Updated

TIME magazine is reporting that the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Dianne Feinstein, may consider more stringent interrogation methods than what the Army Field Manual calls for, but she is waffling under pressure from the left.

You may remember that we reported Barack Obama is having trouble filling the CIA director's job because few experienced intel people believe we can stop terror attacks without tough interrogation methods. The Army Field Manual bans any questioning that would make a suspect uncomfortable in any way.

"Talking Points" believes Mr. Obama has painted himself into a corner on this interrogation deal. The far left, the ACLU types, wants no interrogation of terror suspects at all. Nothing but Miranda rights and civilian lawyers. Most Americans understand a policy like that would be very dangerous.

Tuesday the government of India released the names of the Mumbai terror killers. All of them are Pakistanis. No surprise since Pakistan is now ground zero for terrorism, with Al Qaeda, the Taliban and other murderous groups openly operating in northern Pakistan.

The weak economy has diverted attention away from the terror threat, but it remains very real.

Five captured Al Qaeda in Guantanamo Bay, including Khalid Sheik Mohammed and Ramzi Binalshibh, now say they will plead guilty in terror attacks on Americans, including 9/11. In those pleas, the thugs call for more violence against the USA.

With that kind of danger in play, the pressure falls on President-elect Obama to continue policies that have kept us safe, rather than bowing to far-left pressure. If Obama does away with tough interrogation and we are attacked, he will be gravely damaged.

So this issue becomes the elephant in the room the day Obama takes office. We'll keep you posted.

And that's "The Memo."

Pinheads & Patriots

Three-year-old Kensley Penney recently visited Santa Claus, and instead of asking for stuff, she asked to see her dad, who's currently stationed in Afghanistan. Well, as you know, Santa is a pretty powerful guy.

Click here to watch "Pinheads & Patriots."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

"SANTA": Who is that?

KENSLEY PENNEY, FATHER STATIONED IN AFGHANISTAN: Daddy.

"SANTA": That's your daddy. Would you like to go see your daddy?

PENNEY: Daddy. Daddy. Hi, Daddy. I miss you. I love you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

The Pentagon OK'd a furlough for Sergeant Scott Penney, and everyone involved, including Santa, are patriots.

On the pinhead front, Wednesday some supporters of same-sex marriage are asking Americans to call in gay to their work place, to stay home, in protest of the gay marriage issue. Well, if you do that, you run the risk of being labeled a pinhead or being fired, so think about it.

You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" and "Pinheads & Patriots" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the FOX News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com