The news this week was dominated by the capture of Saddam and by speculating as to what will happen next. The Shrub added to the news din commenting without a script at a rare presidential press conference on Monday, where he called Saddam "the kind of person that is untrustworthy, and I'd be very cautious about relying upon his word in any way, shape or form." The Washington Post reports that the White House is cleaning up government websites deleting all of the previous governmental statements that turned out to be untrue, presumably this includes all of Shrub's doltish statements. (http://daily.misleader.org)

'Til you drop: Of course, Christmas shopping and the state of business also dominated the remarks of the pundits. It appears that American consumers (is that redundant?) will be spending big bucks for the holiday season and charging it to those wonderful gold, platinum, and titanium credit cards. This means big debts in 2004 of course.

Let them eat Dow: Several reports of watchdog groups slipped through the newswire to obscure positions. The US Conference of Mayors, in a survey of 25 cities, reported that hunger and homelessness were increasing with more people turned away from emergency food and shelter assistance since 1997. (http://usmayors.org/uscm/) Commenting on the failure of the news media to cover this, NY Times columnist, Bob Herbert said, "A surge in the Dow is big news. Surges in hunger and homelessness are not."

Maybe they thought it was freedom of warships: Then there was the State Department's fifth annual report on religious freedom -- there isn't much especially in those countries the US considers its allies. The annual "Freedom in the World Survey, 2004" -- based on the rights specified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights -- revealed that there were 88 Free countries, 55 Partly Free, and 49 Not Free (http://freedomhouse.org/ratings)

But he's the President! Doesn't that mean anything anymore? Two different federal appeals courts added to the growing attacks on the White House policies of repressive detention. The issues centered on the labeling and imprisonment of Jose Padilla, an American citizen, as an "enemy combatant" and the imprisonment of over 600 people in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, without any access to legal protection. (NY Times)

Numbers you don't hear about: The total number of wounded soldiers and medical evacuations from Iraq is now close to 11,000, according to the Pentagon. (United Press International) http://www.truthout.org/

September 11: Former New Jersey Governor, Tom Kean, heads the commission investigating the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. This week, in an interview with CBS News, he asserted his belief that the attacks could have been prevented. (Washington Post)

Watch who you drive with: Two weeks ago, the Supreme Court issued an opinion that it was permissible for the police to break into a suspect's home if the door wasn't opened within 20 seconds. This week the Court declared that if drugs are found in a vehicle, and can't be attributed to any single person, then all occupants can be arrested. (Associated Press)

There's a man going 'round taking names: Even the International Association of Police Chiefs oppose this -- "this" being a Homeland Security/Shrub proposal to add at least 140,000 names of immigrants and foreign students to the FBI's criminal database. (Washington Post)

On the international front, news comes from the halls of Pyongyang to shores of Tripoli...Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi announced his intent to dismantle the country's chemical and nuclear weapons programs and open Libya to international inspections. The US remains intransigent in its refusal to negotiate the offers of Kim Jong Il to trade a dismantling of North Korea's weapons. programs for economic aid and a mutual nonaggression pact. (Washington Post) And in a bizarre development, the Japanese government agreed to invest billions of dollars collaborating with the US in developing a ballistic missile shield. (Associated Press)

On the environmental front: Oceanographers writing in the journal Nature report an increasing salinity of the oceans as a result of global warming. The increase in temperature leads to an increase in ocean evaporation leading to greater rain and snowfall and leaving the oceans saltier.

Good water pressure: Public pressure on the Environmental Protection Agency forced the Shrub administration to abandon their current attempt to weaken the Clean Water Act.

Two advisory committees to the Food and Drug Administration recommended that the drug "Plan B," a morning after pill, be approved for over-the-counter sales. Opponents of Plan B are concerned that it will lead to an increase in "irresponsible" sexual behavior.

If his compass doesn't point North, where does he think Santa lives? John Hinckley, who shot President Reagan in 1981, has been granted unsupervised home visits with his parents. He has been incarcerated in St Elizabeth's psychiatric hospital. His release prompted one Baltimore activist to dig up an old political poster: "Hinckley for President. He's had a shot at the man; let's give him a shot at the job." Another local activist, organizing for the Santa Defense Society (SDS), issued this press statement. "The SDS has learned that the Ashcroft Justice department has subpoenaed Santa Claus. The Department is claiming that Santa's refusal to turn over his list of naughty and nice children is a violation of the Homeland Security Act. Santa said he would go to jail before he cooperates with the government."

This week in history

Bill of Rights ratified (1791); the Thirteenth Amendment abolishes slavery (1865); Oglala Sioux chief Sitting Bull killed (1890); 11-day general strike based in workers' councils, the zenith of the 1905 Russian Revolution (1905); Civilian Public Service Camps are set up for conscientious objectors (1940); UN Convention on the Rights of Women (1952); underground nuclear tests at the Nevada test site leaks sending fallout across the country (1970); US invades Panama (1989). This was the birth week of Margaret Mead, Steve Biko, and Peter Kropotkin.