Jon Stewart and Bill O’Reilly (UNCUT)

Earlier this week, Jon Stewart entered Bill O’Reilly’s “No Spin Zone” for a conversation … or, as Fox News described it, a “faceoff.”

Interestingly though, a lot of Jon’s most incisive and effective arguments were left on the cutting room floor. Fortunately, Fox News generously put the full, unedited conversation online, where it was picked up and logged by Gawker.

Among Jon’s best lines:

How many tyrants do you know that really suffer because they can’t get cloture?

[F]ox News used to be all about, you don’t criticize a president during wartime. It’s unacceptable, it’s treasonous, it gives aid and comfort to the enemy. All of a sudden, for some reason you can run out there and say, “Barack Obama is destroying the fabric of this country.”

There’s no Real America, there’s no coastal elite. … The idea somehow that there’s a Real America, where the good people live, the ones that love God and love the country–that’s ridiculous. … You’ll probably find more evangelicals [in the West Village] than you have in your neighborhood.

He’s not Magneto–Khalid Sheikh Muhammad isn’t going to sprout wings and fly out and start shooting buildings with lasers.

Links of the Day, January 11

It’s Human Trafficking Awareness Day! Tell someone who doesn’t know about the 27 million people trapped in modern slavery. And then do something about it!

Check out these awesome pics to start out your week/day:

And then enjoy this cover from Cathy Nguyen and Andrew Garcia:

News

• Whistler’s homeless are being relocated ahead of the Winter Olympics.
• The oldest known Hebrew script has been deciphered. Find out what it says here.
• Colt McCoy shows grace and faith in the face of defeat:

Human trafficking

• China claims to have freed over 10,000 victims of human trafficking in the last year.

Immigration

• A new report comes out: immigration reform will ease economic decline.

Miscellaneous

• NBC’s Bryan Williams: why Jon Stewart is good for the news.
• GOOD covers the H&M saga.
• For the Angelenos, the fake freeway sign that became a real public service.
• Oh, the places you’ll go … The NY Times lists 31 places to go in 2010.
• As a fantasy geek myself, I can appreciate this from what’s fast becoming one of my favorite blogs, YOMYOMF ("You offend me, you offend my family"): "Fantasy gone wrong."
• Some fascinating facts about sneezing.
• Some secrets about London!

Links of the Day, January 4

Welcome to 2010! (Here’s Jon Stewart’s review of 2009.)

Since there was ZERO net job creation in the US over the last decade, let’s hope the next ten years go a little better, shall we?

News

• France joins the US and the UK in shutting its Yemen embassy.
• The NY Times offers a fascinating look inside Barack’s war on terrorism. And WaPo defends the President against critics who say he’s "soft on terror."
• Cory Booker, mayor of Newark, NJ, is fast becoming one of my favorite people. Check out this awesome story.
• Avatar breaks $1 billion, worldwide.

Health care

• From Foolocracy: "Rush Limbaugh praised the American health care system while in a Hawaiian hospital for a couple of days during the last week. What he did not mention is that Hawaii has the most socialized system of any of the 50 states and, with its near universal healthcare, resembles the Obama health care plan."

Immigration

• The Nation investigates the ICE’s detention facilities.

Miscellaneous

• Read Jim Wallis’s op-ed in WaPo yesterday: "A religious response to the financial crisis."
• Rich Mouw considers a poetic revision of "In Christ Alone." I think I agree with him (and Tom Wright).
• If you haven’t already subscribed to xkcd, I think you should:
  

Happy birthday, Jon Stewart

Today is Jon’s 47th birthday.

Happy birthday, Jon! Thanks for being awesome.

Links of the Day, November 12

Check out this sweet new film by Lucas Martelli, "Pigeon Impossible."

And this one from Wong Fu Productions, "Hitting on Cathy."

News

• The President is deliberating on the options for Afghanistan.
• Poor nutrition is stunting growth in the developing world.
• The controversial "Don’t ask, don’t tell" policy is set to be repealed in the defense authorization bill.
• Taylor Swift cleans up at the CMA’s.
• Lou Dobbs, known for his anti-immigrant rhetoric (among other things), quits CNN.
• Fox News’ Sean Hannity apologizes to Jon Stewart for making stuff up … but not really.

Health care

• The Senate is slowly rumbling forward on health care reform (finally …).

Miscellaneous

• Stephen Colbert takes on Sesame Street’s conservative critics. Yeah, "Sesame Street’s conservative critics."
• Carrie Prejean sort of walks off Larry King … but not really.

Links of the Day, October 30

News

• Following up on Harry Reid’s Senate health-care bill, Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats unveil their $894 billion health-care bill. Here’s the BBC’s coverage.
• Jon Stewart takes on the White House vs. Fox News battle.
• A big change is coming to internet addresses: Internationalized Domain Names.

Health care

• Does Focus on the Family fund abortions?
• Looking to get health care done by Christmas.
• Tyler Cowen considers why other countries care more about health-care cost control than America.

Human trafficking

• Sex trafficking is real.

Green

• The EU strikes a climate funding deal.

Links of the Day, October 2

Today is Gandhi’s birthday!

News

• The death toll in Indonesia is up over 1,000, with thousands more still trapped.
• A fossil find in Ethiopia may turn evolution theories on their head.
• Tony Blair is in line to become Europe’s first president, assuming the Irish say yes.
• Obama meets McChrystal.
• Jon Stewart lays into Democrat Senators. (Yes, I consider this news, because Jon Stewart is the most trusted newsperson in the US.)

Health Care

• Here’s the latest on the Baucus bill, which will get voted on next week.

Politics

• Sen. Lindsey Graham is remarkably forthright.

Miscellaneous

• Tom Friedman wonders where the "we" went.
• The Scientific American investigates whether falling in love makes us more creative.