Listen to the Terry Gross interview with David Cay Johnson, a New York Times reporter who's written Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich. It will really get you fired up to work on your own taxes and help the rich stay, well, rich.

Mickey Maus, I mean Kaus writes, "This astonishing encyclopedia of libelous myths about 'neoconservatives'--if I can repeat that poorly defined slur--was only published last August. Naturally, it's still floating around the Web. To read it in full, click here."

And that left wing rag, the Financial Times, notes that global warming will lead to "a tenth" of all species becoming extinct [ed. How do you "become" extinct? Wouldn't "extinction" be the opposite of "becoming?"]. But mostly bugs and stuff, so it's ok.

Over at Salon, Sidney Blumenthal holds a wake for Colin Powell. We'll see if Sid is right, but my guess is that Powell, after four years of humiliation, will grin and bear it if...if...'ol five-to-four gets four more years.

Nevertheless, if I were Rove, I'd find the latest Time/CNN poll a bit disturbing. Bush gets 51% to Dean's 46% of "likely" voters. Considering that most of the country isn't paying attention and no votes have been cast in the primaries, that seems pretty significant to me (if I can find a link to the poll results, I'll link to it). Most of the polls I've seen compare Bush to all of the various dems, not a head-to-head Dean vs. Bush. Too close to call.

Disregarding the risks involved, a brave, yet gay and festive, Dick Cheney couldn't resist joining our president for a rousing evening of Christmas caroling.

Thanks to TAPPED for the link -- "The Meatrix". Great site, it has a search engine to provide "Providers" and retail based on your zip.