CNN contributor and Editor-in-Chief of Big Journalism Dana Loesch took a lot of flak over the weekend for her declaration of solidarity with the four Marines who videotaped themselves urinating on the corpses of alleged Taliban fighters, in which she said “I’d drop trou and do it too.”

Countdown host Keith Olbermann and liberal watchdog Media Matters, among others, have called for CNN to fire Loesch over the remark, and according to Big Journalism, even Politico is in on the act.

Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry appeared on CNN’s State Of The Union and defended the actions of the Marines who urinated on the corpses of dead Taliban fighters. Anchor Candy Crowley had asked the Texas Governor about the incident and what his response would’ve been had he been president. “Well, obviously, 18, 19-year-old kids make stupid mistakes all too often, and that’s what’s occurred here,” Perry explained.

On Saturday’s CNN Newsroom, host Don Lemon spoke with political analyst Goldie Taylor about the controversy surrounding the four US Marines who videotaped themselves urinating on the corpses of alleged Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. Taylor, a former Marine, took the opportunity to call out CNN contributor Dana Loesch, calling Loesch’s remarks “disgusting,” adding “to say you would ‘drop trou’ and do the same thing, I question someone’s integrity who would say something like that.”

The blogosphere has been ablaze today over a video that has emerged of several U.S. Marines urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters. It has been both condemned and defended, but on Real Time tonight, Bill Maher partially defended what the Marines did. While he dubbed the scandal “Urinationgate” and joked that peeing should only take place “in the privacy of R. Kelly’s home,” he thought the outrage was disproportional.

Inflammatory video of several US Marines urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters has been leaked to the internet. In the video, a soldier exclaims “Have a great day, buddy.” “You got it on the video?” someone asks. “Golden — like a shower!” another jokes, as the group desecrates the bodies.

The Senate, led my efforts from the office of Sen. Joe Lieberman, may call on Twitter to ban accounts run by Taliban officers and supports in Afghanistan from disseminating anti-NATO information. According to the UK Telegraph, Sen. Lieberman– who worked to have al-Qaeda projects banned from Google as well– has contacted the social network’s leaders in an effort to remove accounts that promote and celebrate Taliban attacks on NATO forces in Afghanistan.

ABC News’s Jake Tapper took White House Press Secretary Jay Carney to task over a comment Vice President Joe Biden made to Newsweek, saying “the Taliban per se is not our enemy.” Tapper asked if the language Biden used was regrettable. “if taken out of context.” “It’s only regrettable when taken out of context that I just explained,” Carney responded.

Herman Cain! Not enough news about Herman Cain. Never enough news about Herman Cain. This is a man who knows about the war in Libya, a man who knows Spanish is spoken in Cuba. “So what is it,” asks a reporter at an Orlando news conference apparently held at a parking lot across from a Public Storage facility, “with you and these gaffes?”

CNN’s Suzanne Malveaux has been on the ground in Afghanistan for nearly a week on a military embed. Since her arrival in Kabul on September 8th, she has conducted a series of interviews with those most intimately involved in attempting to move Afghanistan forward, both reporting from the region on the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and on the Base attack from the region that had occurred the day before.

Malveaux, then, has something of a unique perspective on the various attacks that unfolded today around 1:30 p.m. local time in Afghanistan. Taliban suicide bombers targeted several high-profile locations, including the U.S. Embassy, NATO headquarters, an airport, and an area near a local high school. So far, seven have been killed in the attacks and ensuing violence, including Afghan police officers and civilians, and seventeen have been reported injured. Current reports also have three of the four attackers are dead.

A Taliban spokesperson insists text messages and emails sent to reporters regarding the death of Mullah Mohammed Omar — the group’s “spiritual leader” — were the result of a hack sent by a “cunning enemy.” Not only does the group claims its main spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid‘s phone and email accounts were hacked, but the group’s website was evidently tampered with as well.

An emailed statement from Qari Yousef Ahmadi, yet another spokesperson for the group, insists that the Islamic Emirate’s Information and Cultural Commission is looking into the hack.

President Obama’s announcement that he would be withdrawing troops from Afghanistan throughout the next year appears to, upon first impression, let most of MSNBC’s hosts down. Rachel Maddow and Chris Matthews joined host Ed Schultz on his program to assess the speech tonight, and while each took their own issue with the withdrawal plan, all three were united in their disappointment that the withdrawal was not happening quickly enough.

President Obama addressed America from the East Room of the White House today with the news that 10,000 American troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan by the end of 2011, and 33,000 by summer 2012. He also warned that he would not tolerate “terorrist safe-havens” in Pakistan and that his focus as the troops come home will be domestic problems.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai just got some high-profile support from an unlikely source: former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. The latter, visiting Bill O’Reilly to promote his controversial new memoirs, insisted to the host that he fully supported Karzai and found “no indication” that the Afghan leader was corrupt. He also cited the latest national elections as proof of Karzai’s legitimacy over O’Reilly’s claims that they were “rigged.”

Hey, here’s a clip of Michael Moore! Let’s get angry at or with him! Although I could easily stop there, I suppose I’ll dig deeper some context to this video. Last Friday, Michael Moore appeared via satellite on Real Time with Bill Maher to discuss a number of issues including, naturally, the “Ground Zero Mosque.” While talking about its opponents, Moore proposed calling Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin “Mullahs” and “clerics,” implying that they were the American version of the Taliban.

Perhaps the most eccentric show on cable news (not that there isn’t competition) had one of the most eccentric media characters on as a guest today: Judge Andrew Napolitano‘s Freedom Watch on Fox Business Network interviewed the founder of Wikileaks Julian Assange about the recent flood of sensitive national security documents released by his site. Assange was unapologetic and meticulous in detailing how his site processes and confirms information.

Who knows what about the whereabouts of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar has been a hot topic this week since Big Government broke the story of his capture and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused the Pakistani government of knowing where he is. While no confirmations have surfaced, Foreign Policy is reporting that today, finally, a senior Pakistani official has responded directly to the report and refuted it, but Big Government and its proprietor, Andrew Breitbart, and not backing down.

Early yesterday evening, the biggest victory in the Afghanistan War quietly slinked onto the internet– brought to you by the site made famous for sending a fake pimp and prostitute to expose ACORN’s shady ties to child sex trafficking. Big Government exclusively broke the news that Taliban leader and close Osama bin Laden ally Mullah Mohammed Omar had been captured by Pakistani authorities, but with no further evidence than the words of “key intelligence sources,” they’re going to have to do a better job of convincing the media that the story is true.

It’s very tempting to be sarcastic and say something along the lines of this is how serious journalism works. Except this is how serious journalism works. Turns out the Times had the story a few days ago and held it at the behest of the White House. Times managing editor Bill Keller appeared on the NPR show The Takeaway today, to explain how and why the Times held the story.

Amidst all of the hand-wringing and teeth-gnashing over terrorism suspects and Article Three trials versus military tribunals, there is an underlying feeling like some just want to execute these people. We should just off them – because they are most likely un-American and guilty of sumpin! Does that sound like the actions of despotic leaders of yesteryear and far-fetched for the USA? Maybe – but it’s exactly what Glenn Beck suggested during his visit to Fox and Friends this morning.

Did the New York Times pay millions to get reporter David Rohde released from Taliban custody last June? That is bold assertion that former special forces veteran turned freelance journalist Michael Yon is saying via his twitter.

Looks like the Taliban has gone 2.0. Over the weekend it was reported that the radical, religious, political group, has created its own YouTube channel. Apparently Sharia law, which among other things, allows for gruesome public executions and requires women to wear burqas and remain in the home, has nothing whatsoever against the Internet!

Almost a year ago, while reporting on the Taliban in Afghanistan for the New York Times, journalist David Rohde was taken captive. Rohde returned home in June, and now he’s telling the action-packed and emotional story of his kidnapping and captivity in Afghanistan and Pakistan on the front page of the Times — a story that was kept totally silent before.

Who: Jackson Diehl interviewed by Clyde Haberman What: NYU’s Center for Global Affairs’ “Worldly Perspectives with Clyde Haberman” Where: The Center for Global Affairs When: October 14, 2009 Thumbs: Up