Blogging or reporting on the web can be a risky endeavor in some countries. Many have lost their liberty because they told the truth or expressed their opinions.

The number of journalists jailed worldwide for their work increased for the second consecutive year, and one in three is now an Internet blogger, online editor, or Web-based reporter, according to an analysis by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

About half of the world's imprisoned journalists are print reporters (including editors and photographers), but web-based journalists are increasingly losing their freedom.

China, Cuba, Eritrea, and Ethiopia were the top four jailers among the 24 nations who imprisoned journalists.

December likely is the month that bloggers must balance the ledger sheet and reassess their time commitment to blogging because of the financial drain. How many hours were spent blogging, how much money did it cost in lost income from the day job and how much did the blog make from blog ads and donations? When they do, the blogosphere runs the risk of losing them. We may be raving activists, but we live in the same capitalist world that you do.

So, as you're putting a little something in the pocket of your paperperson, housekeeper, doorman, shoe shiner, hairstylist, secretary, whomever.....think about the bloggers whose sites you read day after day either for enjoyment or enrichment, and make a note to add them to your gift list. If ever there was a month to do it, this is it.

To give to TalkLeft, go here or here.

Cintra Wilson in Salon has a four page article that should be read by anyone either contemplating supporting Rudy Giuliani or not familiar with his pre-9/11 personality. The tag line sums it up:

9/11 gave America amnesia about the real Rudy Giuliani. He's an authoritarian narcissist -- and we don't need another one of those in the White House.

I couldn't agree more. Here's a sample:

On 9/11, all Americans were frightened children, and in a moment of mythic personal heroism, Mayor Giuliani filled the gaping leadership void. The president looked like a petrified chimp; Cheney was spirited to an underground bunker. Only Giuliani could pull himself together sufficiently to get on TV in the midst of the wreckage and show America that a grown-up was still breathing. On that terrible day our reptile brains looked at Rudy Giuliani and said, "We're OK now. Daddy's home."

And we forgot, some for a moment, some permanently, that Daddy was psycho.

One more, and then just go read the whole thing:

There's still time to order one for Christmas. It ships in 3 business days.

TalkLeft's 4th Amendment Subway Tote. (Larger version here.)

Let the 4th Amendment speak for you as you hand your bag over for a search by a subway or airline security guard. It's a silent protest and reminder to authorities that you consider searches without reasonable suspicion or probable cause to be an infringement of your privacy rights.

They make great gifts, especially for college kids.

In the news:

• Robert Gates' confirmation hearing as Defense Secretary is underway. He says we are not winning the war in Iraq.

• Former President Bush dissolves into tears of love for son Jeb at a speaking event. Was he drunk?

• Hillary reaches out to Dems in New Hampshire and Iowa. Will she announce before the end of the year?

• Obama praises Hillary in New York. Once again, I see a Hillary-Obama ticket in our future.

What's on your news screen today?

At talking points memo, David Kurtz links to this fairly egregious article in the New York Times, titling his post "The Ties That Bind":

New on the Web: Politics as Usual

THE Netroots.” “People Power.” “Crashing the Gate.” The lingo of liberal Web bloggers bespeaks contempt for the political establishment. The same disdain is apparent among many bloggers on the right, who argued passionately for a change in the slate of House Republican leaders — and who wallowed in woe-is-the-party pity when the establishment ignored them.

You might think that with the kind of rhetoric bloggers regularly muster against politicians, they would never work for them. But you would be wrong. . . . [T]his year, candidates across the country found plenty of outsiders ready and willing to move inside their campaigns. Candidates hired some bloggers to blog and paid others consulting fees for Internet strategy advice or more traditional campaign tasks like opposition research.

Here is a listing of some of the most influential bloggers who went to work for campaigns this year, what they were paid according to campaign disclosure documents, and praiseworthy posts about their employers or critical ones of their employers’ opponents.

There is a very nasty implication of bloggers for sale to that article and David Kurtz chooses to endorse that. That is darned egregious of him. But he has shown disdain for the Left blogs for some time. He has never been a friend of the Left blogs. His right, but something to keep in mind when you read his work. He is an Establishment type through and through.

It's almost sunset here in Key West. Incredible weather, great company. I'm sitting at the dock of the bay on the Gulf of Mexico, 100 yards from the Atlantic Ocean. We're hoping to see the Green Flash.

Here's an open thread for you.

The ACLU (received by e-mail, on line link should be here later) brings our attention to a new Government program in the works called the Automated Tracking System:

The American Civil Liberties Union today condemned an unprecedented new program for generating terrorist ratings on tens of millions of travelers, including American citizens, maintaining those ratings for 40 years, and making them available throughout the government.

"Never before in American history has our government gotten into the business of creating mass 'risk assessment' ratings of its own citizens," said Barry Steinhardt, Director of the ACLU's Technology and Liberty Project. "That is a radical new step with far-reaching implications - but one that has been taken almost thoughtlessly by expanding a cargo-tracking system to incorporate human beings, and with little public notice, discussion, or debate."

Originally intended for cargo, it's now going to be applied to people, and scheduled to be implemented December 4.

Update: It also tracks what travellers eat.

I'm off to Key West for the annual NORML legal seminar where I'll be speaking Saturday on Terrorism and the War on Drugs. The full agenda is here.

It's just about my favorite seminar of the year, between getting together with other drug defense lawyers, the Pier House Resort and Spa (check out my favorite room) and the free-spirit, laid back style of Key West itself.

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.

I'm a soft-touch for college kids who start serious blogs. I've been reading Matthew Yglesias since he was at Harvard and Ezra Klein since he was at USC. Both have developed into excellent professional writers.

So when I got an e-mail today to check out the new Foreign Policy Watch Blog, described as "Diplomatic strategy, international news, and thoughtful political analysis" written by a 19 year old freshman at Brown University, Jeb Koogler, I took a look. From the blogroll, he leans left. And like Matt and Ezra, Jeb writes intelligently about serious stuff. I hope you'll check him out.

There is a new bio added. Less surprising to some than others one imagines. Check it out.

Open Thread.