In September, an insert in the bulletin of the Wasilla Bible Church — where Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has worshipped for about six years — promoted an upcoming Love Won Out conference that sought to “convert gays into heterosexuals through the power of prayer.” In an interview with Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren last night about suspected arson at the church, Palin defended the promotion of the event, claiming that “people looked at that and wanted to spin that into something that it was not“:

VAN SUSTEREN: Do you know about that at all, what that controversy was?

PALIN: Yes, I think there was an insert in the church’s bulletin one Sunday that had advertised a seminar that was being (INAUDIBLE) at another church in Anchorage, and it had to do with those who wanted some assistance or some kind of counseling in dealing with any struggles that they would have regarding homosexuality.

Asked if gay men and women were “welcome” at her church, Palin responded by using nearly the same language she used to describe Love Won Out’s efforts to “help” gay people. The church is “quite open in terms of welcoming people into the church and assisting anyone who desires assistance or counseling or help,” said Palin. Watch it:

Love Won Out denies that it aims to “cure” homosexuality, despite the fact that it claims “same-sex attractions can be overcome.” Additionally, the group’s website approvingly cites a paper on “Ex-Gays” that seeks to demonstrate “that it is possible for homosexuals to change their physical attractions.” The website also refers readers to a number of “ex-gay” organizations and websites.

As the New York Times notes, “most mainstream mental health professionals dismiss attempts to eradicate homosexual desires or to change someone’s sexual orientation as quackery that is potentially harmful.” Mental health experts say that the damage sexual reorientation therapy can “inflict on self-esteem, triggering depression and even suicide, is well documented.”

Palin has previously said that she believes homosexuality is a “choice.” But in reality, all major mainstream medical and mental health professional organizations have concluded otherwise.

Noting that President George Bush is “doing a last minute end-run, jamming as many rules through the executive branch as he can during his waning days in power,” Brave New Films has released “George W. Bush’s Nightmare Before Christmas.” A “satirical spin on the famous poem, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas,” the film highlights Bush’s last-minute regulatory push:

While children are dreaming of toys, dolls and ponies,
I’m out here scheming how to help out my cronies.
Yes to all my pals in the big corporations.
Here’s my gift to you: some new regulations.

Watch it:

For more on Bush’s array of 11th hour regulatory changes, see ThinkProgress’ report: Bush’s Backward Sprint To The Finish.

In an AP interview yesterday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke highly of U.S. reconstruction efforts in Iraq, stating, “We’ve done a lot of work to get these [reconstruction] structures right, and I think they finally are” — a day after a scathing government report detailed massive waste and poor planning in U.S. reconstruction efforts. When asked about the abuse, Rice claimed that U.S. dollars have emerged unscathed:

Q: But the cost in terms of lives and in terms of the money and the abuse of money – (inaudible) was money wasted, there was money that was siphoned off, corruption and that kind of thing, you’re —

RICE: Not of American money. Not American money. I don’t think that you will find that anybody is arguing that there was corruption in the American programs.

Throughout the U.S. occupation of Iraq, billions in tax dollars have been lost due to corruption and incompetence. Some of the most egregious losses have been via “American programs”:

– The Coalition Provisional Authority delivered 363 tons of cash on an airplane, totaling $12 billion, to Iraq “without assurance the monies were properly used or accounted for.”

– The State Dept spent $36.4 million dollars on weapons and equipment that could not be accounted for because “invoices were vague and there was no backup documentation“.

– Top contractor KBR came under fire last year from government investigators for overpricing its contract by $2 billion, which, for example, included overstating labor costs by 51 percent.

– State Dept. employees testified in May 2008 that the U.S. “allowed corruption to fester at the highest levels of the Iraqi government,” resulting in the loss of billions in U.S. tax dollars.

The use of private contractors, a major source of the corruption, has skyrocketed under Bush. The government has spent $85 billion on contracts in Iraq and other countries in the first four years of the war. “Taxpayers have been bled dry with massive misuse of public dollars,” observed Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), who has spearheaded investigations into waste, fraud, and abuse in Iraq.

Thus far, some $50 billion in taxpayer dollars have been spent on the reconstruction of Iraq, which anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International listed as the third-most corrupt nation in the world.