Prepare yourselves for all kinds of anti-Islam vitriol in the coming days and weeks; stuff that will likely dwarf anti-teabagger sentiments and provide some sort of twisted justification for prolonging our military's stay in Iraq and Afghanistan.

-On a more upbeat note, Will Wilkinson maintains that Maine was just a hiccup:

"My new dog groomer has a husband. He told me so Tuesday afternoon. We live in Iowa where, since April of this year, a man can legally marry a man. Since May, it has been possible in Maine to do the same. Or it was until Tuesday, when a slim majority of Maine voters chose to repeal their state’s new same-sex marriage law. Some conservatives are elated. Over at National Review, Maggie Gallagher was dancing a jig. "The People have exercized [sic] their veto. This is huge. I am so happy," she gushed. But traditionalists shouldn’t be so happy. Because this is not so huge. My dog groomer still has a husband. And marriage equality is coming back to Maine."

-Erik Wemple's "Final Thoughts on Allen v. Roig-Franzia" is a worthwhile read, and not just for the gratuitous cock-sucking references.

- The National Journal reports that the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a leading conservative think tank which prides itself on rejecting any sort of government approach to environmental preservation, is in the red:

But this year, amidst economic turmoil, contributions are down 15 per cent and the group is running a deficit of roughly 10 per cent, Smith told National Journal's Under The Influence. That comes to about $450,000 worth of red-ink–though some sources suggest the hole may be deeper. Smith says the group's reserves have cushioned the loss and that he has seen an uptick in fundraising recently.

This kind of financial upset isn't just common in the think tank community–the American Enterprise Institute, home of the Iraq War, faced calamity earlier this year–it also gives layers of meaning to the phrase "currency of ideas."

-To bring us back full circle, The Agitator has the link to a series of ACLU video profiles of "Gitmo prisoners detained, tortured, and then released without charge." Proving, once again, that sick shit begets sick shit.

The Washington Times' evolving credibility, the Motorhome Diaries, the Veterans Administration, and more after the jump.

• Last month I applauded the Washington Times for covering the Chas Freeman story, and argued that thanks to Eli Lake (formerly of the New York Sun), the paper is developing a formidable archive of enterprising foreign policy reporting. Fishbowl DC announced on Wednesday that the Times had snatched up Pulitzer prize-winning reporter Chuck Neubauer, formerly of the Los Angeles Times–no small feat for a paper that runs scripture in its op-ed pages on Christmas day. Perhaps with a little more time, people will learn to ignore the Washington Times' strange founder (just as so many Beltway liberals are capable of cheering The New Republic while bashing Marty Peretz, the magazine's "racist" owner and editor in chief; and just as sophisticates across the country barely looked up from their Kellogg's Cinnamon Toast Crunch when the the New York Times announced it had accepted a cash injection of $250 million from a corrupt Mexican oligarch) and judge the paper by its merits alone.
• Speaking of the shit human beings will tolerate, someone needs to raise a fuss about this: "David Schultz, a reporter for the NPR affiliate WAMU in D.C., had his microphone, headphones, and a digital recorder seized by police and PR reps from the Veterans Administration when he interviewed veteran Tommy [Canady] at a public town hall meeting in D.C. yesterday....[Canady] was attempting to tell Schultz about the poor treatment he says he's been getting from the VA hospital. VA officials claim Schultz didn't identify himself as a reporter, failed to obtain a VA-approved waiver before speaking with [Canady], was both exploiting [Canady] and violating [Canady]'s right to medical privacy." That's from Radley Balko at Reason, who also writes that "the VA still hasn't returned Schultz's equipment." One Reason reader wasn't very sympathetic towards Schultz:

"Back in my college days a friend of mine who was a reporter for the college rag refused to leave an (improperly) closed session of some policy-making body, and then when they demanded he leave, he taunted them to have the cops drag him out of the room, as he wasn't leaving any other way.

If he knows where to take a stand, what the fuck is wrong with "adult" reporters and their news outfits that they capitulate so easily?"

Great question!

• Speaking of Radley Balko: If you give two shits about police raiding the home of a watchdog blogger, a police chief who retaliated against officers for participating in internal affairs investigations, and "police officers facing civil rights lawsuits" who plead ignorance of the law as their defense, then I suggest you add the Agitator to your RSS reader.
• And please, check out the Motorhome Diaries: Searching for Freedom in America.

That's it for me folks, I'm off to find a new front rim.