del.icio.us links for 2005-12-16

• Dollar coins featuring ex-presidents to roll out in '07 - Dec. 16, 2005: Coin collectors can look forward to a new series of gold-colored dollar coins depicting portraits of former presidents. Keeping with tradition, only dead presidents need apply. Last call for Ford, Carter, GHW Bush, and Clinton! Cleveland gets two coins. (news politics us)
• Freeman Criticizes Black History Month: Morgan Freeman: "I don't want a black history month. Black history is American history." There is no "white history month," and says the only way to get rid of racism is to "stop talking about it." Labels "black" and "white" obstacles to beating racism. (black history morganfreeman racism sploid us white)
• WSJ.com - Is Global Warming Killing the Polar Bears?: Polar bears may be our canary in the coal mine for global warning. Lots of them seem to be drowning due to a lack of sea ice, and usually large numbers are showing up on the mainland. West Hudson Bay population down 22% since 1987. (alaska arctic bear canada ecology environment news polarbear predator science us)
• Tired of materialistic holidays? 'Celebrate Festivus: Festivus may be the first holiday spawned by TV. Credit "Seinfeld" character Frank Costanza (Jerry Stiller), who in the Dec. 18, 1997 episode introduced "A Festivus for the rest of us!" as an alternative to the distorting materialism of Christmas. (howto humor religion sploid tv weird)
• CNN.com - Report: Bush eased domestic spy rules after 9/11 - Dec 16, 2005: The order allowed the NSA to monitor the international phone calls and e-mails of perhaps thousands of people inside the US. Even some NSA officials thought it was illegal and refused to participate. Hello to my fans in domestic surveillance. (bush evil liberty news nsa politics privacy security surveillance terrorism us)
• Stories About Poop index page | PoopReport.com: All the poop that's fit to print. (blog funny shit weird)
• Reason: Dead Man Tells No Tales: Media docility and another no-cost federal killing: In the old days, Americans were taught that the media would serve as a check and a balance on government powers. That platitude is fading as news professionals show less regard for private citizens than for government officials... (airline liberty media politics security sploid us)
• Torture's last stand: IT TOOK months of congressional and public pressure, shameful revelations about abuse of prisoners by American personnel and widespread ridicule of presidential rationalizations, but the Bush administration finally threw in the towel Thursday... (bush cia congress evil politics senate terrorism torture us)
• Lott sues insurance company over Katrina damage: The issue is whether a storm surge should be considered flooding, in which case thousands of hurricane victims would be left struggling to recover from the losses of their homes without help from their insurance providers. I'm sure it'll be "fantastic". (bush disaster irony katrina mississippi politics senate sploid us)
• President Arrives in Alabama, Briefed on Hurricane Katrina: Bush: "Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house -- he's lost his entire house -- there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch. (Laughter.)" Except Lott's insurance company won't pay. Wonder if he got his trailer. (alabama bush disaster fema irony katrina mississippi politics senate us)