has submitted written testimony to Congress. Shorter version: no speedy pullout.

Robert M. Gates, President Bush's nominee to become the next secretary of defense, said he opposes a swift pullout from Iraq, arguing in written testimony submitted yesterday to Congress that "leaving Iraq in chaos would have dangerous consequences both in the region and globally for many years to come."

Gates was a member of the Iraq Study Group.

Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride, a new documentary about the life and death of Hunter Thompson, looks like a terrific film.

From Electric Artists:

Interviewees Include Johnny Depp, Sean Penn, Bill Murray, John Cusack, Benicio Del Toro,Tom Wolfe, George McGovern, Ed Bradley, William F. Buckley and Many Others. Narrated By Nick Nolte.

The best part may be that you don't have to go to a theater to see it. It will be airing on the Starz movie channel on December 12.

The original documentary is a personal, intimate look at Thompson with a special emphasis on his Hollywood relationships. It will capture the legacy and “gonzo” spirit of one of this century’s most notorious figures – a man whose life and work regularly intersected with some of the biggest names in the world of film, politics, journalism and sports.

Our great friend Chris Bowers writes about our good friends Ed Kilgore and Tom Schaller, and Dems and Dixie:

During my four years in the netroots, I have become a firm believer in coalition politics, and that it takes a wide range of people to form a governing majority. . . One of the keys to building this coalition is that we work together. . . . Ed Kilgore is someone who recognizes these needs. . .

I have been good friends with Ed since early 2005 and have long enjoyed discussing all manner of political issues with him, but especially about the South. And while Ed's post is presented as a counter to Tom Schaller's, I think their views are more similar than Tom, Ed AND Chris think. I'll explain on the flip.

The war on Christmas wreaths (or maybe it was a war on peace) has ended. TalkLeft recently featured a story about a Colorado woman who was threatened with a fine for placing a "divisive" wreath, shaped like a peace symbol, on her door. In a show of solidarity, other residents of Pagosa Springs expressed their support for peace:

Tuesday morning, 20 people marched through the center carrying peace signs and then stomped a giant peace sign in the snow perhaps 300 feet across on a soccer field, where it could be seen from about just everywhere by just about everyone.

The daffy members of the Loma Linda homeowners assocation board who thought the peace symbol might be a sign of the devil have resigned, and the threat to fine the homeowner has been rescinded.

U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins (Los Angeles) issued a 55 page ruling today declaring part of an order by President Bush allowing the seizure of funds by associates of alleged terror groups to be unconsitutional.

U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins found that part of the law, signed by Bush on September 23, 2001 and used to freeze the assets of terrorist organizations, violated the Constitution because it put no apparent limit on the president's powers to place groups on that list.

Ruling in a lawsuit brought against the Treasury Department in 2005 by the Center for Constitutional Rights, Collins also threw out a portion of Bush's order which applied the law to those who associate with the designated organizations.

In a nutshell,

It's official. Alcee Hastings is out of the running for Chair of the House Intelligence Committee. Nancy Pelosi doesn't want him.

Reportedly, despite the support of the "Blue Dog Democrats," Jane Harman is out as well.

That leaves, according to McClatchy news reporters:

Reps. Silvestre Reyes of Texas, Sanford Bishop Jr. of Georgia and Norm Dicks of Washington state. Reyes has the edge, Pelosi allies indicated. He was a 26-year agent and supervisor with the U.S. Border Patrol before his 1996 election to Congress, and currently is a senior member of the Intelligence panel.

Who are the "Blue Dog Democrats?" A group of 44 centrist Democrats in the House.

Bump and Update: Jeb Bush writes this letter (pdf)to Tancredo complaining about his remarks.

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Tom Tancredo Calls Miami A Third World Country

Is there nothing Tom Tancredo won't do for a soundbite?

He's now called Miami a "third world country."

In South Florida to attend Restoration Weekend, a gathering of conservative activists, the Colorado Republican, whose district includes suburbs of Denver, pointed to Miami as an example of how ''the nature of America can be changed by uncontrolled immigration,'' the story says.

''Look at what has happened to Miami,'' the WorldNetDaily quotes Tancredo as saying in an interview. ``It has become a Third World country. You just pick it up and take it and move it someplace. You would never know you're in the United States of America. You would certainly say you're in a Third World country.''

Talk about viewing the world through a cracked lens.

Here is a response to Barack Obama's reachout to "values voters":

As the Chicago Tribune reported recently, Obama is set to attend a huge evangelical gathering in California on Dec. 1, at the invitation of megachurch Pastor Rick Warren, the evangelical superstar who wrote The Purpose-Driven Life. Analysts have interpreted Obama's scheduled appearance as a sign he's working much harder than Dems ordinarily do to win over Evangelicals.

But the appearance is now provoking an intense backlash from leaders of the Christian right. They are calling on Warren to disinvite Obama from the event because of his liberal positions, especially abortion rights — or as one of those leaders put it, Obama's support of "the murder of babies in the womb."

Obama's efforts are running into fierce resistance. For instance, an open letter from a group of Christian-Right figures — including Phylis Schlafly, Tim Wildmon and others — criticizes the invitiation by citing Obama's pro-choice stance and his support for condom distribution in answer to the AIDS epidemic, "not chaste behavior as directed by the Bible." The letter ends, "No, Mr. Warren, Mr. Obama, we will never work with those can support the murder of babies in the womb."

I told you so:

[T]there is only one thing that will satisfy "values" voters enough to put them in play for Democrats -- he knows it, Amy Sullivan knows it, you know it. Abandon a woman's right to choose.

So what say you now Senator Obama? What does Jim Wallis, who is anti-choice, think of this? Reality bites. More.

7 former prison guards and a nurse have been charged with manslaughter in the beating death of juvenile offender Martin Lee Anderson, age 14.

The surveillance tape showed guards kneeing and punching the boy repeatedly during a 30-minute encounter. Guards said he was uncooperative and had refused to participate in exercises.

The death sparked protests at the state Capitol and led to the elimination of the state's military-style boot camp system and the resignation of Florida's top law enforcement officer. If convicted, the former guards and the nurse - who authorities say watched the melee - could get up to 30 years in prison.

Lee later collapsed and died in the excercise yard. Lee was incarcerated for violating probation on a theft case. Here's much more on the case. Here's the video of the beating.

Newt Gingrich was in New Hampshire this week. He gave a talk in which he said that free speech will be forced to curtailed in the name of the war on terror.

Gingrich, speaking at a Manchester awards banquet, said a "different set of rules" may be needed to reduce terrorists' ability to use the Internet and free speech to recruit and get out their message.

"We need to get ahead of the curve before we actually lose a city, which I think could happen in the next decade," said Gingrich, a Republican who helped engineer the GOP's takeover of Congress in 1994.

The event he was speaking at?

Gingrich spoke to about 400 state and local power brokers last night at the annual Nackey S. Loeb First Amendment award dinner, which fetes people and organizations that stand up for freedom of speech.

Other Gingrich positions included this on the separation of church and state:

It's time for an open thread. I don't know if it's the four day weekend or what, but I'm having a hard time catching up with all that's going on. Please, fill us in.

NBC News has officially labeled Iraq a civil war. Dan Froomkin writes in the Washington Post:

Here's what Matt Lauer announced on NBC's Today Show this morning: "As you know, for months now the White House has rejected claims that the situation in Iraq has deteriorated into civil war. And for the most part, news organizations, like NBC, have hesitated to characterize it as such. But, after careful consideration, NBC News has decided the change in terminology is warranted -- that the situation in Iraq, with armed militarized factions fighting for their own political agendas, can now be characterized as civil war."

Think Progess has some video of MSNBC's Contessa Brewer announcing the decision was made to call it a civil war this weekend.