[jQuery] XML selectors not working in > 1.1.2 ?

[traunic]

Using the Ext JS DateField which exposes a bug with 1.1.2 that
prevents navigation beyond a month.  They suggest using a release >
1.1.2 as the bug has been resolved.

Problem is the following code (simplified for this example) no longer
works:

function xmlFromStr(text){
        if (typeof DOMParser != "undefined") {
                return (new 
DOMParser()).parseFromString(text,"application/xml");
        } else if (typeof ActiveXObject != "undefined") {
                var doc = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM");
                doc.loadXML(text);
                return doc;
        } else {
                var url = "data:text/xml;charset=utf-8," +
encodeURIComponent(text);
                var request = new XMLHttpRequest();
                request.open("GET", url, false);
                request.send(null);
                return request.responseXML;
        }
}

theXMLObj = xmlFromStr("<data><el>text</el></data>");
alert($("el",theXMLObj).size());

Am I missing something or is this a legit bug?