It's the time of the year for giving and one R.I. Senator has given the american people some truth about Iraq for a change. We all know this already but to hear it come out of a Republicans mouth is awesome:

Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island said the situation he encountered was "frightening at times."

"It's a very tenuous security situation," Chafee told CNN. "I'd been there a year ago -- what a change."

Chafee said the senators were unable to travel through Baghdad's neighborhoods, visit the northern city of Mosul or take the road from the airport -- all things visitors could do last year.

Chafee said that when Iraqi politicians -- such as interim President Ghazi al-Yawar, who met with President Bush on Monday in Washington -- say that the situation is improving, the effect is damaging.

"We really need cold, hard facts and honesty,"

He said insurgents "pretty much" control Mosul and large parts of Baghdad, as well as the 10-mile stretch of road from the airport into the capital.

"If with 100,000-plus troops over there, we can't control that 10-mile road, it shows what's happening politically," the senator said. "The people are not as friendly as they were a year ago towards Americans."

These are all Republican Chafees' quotes, Merry X-Mas america!

Also, almost 100% of complaints to the FCC in 2003 about "media indecency" come from the right-wing group the Parents Television Council. From Mediaweek:

What Powell did not reveal—apparently because he was unaware—was the source of the complaints. According to a new FCC estimate obtained by Mediaweek, nearly all indecency complaints in 2003—99.8 percent—were filed by the Parents Television Council, an activist group