For starters.

• ABA gives Samuel Alito its highest rating, one week ahead of his confirmation hearing; Senate Democrats question the timing.
• AFP: Global warming brings climate change… 55 million years ago; environmentalists question the timing.
• Cheney defends NSA program. Powerline excerpts. Political Teen has the video.
• MSNBC releases Pentagon papers: links between Iraq (which has nothing to do with Al Qaida) and Al Qaida (which has nothing to do with Iraq).
• Academy selects Daily Show’s Jon Stewart to host.
• LexisNexis has launched a news page.
• Bloggers wanting to cover the Southern Republican Leadership Conference (Memphis, March 9-12) can now apply for credentials.

Jesus in the news (I).

• Italian court: Prove Jesus lived, or else.
• Baseball Crank: “[W]hat is menacing here is the threat to use the legal system to outlaw Christianity.”

Jesus in the news (II).

• TIME on TV show The Book of Daniel:

  After President Bush was re-elected with the support of traditionalist Christians, there was much talk about how Hollywood could attract them. Suffice it to say The Book of Daniel (NBC, Fridays, 10 p.m. E.T.; debuts 9 p.m. E.T., Jan. 6) does not exactly lay out the welcome mat. Its content–did I forget to mention his sister-in-law’s lesbian affair? his wife’s martini habit? the adulterous bishops?–has already drawn the ire of the American Family Association (AFA), a conservative cultural watchdog group, which charged that the show “mocks Christianity.”

• John Norris Brown: “[I]f NBC insists on producing such idiocy, it would be nice if they’d be more even handed.”
• KnoxNews: East Tennessee Christians ask local affiliate not to air the program.

Random Questions.

• Iran: to bomb or not to bomb?
• Bad guys: how do you think we catch them?
• Leak: are you good or bad?
• Christians: boobs?

Senate 2006.

• Jeff Ward* corrects an earlier post on fundraising and considers “publicly pick[ing] sides” in the Primary. Nathan Moore reads between the lines.
• Rob Huddleston says there’s been too much focus on the fundraising aspect of this campaign.
• Tennessee Ticket: the Abramoff story hits home (Bill Frist and Van Hillary).
• Jay Bush: Hillary will be vulnerable to attack over the donations.
• Flashback — Adam Groves: this “could mean all Republicans get burnt.”
• Chris Jackson: “come clean Van.”
• Charles Badger: Dems hypocritical on Abramoff.

Opinion.

• Coulter: Can’t trust Dems with national security.
• Jeff Harwell: “some of us can handle the truth.”
• Smart City Memphis: ” PILOT Program Overhaul Deserves Renewed Council Commitment.”

Memphis - State of the City.

• Mayor Dr. Willie Herenton delivers annual address.
• Peggy Phillip reviews the local TV stations’ coverage.

Memphis - Dead Voters.

WMCTV reverses its earlier report that had confirmed 68 dead people voted in Memphis between 1994 and 2004:

New information came forward Wednesday after a Target Five investigation that uncovered dozens of votes cast by dead voters. Wednesday, the election commission admitted it made a mistake when it released that information.

Shelby County Election Commission Chairman Greg Duckett made his position clear on the issue of dead voters in Shelby County.

“It’s an absolute falsehood,” he said.

Duckett was referring to reports that almost seventy dead people voted in Shelby County over the last few years. But he admitted the mistake started on the Election Commission’s end.

Remaining under investigation are two suspected cases of dead voters from the recent special election between Terry Roland and Ophelia Ford.

* - Earlier read “Harwell.” Correction made.