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020312
Syria faces report of 'massacre' in Homs | World news | The Guardian Human rights group claims more than 100 killed by security forces on eve of UN vote on removal of Bashar al-Assad


Anonymous Claims It Intercepted FBI Conference Call
Anonymous Hacks Boston Police Department Website Over December Occupy Eviction

Balloon Juice » Substitute your lies for fact Every single House Republican votes against the Peters Amendment to insert factual findings about how the Bush Tax Cuts added over $2 trillion to the deficit.

Ron Paul may surge in Nevada. - Slate Magazine In the land of boom and bust, even the economic winners are looking for a change (parts of America are totally insane)
One Town's War on Gay Teens | Politics News | Rolling Stone In Michele Bachmann's home district, evangelicals have created an extreme anti-gay climate. After a rash of suicides, the kids are fighting back.

Unemployment at 8.3% still leaves a vast and destructive jobs deficit | Robert Reich | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk US jobless numbers are falling, but not far or fast enough. We should forget about the budget deficit until unemployment is 5%
Schneiderman Sues Three Big Banks, MERS for Deceptive Practices, Illegal Foreclosures | FDL News Desk
S.E.C. Is Avoiding Tough Sanctions for Large Banks - NYTimes.com
Lax Oversight Blamed in Demise of MF Global - NYTimes.com
Eschaton: It's All So Complicated The MF Global coverage is really starting to annoy me. As is always the case they're using complexity to disguise the simple fact that somebody decided to steal a billion bucks. It isn't complicated. It's theft. Some people got the stolen money, and authorities should get it back from them
PercentJobLossesJan2012.jpg (scariest chart in the world, updated)

Malaria kills twice as many people as previously thought, research finds | Society | The Guardian Malaria kills 1.2 million people every year, a finding that has implications for global efforts to eliminate the disease

The Komen protests Lessons from the #Komen debacle: Facebook walls are the new Bastilles.
Komen Foundation revises funding policy - The Washington Post (lotta botox, there, Nancy)

Komen Foundation Urged to Restore Planned Parenthood Funds - NYTimes.com Her comments directly contradicted those of John D. Raffaelli, a Komen board member and Washington lobbyist, who told The New York Times on Wednesday that Komen made the changes to its grant-making process specifically to end its relationship with Planned Parenthood (gotta hurt when the Times calls you a liar)
What Does Komen's Latest Statement on Planned Parenthood Really Mean? | Mother Jones Komen has not responded to journalists' requests for clarification, telling the Washington Post's Ezra Klein that its statement "speaks for itself."
National Review Sees "Gangsterism" Behind Komen's Planned Parenthood Shift | Media Matters for America ... First, to look at the Komen situation and see Planned Parenthood as the bad-faith actor requires an astonishing amount of willful obtuseness (you know, those "gangsters" at PP)
Top Susan G. Komen Official Resigned Over Planned Parenthood Cave-In - Jeffrey Goldberg - Health - The Atlantic The decision, made in December, caused an uproar inside Komen. Three sources told me that the organization's top public-health official, Mollie Williams, resigned in protest immediately following the Komen board's decision to cut off Planned Parenthood ... Hammarley said the issue became newly urgent after Handel was brought on last year. "The internal debate on a senior level rose in the past eight months or so, coinciding with her hiring."
Your morning jolt: Did Karen Handel have a role in Komen/Planned Parenthood split? | Political Insider
Susan G. Komen Foundation Also Stops Funding Embryonic Stem Cell Research | Care2 Causes a loss of nearly $12 million dollars in research money to eradicate breast cancer this year alone.
Grief Ghoul Nancy Brinker’s Race For The Bullshit | TBogg “We’ve also got a frame grab of a Tweet that Handel passed along: “Just like a pro-abortion group to turn a cancer orgs decision into a political bomb to throw. Cry me a freaking river.”
No More Mister Nice Blog - Is That The Komen Plan? To Become The Fox News Of Charities? ... Komen says they will allow @PPact to apply for future grants. NOT that they'll continue grants.
Did Susan G. Komen turn itself into a lightning rod? - Kate Nocera - politico.com "They pretty much cut their fundraising support in half. I don’t think they meant to make a huge political statement, but it was extremely naïve of them to think this wasn’t hyper-political,”
Balloon Juice » Guns Don’t Kill People So the Komen Foundation doesn’t want to be associated with the nation’s largest abortion-provider. But they don’t mind partnering up with a handgun maker (they were always pro-NRA)
Comment: Komen’s Choice : The New Yorker
The epic downward spiral of Susan G. Komen for the Cure: how to #FAIL (updated w/Komen ‘apology’) | Pam's House Blend Watching Susan G. Komen for the Cure in its epic PR death spiral over the last few days has been breathtaking.
Hullabaloo no one should consider giving Komen a single dime until Karen Handel is fired or resigns in disgrace. And even then, the organization needs to answer some very serious questions about why she was hired in the first place, and what their real mission is.

Uproar Over Planned Parenthood Cut Forces Susan G. Komen Reversal - The Daily Beast Michelle Goldberg says that in the end, Susan G. Komen didn’t want to be rebranded as an anti-abortion group after all
Balloon Juice » The Doodie Touch So, you are wondering, how do you ruin a successful brand and embroil yourself in a pointless controversy that scares the shit out of your corporate sponsors and enrages both the left and right wing of the political spectrum, all while doing it in such a ham-handed and offensive manner that you manage to get $3 million in donations to organization you want to destroy in just a few days? Hire this guy: Ari Fleischer, former press secretary for George W. Bush and prominent right-wing pundit, secretly helped guide Komen Foundation’s disastrous strategy regarding Planned Parenthood (they were always Republicans but that was really stupid +in case you were wondering where these creeps go)
Sarah O'Leary: WTF Was Susan G. Komen Thinking? As a marketer, the Grand Canyon sized mistake Komen has made truly defies business logic. As a woman, my heart goes out to those women Komen and Planned Parenthood will no longer be able to afford to help as a result of this grievous error in marketing judgment.
The Accidental Rebranding of Komen for the Cure (brand-management for the cure! +good overview of the reaction of the internets)

Cambridge Journals Online - Abstract - The Gerrymanderers Are Coming! Legislative Redistricting Won't Affect Competition or Polarization Much, No Matter Who Does It Redistricting received substantial attention in the popular media in 2011, as states redrew state legislative and congressional district boundaries. Many reformers continue to argue for a de-politicization of the redistricting process, claiming that partisan redistricting is responsible for declining electoral competition and increasing legislative polarization. Our analysis of evidence from state legislatures during the last decade suggests that the effects of partisan redistricting on competition and polarization are small, considerably more nuanced than reformers would suggest, and overwhelmed by other aspects of the political environment.



020212
Soldier Says Syrian Atrocities Forced Him to Defect - NYTimes.com
Egyptian football riot anger focuses on military rulers | World news | The Guardian Fans mourn dead and vow revenge as MPs blame lack of security at Port Said stadium for riot which left 74 people dead
Mexican Political Rivals Feud Over $1.9 Million Found In Luggage President Felipe Calderon's National Action Party called that explanation "an insult to the intelligence of Mexicans," whose tax laws, crime problem, strict campaign finance laws and economic problems make carrying such large amounts of cash very unusual.

Eurozone crisis live: China tells Europe to 'do its homework' | Business | guardian.co.uk Wen Jiabao: China could offer financial help

France Launches Costa Concordia Investigation


Gay marriage bill passes Washington state Senate | World news | guardian.co.uk Bill, which includes provision for out of state residents to be married in Washington, expected to pass in House next week
Washington Gay Marriage: State Senate Approves Bill To Allow Same Sex Couples To Wed

AP Exclusive: US No-Fly list doubles in 1 year Even as the Obama administration says it's close to defeating al-Qaida, the size of the government's secret list of suspected terrorists who are banned from flying to or within the United States has more than doubled in the past year
'Fast And Furious' Operation: Justice Department Rejects Cover-Up Claim Made By Darrell Issa that top Justice officials are covering up events surrounding a flawed gun-smuggling probe, Operation Fast and Furious (well, Obama does coverup everything)

Influence of Palin and Tea Party Wanes in Early Contests - NYTimes.com (despite media hype)
Newt Gingrich Not Quite The Life Of The Tea Party (the party is over, dude)
Republicans Aim To Ban Use Of Welfare Debit Cards At Strip Clubs, Liquor Stores Struggling families will no longer be allowed to withdraw welfare funds at automated teller machines in liquor stores, casinos or strip clubs if Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives get their way ... "This is another example of setting policies based on attention-grabbing news stories with little connection to the underlying reality and that are designed to reinforce the 'unworthy poor' stereotype,"
S.C. Senate votes to halt Savannah Port dredging | Haire of the Dog Nikki Haley and her evil goons over at the Department of Health and Environmental Control have been defeated.

The need for regime change (Obama's/The Fed's economic policies were stupid and have failed)
Wall Street Executives Thrive Under Obama But Still Won't Support Him
New transportation bill creates safety concerns over bigger rigs - CNN.com (turning roads into railroads)

Political Animal - Indiana Smites Unions Yesterday, with Gov. Mitch Daniels’ signature, Indiana became the 23d state, and the very first (other than Indiana itself during a brief period ending in 1965) in the industrial northeast and midwest, to enact “right-to-work” legislation—or as folk in the labor movement call it, a “right to work for less” law.
Kansas prepares for clash of wills over future of its unauthorised immigrants | World news | guardian.co.uk Coalition of top businesses launch new legislation that would help undocumented Hispanics gain federal work permission (how's that hate working out for you, Kansas?)

Susan G. Komen Loses Support After Planned Parenthood Decision Komen has faced a massive social media backlash since announcing the decision, with angry people flocking to its message boards and Facebook wall to announce that they will no longer donate to the breast cancer charity ... In contrast, Planned Parenthood has seen a huge influx of financial donations in the 24 hours since Komen broke ties (they are, of course, deleting negative comments on their spin page)
Eschaton: It's OK To Say You Suck what Komen has done is made it ok to point out that they kind of suck. And they kind of sucked before all this, but not many people ever want to rain on the pink paradise parade. They managed to associate their brand with a cause, and to criticize the brand was to criticize the cause. Now we all get to say: you suck hard (and you're just another highly-paid Republican front)
The Pink Badge of Cowardice | TBogg I have to say that killing women with breast cancer before they might consider abortion sometime in their lives is one way to eliminate a woman’s right to choose ... you can make a donation to Planned Parenthood and request a thank you card be sent to Karen Handel ... (perfect!)
By defunding Planned Parenthood, the Susan G Komen Foundation betrays women | Lizz Winstead | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk The breast cancer charity's withdrawal of support for Planned Parenthood will sacrifice women's health to anti-choice dogma
Daily Kos: Why doesn't the Komen Foundation sever ties with Bank of America?
Religious Right Praises Komen for Cutting off Breast Exams at Planned Parenthood but Demands Further Capitulations | Right Wing Watch
Charity Navigator - SGK
Komen Says Efficiency, Not Politics, Drove Planned Parenthood Change : Shots - Health Blog : NPR "One of the things many women don't understand is that the founder of Komen, Nancy Brinker, has had a long-standing and supportive relationship with the Bush family with the Bush presidencies, with the Republican party and on many occasions has supported policies that most supporters of Komen probably wouldn't approve of," said Judy Norsigian of the Our Bodies, Ourselves, the popular women's health guide.
Planned Parenthood vs. Komen: How the abortion provider scored a PR coup (rightwing spin from Slate get incinerated in comments)
Planned Parenthood Online: Donate to Planned Parenthood Online (click "honorary" to send thanks to Karen Handel)
Eschaton: Wrong Turns I'm sure in the short term a bit of wingnut love might continue to fill the coffers, but after that... cure cancer for the right sort of women is not going to work.
Radical Veep And Mau-Maued By The God Botherers | TBogg This is what happens when you sow the wind. You get introduced to the whirlwind….
US Politics | AMERICAblog News: Komen pro-life VP promised to defund Planned Parenthood, and they have - In April 2011, after losing the 2010 Republican primary runoff in the race for Georgia governor, former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel was named Senior VP of Public Policy (more on anti-abortion Karen Handel and SGK's anti-women policies +they always were Republicans)
Another Reason to Love the Decemberists: Their Smart Move on Susan G. Komen | ThinkProgress
Wash. Post Inexplicably Gives Credence To Discredited Abortion-Breast Cancer Link | Media Matters for America written by health columnist Jennifer LaRue Huget, asks whether Komen should have been funding Planned Parenthood because an organization called The Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer claims that abortion increases the risk of breast cancer. This organization is run by Karen Malec, who apparently has no medical background and presents herself primarily as a journalist, according to her biography (Jennifer LaRue Huget is a big fat liar)
You’re Right — It *Was* a “Monstrous Decision” : Lawyers, Guns & Money Forcing your mentally disabled daughter to bear her rapist’s child without her input (let alone consent,) based on utter nonsense about Plan B being an abortifacient. And then bragging about it! This isn’t some great act of moral conscience; it’s an act of barbarism.

Lames, Trains, and Autodidacts | TBogg Taking a break from chronicling the Susan G. Komen Credibility Death Spiral, there is bad news on the November electoral front. In fact, this could be A Game Changer:
The Truth Behind Why High Calorie Chef Paula Deen Is Pushing Diabetes Drug | Food | AlterNet (it's worse than you thought)
Hullabaloo The Deen of "Diabetes-Friendly" Diets - If this article is true, her charm is as fake and as cynical as her pose as just one more middle-class Southern housewife. In reality, she's just one more rapacious, utterly repellent multi-millionaire without a clue about what it means to be part of the 99% who can't afford the kind of medical care and other luxuries she takes for granted.
TSA Agent Accused Of Stealing iPads From Travelers (VIDEO) Dovel is currently out on administrative leave (not, you know, in jail)


The Facebook IPO: billion-user ambition at a $100bn price | Michael Wolff | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk Mark Zuckerberg's phenomenally successful enterprise – in effect, a wholly-owned internet – now faces hard business facts

020112
Iranian attack on America and allies increasingly likely – intelligence chief | World news | The Guardian Washington openly blames Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei for first time over Saudi ambassador plot
Sanctions v. negotiations on Iran - Salon.com America’s increasingly tense and dangerous conflict with Iran is characterized (one could even say caused) by the unwillingness of the Obama administration to engage meaningfully with Iran’s leaders (Israel is Obama's daddy now)
Afghanistan War: U.S. Troops To End Combat Role Next Year
Taliban Will Control Afghanistan With Support From Pakistan, Says Leaked Report (all for nothing, except we made Karzai and his family really, really, rich)
Taliban believe they will take over from US and Nato in Afghanistan - report | World news | The Guardian Pakistan and Nato reject assertions by Taliban and al-Qaida detainees in document based on interrogations
Lessons from Iraqi outrage over US drones - Salon.com The noble geniuses who planned and publicly crusaded for the war in Iraq insisted that “liberation” would mean a grateful citizenry and a stalwart ally in the middle of the region. Instead, anti-American animus is so high that Iraqi politicians routinely rail against the U.S. as a means of bolstering their own standing (another incredibly costly, tragic, complete failure)
London Stock Exchange Bomb Plot Admitted By Islamic Extremists Four British men fueled by the words of a U.S.-born Muslim cleric pleaded guilty on Wednesday to involvement in an al-Qaida inspired plot to spread terror and cause economic damage by bombing the London Stock Exchange at Christmastime.
Egypt football pitch invasion leaves dozens dead | World news | guardian.co.uk At least 73 people reported killed during pitch invasion following match between Al-Masry and Al-Ahly in Port Said

The predictable aftermath of the anti-CAP smear - Salon.com While that smear campaign, having done its job, is now winding down, the predictable effects of it are only beginning: CAP is now censoring those targeted writers, and those who defended them are now being similarly smeared (the dual-loyalty, Israeli-firsters suceeded in obliterating any push-back on Israel propaganda)

'Draconian' Austerity Pushes Up Euro Jobless Rate: Analysts - Business News - CNBC
Eschaton: I Could Have Told You That A Couple Of Years Ago Suddenly everyone's jumping on the idea that maybe jobs and economic growth are a wee bit important. But, you know, all the Very Serious People were wrong for the right reasons while the hippies were right for the wrong reasons, so the VSPs were really right and the hippies were really wrong. It's amazing how that always works.
BBC - Newsbeat - UK woman responds to Obama on son's 'web piracy' Richard's mother Julia told Newsbeat that he had not broken any UK laws and President Obama had given a typical politician's answer in response to questions about his case.

Julian Assange extradition appeal at supreme court - live blog | Media | guardian.co.uk WikiLeaks founder enters final stage of battle to avoid extradition to Sweden to face sex crime allegations
Leon Panetta’s explicitly authoritarian decree - Salon.com CBS News‘ Scott Pelley appears to be one of the very few American journalists bothered by, or even interested in, the fact that President Obama has asserted and exercised the power to target U.S. citizens for execution-by-CIA without a shred of due process and far from any battlefield ... watching a top Obama official, under decent questioning, defend the power to target U.S. citizens for assassination viscerally conveys the rigidly authoritarian mindset driving all of this (Obama can kill you anytime, anywhere)
Ron Wyden Suggests Secret PATRIOT GPS Tracking May Be Illegal Under Jones | emptywheel

'Gasland' Journalists Arrested At Hearing By Order Of House Republicans (UPDATES) In a stunning break with First Amendment policy, House Republicans directed Capitol Hill police to detain a highly regarded documentary crew that was attempting to film a Wednesday hearing on a controversial natural gas procurement practice

American Muslims Don't Want Shariah, According To Study By University Of Windsor

Mitt Romney Super Pac brought in $18m in six months, FEC figures reveal | World news | guardian.co.uk Total includes $750,000 from ex-colleagues at Bain Capital
Mitt Romney: 'I'm Not Concerned About The Very Poor'
The Morning Plum - The Plum Line - The Washington Post “I’m not concerned with the very poor. We have a safety net there,” Romney told CNN
Eschaton: Each One Gets A Free Cadillac I think it's important to understand what Mitt's saying here. He isn't saying fuck the poor. He's saying that the really poor actually have it really really good! The government basically gives them free cars and housing and medical care and food stamps they can use at the liquor store etc. The rest of you struggling to get by, you don't get anything. In fact, the really poor (and we know who they are) are taking your hard earned money (team rich vs team poor!)
corrente SBL: Stalin Defeats Trotsky in Doomed Floridka Purge! Palin accuses Mitt-Stalin of taking unserious counteraction poop on heroic struggle of troubled Trotsky:
To Defecate in Terror: Mitt Romney gets Google-bombed | Angry Black Lady Chronicles

Is the ‘real’ unemployment rate stuck? - The Washington Post (More Like 11%)
Broke bureaucrat of the day, St Louis Fed edition | Felix Salmon the president of the St Louis Fed, earning well over a quarter of a million dollars a year, is living paycheck-to-paycheck. Every two weeks, he gets paid $10,819, less taxes and deductions, and yet by the end of the year he still doesn’t have even $1,000 in a checking account (trials of the rich)
MF Global's missing money traced: report | Reuters U.S. investigating authorities have traced more than 90 percent of the customer money which disappeared from MF Global around the time of its bankruptcy ... The Commission, however, is unsure whether the money can be retrieved (because stolen, is you know, stolen)
Did Health Care Reform Hurt The Private Insurance Part Of Medicare? Apparently Not | TPMDC
Proposed jobs bill would target foreign outsourcing by U.S. companies - The Washington Post Rep. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) will introduce a bill Wednesday requiring large U.S. companies to disclose how many of their jobs are based on U.S. soil and how many are based abroad, an attempt to shed light on the number of American jobs being outsourced (Apple doesn't want to tell you)

Check With Climate Scientists for Views on Climate — Letters to the Editor - WSJ.com (WSJ publishes denialist hackery based on the opinions of "climate scientists" who are really weathermen at Fox)
Scientists close to entering Vostok, Antarctica’s biggest subglacial lake - The Washington Post Reaching Lake Vostok would represent the first direct contact with what scientists now know is a web of more than 200 subglacial lakes in Antarctica — some of which existed when the continent was connected to Australia and was much warmer. They stay liquid because of heat from the core of the planet ... Russian scientists are on the verge of entering a vast, dark lake that hasn’t been touched by light for more than 20 million years
Cleveland Volcano: Alert Level Raised In Alaska After New Lava Dome Forms The warning level for a remote Alaska volcano has been raised after a new lava dome began forming, indicating the mountain could explode and send up an ash cloud that could threaten aircraft.

Komen Cuts Planned Parenthood Grants Months After Arrival Of New VP, Who Is Abortion Foe (they always were Republicans)
Conservatives Cheer Komen Foundation's Decision To Stop Funding Cancer Screenings At Planned Parenthood | ThinkProgress (they got ACORNed)
Planned Parenthood blames pro-life 'bullying' after cancer charity cuts funding | World news | guardian.co.uk Susan G Komen for the Cure says it cannot give money to Planned Parenthood because of congressional investigation – but critics say Komen is bowing to political pressure
Balloon Juice » None Dare Call It Murder one quick note to add to the discussion of the Komen Foundation’s surrender to Greater Wingnuttia and the Global War on Women.
Susan G. Komen charity throws Planned Parenthood under the bus.
The fight against cancer -- and abortion? - Abortion - Salon.com The Susan G. Komen Foundation says its decision to defund Planned Parenthood isn't political. Does anyone buy it? - Despite the myth that Planned Parenthood is first and foremost an abortion clinic, pregnancy terminations account for only 3 percent of its services; on the other hand, as the Daily Kos reports, “cancer screening and prevention comprises 17 percent.”
Komen Foundation Races for the Cuts The breast-cancer awareness group caves to anti-choice groups and pulls its funds from Planned Parenthood.
Litbrit: On Susan G. Komen For the Cure: Pink ribbons and an opened can of worms
Daily Kos: Why doesn't the Komen Foundation sever ties with Bank of America?
Charity Navigator - America's Largest Charity Evaluator | Home (dump Susan G Komen)

More on the Weak Case for a Special Exemption on Contraceptive Coverage : Lawyers, Guns & Money The burdens of what Dionne, Douthat and Chait are asking to impose are real, while the impact on religious freedom as the religion is actually practiced of the Obama administration’s superior alternative is miniscule (note they are all men)
Chris Christie Embarrasses Himself With Civil-Rights-History Flub - The Daily Beast Paul Campos on what the governor’s civil-rights flub says about the contemporary conservative movement.
Most Catholic women use birth control banned by church | Reuters Some 98 percent of sexually active Catholic women have used contraceptive methods banned by the church, research published on Wednesday showed.

Fox Regularly Uses The "Racial Code Words" Denounced By Fox's Juan Williams | Media Matters for America
Eschaton: Do You Watch Your Own Network? It's a complete mystery why liberals weren't always happy with Juan Williams providing cover and validation for Fox over the years.

Alabama State Senator Thinks Increasing Teacher Pay Goes Against A 'Biblical Principle' | ThinkProgress “And these teachers that are called to teach, regardless of the pay scale, they would teach. It’s just in them to do. It’s the ability that God give ‘em ... Currently, a part-time legislator in Alabama is making more than a full-time teacher with a Master’s degree and 15 years of experience
Essay on the summit of adjunct leaders | Inside Higher Ed - Adjunct, contingent faculty members now make up over 1 million of the 1.5 million people teaching in American colleges and universities. Many of them are working at or under the poverty line, without health insurance; they have no academic freedom worthy of the name, because they can be fired at will; and, when fired, many remain ineligible for unemployment benefits (like in health care, the administrators won)

UFO Found In Baltic Sea? (Video) A team of shipwreck hunters that found a strange circular object on the floor of the Baltic Sea in 2011 now says they have discovered visual evidence of a second "disc-like shape" some 200 meters from the original find, CNN reports


013112
Iran increasingly willing to launch US attack, top intelligence official warns | World news | The Guardian James Clapper, US director of national intelligence, also says Tehran is keeping option open to develop nuclear weapons
Draft resolution to UN calls for Syria's Assad to step down | World news | The Guardian Russia likely to veto resolution, up for debate at security council, which calls for end to arms supplies and president's rule (Putin loves bloody-handed dictators)
Food Bill Stumbling? | Indian Decade The bill, if it became law and was fully implemented, would cost the national exchequer Rs 1.1 lakh crore ($22 billion) annually in agriculture liabilities alone, but would provide subsidized food grain to more than 60 percent of the country’s population.

Eurozone crisis live: EU summit optimism tested by record unemployment | Business | guardian.co.uk Eurozone unemployment hits new high
Eurozone unemployment at new record high - Europe - World - The Independent Unemployment in the 17-nation eurozone ended 2011 at 10.4 per cent, a new record high for the single currency since its launch at the start of 1999 (austerity fails, so, more austerity!)

Foreign Shoppers May Add $850B With Obama’s New Visas - Bloomberg (America the paranoid screwing itself with restrictive visa policies)

Barack Obama faces pressure over TVShack extradition case | Law | The Guardian US president asked to explain why America is trying to extradite British student Richard O'Dwyer over alleged copyright breach (because he is owned by Hollywood and big content?)

Hullabaloo - Exceptionalism - The World's Most "Successful" Top 1 Percent - If we can just get those taxes down to nothing and eliminate all impediments to inheritance, we should be able to successfully recreate the British aristocracy in a generation. The founders would be proud (Republicans have always hated America)

Mitt Romney easily clinches Florida primary win | The Ticket - Yahoo! News 47 percent for Romney, 32 percent for Gingrich, 13 percent for Santorum and 7 percent for Paul with 78 percent of precincts reporting
Head of Senate military panel says Romney clueless - Yahoo! News
Newt Gingrich, On Eve Of Likely Florida Loss, Unleashes Wild Attacks On Mitt Romney
Frank Rich To Maddow: Mitt Romney Is Closeted About His Religion (and his underear)
Newt Gingrich versus Mitt Romney: A guide to latest charges - The Washington Post it turns out that in 2003 he did indeed veto $600,000 in spending to run Massachusetts’s eight kosher nursing home facilities.
New Hampshire Governor Pledges To Veto Repeal Of Same-Sex Marriage In State Address | ThinkProgress to veto any bill that strips residents of their “civil rights”
Alan Grayson Confident In Re-Election, Fundraises For Others
Gay Politics | AMERICAblog Gay: GOP NJ Gov. Christie says black leaders in 1950s-60s would have welcomed popular vote on their rights (racist dumb-fuck)
David Brooks on Charles Murray - Our Mr. Brooks Finds Another Very Important Thinker - Esquire

House prices continue to fall despite broader signs economic improvement | Business | guardian.co.uk Average prices drop to 2003 levels in 19 out of 20 US cities, with only Phoenix bucking the trend, new survey shows
Foreclosure Crisis Erases Hard-Won Wealth, Dreams Even In Center Of Black Affluence
CHART: Keystone XL Pipeline Supporters Back Senate GOP | ThinkProgress

GOP’s Pro-Python Policy Devastates Florida’s Everglades | ThinkProgress (Republicans are big snakes and love devastating everything)
Pythons Are Wiping Out Mammals in the Everglades - National - The Atlantic Wire

Renegade — Henry Miller and the Making of ‘Tropic of Cancer.’ — By Frederick Turner — Book Review - NYTimes.com The question is: Why do men revel in the degradation of women?
Echidne of the snakes - E.J. Dionne at the Washington Post ended up in a pretzel shape trying to explain why Obama wasn't sufficiently fawning towards the US Catholic bishops* in the contraception wars:
Eschaton: Washington's Pastor In the WaPo (find it yourself), Pastor Gerson, most noted for his efforts in service of making sure we killed a lot of people in Iraq, is very upset that the Obama administration thinks women should have proper health care.
Janet Howell, Virginia State Senator, Attaches Rectal Exam Amendment To Anti-Abortion Bill that would require men to have a rectal exam and a cardiac stress test before obtaining a prescription for erectile dysfunction medication. "We need some gender equity here ..."

Pot legalization efforts forge ahead in key states - Yahoo! News gaining momentum in Washington state and Colorado, despite fierce opposition from the federal government (Obama is a fierce drugz-warrior)
GOP Seeks Big Changes In Federal Prison Sentences : NPR They're calling for an overhaul of the sentencing system, with tough new mandatory prison terms
Working Poor: Almost Half Of U.S. Households Live One Crisis From The Bread Line (which is why Republicans don't want them to vote)

Saving Freshman Ryan - NYTimes.com In handing down its ruling, the N.C.A.A. issued a press release so malicious in its intent that I could not let it pass (the overlords of college basketball are horrible people, especially Stacey Osburn, the author of the N.C.A.A. press release)
Hullabaloo - Citizen Training - What this means is that if a park ranger stops you for walking your dogs off leash, you are not to ask any questions or fail to carry the proper ID or you risk being shot through with 50,000 volts. This is now the way things work. Apparently, before the taser, this park ranger would have had to shoot this person in the back with a revolver.

Tallafornia Swipe: Episode Two - YouTube

Anonymous And The War Over The Internet (Part II)

013012
Syria: Army retakes Damascus suburbs - Monday 30 January | World news | guardian.co.uk At least 37 killed' as violence continues • Russia tries to set up peace talks in Moscow
Syria unrest: Clinton and Hague back Arab League plan at UN | World news | guardian.co.uk Resolution calling for Bashar al-Assad to step down wins support of 10 security council members necessary to force a vote
The Hindu : News / National : India won’t scale down petroleum imports from Iran: Pranab
Doll 'protesters' present small problem for Russian police | World news | guardian.co.uk Police in Siberian city ask prosecutors to investigate legality of protest involving display of toy figures holding miniature placards

Julian Assange's extradition battle enters final round | Media | The Guardian WikiLeaks founder to face seven supreme court judges in appeal against extradition to Sweden over sexual assault allegations

Germany to set the terms for saving the euro | Business | The Guardian Angela Merkel returned to Berlin with the new treaty in the bag, but also appeared more isolated with her hard line on Greece

Occupy DC protesters in standoff with police as eviction deadline passes | World news | guardian.co.uk Demonstrators in Washington refuse to comply after National Park Service orders the camp to be cleared on hygiene grounds

The Obama Memos: How Washington Remade the President : The New Yorker The making of a post-post-partisan Presidency (hopelessly naive Obama has only really believed in himself, no matter how wrong that has turned out to be)
Hullabaloo - Post partisan depression (Digby's take on Lizza)
Political Animal - It’s “Death of Bipartisanship” Monday! But it is nice to see that the illusion of easy bipartisanship is now largely limited to Americans Elect supporters who somehow think partisans are preventing the American people from embracing by acclamation an agenda of wildly unpopular “entitlement reforms” and tax increases. (the Village gives up on delusional bi-partisanship, which is progress, but like Obama, too little, too late)

Gingrich and Romney Want to Say Adios to Bilingual Ballots | Mother Jones The GOP front-runners endorse a plan that could disenfranchise millions of voters—including their own.
Wash. Post 's Parker Wildly Distorts Charitable Giving Of Obama, Romney | Media Matters for America Kathleen Parker claimed that Mitt Romney has "give[n] away "42 percent of his income, compared to Obama, who gave away 1 percent to charity." (lying liars + bonus Jennifer Rubin)
West Point Announces That Islamophobic General Has Withdrawn From Prayer Breakfast | ThinkProgress LTG (Ret) William Boykin has decided to withdraw speaking at West Point’s National Prayer Breakfast on 8 February 2012 (Islamophobic Prayer Breakfast)
Balloon Juice » Simp Phony For The Devil - How long will Juan Williams now last at FOX? - Williams knows damn well what he’s doing now, just like he damn well knew what he was doing in South Carolina, people. Weep not for Juan. Like I said, zero sympathy for this phony simp’s symphony.

Florida's housing crisis: 'There's not a politician out there willing to help' | World news | guardian.co.uk Years after the housing bubble burst, residents in the Sunshine State continue to face the heartbreak of home foreclosure (so they vote more Republican, of course)
Millennials entering the workforce need affordable housing - Greater Greater Washington

The Austerity Debacle. - NYTimes.com Half a century ago, any economist — or for that matter any undergraduate who had read Paul Samuelson’s textbook “Economics” — could have told you that austerity in the face of depression was a very bad idea. But policy makers, pundits and, I’m sorry to say, many economists decided, largely for political reasons, to forget what they used to know. And millions of workers are paying the price for their willful amnesia.
Daily Kos: Nonexistent out-of-control government spending dragging down the economy and hurting Obama (austerity in a recession always works! recovery summer! deficit pivot! oh shit we're screwed!)

Auction 2012: How The Bank Lobby Owns Washington - The finance, insurance and real estate (FIRE) sector combined to spend $6.8 billion on federal lobbying and campaign contributions from 1998 through 2011, according to the Center for Responsive Politics' examination of public records. That's $1 billion more than any other sector spent on Washington (Obama was a lot cheaper)
Much of missing MF Global money might never be found, officials think - Finance - Crain's Chicago Business What's been learned so far suggests that a good deal of the money may have “vaporized” (into thin air)
Freddie Mac Betting Against Struggling Homeowners : NPR
Freddie Mac Bets Against American Homeowners - ProPublica
In Slump, Localities Resort to Excise Taxes | Progressive Policy Institute The large growth in excise taxes relative to the drop in retail sales shows that during a time when incomes were down, local government turned to these narrow, selective taxes imposed on consumers to make up the balance. For example, two tourist meccas, Las Vegas and New York City, raised hotel room taxes in 2009.

Politics is a Matter of Life and Death (Times 23,000) — The Monkey Cage Republican administrations are “risk factors for lethal violence,” and that the only reason they have not produced “disastrously high epidemic levels” of suicides and homicides is that Democrats have repeatedly undone their damage.
Food crops damaged by pollution crossing continents Man-made air pollution from North America causes Europe to lose 1.2 million tonnes of wheat a year, a new study has found.

Nita Chaudhary: Birth Control Matters (E.J. Dionne, Catholic wanker, doesn't like birth control, says Obama shouldn't let women have it)
RealClearPolitics - The Politics of Campus Sexual Assault

Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond? - Magazine - The Atlantic An unruly market may undo the work of a giant cartel and of an inspired, decades-long ad campaign (engagement rings invented by diamond industry in '30's just like Mother's Day was invented by Hallmark)
reagan.jpg (Reagan on religion)

O Brother Where Art Though - The Soggy Bottom Boys - I Am A Man of Constant Sorrow - YouTube
Deliverance 1972 {Classic Banjo Scene} - YouTube

Thailand backs Twitter censorship policy | World news | guardian.co.uk Thai government becomes first to publicly endorse Twitter's decision to permit country-specific censorship of content
MegaUpload User Data Soon to be Destroyed | TorrentFreak MegaUpload has received a letter from the US Attorney informing the company that data uploaded by its users may be destroyed before the end of the week (Obama's in your servers, erasing your data with no due process)
hUVIP.jpg (Obama's justice system)

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Syrian troops battle to retake Damascus suburbs | World news | The Guardian Reports claim five civilians and six soldiers killed as up to 2,000 troops and tanks move into capital's outskirts
Maya Khan, Controversial Pakistani TV Host, Fired In a rare victory for Pakistani liberals, a private TV station decided to fire a popular morning show host after she sparked outrage by running around a public park trying to expose young, unmarried couples hanging out, a taboo in this conservative Muslim country.
Israel Drone Crashes During Flight The Israeli military says a drone that can fly as far as Iran has crashed in central Israel on a routine experimental flight (drone bombers)
Dutch Burqa Ban Legislation Planned
Ali Abdullah Saleh, President Of Yemen, In U.S. For Treatment: Official
Taliban Have Begun Talks With U.S., Former Taliban Aides Say - NYTimes.com
Guatemala Dictator Efrain Rios Montt Faces Genocide Allegations, Lawyer Disputes Charges (could it happen here?)
Canada Honor Killing Trial Verdict: Shafia Family Found Guilty

Peter S. Goodman: At World Economic Forum, Fear of Global Contagion Dominates "I've never been as scared as now about the world, what is happening in Europe," he said.
Deadlock in Davos as pressure on Greece rises - Europe - World - The Independent Germany wants EU to seize control of Greek financial decisions as condition of €130bn rescue package – but Continent’s leaders struggle to agree on bailout plan (banksters buy a whole country for $170Bn)
Eschaton: Better Than Tanks I Suppose The right response is, "fuck off, bail out your own goddamn banks."
Private Investors Near Deal on Greek Debt - NYTimes.com A disorderly and potentially devastating Greek debt default is looking much less likely.
BBC News - Duncan Smith: RBS bonus veto would have caused chaos Cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith has said there would have been "chaos" if the government had overruled RBS over a £963,000 share bonus for its boss (chaos in his little crooked head)

Eschaton: Memories: SOTU 2010 - I know that some in my own party will argue that we cannot address the deficit or freeze government spending when so many are still hurting. I agree, which is why this freeze will not take effect until next year, when the economy is stronger (FAIL)

City of Oakland’s Increasing Hostility Toward the Occupy Movement | The Dissenter
Police use teargas on Occupy Oakland protesters | World news | guardian.co.uk About 300 arrested in Oakland as police use teargas after protesters pelted them with bottles, rocks and burning flares

Mitt Romney Holds Big Leads In New Florida Polls

Destructive Austerity, USA - NYTimes.com Jared Bernstein has been emphasizing, rightly, the extent to which our weak recovery is being undermined by cutbacks at the state and local level

Eschaton: Funny And Stupid Tom Brokaw is concerned that if people see him in his role as a journalist it will compromise his role as a journalist (erases history)
New York Times Struggles With Leadership After Janet Robinson's Departure (not that they weren't "struggling" before)
Daily Mail's Website Traffic Surpasses New York Times (and they don't make you pay, either)
Et tu, Harvard? - NYTimes.com - So long as schools continue to cower in the face of N.C.A.A. abuses, those abuses will continue. The Temi Fagbenle case was a perfect opportunity for Harvard to stand up for what’s right. Maybe next time.
UPDATED: Bill Keller's Latest 'Mini-Culpa' On Backing the Iraq War | The Nation (September 8, 2011 Nation: for the files on the Times non-accountability)

What is the Worst Thing Published in a Major National Newspaper Today? : Lawyers, Guns & Money (if you said Caitlin Flanagan and Kathleen Parker, you're right)
Mega-man: The fast, fabulous, fraudulent life of Megaupload's Kim Dotcom

Apple hit by boycott call over worker abuses in China | Technology | The Observer US writers attack conditions at Foxconn plant and call for consumers to act (busy creating jobs ... in China)

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Arab League suspends Syria monitoring mission | World news | guardian.co.uk Around 100 observers will remain in country but will not undertake new missions, statement says
Protests sweep through Senegal after Wade poll ruling | World news | guardian.co.uk Violence breaks out in Senegal following a ruling that President Abdoulaye Wade can run for a third term in office
Settlers who went too far - even for Netanyahu - Middle East - World - The Independent Donald Macintyre ventures to the village which has provoked a legal crisis in Israel (reaping what they sowed +fuck internation law)

Austerity Memories - NYTimes.com A further thought on the observation that Britain’s slump has now gone on longer than the slump in the 1930s: it’s worth remembering the rapturous reception the Cameron austerity program received here, not just from the right, but from centrists ... Heh heh, silly economists. Broder went on to urge Obama, after his salutary midterm defeat, to “do a Cameron” and agree to sharp cuts in the welfare state. It’s kind of remarkable how none of the Very Serious People even considered the possibility that people like me might be, well, right (and they are never held accountable)
Slash and Tax get their groove on - yes, the boys are back in town - The Irish Times - Fri, Jan 20, 2012 It was quarterly return time again yesterday and as poor Mother Ireland presented herself for another pat on the head from the visiting international overlords, we felt a song coming on.

Sun journalists and police officer arrested in corruption investigation | Media | guardian.co.uk Met police search News International's headquarters in Wapping as four current and former Sun employees are arrested (giving them at least a year to erase everything)
Rupert Murdoch's Staff Arrested As Tabloid Scandal Spreads To Second Newspaper

Leon Panetta and the Pakistani Doctor: Yet More Double Standards on Classified Information | emptywheel

Michael-In-Norfolk - Study: Low IQ Correlates With Prejudice and Bigotry There's no gentle way to put it: People who give in to racism and prejudice may simply be dumb, according to a new study that is bound to stir public controversy ... those with low intelligence gravitate towards conservatism and are prone to embrace prejudice of things they don't understand or that are different. (see Charles Murray and the whole Republican party)
Daily Kos: PolitiFact devolves into absurdity (they just can't help themselves)

Polarization in Obama's Approval at Historic Highs the historically high gap between partisans' job approval ratings of President Obama continued during his third year in office, with an average of 80% of Democrats and 12% of Republicans approving of the job he was doing. (same as Junior, but in reverse)
Poll Shows Dead Heat in Florida Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich tied at 35% each, with Rick Santorum at 9% and Ron Paul at 7%.
Mitt Romney's new ad attacks Newt Gingrich over old ethics violation | World news | guardian.co.uk GOP hopeful's video, part of one of the most expensive campaigns ever, simply shows a 1997 NBC news report
Newt Gingrich 2012: Republican Insiders Rise Up To Cut Candidate Down To Size
NBC Demands Mitt Romney Take Down Ad That Uses Tom Brokaw Footage (video) The ad, called "History Lesson," consists entirely of the opening of the January 21, 1997 edition of "NBC Nightly News."
Romney Converted His Father-in-Law After He Died "Two readers have sent us confirmation that Edward Davies, Mitt Romney's militantly atheist father-in-law, was indeed posthumously converted to Mormonism by his family, despite the fact that when he was alive he regarded all religions as 'hogwash.'"
GOP Debate Chipmunks - YouTube (don't miss)

Despite Stated ICE Policy, Vast Majority Of Immigrants In Detention Were Not Criminals | Crooks and Liars Is President Obama still chasing those mythical independent votes by acting like a hard-liner on immigration? Does he really not get how badly this undermines his support in the Latino community? (Obama has always played politics with people's lives)
No Conviction, No Freedom: Immigration Authorities Locked 13,000 In Limbo (no fucking rights, either)

In the Top 1%, but of Taxpayers, Not Income — Common Sense - NYTimes.com

Texas Dems, minority groups near huge win with redistricting settlement - The Hill's Ballot Box (Texas Rethugs get bitch-slapped by DoJ)
House Transportation Bill “a March of Horribles” | Streetsblog Capitol Hill
Welfare Drug Testing Bill Withdrawn After Amended To Include Testing Lawmakers A Republican member of the Indiana General Assembly withdrew his bill to create a pilot program for drug testing welfare applicants Friday after one of his Democratic colleagues amended the measure to require drug testing for lawmakers (too many Indiana lawmakers on drugs)
North Carolina GOP Lawmaker Calls For Bringing Back Public Hangings, Starting With Abortion Providers | ThinkProgress If Rep. Larry Pittman had his way, “abortionists, rapists, and kidnappers” would be first in line for the gallows ... Republicans in South Carolina, Nebraska, and Iowa pushed legislation that would essentially legalize the murder of abortion providers. Such radical sentiments have been echoed by prominent conservatives like Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), who said during his 2004 campaign, “I favor the death penalty for abortionists.”

Archbishop warns against gay marriage - This Britain - UK - The Independent "We've seen dictators do it in different contexts and I don't want to redefine very clear social structures that have been in existence for a long time and then overnight the state believes it could go in a particular way (yeah, authoritarian dictatorships always do that)
The Anger Over ‘Tranny,’ From Neil Patrick Harris to RuPaul to Dan Savage - The Daily Beast
'Reckless' Leaks Threaten Rape Probe Of New York Police Commissioner's Son

First quantum jiggles detected in solid object - physics-math - 28 January 2012 - New Scientist

The Moral Battle Between Pirates and Copyright Lobbyists | TorrentFreak
Copyright Industry Calls For Broad Search Engine Censorship | TorrentFreak At a behind-closed-doors meeting facilitated by the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport, copyright holders have handed out a list of demands to Google, Bing and Yahoo (the internets are just a subsidiary of big content/Hollywood)
Twitter users threaten boycott over censorship accusation | Technology | guardian.co.uk Tweets don't always flow freely – voice of Arab spring accused of imposing gagging system in some countries

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Syria Activists: 'Terrifying Massacre' In Homs - Armed forces loyal to President Bashar Assad barraged residential buildings with mortars and machine-gun fire, killing at least 30 people, including a family of women and children
UN security council to discuss Arab-backed Syria plan | World news | The Guardian Draft resolution calls for Assad to surrender power as Saudis move to recognise opposition Syrian National Council
Dancing in the Streets, and Ending Women's Segregation in Israel | Religion Dispatches (a model democracy)
Iraq Violence: Suicide Car Bomber Kills 28 In Baghdad (you can see where this is going)
Interracial ad sparks controversy in South Africa - BlogPost - The Washington Post
Iran to restart IAEA nuclear talks | World news | The Guardian UN nuclear inspectors are due to begin three days of meetings in Tehran on Sunday - the first such talks for over three years
High court judges attempt to speed up Gary McKinnon case | World news | The Guardian Judges list computer hacker's extradition case for July hearing amid concern over time it is taking to return to court (Obama wants him in solitary confinement for 60 years)
Gulf of Mexico oil spill: BP loses bid to make others pay compensation | Environment | guardian.co.uk Judge rules contractors Transocean and Halliburton are not liable for compensation but they still face fines and lawsuits
Persepolis trial in Tunisia is postponed again | Film | guardian.co.uk Trial of Tunisian TV station accused of 'insulting sacred values' of Islam for screening Marjane Satrapi's animated film is adjourned until April following further altercations
Putin Ratchets Up Anti-U.S Rhetoric as Kremlin Race Grows - Bloomberg The U.S. “wants to control everything” and takes decisions unilaterally on key questions, Putin said on a campaign stop yesterday in the Siberian city of Tomsk, 3,100 kilometers (1,900 miles) east of Moscow. “Sometimes I get the impression the U.S. doesn’t need allies, it needs vassals.”

Unemployment in Spain Rises to 22.9% - Bloomberg increasing pressure on Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to deliver on his election pledge to create jobs in a shrinking economy (yes! create jobs with more austerity, which worked really well already)
The UK economy needs a shower of money in the high street | Simon Jenkins | Comment is free | The Guardian Printing money might not be dignified, but it does work – just keep the banks and the credit rating agencies out of it - The only possible objection to more direct action is snobbery. The government seems in awe of bankers and will do anything to appease them. If it really wants to revive demand by printing money, it must choose between a bank and a helicopter. Choose the helicopter.
Bailed-out RBS spends millions on Washington lobbyists | Business | The Guardian Bailed-out bank has spent over £2.5m of British taxpayers' money to influence politicians reforming US financial law

ACTA - the latest threat to internet freedom, just signed by the EU - Pirate Party UK

There's a big gap between American attitudes toward "income inequality" and "unfairness." Americans don't want the government to "redistribute income," they want it to stop favoring the wealthy and powerful and to make them pay their fair share. | Democratic Strategist There's a big gap between American attitudes toward "income inequality" and "unfairness." Americans don't want the government to "redistribute income," they want it to stop favoring the wealthy and powerful and to make them pay their fair share.

Military Budget Cuts: Pentagon Unveils 2013 Plan
Jan Brewer vs. Barack Obama: President Says Exchange Was 'Not A Big Deal' (that's not what wingnut Hotair said)
Oooops. Brewer Story Not Holding Up Well | Talking Points Memo
Hillary Clinton says she is 'ready for a rest' after 20 years in politics | World news | The Guardian US secretary of state claims she does not intend to stay in government if Barack Obama wins second term

Booman Tribune ~ A Progressive Community how the Supreme Court's ruling has created a nightmare for the Republican Establishment.
The Third Jihad, Adelson, and Gingrich | Religion Dispatches
Ed Kilgore: Why Newt Supporters Think He's Electable | The New Republic (he wasn't)
Mitt Romney's Struggle With Truth Continues (the truth will lose, of course)
Kindly Old Ron Paul : Lawyers, Guns & Money But people close to Paul’s operations said he was deeply involved in the company that produced the newsletters, Ron Paul & Associates, and closely monitored its operations, signing off on articles and speaking to staff members virtually every day (lies and the lying liars)
No One Left to Lie To - Ta-Nehisi Coates - Politics - The Atlantic (Ron "I'm a racist liar" Paul)
CNN's Wolf Blitzer Bungles Foreclosure Question, Allows GOP Candidates To Escape Without Offering Housing Plans | ThinkProgress (this is elite journalism)

US economy picked up pace in final quarter of 2011 with 2.8% growth | Business | guardian.co.uk Growth between October and December was fastest of year, but US economy expanded by a modest 1.7% overall in 2011
Eschaton: Nobody Has Any Money younger people are getting screwed. The game has changed for them. They're facing crap job prospects, crap income, no possibility for defined benefits pensions, and perpetual threats to completely gut retirement systems.
Summers: “Inside Job had essentially all its facts wrong” | Felix Salmon (sure, Larry. what a lying asshole)
By Any Other Measure Relying on GDP to calculate economic progress ignores social and environmental realities (isn't that the point?)

Grape seed extract kills head and neck cancer cells, leaves healthy cells unharmed Nearly 12,000 people will die of head and neck cancer in the United States this year and worldwide cases will exceed half a million.
How White Are You? : Lawyers, Guns & Money It’s hard not to be bouncing off the ceiling for the chance to make fun of Charles Murray’s new book, Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010. I really need a comedy fix right now and this could be the funniest book of the year. The only problem with Murray is that he’s really hard to parody since he’s routinely kicking parody’s decaying corpse (Bell Curve racist defending the priviledges of white people: they eat at Applebees!)
alicublog - Class Consciousness - Charles Murray, best known for his book Niggers are Stupid (sorry, The Bell Curve), has a new one out
I’m Looking At The Boy In The Bubble | TBogg Roy has an interesting post up about how Charles “Coloreds Is Dumb” Murray has moved on from explaining why white people are superior to the dusky races ...

Twitter faces censorship backlash | Technology | guardian.co.uk Users of social network critical of new system that can censor tweets on a country-by-country basis

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Iraq: Militants Bomb Home Of Iraqi Policeman, Killing 10 An Iraqi policeman and nine relatives were killed as they slept when militants bombed their home south of Baghdad on Thursday, police sources said, in the latest attack on local officials and security forces.
The human rights “success” in Libya - Salon.com
Syria, Egypt, Libya and Middle East unrest - live updates | World news | guardian.co.uk UN unable to update estimated death toll in Syria • UN and NGOs slam Libya over 'torture' of detainees • Egypt imposes 'travel ban' on American NGO workers

Davos: David Cameron urges eurozone to take 'bold and decisive action' | Business | The Guardian (more austerity!)
What Wolf and You Can Learn from the Irish Press for the GOP Debate | MyFDL
ACTA Copyright Treaty Sparks Protests In Latest Anti-Piracy Battle

Grading Obama's Foreign Policy | Foreign Policy Nine experts rate the president’s performance so far.
The Fourth Amendment and the Surveillance State : Lawyers, Guns & Money I have some follow-up thoughts to the GPS surveillance decision handed down by the Supreme Court earlier this week. The first major takeaway from the case is that Sonia Sotomayor was one of the best decisions Obama has made so far (seems to be the only Justice who gets it)

Rachel Maddow Explodes: 'PolitiFact, You're Fired!' - You are a mess! You are fired! You are undermining the definition of the word fact in the English language by pretending to it in your name. The English language wants its word back. You are an embarrassment. You sully the reputation of anyone who cites you as an authority on fact-ishness, let alone fact. You are fired." (video)
Politifact Backtracks After Fact Check Wreck
When Facts Aren't Facts - NYTimes.com The criterion, according to Politifact, seems to be that a fact isn’t a fact if it helps a Democratic narrative.

Veterans Call On West Point To Cancel Planned Speech By Islamophobic General | ThinkProgress ret. Lt. Gen. William “Jerry” Boykin, an individual who has a long record of issuing hate-filled rhetoric about Muslims. (crazy Jihad Jerry is the only Christian they could find?)
The War On A Woman's Right To Choose, 2012 Edition | ThinkProgress
Bev Perdue Retiring: North Carolina Governor Reportedly Won't Seek Reelection
Joe Conason: Mitch Daniels: Bombast From the Past - Truthdig “Mitch Daniels ... Isn’t he the former Bush budget director who said the Iraq War would cost $50 billion when it ended up costing $3 trillion? The bureaucrat who promoted the Bush tax cuts when we were fighting two wars? The one whose budget projections were so fraudulent that he predicted federal surpluses in 2004 and 2005? Why the hell should we listen to him criticize Obama?”
How Citizens United Created Newt -- Daily Intel Sheldon Adelson, Newt's sugar daddy (another face of Satan, just look)
The Mitch Is Back | Blogs | Vanity Fair Last year Mitch Daniels signed a bill blocking Federal funds from going to Planned Parenthood in Indiana. And his is what passes for a credible voice on cultural détente in the Republican party.
Senate panel OKs creationism teaching bill | 2012-01-26 | Indianapolis Business Journal | IBJ.com An Indiana Senate panel has approved a bill that would allow creationism to be taught in Indiana's public schools. (keep it up, Indiana, you'll be just like Kentucky and how's that 9% unemployment working out for you?)
Jan Brewer And Barack Obama Nearly Come To Blows Over Book Excerpt Brewer eventually released the erotic thriller late last year to well-deserved indifference. Now Obama is getting into it with Brewer in front of God and everybody, because she used her stupid book to kiss and tell about a top-secret Oval Office meeting the two once had. JESUS! Will they or won’t they, already!!
Romney tax returns detail funds not identified in ethics forms - latimes.com
Balloon Juice » Angry White Lady Chronicles What really happened was that Brewer asked Obama for a meeting and Obama pointed out that after the last meeting in the Oval Office, Brewer lied about it in her book. Is there any state that’s had its reputation more tarnished by asinine teabagging than Arizona, and is there a governor in the nation who’s done more, single-handedly, to hurt the reputation of their state than Jan Brewer? (Haley Barbour? Mitch Daniels? Lex Luthor? Scott Walker?)
Christie On Gay Marriage: Southern Blacks Would Have Been Psyched To Have Vote On Their Rights | TPMMuckraker Christie for comparing a ballot referendum on gay marriage to the civil rights movement thusly: “The fact of the matter is, I think people would have been happy to have a referendum on civil rights rather than fighting and dying in the streets in the South.” (let those white guys vote on your slavery)
GOP Rep. Slams Obama's Contraception Rule, Claims Birth Control Is 'Unrelated To Basic Needs Of Health Care' | ThinkProgress (they are always snooping around your vagina)

Rise in number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits | Business | guardian.co.uk The number of people seeking aid has increased, but the long-term trend is pointing to a healthier job market
Kamala D. Harris calls mortgage settlement "inadequate" - latimes.com (Obama sweeps it all under the rug, no consequences, slap on the wrist)
Bernanke Moves Fed Toward More Openness - Bloomberg by setting a numeric goal for inflation, advancing his legacy of greater transparency at the world’s most influential central bank (how about a numeric unemployment goal, hey?)
Servicer Horror Stories: Resurrecting Zombie Mortgages | FDL News Desk The reason I continue to believe the issue of foreclosure fraud and servicer abuse remains and shouldn’t be settled away is that it has such an impact on people’s lives (Obama wants all this under the rug)
Quelle Surprise! Bank of America Accused of Blocking Arizona AG Investigation « naked capitalism
Apple’s iPad and the Human Costs for Workers in China - NYTimes.com “Apple never cared about anything other than increasing product quality and decreasing production cost,”
MF Global: Uncertain futures - FT.com People such as Mr Kasouf increasingly feel they will never get their money back. As Christmas app­roached, with a wife and two children to support, he considered selling his house or declaring bankruptcy. Ultimately, the 72 per cent of his funds MF Global’s bankruptcy trustee has since returned prevented this, but his view of the markets has been shaken. “This has practically destroyed my trust in the whole system,” he says. (practically?)

NASA - Blue Marble
Protein in brain could be a key target in controlling Alzheimer’s 12/15-Lipoxygenase
Superbugs spied off the Antarctic coast - life - 26 January 2012 - New Scientist BACTERIA that can resist nearly all antibiotics have been found in Antarctic seawater (from human shit)

Greg Kelly, Son Of NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, Accused Of Rape (where is the truth?)
Matthew Hermann, Other White Teens, Used Noose On Black Classmate: Report (video) because he had become friends with a white girl one of the alleged attackers is related to.

Conservative Parents Demand School Teach About Ex-Gay Therapy ("gay-related-immune deficiency") (parents Brian Lindquist and Mike Skaalerud famous on the internets for all eternity for being bigoted assholes)
The Infamous C-Word
Demi’s Drug: What Is Nitrous Oxide? | Healthland | TIME.com A former nitrous addict and expert on addiction explains why laughing gas is no joke.

Eschaton: Is That Really What It's For So religion lets you feel good about not practicing what your religion preaches? Ok.

Twitter To Censor Tweets In Some Countries
MegaUpload Users Plan to Sue the FBI over Lost Files | TorrentFreak
One Per Cent: FBI releases plans to monitor social networks

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US marine spared jail over deaths of unarmed Iraqis | World news | guardian.co.uk Frank Wuterich, convicted over 2005 massacre of 24 civilians in Haditha, will not serve time in jail (will be "detained" 3 days per dead innocent civilian murdered - our society of unresponsibility, see Obama)
U.S. military forces free two hostages in Somalia – usatoday.com - President Obama authorized the mission by SEAL Team 6, the same unit that was behind the operation in Pakistan last May that killed Osama bin Laden.
Raid In Somalia: U.S. Military Frees Hostages Held Since October
Bedouin tribesmen storm Egyptian tourist resort | World news | The Guardian Gunmen take control of complex on Red Sea coast and demand £425,000 ransom in exchange for leaving site peacefully (fringes getting edgy)
Iran sanctions need to be tougher, Israeli defence minister warns | World news | The Guardian Ehud Barak says the EU oil embargo alone is unlikely to persuade Tehran to abandon its nuclear plans (Israel = eternal war)

U.K.'s GDP slips 0.2% in fourth quarter - MarketWatch (Cameron blames Labour, not his own austerity)
As euro crisis fears ease, focus turns to growth | Reuters There is a palpable sense of hope at the annual Davos World Economic Forum that the euro zone is edging away from the brink of catastrophe but business leaders say Europe's woes are still holding back a global recovery (and what, exactly, has changed?) "At the end of the day, it comes down to growth -- that's what these countries need to keep their debt sustainable." (which was why we needed austerity)
Angela Merkel casts doubt on saving Greece from financial meltdown | World news | The Guardian German chancellor speaks candidly to the Guardian and five other leading European newspapers as part of a unique collaboration to explore the EU's predicament (wait, that's not what you just said)

Press Freedom Index: Occupy Wall Street Journalist Arrests Cost U.S. Dearly In Latest Survey - The treatment of journalists by police was well documented throughout 2011. Reporters were beaten, arrested and prevented from covering police action against Occupy protesters. Tensions heightened so much that the New York Police Department had to meet with journalists and remind its officers not to mistreat them.
Press Freedom Index 2011-2012 - Reporters Without Borders (America! We're number 47!)

Fidel Castro attacks 'idiocy and ignorance' of US Republican race | World news | The Guardian Retired Cuban leader says Republican primaries are 'the greatest competition of idiocy and ignorance that has ever been' (the truth that can only be spoken by Fidel)
RealClearPolitics - Politics - Jan 25, 2012 - Castro lambasts US Republican primary as idiotic

Obama's State Of The Union Address: Everybody Must Play By The Same Rules
Obama hits the road amid Republican attacks on state of the union speech | World news | guardian.co.uk President kicks off tour of swing states as Gingrich and Romney accuse him of 'class warfare' in asking rich to pay more
Republican Response: Mitch Daniels Delivers Speech After State Of The Union (video) accusing the president of pushing an extreme agenda that was "pro-poverty." (Indiana: 9% unemployment: 10th highest in country)
Word Most Conspicuously Absent In SOU | The New Republic Union." Not as in "federal government," but as in "organization dedicated to protecting the rights of workers."
Labor Responses to the State of the Union : Lawyers, Guns & Money The general tenor of the labor community is that Obama was typically tepid on labor issues in his State of the Union ... But even though he needs union support desperately in his reelection campaign, all he’s really offering labor is that he’s better than a Republican (Obama's game of minimal expectations)
Tax rates of presidential candidates, in one chart - The Washington Post
Balloon Juice » Consider the Audience A Smart Politics study of the 70 orally delivered State of the Union Addresses since 1934 finds the text of Obama’s 2012 speech to have tallied the third lowest score on the Flesch-Kincaid readability test, at an 8.4 grade level (probably over-estimating his audience)
Balloon Juice » They Still Don’t Know What a Fact Is The weasels at Politifact have backed down somewhat from last night’s epic failure (they wouldn't know the truth if it hit them between the eyes, which it did)

Mark Kelly Won't Run For Gabrielle Giffords' Congress Seat: Report Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), a close friend of Giffords', broke down in tears as she read aloud her resignation letter on the House floor with Giffords at her side.
Mormon Church's Prior Baptism Of Dead Jews Could Raise Concerns For Florida Voters (yeah, you born-agains, you will eventually join the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in heaven)
Balloon Juice » Got to give it up - Bobo: "To me, this whole race (the Republican primary) is now about manhood. Newt won South Carolina because he’s a bigger Alpha and Republicans want bellicosity, not politeness. Mitt looked soft and in the debates seemed unwilling to fight." (bellicosity is the primary Republican value) )
Newt 'Cry Baby' Gingrich: my part in his downfall | Martin Dunn | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk Gingrich's admission that personal spite had motivated the 1995 government shutdown gave us a front page that still haunts him
Ever wondered what happened to Sarah Palin? Well Newt Gingrich has eaten her and absorbed her shtick | Hadley Freeman | Comment is free | The Guardian Just like Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich blames the media for his own failings and insists he's an outsider – despite his frequent references to his time with Ronald Reagan
Republicans vow to protect high school dropouts from Barack Obama | The Ticket - Yahoo! News (you can't make this shit up +"bellowed")

US Federal Reserve to keep interest rates near zero until 2014 | Business | guardian.co.uk Federal Reserve Bank's pessimism indicates the economy may not fully recover from the recession for another two years (yay, free money for bankers!)
The Schneiderman Gambit: Financial Fraud Unit Appears Designed to Fail, and Grease Skids for Foreclosure Fraud Settlement | FDL News Desk (Obama's got their backs)
Tim Geithner Won't Stay On If Obama Wins Second Term: Report
To Shop Smart, Patients Need to Know Price of Care: Peter Orszag - Bloomberg (what a tool)

Envelope for an artificial cell Chemists have taken an important step in making artificial life forms from scratch. Using a novel chemical reaction, they have created self-assembling cell membranes, the structural envelopes that contain and support the reactions required for life.
When I turn down the dimmer switch on my lights, do I actually use less electricity, or is the difference between the bulb's nominal wattage and the actual wattage vented as heat by the dimmer? : askscience

Joseph Maturo, East Haven Mayor Says 'I Might Have Tacos For Dinner' In Response To Police Arrests For Harassing Latinos - The Latino community in East Haven, according to the Census, make up 10.3% of the town's population. Yet out of a police force of 50, only one speaks Spanish, and government officials, along with one community resident, informed PIX 11 that he is not even Latino. (Republican of course, and rehired corrupt chief of police)
NM man who pulled own tooth in jail awarded $22M - Yahoo! News A federal jury has awarded $22 million to a New Mexico man who was kept in solitary confinement for two years and forced to pull his own tooth after being arrested for drunken driving in Dona Ana County (torture by solitary confinement because they can)

012412
Iran oil sanctions spark war of words between Tehran and Washington | World news | guardian.co.uk Iran threatens to close strait of Hormuz after EU escalates sanctions, but US warns force could be used to keep it open
Egyptian junta's lifting of state of emergency fails to convince | World news | The Guardian Military leader says measure long used as tool of repression will only be used to deal with acts of 'thuggery'
Egypt's revolutionaries see little progress a year after revolt | McClatchy
Fatal car bombs hit Baghdad | World news | guardian.co.uk Eleven people killed in two attacks as violence continues in Iraq amid political crisis after US military withdrawal (total waste of a million lives)
chart - The Cost Of War: Iraq Versus Libya | ThinkProgress
Turkey warns France over Armenian genocide law | World news | The Guardian French senators have approved the bill, risking more sanctions from Ankara and complicating relations with Turkey

Western justice and transparency - Salon.com On Saturday in Somalia, the U.S. fired missiles from a drone and killed the 27-year-old Lebanon-born, ex-British citizen Bilal el-Berjawi. His wife had given birth 24 hours earlier and the speculation is that the U.S. located him when his wife called to give him the news.

IMF slashes global growth forecasts | Business | guardian.co.uk Eurozone GDP expected to fall 0.5% during 2012 • UK set to grow 0.6% – sharp fall from earlier 1.6% estimate (more austerity!)

Costa Concordia captain not solely to blame, says prosecutor | World news | The Guardian Investigators urged to consider role of ship's owners in incident as salvage experts begin pumping out fuel from wreck

Ex-C.I.A. Officer John Kiriakou Accused in Leak - NYTimes.com - The prosecution of Mr. Kiriakou is the sixth criminal case brought under President Obama against current or former government officials accused of providing classified information to the media, more such cases than all previous presidents combined. (Obama loves torture, hates whistleblowers)
Rules of American justice: a tale of three cases - Salon.com What’s most notable here is that this is now the sixth prosecution by the Obama administration of an accused leaker, and all six have been charged under the draconian, World-War-I era Espionage Act. As EFF’s Trevor Timm put it yesterday: this is the “6th time under Obama someone is charged with Espionage for leaking to a journalist. Before Obama: only 3 cases in history.” (Obama has no moral center or even a periphery)

In Police Training, a Dark Film on U.S. Muslims - NYTimes.com A year later, police documents obtained under the state’s Freedom of Information Law reveal a different reality: “The Third Jihad,” which includes an interview with Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, was shown, according to internal police reports, “on a continuous loop” for between three months and one year of training (NYC top cops lied and lied with no consequences)

Newt Gingrich: Brian Williams 'Wrong' To Silence GOP Debate Crowd (video)
Mitt Romney Tax Returns Released: Paid Just 13.9% Rate In 2010, Had Swiss Bank Account (just an ordinary, unemployed American)
"Self Deportation": It's a Real Thing, and It Isn't Pretty | Mother Jones Mitt Romney unveiled a novel solution for illegal immigration during Tuesday night's GOP debate, saying that he'd rely on "self-deportation" to reduce the number of unauthorized immigrants in the US.
Hullabaloo Patriotic Self-deportation ... The problem is "who wants to take all our patriots?"
Rick Santorum Suggests That When Life Gives You Rape, You Should Make Rapeanade | TBogg
Philosoraptor - if a child conceived by rape is a blessing from god does tha

US mortgage lenders 'close to $19bn foreclosure settlement' | Business | The Guardian US president Barack Obama could announce a deal – the largest multi-state agreement since the 1998 tobacco settlement – in Tuesday's state of the union address (Obama sweeps it all under the rug: $19Bn on $2Tr loss, not bad)

Media Matters Goes Light Bulb Shopping | Media Matters for America Led by Fox News, right-wing media outlets have repeatedly told consumers that the standards would "ban" incandescent bulbs and force us all to purchase "mercury-laden, ugly and smelly compact fluorescent light bulbs," to the chagrin of electrical manufacturers. Fox has even gone so far as to encourage consumers to "hoard" the old, inefficient bulbs (Satan lies, surprise)

Tennessee Lawmaker Compares Homosexuality To 'Pedophilia, Prostitution, Murder' | ThinkProgress - state Rep. John Ragan (R) (famous on the internets for all eternity for being a bigoted asshole)

Paula Deen Shocked By Lack Of Public Support Following Diabetes Announcement None of her famous foodie friends have shown her one ounce of support. Yet some believe that other chefs have remained silent because Deen kept quiet about her illness for years.
Paula Deen Publicist, Nancy Assuncao Sanchez, Reportedly Quit Over Novo Nordisk Deal oday, though, the New York Post reported that Assuncao left the company when she learned that her employer planned to endorse Victoza, a diabetes drug manufactured by pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, after hiding her diabetes for three years.

Europe Weighs a Tough Law on Online Privacy and User Data - NYTimes.com Europe is considering a sweeping new law that would force Internet companies like Amazon.com and Facebook to obtain explicit consent from consumers about the use of their personal data, delete that data forever at the consumer’s request and face fines for failing to comply.
Apple Fails To Get Samsung Tablets Banned In Netherlands, Again

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Iran: Flotilla Of Warships Sent Through Strait of Hormuz Heightens Tensions
Iran oil sanctions spark war of words between Tehran and Washington | World news | The Guardian Iran threatens to close strait of Hormuz after EU escalates sanctions, but US warns force could be used to keep it open
Lara Logan: I Have PTSD From Sexual Assault In Egypt
US marine reaches plea deal over deaths of unarmed Iraqis | World news | guardian.co.uk Frank Wuterich, who led the marine squad that killed 24 Iraqis in Haditha in 2005, faces three months' confinement and pay drop (kill 24 innocent civilians, get pay cut)
Gaddafi loyalists take back Bani Walid | World news | The Guardian Reports say at least four people killed in clashes between besieged NTC forces and well-organised pro-Gaddafi fighters

Calculated Risk: Morning Greece: Euro Zone Finance Ministers discuss possible debt deal
Spanish GDP to Contract 1.5 Percent in 2012, Bank of Spain Says - Businessweek (austerity fail, more austerity!)
Eschaton: Keep Bleeding The Patient - really don't know what will end all of this austerity madness. All the Very Serious People agree it's the right thing to do, and nothing will ever convince them that they are/were wrong.
Eschaton: I've Got An Even Bolder Plan - How about more free money for the most corrupt people on the planet? That'll probably work.

Phone hacking: News of the World journalists lied to Milly Dowler police | Media | The Guardian Surrey police report released by MPs reveals reporters interfered with investigation as well as hacking missing girl's phone
News Of The World Journalists Admitted Hacking Milly Dowler's Phone To Police
Leveson inquiry: Lord Patten accuses politicians of 'grovelling' to Murdoch | Media | The Guardian BBC Trust chair and former Tory minister says current MPs are mistaken in believing newspapers determine their fate

Costa Concordia captain 'distracted by guests on bridge' | World news | The Guardian Witness claims captain's concentration was disturbed by conversation with visitor on bridge at moment of impact

High Court - Warrant Needed for GPS Tracking - NYTimes.com (rare decision for your rights - Obama, of course was on the wrong side)
Balloon Juice » A Positive Ruling Props to whoever can come up with the best excuse for the Obama admin coming out on the appallingly wrong side of this.
Supreme Court Court Rejects Willy-Nilly GPS Tracking | Threat Level | Wired.com - The government told the justices during oral arguments that that GPS devices have become a common tool in crime fighting, saying it is employed “thousands” of times annually.

Hullabaloo It's good that Rand Paul is taking on the TSA's security theatre by refusing to comply with a pat down request. Perhaps it will lead to more discussion about why this is a ridiculous approach to anti-terrorism (but messing with lady junk and forcing women to view sonograms is just fine, of course)
Hullabaloo SCHMIDT: Look, I think, not only are we not moving towards a coalescing of support by the Republican establishment for Newt Gingrich, we're probably moving toward the declaration of war on Newt Gingrich by the Republican establishment. And if Newt Gingrich is able to win the Florida primary, you will see a panic and a meltdown of the Republican establishment that is beyond my ability to articulate in the English language.

Washington Post Ombudsman Flip Flops On Anti-Obama Hate Rhetoric | Media Matters for America (Patrick Pexton, Satan's "fact checker")
At Florida Town Hall, Rick Santorum Cowardly Panders To Woman Who Alleges Obama Is ‘An Avowed Muslim’ | ThinkProgress
How South Carolina Results Vindicate Political Power Of Economic Inequality Arguments | ThinkProgress
Romney's National Lead Collapses The latest Gallup daily tracking poll shows Mitt Romney's once formidable national lead over his Republican presidential rivals has completely collapsed. Romney now barely edges Newt Gingrich, 29% to 28%. They are followed by Ron Paul at 13% and Rick Santorum at 11%.
Balloon Juice » Florida, Florida, Florida
Ark. campaign manager's cat slaughtered - politico (sick Republifucks)
Mark Kirk Stroke: Illinois Senator Undergoes Successful Surgery Kirk, 52, checked himself into the local Lake Forest Hospital Saturday after suffering dizziness and headaches, doctors said.
The Story of Juan Williams | Business | Vanity Fair Juan Williams was a sometimes-controversial star at NPR until an inflammatory comment about Muslims sent him further into the arms of Fox News. A look at his career through the eyes of several old and skeptical colleagues.

US mortgage lenders 'close to $19bn foreclosure settlement' | Business | The Guardian US president Barack Obama could announce a deal – the largest multi-state agreement since the 1998 tobacco settlement – in Tuesday's state of the union address (slap on the wrist; pressures states to accept corrupt deal)

Study: Stem cells may aid vision in blind people


Danah Boyd - Cracking Teenagers’ Online Codes - NYTimes.com (Danah Boyd)

Internet mogul Kim Dotcom denies internet piracy in New Zealand court | Technology | The Guardian Megaupload.com founder, who was arrested at request of FBI, is denied bail after prosecutors say he may try to flee country

012212
Pakistan Helps U.S. Drones Campaign: Reuters - The death of a senior al Qaeda leader in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan's tribal badlands, the first strike in almost two months, signaled that the U.S.-Pakistan intelligence partnership is still in operation despite political tensions (Obama's extra-judicial murders)
Covering Obama’s Secret War : CJR When drones strike, key questions go unasked and unanswered
Inside the Killing Machine - The Daily Beast President Obama is ordering a record number of Predator strikes. An exclusive interview with a man who approved ‘lethal operations.’ (here we are, a year later)
In Rush to Transcribe Military’s Concern on Why We Can’t Leave Afghanistan, Did NY Times Fact-check “Classified” Report? | emptywheel (of course not, that's your job; theirs is to print PR releases and "reports")

Saudi Arabia to withdraw Arab League monitors from Syria | World news | The Guardian Decision taken minutes after league decided to persist with observers and extend mission for another month

Costa Concordia captain claims company ordered 'salute' to island | World news | The Guardian Francesco Schettino reportedly challenges Costa over cruise collision as 13th body is found by divers

Hullabaloo Fatuous rich guy quote of the day - A senior official at the Bank of Scotland explaining why they need to pay their CEO an obscene bonus:
RBS tests Cameron resolve on pay-outs - FT.com David Cameron’s pledge to curb executive pay and stop “rewards for failure” is set to face its biggest test, as Royal Bank of Scotland prepares to offer a bonus of more than £1m to its chief executive, even though the state-controlled bank’s share price has almost halved in a year.

The “anti-Semitism” smear campaign against CAP and Media Matters rolls on - Salon.com (AIPAC liars and thugs)
How to Smear a Washington Think Tank - Robert Wright - Politics - The Atlantic Suddenly lots of people are asking whether calling someone an "Israel-firster" is anti-Semitic. The occasion for these reflections is a controversy--the subject of a Washington Post piece yesterday--surrounding the liberal think tank the Center for American Progress (rightwing "dual loyalty" Jews in America at work)

Exhibits in Latif’s SCOTUS Petition Prove Interrogation Summaries Should Not Be Entitled to Presumption of Regularity | emptywheel

Newt Gingrich Wins Big In South Carolina, Resets GOP Primary (SC "values voters" don't care about adultery, only gays and blacks)
Newt Gingrich Favorability | TPM PollTracker (Newtie is a very popular guy nationally)
Gingrich Falsely Claims He Was Completely Exonerated In Ethics Investigtion | ThinkProgress (they don't care about big fat lies, either, truth not part of Christianity)
Clyburn Says Newt Gingrich Is Using Coded Racial Language | ThinkProgress (not so coded, dude)
Poll: Majority Say U.S. Needs New Campaign Finance Laws | ThinkProgress 58 percent of Americans say the U.S needs new campaign finance laws — a change from three years ago when more people said it would be “good” if the Supreme Court struck down existing campaign finance laws.
Political Animal - Romney partially caves on tax returns As Ben Smith put it, “Releasing the 2010 returns is just blood in the water. What about the previous 20 years?” When Barack Obama ran in 2008, he released returns for the previous eight years. When Bill Clinton ran in 1992, he disclosed 12 years
Republican Convention Has '50-50' Chance Of Being Open: Former GOP Chair Michael Steele
Poll: Majority Say U.S. Needs New Campaign Finance Laws | ThinkProgress 58 percent of Americans say the U.S needs new campaign finance laws — a change from three years ago when more people said it would be “good” if the Supreme Court struck down existing campaign finance laws.
Here Come the Super Super PACs

South Carolina's Attorney General detects voter fraud during pri - WTOC, Savannah, Georgia, news, weather and sports | Wilson says an analysis found 953 ballots cast by voters were people who are listed as dead (zombie Republicans)
Roe v. Wade at 39: A ‘breathtaking’ year for abortion restrictions - The Washington Post Charmaine Yoest: The most obvious thing was the 2010 election. While the headlines were all about the changing command in the House of Representatives, what we were seeing was a tidal wave of new pro-life legislators in state houses. When we saw this big wave come in, we were ready to grab the ball and run with it. Last year, 28 laws that we were involved with passed. It was breathtaking.

Holder, Breuer, MERS bombshell | MyFDL

Check and mate. - Imgur - 21 Facts that Evolutionists can't answer (and Jesus spoke cracker)
Religious-Themed Business Course Canceled at ISU in Ames - Ames, IA Patch The course, Application of Biblical Insight into the Management of Business/Organization (taxpayer money)

Deval Patrick, Massachusetts Governor, Signs Transgender Equal Rights Bill Into Effect Still, many transgender rights activists found fault with the new legislation, drawing attention to its lack of public accommodation protections. Last fall's removal of such a protection
McLaughlin raised money for Murray, employees say - The Boston Globe Fund-raising may have been illegal; worries kept lieutenant governor awake on night of crash (another turn in a twisty story)

Et tu, Mr. Destructo? // Joe Paterno Is Dead: Real Death Edition Like the last decade of watching journalists and policymakers trying to decide if torture is “okay” or preemptive warfare permitted without evidence, this was one of those baldly self-evident challenges posed to an adult in society, and those who have refused to meet it should have the odium of their failure linger next to their name, into the grave and onward

Thanks, Robert Frost by David Ray | The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor
Bronnie Ware: Top 5 Regrets of the Dying

Filesonic gone now too? "All sharing functionality on FileSonic is now disabled. Our service can only be used to upload and retrieve files that you have uploaded personally" : technology
Polish government websites face apparent attack by Internet group Anonymous - The Washington Post
Two lessons from the Megaupload seizure - Salon.com In other words, many SOPA opponents were confused and even shocked when they learned that the very power they feared the most in that bill — the power of the U.S. Government to seize and shut down websites based solely on accusations, with no trial — is a power the U.S. Government already possesses and, obviously, is willing and able to exercise even against the world’s largest sites
Chris Dodd’s paid SOPA crusading - Salon.com - Chris Dodd’s emphatic 2010 pledge not to lobby once he finally left the Senate was prompted by widespread speculation that he spent the last two years in office blatantly shilling for corporate interests in order to ensure a prosperous post-Congress career
Rick Falkvinge: the Swedish radical leading the fight over web freedoms | Technology | The Observer The tech entrepreneur launched the Pirate party to fight online censorship. Now, it is Europe's fastest growing political group
Uploaded.to Blocks US Visitors After MegaUpload Shutdown | TorrentFreak The move is most likely a response to the FBI crackdown on MegaUpload two days ago.
Australia: US Copyright Colony or Just a Good Friend? | TorrentFreak Prime Minister Julia Gillard, a trained lawyer, prejudiced any future legal action by prematurely labelling Assange’s actions “illegal.” She has since sacked the Attorney-General whose job it was to give legal advice on the Wikileaks matter, but the damage has been done and the comment has never been retracted (Oz aand NZ client states of Hollywood)

012112
Scores killed in terrorist attacks in Nigeria | World news | guardian.co.uk At least 140 people killed in northern city of Kano as terror group Boko Haram says it carried out series of bombings
Afghan soldier who killed French troops was our recruit, Taliban say | World news | guardian.co.uk Taliban claim gunman who shot dead four French soldiers was an infiltrator working for them

Costa Concordia: woman's body is found | World news | guardian.co.uk Official death toll now stands at 12, with 20 people missing after the cruise liner hit rocks off the coast of Italy
Costa Concordia: Italy Cruise Disaster Captain Denies Delaying Alarm told magistrates he informed the ship's owners of the accident immediately, denying he had delayed raising the alarm, judicial sources said on Saturday.
Why must a captain never leave a sinking ship? | World news | The Guardian
Italy, Bravado and the Costa Concordia | GlobalPost The swagger of Costa Concordia’s captain encapsulates Italy's troubles in the Berlusconi era.

Greece Nearing Deal on Sovereign Debt Haircut | FDL News Desk (Hedge funds whine)

Belgian police raid church offices over abuse files - Yahoo! News Belgian police conducted a third day of raids on Catholic church offices on Wednesday as part of an operation targeting priests suspected of child abuse (WLPO)
Japan's immigration control: Gulag for gaijin | The Economist

FEC Republicans Are Making Citizens United Even Worse | ThinkProgress (Republicans always make everything worse)
Effect of Citizens United Felt Two Years Later : Roll Call Opinion

Gingrich wins huge come-from-behind victory in South Carolina | McClatchy
Suddenly Romney's on the ropes as developments rock GOP race | McClatchy
Political Animal - The problem that’s hard to fix And then think about where Romney stands this morning. It turns out he lost Iowa to a candidate he outspent 7 to 1; his national lead has, according to Gallup, “collapsed” over the course of the last several days; he struggled through two widely-panned debate performances; and polls suggest he’s likely to lose the South Carolina primary.
Gingrich Is Well-Positioned as South Carolina Votes - NYTimes.com Mr. Gingrich leads Mr. Romney 38 to 30 in the FiveThirtyEight forecast of South Carolina, which has been updated with polling through Friday evening.
Newt Gingrich Surges In South Carolina, But Expect The Unexpected (don't call it a joke, the villagers will get upset)
GOP’s Minority Outreach: We Talk, You Listen and Repeat - She the People: - The Washington Post More applause greeted a woman at one of Gingrich’s next campaign stops when she thanked him “for putting Mr. Juan Williams in his place the other night.” South Carolina has a dreadful history of putting black folks in their places, of course, from brutal acts of violence during slave times through a century of Jim Crow.
Political Animal - ‘He Who Should Not be Named’ But there’s one thing you’d be hard-pressed to find mentioned at a Republican debate. George W. Bush? Who?
Political Animal - This Week in God First up from the God Machine this week is a look at the recent track of the religious right movement and its spectacularly unsuccessful attempts to dictate the Republican presidential nominating contest.
Huckabee Wants To Know If Obama Got College Loans "As A Foreign Student" | Media Matters for America (Mike Huckabee, godly man)
No One Cares About the Affair South Carolina Republicans remain remarkably forgiving of Newt Gingrich's sordid marital history (gays and blacks are their thing)

Hullabaloo - Newtie's Dream Act - In a page right out of Newt Gingrich’s alternate-history science-fiction wingnut-polygamy utopian epicCandyland Space Land, the school district in Tucson has completely banned Mexican-American studies, seized all the textbooks and even wall posters from the classrooms, and punished the students who protested by sentencing them to janitorial duty.
Hullabaloo - South Carolina values - Since CNN has assured us that the South is "where values matter" in advance of today's South Carolina primary, it's worth considering just what South Carolina values are, courtesy Thomas Schaller in Whistling Past Dixie (SC: the asshole of America)
David Brooks Wealth Issue Column - Our Mr. Brooks Climbs the Romney Family Tree - Esquire (Pierce reads Bobo so you don't have to)

Blacks Face Bias in Bankruptcy, Study Suggests - NYTimes.com Blacks are about twice as likely as whites to wind up in the more onerous and costly form of consumer bankruptcy as they try to dig out from their debts, a new study has found (must be their fault in our post-racial society)

Forecast The Facts Exposes America's Climate-Denier TV Weathermen | ThinkProgress more than half of TV weather reporters don’t believe in human-induced climate change, even as our poisoned weather grows more extreme (TV weather readers now "climate scientists")
Enormous solar outburst could dazzle your weekend - CSMonitor.com Auroras may dazzle more people than usual this weekend as Earth receives a glancing blow from an enormous solar outburst that erupted on Jan. 19.

Guilty Until Proved Innocent - NYTimes.com In America, a person is presumed innocent until proved guilty. Unless, that is, he plays college sports (keep it up, Joe - college sports are totally corrupt)

Rate of abortion is highest in countries where practice is banned - Health News - Health & Families - The Independent In Africa and Latin America researchers found that 95 to 97 per cent of abortions were unsafe (fundies and the popester killing women)
Sex After 50: Surprising Findings About Sex in Midlife 97 percent of midlifers consider regular sex important for their romantic relationships. And single post 50s aren't seeking sheet action every now and then -- 65 percent of those surveyed want it two to three times a week.
pandagon.net - How to do feminist fashion, now that we’ve accepted that it exists?
Does marriage really make people happier? Study finds few well-being advantages to marriage over cohabitation

Investment Firm Y Combinator Goes on Offensive Against Hollywood - NYTimes.com
MPAA Directly & Publicly Threatens Politicians Who Aren't Corrupt Enough To Stay Bought | Techdirt (Chris Dodd, Lamar Smith, Pat Leahy, the corrupt of the corrupt)
Balloon Juice » White House to Chris Dodd and the MPAA- “Eat a Bag of Salted Dicks” It looks like Chris Dodd, who yesterday was launching threats at the President, may have overstepped his bounds just a tad:
Kim Dotcom: Police Cut Way Into Mansion To Arrest Megaupload Founder (lucky Obama didn't drone him; he was making money from advertising, after all)

012012
Mashable - The Social Media Guide Lamar Smith, the chief sponsor of SOPA, said on Friday that he is pulling the bill “until there is wider agreement on a solution.” (Smith and Leahy, by their actions they will be known)
Anti-pornography bill won't protect children, but it could cripple the Internet -- Government Computer News Anti-porn bill won't protect children, but it could cripple the Internet - would require Internet service providers to capture credit card data, bank statements, IP information and search history from every user and keep it on hand for 18 months.

Nicolas Sarkozy Weighs Afghan Withdrawal After Soldier Kills 4 French Troops - NYTimes.com President Nicolas Sarkozy of France suspended military training and assistance for Afghan forces on Friday and said he would consider an early withdrawal from Afghanistan after an Afghan soldier shot and killed four French soldiers on a base in eastern Afghanistan.
Nato's Afghan alliance unhinged by growing mutual mistrust | World news | The Guardian US military report reveals how issues such as arrogance and cleanliness are leading Afghan soldiers to shoot Nato trainers (we're there why again?)
Active-Duty Army Suicides Reach Record High - NYTimes.com
Nigerian city of Kano rocked by explosions and gunfire | World news | The Guardian Eyewitnesses describe panic and pandemonium on streets as residents ran for cover and smoke rose into sky

IMF warns of threat to global economies posed by austerity drives | Business | The Guardian International Monetary Fund and 10 other economic bodies make 'call to action' to boost growth and curb protectionism (oh wait ... now you tell us)
European debt crisis live: reports of Greek debt deal | Business | guardian.co.uk Greek government and bondholders reportedly reach deal • IMF slashes global growth forecast

News International Faces FBI Investigation Over Phone Hacking
U.K. Men On Trial For 'Death Penalty' Leaflets Suggesting Gay People Should Be Punished

Atlanta Jewish Times owner says sorry for Obama 'hit' column | World news | guardian.co.uk Andrew Adler says he deeply regrets writing a column suggesting Mossad agents should consider 'a hit' on the president if he fails to support Israel (whoops, the truth slipped out)
Livewire | TPM | Obama Sings Al Green At The Apollo Theater In NYC

We must stop this corporate takeover of American democracy | Bernie Sanders | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk Unless we can reverse the supreme court's dreadful Citizens United decision, US politics will become a plutocrats' plaything (which was whole point)
Supreme court tosses out Texas electoral maps drawn by federal judges | World news | guardian.co.uk Decision to do away with maps that favoured minorities will most likely benefit Republicans in upcoming elections (predictable)

Political Animal - Understanding the nature of ‘hypocrisy,’ redux Brian McGrory reports this week on Sen. Scott Brown’s (R-Mass.) new attack on Elizabeth Warren: she’s apparently an “elitist hypocrite.” ("crass warfare")
ABC News: Newt Gingrich's Claims About Ex-Wife Interview 'Just Not True'
Chuck Todd Rips Stephen Colbert's Presidential Run (video) "He is making a mockery of the system," Todd said.
Hullabaloo Fainting couch alert: Colbert is making a mockery of a mockery ... Oh dear me. Villager Chuck Todd is in a tizzy over Stephen Colbert making a mockery of the electoral system. (+Whitewater and David Bossie)
Balloon Juice » Chuck Todd’s Knickers in a Twist Over… Colbert
Stephen Colbert’s unfunny run for president - The Washington Post (more media villagers clutching their pearls because someone pointed out it's all a sham)
The real reason no one impersonates dead voters: High risk, little benefit | The Signal - Yahoo! News
Kerrey to weigh bid over weekend - Omaha.com (hoping to ride on Obama's coattails +worst of the worst of Dems)

Insight: Top Justice officials connected to mortgage banks | Reuters U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Lanny Breuer, head of the Justice Department's criminal division, were partners for years at a Washington law firm that represented a Who's Who of big banks and other companies at the center of alleged foreclosure fraud, a Reuters inquiry shows (now we see what happened)
Home sales hit 11-month high - Yahoo! News and the number of properties on the market was the fewest in nearly seven years, pointing to a nascent recovery in the housing sector.

NASA - NASA Finds 2011 Ninth-Warmest Year on Record NASA Finds 2011 Ninth-Warmest Year on Record
Review - A World Without Values - Ethics Essays on John Mackie's Moral Error Theory by Richard Joyce and Simon Kirchin (
A brief telephone interview to identify lesbian and bisexual women in random digit dialing sampling ... [J Sex Res. 2002] - PubMed - NCBI
Neural network gets an idea of number without counting - tech - 20 January 2012 - New Scientist AN ARTIFICIAL brain has taught itself to estimate the number of objects in an image without actually counting them, emulating abilities displayed by some animals including lions and fish, as well as humans.

Roe v. Wade Still Under Siege, 39 Years Later Now, 39 years later, conservative lawmakers are making unprecedented moves toward reversing Roe v. Wade, and the legality of abortion is as precarious as it's ever been (Fundamentalism at work)
Eschaton: Really Horrible People "Abstinence education" is stupid regardless, but it takes a worst person of the world level caliber person to propose it only for girls. (Caitlan Flanagan approves +plus, what about supply and demand?)
Obama Administration Approves Rule That Guarantees Near-Universal Contraceptive Coverage | ThinkProgress Today, in a huge victory for women’s health, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that most employers will be required to cover contraception in their health plans, along with other preventive services, with no cost-sharing such as co-pays or deductibles (viagra was always free, of course)

Microsoft Calls for Gay Marriage in Washington State - Rebecca J. Rosen - Technology - The Atlantic The company argues that it's hard to hire the best people in the world when the state where it's based discriminates against them.
250K without power in Wash. as flood worries rise - Yahoo! News A powerful Pacific Northwest storm knocked out power to about 250,000 electric customers around Seattle, Tacoma and Olympia after it coated much of Washington in ice and swelled Oregon rivers, killing a child and two adults. Besides the outages, the big concern now is more flooding in both states with warmer temperatures and rain.

011912
Iran warns neighbours not to join isolation attempts | World news | The Guardian Iranian foreign minister says Gulf states co-operating with western efforts to isolate Tehran would be in 'dangerous position'

Hedge Funds May Sue Greece if It Tries to Force Loss - NYTimes.com Hedge funds have been known to use hardball tactics to make money. Now they have come up with a new one: suing Greece in a human rights court to make good on its bond payments (that'll work)

Costa Concordia operator 'waited over an hour' before ordering evacuation | World news | The Guardian Attention switches from Captain Francesco Schettino to the US-owned cruise line that operated the shipwrecked vessel
Dominique Strauss-Kahn prosecutor tells why he dropped case | World news | guardian.co.uk Cyrus Vance says he could not be sure beyond reasonable doubt what happened between then-IMF head and hotel maid
Britain admits 'fake rock' plot to spy on Russians | World news | The Guardian Tony Blair's former aide Jonathan Powell says UK was behind plot to spy on Russians with device hidden in fake plastic rock
How News Group hid the phone-hacking scandal | Media | The Guardian Judge criticises Murdoch empire as it agrees aggravated damages for 37 victims of News of the World

Rick Perry quits Republican race and endorses Newt Gingrich | World news | guardian.co.uk Texas governor praises Gingrich as 'visionary who can transform our country' – but former House speaker has his own problems
Rick Santorum Finishes Ahead Of Mitt Romney: Iowa Caucus Results More than two weeks after the 2012 Iowa caucus, a final certified tally showed former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum finishing with 29,839 votes and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney with 29,805.
Peter S. Goodman: GOP Campaign Trail Filled With Revisionist History Rare is the credentialed economist who still asserts that cutting taxes generates additional revenue, an idea so patently at odds with common sense that only someone with a doctorate could have suggested it.
In South Carolina, Candidates And Citizens Occupy Separate Realms "We never again pay anybody for 99 weeks of doing nothing," Gingrich says, provoking cheers. "It is profoundly wrong to pay people for doing nothing." (they could clean toilets for free)

Corey Robin’s ‘Reactionary Mind’ Stirs Internet Debate - NYTimes.com “The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism From Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin” - The true subject of “The Reactionary Mind,” he said, isn’t the eternal sameness of conservatism but the way it transforms itself in response to threats to existing hierarchies, often by borrowing from the very movements it seeks to oppose.

New Hampshire Considers Collective Bargaining Ban Among these are bills to prohibit collective bargaining among public employees, a bill to prohibit the collection of union dues from wages and a bill eliminating lunch breaks for workers (why have to pay them at all?)
Balloon Juice » Still selling the Reasonable Republican myth I don’t think they can say “screw you” any louder than trotting out Daniels right now. Is this the deal with Republicans now? They’re full-on opposed to unions and unionized workers? Because that hasn’t been the case up to now. They managed to retain a crucial share of the union vote in places like Indiana, while demonizing unions at the national level. Are they abandoning any attempt to retain or increase that vote?

Fox's Andrea Tantaros: "I Think The Recession Was Good For Kids" Because They've Been "Humbled A Little" | Media Matters for America (arrogant little bastards thought they would have jobs)
Muslim Woman: School Said I Was A Terrorist In Retaliation For Sexual Harassment Complaint | TPMMuckraker A Muslim woman is suing the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut for allegedly expelling her and telling the FBI that she was a terrorist, she says in retaliation for a sexual harassment complaint she made against a fellow student.
Worst University in the Country? « Notes from Evil Bender Liberty University beats out a tough group of competitors for Worst Christian College (I wonder how Pensacola Christian College fared), and the University of Bridgeport wins out for best overall. This is notable because it’s being run by Moonies:
The NESS » The Cultiversity of Bridgeport

MF Global Commodity Customers Must Be Paid First, CFTC Says - Bloomberg Court papers by the trustee for MF Global Holdings Ltd., Louis Freeh, contain “errors and misstatements of law” in arguing that commodity laws, which require that customers be “made whole” first, don’t apply to brokerage liquidations, the regulator said in a court filing today (America's worst ex-law-enforcment officer doing his job)
No silver bullet to avert another MF Global: regulator | Reuters Increased surveillance cannot guarantee customers will never again lose money in a broker insolvency, though the collapse of MF Global Holdings may lead futures exchanges to conduct more spot checks, a top U.S. regulator said on Thursday (sorry, we're helpless when the crooks walk off with a billion buck)


Girl, uninterrupted - Girls - Salon.com Facts and the real world hardly exist in Caitlin Flanagan's"Girl Land," where gauzy, phony nostalgia reigns
pandagon.net Caitlin Flanagan exposes herself on the radio
Caitlin Flanagan On Protecting Girlhood | On Point with Tom Ashbrook Caitlin Flanagan says we need to take our daughters back to a more protected childhood. Critics are fuming.

The 'New American Home' Continues Shrinking - Developments - WSJ This year’s showpiece, which measures 4,181 square feet and is one of the smallest in the popular program’s 29-year history, shows that the love affair with McMansions seems to be waning (your million-dollar average house)



Megaupload.com Charged With Piracy Violations, Shut Down By Feds An indictment accuses Megaupload.com of costing copyright holders more than $500 million in lost revenue from pirated films and other content (Obama's war on the internets)

011812
Syria: Zabadani ceasefire broken -Wednesday 18 January | World news | guardian.co.uk Free Syrian Army resistance forces brief truce in Zabadani • Obama looks to further 'international pressure' against Syria
Taliban peace talks 'at risk' as Obama stalls on Guantánamo | World news | The Guardian The White House blames Hamid Karzai for holding up progress towards peace talks
East Africa's drought: the avoidable disaster | World news | The Guardian Tens of thousands of lives could have been spared if agencies and governments had heeded the warnings, a report says

Costa Concordia captain claims he tripped and fell into a lifeboat | World news | The Guardian Francesco Schettino explains at hearing why he could not lead evacuation of stricken cruise liner but admits crashing ship into rocks (uh-huh)
Costa Concordia: satellite picture of the capsized cruise liner | World news | guardian.co.uk This image of the Costa Concordia was taken by the WorldView-1 satellite on 17 January 2012. The 114,000-tonne cruise ship has been half-submerged off the coast of Tuscany since it collided with rocks on 13 January 2012

BBC News - UK unemployment increases to 2.685m UK unemployment rose by 118,000 in the three months to November to 2.685 million, official figures show (austerity fail)
Best of Both Worlds: Eurozone Swot This reflects our view that the Irish government's response to the significant deterioration in its public finances and the recent crisis in the Irish financial sector has been proactive and substantive. (now roll over and play dead)
Eurozone crisis live: IMF launches $500bn fund-raising drive - 18 January 2012 | Business | guardian.co.uk On Tuesday the Irish Congress of Trade Unions claimed that 26,000 jobs could be lost in the Northern Ireland public sector as part of the Coalition's cost cutting, austerity programme over the next five years. But Wilson denounced these projections saying that the predictions undermined efforts to build confidence in the economy (don't upset the confidence fairies/men)

Leveson inquiry: celebrity magazine and regional editors appear | Media | guardian.co.uk OK! editor denies Kate Middleton cover misled readers • Hello! editor says JK Rowling 'exclusive' was 'misleading'
Huffington Post names Strauss-Kahn's wife as French site editor | World news | The Guardian Conflict of interest row as Anne Sinclair becomes editorial director of Le Huffington Post
Political Animal - Obama admin nixes Keystone pipeline Republicans, not surprisingly, are outraged, and plan to invest a fair amount of time and energy into complaining about the administration’s decision (Obama was all set to give it to them and of course they said no)

The best Sopa protests online – in pictures | Technology | guardian.co.uk
Clay Shirky: Sopa and Pipa would create a consumption-only internet | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk You may not care about the US bills aimed at censoring the net but you should – they could stop you participating online again
SOPA Forces Obama To Pick Sides Between Donors From Hollywood, Silicon Valley
Balloon Juice » You Won’t Like Chris Dodd When He’s Angry Chris is the head of the MPAA now. He must have promised his Hollywood producer bosses that he could push SOPA through Congress, and he’s pissed (judge him by his actions)
Hullabaloo - The day the LOLCats Died - by digby ... along with Chris Dodd's reputation. This is just sad ... That made Jack Valenti sound like a communist by comparison. (he always was a corporate lobbyist)
The Story Behind the SOPA Blackout | Mother Jones The entertainment industry usually gets its way in DC—but it was no match for Reddit, Wikipedia, and BoingBoing.
PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet on Vimeo
Marco Rubio Jumps Protect IP Ship Amid Internet Blackout Protest
ELI5: What is PIPA and how is it different from SOPA? : explainlikeimfive
blog.reddit -- what's new on reddit: A technical examination of SOPA and PROTECT IP
xkcd: SOPA

Dems Claim They Can Reverse The Tea Party Tide In 2012 | TPM2012
Balloon Juice » Things I read in the Times Sixty percent of Americans think that Barack Obama at least met Republicans halfway this year in trying to get important legislation done. How many think that Republicans made a good faith effort to work with Obama? Guess (the crazification factor)
Emboldened Gingrich increases the pressure on Mitt Romney | World news | guardian.co.uk Enjoying a surge in support, Newt Gingrich appeals to Rick Santorum and Rick Perry to drop out so he can defeat Romney
Political Animal - The most glaring lie of the night This one, from last night’s debate, was just shameless. “We’ve got a president in office three years, and he does not have a jobs plan yet. I’ve got one out there already and I’m not even president, yet.” (his Mormon undies burst into flame)
How Mitt Romney's Tax Rate Stacks Up | TPM Media (compared with you)
Obama's Dream Debate A Super PAC backing Newt Gingrich imagines a general election debate between Mitt Romney and President Obama in a new animated ad.
Eschaton: David Brooks Finds A Nut: "I sometimes wonder if the Republican Party has become the receding roar of white America as it pines for a way of life that will never return." --> And never was, unless what you're pining for is segregation and lack of rights for women. Which, for some, is what they're pining for, though most are just indulging in Leave It To Beaver fantasies.
David Brooks Loves Secrecy, Hates Journalism New York Times opinion-haver David Brooks is not a "journalist," per se; he's more of an "amiable prick."
Dana Milbank’s Flawed “Roe Week” Hit Piece - Duly Noted
Eschaton: Taking Me Back It's like when liberal bloggers were causing all the violence in Iraq by pointing out that there was lots of violence in Iraq. If only we'd clapped a little louder, everything would have been great.
America’s Two Reality System | FDL Action -Democrats trust everything- except Fox News. Republicans meanwhile don’t trust anything except Fox News.
Chicago City Council Passes Rahm Emanuel’s Anti-Protest Ordinances | The Dissenter (what a dick)
Make Your Own Racist Newsletter with Our Magnetic Ron Paul Kit

Brad DeLong: Lowering the Medicare Age to Zero: Duncan Black Snarks
Goldman Sachs sets aside $12bn to pay staff in 2011 | Business | The Guardian The Wall Street investment bank reported full year revenue of $28.8bn – down 26% – while earnings almost halved to $4.4bn
More Republicans Found to Have Received Countrywide VIP Loans | FDL News Desk

Corbett aide who edited journal resigns | Philadelphia Inquirer | 01/18/2012 A high-level Corbett administration adviser resigned his $104,470 position Tuesday after questions were raised about his outside role as editor of a conservative faith-based journal ... r that advocates for the "natural human family . . . established by the Creator." (Republicans at work fucking you over)
Philadelphia dentist, daughter charged with defrauding insurance companies — NewsWorks - The Pain Center - the pair billed insurance companies $4,800 for each pain procedure they performed, when the work they were doing cost $800


The Ultimate Annoying Email Deflector Shield

011712
Iraq Learned the Ray Davis Lesson from Pakistan | emptywheel Private contractors are integral to postwar Iraq’s economic development and security, foreign businessmen and American officials say (consider the source)
Iran's nuclear scientists are not being assassinated. They are being murdered | Mehdi Hasan | Comment is free | The Guardian Killing our enemies abroad is just state-sponsored terror – whatever euphemism western leaders like to use (Obama's chickens will come home to roost)
North Korea's leader will not last long, says Kim Jong-un's brother | World news | The Guardian Kim Jong-nam, eldest son of Kim Jong-il, describes succession as 'a joke' and predicts the regime will collapse in new book
Iran to Send U.S. Toy Model of Downed Drone | World | RIA Novosti Iran said it will send the U.S. a toy model of a RQ-170 Sentinel drone in response to Washington’s request to return the aircraft that crashed in Iran last year
Marines Urinating on Corpses—What the Video Doesn’t Show - Annie Keeghan - Open Salon (PTSD denied by military)
Israel Faces Crisis Over Role of Ultra-Orthodox in Society - NYTimes.com At a time when there is no progress on the Palestinian dispute, Israelis are turning inward and discovering that an issue they had neglected — the place of the ultra-Orthodox Jews — has erupted into a crisis. - “Most Israelis at the time assumed the Haredim would die off in one generation,” said Jonathan Rosenblum, a Haredi writer.
Hullabaloo Retraction and contraction: why conservatives are scary - But one thing is clear: fundamentalist religious influence always leads to the repression of women ... Devolution means regressing to traditional hierarchies.

Why the Saudis want $100-a-barrel oil - The Washington Post Over the past few years, the Saudi government has taken advantage of sky-high crude prices to spend lavishly on public works and social programs to stave off the unrest that’s capsizing parts of the Middle East. As a result, the country now needs prices of at least $80 per barrel to balance its budgets, up from $60 per barrel in 2008 and way, way up from $20 per barrel a decade ago (America supporting socialism in the Middle East)

I am changing the Labour Party so we can deliver fairness when there is less money around | Ed Miliband (this is actually not a parody)
Britain cannot deport Abu Qatada to Jordan, European judges rule | The Guardian Cleric cannot be sent back to Jordan as 'there remains a real risk that evidence obtained by torture will be used against him' (but they will extradict 23 year-old kid for linking on the internets to be tortured by Sony)

Costa Concordia: coastguard 'ordered captain to return to the ship' | World news | The Guardian Italian newspapers report damning claims about the behaviour of the captain, Francesco Schettino

Daily Kos: Wisconsin Democrats to submit one million signatures to recall Scott Walker (that Teaparty/bully thing worked out really well)

Meet the Man Behind "Citizens United": What Does the Ultra-Conservative Lawyer Have Planned Next? | | AlterNet James Bopp is already well into the next phase of his crusade to topple as many of the limits on the role of money in politics as can be done in one man’s lifetime.

Obama To Accept Democratic Party Nomination At Bank Of America Stadium (nice image; rich donors will have sky-boxes)
Stephen Colbert's Super PAC Puts Comedy Central Host In Big Leagues (Part 2)
Mitt Romney Downplays $374,000 In Speaking Fees As 'Not Very Much'
We Still Need To See Those Returns - NYTimes.com At an event in Florence, SC, Mitt Romney told reporters that his effective tax rate is probably close to 15% because most of his income comes from investments, reports Bloomberg’s Julie Davis.
Still Hunting for a Straight Answer The DNC so enjoyed Mitt Romney's debate performance last night they made a compilation video of their favorite moments.
Gingrich: I 'Don't See' Why Calling 'Food Stamps' An African-American Issue Is Insulting | ThinkProgress (whistle, whistle)
Congress logs most futile legislative year on record - Washington Times It’s official: Congress ended its least-productive year in modern history after passing 80 bills — fewer than during any other session since year-end records began being kept in 1947 (Teaparty FAIL)

The Not-Fated Economic Recovery | FDL News Desk Even recent history. It looked as if in 2009 in Britain that the next Prime Minister would be able to take credit for a recovery. Then David Cameron installed an austerity regime and the economy sunk.
Star dims for Goldman's youngest partner - The Term Sheet: Fortune's deals blog Term Sheet Eric Mindich had investors clamoring when he launched his hedge fund Eton Park in 2004. Now they want their money back, and they're finding it hard to get out (more Wall Street looters at work, with no consequences)
Barret Capital Management accused of using client cash for its own purposes - Winnipeg Free Press (your money is their money)
How Wall Street took $331 million from Philly and its schools | Philadelphia City Paper | 01/17/2012 and they stand to lose another $240 million (gambling with public money)

Study of the Day: Humble Leaders Are Better Liked and More Effective - Hans Villarica - Health - The Atlantic Bosses who are more open and empathetic are better positioned to build their businesses,
Academy of Management - Online Journals - Publication


Since August, 88,000 Pennsylvania children have lost Medicaid benefits | Philadelphia Inquirer | 01/17/2012 (Republicans at work killing babies)

Twitter boss slams Wikipedia's 'silly' Sopa protest | Technology | guardian.co.uk Wikipedia's plans to pull the plug on its website in protest of anti-piracy legislation are 'foolish', according to Twitter's CEO

011612
Syria: beyond the wall of fear, a state in slow-motion collapse | World news | The Guardian Despite the superficial calm in Damascus, everyone knows change is coming. The only question is, how much will it cost?
Pakistan PM faces disqualification over contempt of court action | World news | The Guardian Yousaf Raza Gilani ordered to face supreme court to explain his failure to ask Swiss to reopen corruption cases against president

Eurozone Busily Decimating Member Countries | FDL News Desk (Merkel calls for more austerity!)
Gove: Queen deserves £60m yacht for Jubilee - Home News - UK - The Independent "In spite, and perhaps because of the austere times, the celebration should go beyond those of previous jubilees and mark the greater achievement that the diamond anniversary represents" (that will employ a lot of royal-yacht-scrubbers)
Vatican protesters evicted by police | World news | guardian.co.uk Protesters trying to set up Occupy-style camp in front of St Peter's removed with the support of the Holy See (Popester kicks out the rabble)

Italian cruise ship was making unauthorised manoeuvre when it hit rocks | World news | The Guardian Admission from Costa Concordia owner appears to confirm captain was making unofficial 'sail-by' of Giglio island

How Fares the Dream? - NYTimes.com
Race in America 2012 - On Our National Holiday, America's Everlasting War - Esquire (LBJ: “the greatest speech an American president has delivered in my lifetime.”)
Who are the victims of civil liberties assaults and Endless War? - Salon.com

Chris Hedges: Why I’m Suing Barack Obama - Chris Hedges' Columns - Truthdig against Barack Obama and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta to challenge the legality of the Authorization for Use of Military Force as embedded in the latest version of the National Defense Authorization Act, signed by the president Dec. 31.

Huntsman, Trapped In 2009, Never Had A Chance in retrospect, it was absurd to think that Obama needed to worry about a man so wildly out of step with his party. Huntsman's campaign has been, from the beginning, a fantasy driven by a fundamental misunderstanding of his own party. ("I still don't understand why [White House Chief of Staff] Rahm [Emanuel] was so obsessed with him," a top Democratic official marveled Sunday night.) (Obama's crack team of idiots)
South Carolina primary – Jon Huntsman quits: live | World news | guardian.co.uk (endorses Mormon he said was "unelectable" - will run in 2016
Jon Huntsman: chronicle of a defeat foretold | James Antle | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk Huntsman was doomed by a misguided strategy to run as a moderate in a race where the conservative base calls the shots
Jon Huntsman’s Greatest Hits (video) | TPM2012
Hullabaloo La estrategia del sur - On a day set aside to honor civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr., Mitt Romney plans to tout his extreme immigration positions during a campaign stop in South Carolina today — with Kris Kobach, the author of Arizona’s and Alabama’s immigration laws, at his side.
Balloon Juice » There’s that number again… In contrast, 27% say Mitt Romney has waged the most positive campaign among the GOP candidates (27% crazification factor)
South Carolina Photo ID Law Draws Heated Rhetoric From Republican Presidential Candidates
Stephen Colbert's PAC Parody Explains Campaign Finance To America (Part 1)
US Politics | AMERICAblog News: Could Colbert actually win in South Carolina?
Perry: Administration Shows 'Disdain For The Military' By Calling Urinating On Corpses A 'Criminal Act' | ThinkProgress (you're toast, dude)
Gingrich: Urban Sophisticates Don’t Understand Why Home Ownership is Important - Developments - WSJ (because no one in crime-ridden urban hell-holes own their homes)
Political Animal - Religious right splintering points to larger problem A civil war is breaking out among evangelical leaders over allegations of a rigged election and ballot stuffing at a Saturday gathering of religious and social conservatives ... accusing Catholic participants of conniving to rig the vote (sweet irony)
Elizabeth Warren Money Bomb Pulls In Over $100,000 In First Weekend

A rule of thumb for oil prices and growth - The Washington Post (a new excuse)
As Rates Rise, NJ Drivers Avoiding Toll Roads (but raising the gas-tax is a big no-no)

New computer model shows Titan atmosphere more Earth-like than thought
Blue Monday: a depressing day of pseudoscience and humiliation | Science | guardian.co.uk A psychologist explains why the third Monday of January has for him become the most depressing day of the year

Republican Sponsor Of Bill To Require Drug Testing For Georgia Welfare Recipients Arrested For DUI | ThinkProgress John Andrew Smith (Republican porker hoist by his own drunken petard)
Hullabaloo Tasing 'O the Day - Maybe if a few more towns and cities had to pay out money for this authoritarian brutality, police departments might find it in their best interest to curb this behavior.

Why It’s Cheaper to Dine Out Than Eat In

Gay Parents Better Than Straight Parents? What Research Says
pandagon.net This one was particularly entertaining, from Sharon Kass, whose bigotry has blinded her to the point where she's joined in on a vicious conservative attack on a 7-year-old who wants to join the Girl Scouts. (no one is born religious, either - Sharon Kass: famous on the internets for all eternity as an asshole, even though she wasn't born that way)
pandagon.net - L.A. is once again looking at the question of whether or not to require condom use in porn filmed in the city

Twitter / @jimmy_wales: This is going to be wow. ...
Video: 'Piracy' student Richard O'Dwyer loses extradition case over TVShack website - Telegraph The 23-year-old Sheffield Hallam University student faces up to 10 years in a US federal prison for operating TVShack which US authorities say hosts links to pirated and copyrighted video content (he's lucky Obama didn't drone him)
Sopa plans set to be shelved as Obama comes out against piracy legislation | Technology | guardian.co.uk Congress ready to drop Sopa vote after White House says it would not support legislation that threatens openness of internet
Zappos Reports Security Breach, Advises Customers To Change Passwords

011512
Seven Iraqi police officers killed after gunmen storm government compound | World news | The Guardian Three-hour standoff with security forces after insurgents detonate car bomb at prison for terror suspects in Ramadi
Pakistan bomb blast leaves 18 dead | World news | The Guardian Homemade bomb explodes near Shia Muslim procession in central Pakistani town of Khanpur, killing 18 and wounding 30
Thai police hunt second bomb plot suspect in Bangkok | World news | guardian.co.uk One man has been arrested over an alleged bomb plot that has caused 11 countries to issue travel warnings to Thailand
The False Flag Waves in the Fog | emptywheel Clearly, all sides have the goods on the others, but no one can risk having all this damning information come out.

Cruise ship scene marked by modern totem of disaster in medieval harbour | World news | The Guardian Rescue continues as anger rises at captain allegedly leaving ship and 'inexpicably' taking vessel so near rocks in first place

Merkel: Europe Faces 'Long Road' to Win Back Trust - ABC News German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Standard and Poor's downgrades of nine countries underline the fact that the eurozone faces a "long road" to win back investors' confidence, pushing Saturday for it to move quickly on a new budget discipline pact and a permanent rescue fund (Merkel doubles-down on the failure of austerity)
Nicolas Sarkozy promises rush of reforms to bolster French economy | World news | The Guardian President accused of losing credibility by Socialist opponent after downgrade of France's AAA status by S&P credit agency (his plan: more austerity failure)

Hullabaloo Yes, the FCC can try to fine you a half-million dollars for a "wardrobe malfunction," but bundles of bloody body parts is A-okay.
Colbert SuperPAC Goes on the Air in South Carolina | FDL News Desk Last night, Colbert closed his announcement with the words “Thank you, God bless you, and God bless Citizens United.” Nobody has done more to show how ludicrous our campaign finance system has become. If it leads to a reassessment of the system, his SuperPAC money will have been money well spent.

Americans Elect 2012 presidential run: The third-party group has cash, but no candidate - Kenneth P. Vogel and Abby Phillip - politico.com (look at their faces: four wrinkled old white guys who have been in politics all their life will save politics)
Political Animal - The religious right movement finds its man ... Santorum ... These groups and leaders decided to wait until after Romney won Iowa and New Hampshire, and took the lead in South Carolina and Florida, to then said, “Hmm, maybe we should pick someone before it’s too late.” Guess what, religious right? It’s already too late, and you should have done this in October
Gingrich Suggests Illegally Firing Federal Employees Over Liberal Views | TPM2012 (wants a Christian/Republican loyalty oath for Federal employees)
House Republicans Fear Another Session of Infighting - NYTimes.com (restive)
Hullabaloo Devolution in more ways than one - In our brave new states' rights dominant country,there will be many places where things like this will be common: Three Indiana state senators, all Republicans, have introduced a bill that would allow schools to require the recitation of the Lord's Prayer every morning, if they want to.

Jamie Dimon’s Plan to Fix the Housing Market - Bloomberg lock mortgage lenders and regulators behind closed doors until they figure it out.

Richard Dawkins celebrates a victory over creationists | Education | The Observer Free schools that teach 'intelligent design' as science will lose funding ... after the government ratified measures that will bar anti-evolution groups from teaching creationism in science classes (meanwhile, in Missouri ...)
MS damage washed away by stream of young blood - health - 14 January 2012 - New Scientist Nerve cells lose their electrically insulating myelin sheath as MS develops. New myelin-generating cells can be produced from stem cells, but the process loses efficiency with age.

Car companies' new problem: Young people who don't want a driver's license One reason for the automakers to be encouraged is that more senior citizens are driving. Some 70 percent of ages 70 and older had their driver’s license in 2008, up from 55 percent in 1983 (only geezers will be drving)

The Definitive Post On Why SOPA And Protect IP Are Bad, Bad Ideas | Techdirt
Rupert Murdoch Attacks Google, Obama In Pro-SOPA Twitter Rant

011412
Putin ally fears Israel is pushing U.S. toward Iran war | Reuters (because Israel is America's Daddy and that has worked out so well)
US intensifies pressure on Iran over Strait of Hormuz threat | World news | guardian.co.uk White House warns Iran against blockading crucial sea lanes in retaliation for sanctions over Tehran's nuclear ambitions
Iraq Bomb Kills At Least 53 Shiite Pilgrims In South
Iran Claims CIA Behind Nuclear Scientist, Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan's Death
Captain arrested amid growing anger after Italian cruise ship runs aground | World news | The Observer Francesco Schettino investigated for manslaughter and abandoning ship after three die and 41 unaccounted for
Costa Concordia Disaster: Italian Cruise Ship Runs Aground Off Tuscany Coast "Have you seen 'Titanic?' That's exactly what it was," said Valerie Ananias, 31, a schoolteacher from Los Angeles
Mohamed ElBaradei quits Egyptian presidential race | World news | guardian.co.uk Reform leader pulls out, saying country's ruling junta has governed since Mubarak's exit 'as if no regime has fallen' (what revolution?)
North Korea To Punish Mourners Who Were Insincere "who did participate but didn't cry and didn't seem genuine." (crocodile tears)
India orders crackdown on 'human safaris' in the Andaman Islands | World news | The Observer As outrage over exploitation of Jarawa tribe spreads, minister flies in for talks (and then they stuffed them)

Hullabaloo Homicide rate at near 50-year low, probably thanks to low lead levels (Big Gov regulation forces oil companies to stop poisoning the whole population, violent crime drops after 50 years of blaming the victims, triumph of capitalism)

PublicEye.org - The Producerist Narrative in Repressive Right Wing Populism

Obama Administration Comes Out Against SOPA, PIPA | TPM Idea Lab ... saying it would not support the bills as currently written
STUDY: SOPA Coverage No Match For Kim Kardashian And Tim Tebow | Media Matters for America (like they want you to know)

Truth, truthiness and balance — Crooked Timber (the Brisbane, NYT comments purging debacle)
Wealth Problems — Crooked Timber Second, that Republicans don’t care about the views of voters in the middle of the income distribution either, while Democrats do care significantly. Third, that Republicans care almost three times as much as Democrats about the views of those in the top third of the distribution. Overall, senators tend to be much more responsive to the opinions of better off people than of middle income people, and don’t care at all about the bottom third

Virginia Primary Ballot Challenge: Judge Rules Against Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum & Jon Huntsman
Mike O'Neal, Kansas House Speaker, Emails Prayer Some Say Wishes For Obama's Death
Eschaton: Anthropology The New York Times ventures into the jungle ... Here in Gaffney, where deeply held Christian beliefs often matter more than jobs, few remember the Holson Burnes photo album plant, let alone the devastation its closing is alleged to have caused back in 1992. (Romney killed the town, but they forgot because they were praying to Jesus to get rid of the black guy: idiots)
Cast as Romney’s Victim, Gaffney, S.C., Says, ‘Huh?’ - NYTimes.com
video: Mitt Romney Vs. The GOP -- Bain Capital Edition | ThinkProgress former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney greatest strength — his experience in private enterprise — has suddenly begun to look like a serious liability.
CNN Journalists Blast Loesch's "Outrageous" Comments | Media Matters for America "What's interesting is how the kid gloves are applied to outlandish comments made by the likes of Erick Erickson or Dana Loesch and how it has a negative impact on the CNN brand ... there is fear of saying anything to them because they are Tea Party folks, and there has been a clear effort on the part of our political team to court that whole Tea Party thought process, if you will." (CNN: the Teaparty Network!)
Jon Soltz: Video of Marine Atrocities Highlights Split Between Right Wing and Our Military
Feds to probe why Ted Stevens witness Bill Allen wasn't tried in teen sex case | McClatchy Murkowski said Friday she wished Holder would have himself initiated a public investigation into why his Justice Department scuttled the case. But she said “it’s good to see action finally being taken.” (Obama's DOJ not at work)

Social Welfare State, American-Style, Means Relief For The Rich The one big difference is that in the American social welfare state, a lot of the benefits go to the rich (socialism for the rich!)

Martin Luther King memorial quote to be changed | World news | guardian.co.uk Poet Maya Angelou previously said the truncated version made King sound like "an arrogant twit" because it was out of context.
More N.C.A.A. ‘Justice’ - NYTimes.com (Phil Martelli, worst person in the world today)
Walkergate Expands, Top Aide Given Immunity | Crooks and Liars (Kochsucker Scottie may not need a recall)

lD2ZV.png - Atheism isn't a religion ... (worth it)
Is everyone from Missouri this pretentious? : Pharyngula Missouri is considering HB1227, a bill that would require public schools to teach intelligent design creationism. It's a descendant of a similar bill that was previously allowed to die, and it shares some of the same properties as the previous version: an amazing opacity and astonishingly pompous attempt by a few blithering lawyers to redefine science (Republicans/Evangelicals hate science, never give up)
That student from hell : Pharyngula Dr Zaloom gave a simple enough project to her students, to go down to the Occupy Wall Street protestors in Zucotti Park and write an ethnographic analysis. It seems reasonable, but one student, Sara Ackerman, had a melodramatic breakdown over it ... "Lastly, I have over 1,000 friends on facebook, and if Professor Zaloom does not resign, or is not fired by 9 am tomorrow morning, I will publish every single email exchange we have had, on my facebook account." Professor Zaloom still has her job. Who looks demented now? (that didn't work out so well, did it Sara?)
I get email : Pharyngula If Debra Rufini's imaginary dialog is as bad as this list of "proofs" — more like a collection of cliches, bad quotes, and lies — I can't imagine wanting to slog through it (50 proofs you've an idiot +"whilst?")

Brittany Murphy's Father Angelo Bertolotti Sues Los Angeles Coroner's Office Just five months later, Monjack died -- also as a result of pneumonia and anemia, according to the coroner.
Experience: I'm a sex-somniac | Life and style | The Guardian


reddit.com: help: FAQ for the SOPA Reddit
Google 'improperly' accessed Kenyan rival Mocality's database | Technology | guardian.co.uk

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US warns of terror threat in Bangkok | World news | guardian.co.uk
More on the Murder of Iranian Nuclear Scientists | FDL News Desk Glenn Greenwald has a follow-up on his story about the murder of Iranian nuclear scientists, and he calls the incidents what they actually are: Terrorism (Obama/Israeli terrorism)
Myanmar Prominent Political Prisoners Freed (Burma)
Burma's prisoner amnesty reunites families separated for years | World news | The Guardian Couples who never expected to see each other so soon prepare for emotional reunions as Burma releases 600 political prisoners (only Americans call is Myanmar)
More murder of Iranian scientists: still terrorism? - Salon.com (not when we do it)
Iran and the Terrorism game - Salon.com ("targetted killings" not really terrorism in the minds of the "hard-nosed left")
Iranian Nuclear Scientist's Death Prompts Silence In Israel -- And Hint Of Satisfaction (who, us?)
False Flag - By Mark Perry | Foreign Policy A series of CIA memos describes how Israeli Mossad agents posed as American spies to recruit members of the terrorist organization Jundallah to fight their covert war against Iran.
Yousuf Reza Gilani, Pakistan Prime Minister, Reportedly Feared Coup Pakistan's prime minister telephoned the top British diplomat in the country this week expressing fears that the Pakistani army might be about to stage a coup,
Arab League Observer Leaves Syria Mission, Calls It “Farce” | FDL News Desk
Syria: rally for Free Syrian Army - live updates | World news | guardian.co.uk Syria protesters show backing for deserted troops• Free Syrian Army restructured following criticism
Abortion Criminalization Awful Public Policy : Lawyers, Guns & Money

Eurozone crisis live: S&P expected to downgrade France and Austria tonight | Business | guardian.co.uk (Smerkel and Szark have completely failed)
Eurozone in new crisis as credit agency downgrades nine countries | Business | The Guardian S&P action leads to fall in euro and share prices while European Central Bank forced to buy Italian bonds ... urope has been plunged into a fresh crisis after France admitted it had been stripped of its coveted AAA rating in a mass downgrade of nine eurozone countries by the credit ratings agency S&P. (thud)

Spanish judge resumes Guantanamo investigation - Boston.com A Spanish judge says he is proceeding with a probe into human rights abuses at the U.S. prison for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, after Washington failed to respond to requests for information (the wheels of justice grinding slowly)
BBC News - German priest admits 280 counts of sexual abuse A German Catholic priest has admitted 280 counts of sexual abuse involving three boys in the past decade, saying he did not think he was doing harm ... When asked in court if he was a paedophile, he replied, according to local newspaper Braunschweiger Zeitung: "It would be wrong to say No but to say Yes would also fall short of the truth."

Camp Lejeune Water Contamination Cover-Up Hinted In Navy Letter (the military cover shit up? impossible!)
CNN Contributor On Marines Urinating On Dead Bodies: "Supposed To Be A Scandal"? "I'd Drop Trou And Do It Too" | Media Matters for America On her radio show, CNN contributor and Big Journalism editor Dana Loesch cheered on an Internet video reportedly showing U.S. Marines urinating on what appear to be dead Afghans, saying she would "drop trou and do it too." (CNN, not Fox; your liberal media is really fucked up, and Dana Loesch: you will be remembered for this)

Arthur Brisbane and selective stenography - Salon.com - It’s more directed, more purposeful than that: it all goes in one direction (bolstering official claims), all benefits one faction (those who wield power), and all has one outcome (amplifying elite assertions while shielding them from criticial scrutiny).
So whaddaya think: should we put truthtelling back up there at number one? » Pressthink Somewhere along the way, telling truth from falsehood was surpassed by other priorities to which the press felt a stronger duty. Arthur Brisbane, public editor of the New York Times, was unaware of this history when he asked users of the Times whether reporters should call out false statements.
Times public editor smashes himself with boomerang | Jack Shafer - because editors and reporters generally don’t have the guts to take abuse directly from readers, they employ ombudsmen and public editors like Brisbane as their shields (and then they close the comments)
Journalists incredulous as Times public editor asks: ‘Should the Times be a Truth Vigilante?’ | Poynter.
Yes, The New York Times Should Definitely Be a Truth Vigilante - Business - The Atlantic Wire
New York Times Public Editor on Truth - The End of Truth - Esquire Charles P. Pierce - My business is so very screwed.

Eschaton: Random Thought It was quite the triumph of conservative propaganda to convince people that the housing bubble was, once again, about poor minorities getting more than they deserved. And on and on.
Everyone’s Got a Right to Their Own Opinions… | Jared Bernstein | On the Economy …but not to their own facts (more conservative propaganda from Mittens, some think he might be "lying" - Federal programs actually highly efficient)
The Washington Monthly - The Magazine - The Myth of American Productivity Politicians say we have the most productive workers in the world. They don't know what they're talking about.

Democrats Take Lead in Congressional Ballot "Two-thirds of all voters now say they disapprove of this Republican Congress and its approval rating has hit a new low in our tracking -- 26%. The decline has come from a complete drop-off of those who 'strongly approve' of this Republican Congress -- down to 8%, also the lowest in our tracking." (Obstructionism a huge success)

Six GOP Co-Sponsors of PIPA Ask Reid to Cancel Vote - Blog - OpenCongress
Copyright law: Killing creativity | The Economist - Imagine that drug companies were so successful at lobbying governments that they won an extension of their patents from 20 years, as they are today, to 100 years; and that the scope of those rights was extended so that future medical discoveries were in effect blocked. The ensuing public outcry would almost certainly result in the law being rewritten in favour of scientific advancement.
DNS provision pulled from SOPA, victory for opponents | Media Maverick - CNET News

President Barack Obama Seeks Greater Power To Shrink The Federal Government (back to Reagan)
GOP contenders keep the faith in fight for evangelical vote in South Carolina | World news | guardian.co.uk Social conservative issues likely to prove key in South Carolina, which means moderate Mitt Romney could have a problem
Study: Repealing The Mandate Will Increase Premiums By 25 Percent | ThinkProgress A new study from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation finds that efforts to repeal the individual health insurance mandate — and remove the incentive for healthier people to obtain health care coverage — could increase premiums by 25 percent and raise government spending on uncompensated care
Wisconsin Spring: Organizers Set to File Recall Petitions Against Walker | FDL News Desk So if 1.2 million Wisconsinites voted for Walker in 2010, and 1.5 million signed a piece of paper calling for the recall of him and his associates, then the recall election starts in pretty decent shape for Walker’s opponents ... So the Wisconsin Spring could end with a total upheaval of state government
Janklow : Lawyers, Guns & Money Bill Janklow, noted asshole, croaked today, and USA Today decided to stake its claim on the award for Most Unfortunate Choice of Metaphor:
“Not suffering like starving 19th-century Norwegian immigrants” : Lawyers, Guns & Money
Gallup: Wealthy worry about deficit, poor worry about jobs - The Washington Post (shocking)

Balloon Juice » Open Thread: Willard, Meet Professor Krugman
Brad DeLong: Why We Listen to Paul Krugman: The Balance of Macroeconomic Risks in the Summer of 2006 Department

Inside the Fed in 2006 - A Coming Crisis, and Banter - NYTimes.com - Mr. Geithner suggested that Mr. Greenspan’s greatness still was not fully appreciated, an opinion now held by a much smaller number of people.(of course, no one lost their jobs)
Federal Reserve Thought Housing Crisis Was Funny in 2006
How Is It Possible The Fed's Image Can Be Tarnished Further? | Beat the Press At this point, the Fed should not have an image that could possibly be tarnished further. If its record had been reported accurately, everyone would be well aware of its incredible incompetence as a manager of the economy. btw, as noted in the article, many of the people at these Fed meetings are still in top policy making positions. This shows that the U.S. economy still produces good-paying jobs for people without skills.
NPR Does Fluff Piece for Private Equity | MyFDL (Republican fluffers at work)

PG&E diverted safety money for profit, bonuses Pacific Gas and Electric Co. diverted more than $100 million in gas safety and operations money collected from customers over a 15-year period and spent it for other purposes, including profit for stockholders and bonuses for executives (no one will go to jail, of course)
PG&E’s Profitable Threat to Our Critical Infrastructure | emptywheel “It is truly unconscionable that PG&E was allowed by the CPUC to steal ratepayer monies that should have been spent on safety and, instead, was put in the pockets of PG&E shareholders,” said Rep. Jackie Speier,
Arizona Wants to Buy Back State Capitol It Inexplicably Sold | Mother Jones Republican Gov. Jan Brewer signed off on the deal, and the state now leases the House and Senate chambers from a private real estate company at a considerable long-term cost (sell low, buy high!)

Quasicrystal is extraterrestrial in origin A rare and exotic mineral, so unusual that it was thought impossible to exist, came to Earth on a meteorite
BBC News - Processed meat 'linked to pancreatic cancer' A link between eating processed meat, such as bacon or sausages, and pancreatic cancer has been suggested by researchers in Sweden.

Shorter Red State : Lawyers, Guns & Money - Truth and real journalism have a liberal bias. The role of reporters should be to quote Republican politicians and print Republican blast faxes verbatim
Chris Mooney: Why Republicans Deny Science: The Quest for a Scientific Explanation (you can start with the New York Times and their fact-free news)
US teachers offered support for climate change lessons | Environment | guardian.co.uk National Centre for Science Education gives teachers advice on how to deal with demand to drop classes on climate change (Republicans want the words "climate" and "change" removed from dictionaries)
A Mining Law Whose Time Has Passed - NYTimes.com IN 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed a mining law to spur the development of the West by giving hard-rock mining precedence over other uses of federal land. But the law has long since outlived its purpose, and its environmental consequences have been severe.

Life After College Roadmap | MintLife Blog

TVShack's student founder can be extradited to US, court rules | Law | guardian.co.uk US customs agents seek to prosecute Richard O'Dwyer over TVShack, which linked to sites carrying pirated shows and films ... t ICE would now actively pursue websites similar to TVShack even if their only connection to the US was a website address ending in .com or .net. Such suffixes are routed through Verisign, an internet infrastructure company based in Virginia, which the agency believes is sufficient to seek a US prosecution. (Obama justice)
Facebook Makeover Scam Offers To Turn Profile Colors Red, Black Or Pink

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Police to investigate MI6 over rendition and torture of Libyans | World news | guardian.co.uk Criminal inquiry announced as DPP says there is not enough evidence to prosecute agents over Pakistan and Afghanistan allegations (when will Bush's and Obama's turn come?)
All Charges Against Bradley Manning Referred to Court Martial | The Dissenter

Marines Appear To Urinate On Dead Taliban Fighters ... The desecration of corpses during wartime violates military law and can lead to court-martial. (Obama calls it a threat to national security)
Karzai leads wave of condemnation over video of urination on corpses | World news | guardian.co.uk Afghan president calls video of US marines urinating on corpses 'inhumane', but the Taliban says it will not hinder peace talks
Syria: Arab League monitors say they cannot stop the killing - live updates | World news | guardian.co.uk Second monitor threatens to resign from Syria mission • France demands investigation into killing of Gilles Jacquier (attempt to obfuscate fails)
U.S. intelligence report on Afghanistan sees stalemate - latimes.com The sobering judgments in a classified National Intelligence Estimate appear at odds with recent optimistic statements about the war by Pentagon officials ... the war in Afghanistan is mired in stalemate, and warns that security gains from an increase in American troops have been undercut by pervasive corruption, incompetent governance and Taliban fighters operating from neighboring Pakistan (Pentagon is always "optimistic")
South Sudan Massacres Follow Independence - NYTimes.com Bitter ethnic tensions that had largely been shelved for the sake of achieving independence have ruptured into a cycle of massacre and revenge that neither the American-backed government nor the United Nations has been able to stop ... The trail of corpses begins about 300 yards from the corrugated metal gate of the United Nations compound and stretches for miles into the bush.

Canada's Conservative Government Turns My Husband Back Into My Boyfriend | Slog

Eurozone crisis live: BoE and ECB leave interest rates unchanged | Business | guardian.co.uk Bond yields fall for Spain and Italy • Bank of England holds interest rate and QE
Greece's budget deficit widens 0.8 pct in 2011 | Reuters Greece's budget deficit widened last year as an austerity-fuelled recession cancelled out much of the extra revenues the government was hoping to raise through emergency taxes ("austerity-fuelled" eh? your overlords at work)

Eschaton: Not The Onion (this series is interesting as a sign of the times: in a culture that valued truth and facts, the most important news would be the lie. Another sign was Politifact jumping the shark)
Balloon Juice » When the Truth is Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Print the Truth
Political Animal - Answering the Public Editor’s question Arthur Brisbane, Public Editor of the New York Times, has a piece today asking, “Should The Times Be a Truth Vigilante?” (you can see where he's going with the headline, but of course not, that would upset Republican liars)
Balloon Juice » Masochism Tango Times Public Editor Arthur S. Brisbane is a glutton for punishment or a numbskull half-wit, because he just informed us how we all misinterpreted his earlier post about Truth Vigilantes ... He’s getting killed in the comments again. On the last one, he shut them off in the mid-two hundreds (NYT hates dissent +Times’ Editor Jill Abramson’s - “Of course, some facts are legitimately in dispute”. otherwise, they wouldn't be facts, right? +Times erases most comments AGAIN and CLOSES comments, their feelings must be really hurt)
Hullabaloo The New York Times wonders aloud if it should care about the truth (decides no and isn't interested in what you think, either)
Should Vanity Fair Be a Spelling Vigilante? | Blogs | Vanity Fair
NYT Public Editor Criticized for “Truth Vigilante” Column | FDL News Desk
The New York Times public editor's very public utterance | Clay Shirky | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk Brisbane's question on reporters' duty to challenge misleading political speech has permanently altered readers' expectations ... no paper in the United States, not even the Times (as its editor partially concedes), has enough staff to express continuous skepticism about political speech (which is all lies, apparently, so they could just say that)
NYT Responds on Iran Alarmism New York Times public editor Arthur Brisbane has responded to concerns raised in a FAIR action alert last week (1/6/12), agreeing that the paper wrongly suggested that the International Atomic Energy Agency has concluded that Iran is developing a nuclear weapon.

Class Conflict Awareness Rose Significantly From 2009 To 2011: Report (according to the Boston Globe, this is not news)
Daily Kos: Gallup: Record high 40% of Americans identify as independents in 2011 (and 27% identify as completely insane)
Kung Fu Monkey: Lunch Discussions #145: The Crazification Factor - 27% Crazification Factor in any population.

17 Of The Top 20 Biggest Political Donors This Election Cycle Are Conservative | ThinkProgress Egged on in no small part by the Supreme Court’s decision to turn campaign finance into the wild west, a small group of donors have gotten increasing aggressive in their efforts to us their enormous wealth to influence elections
A third of Mormons say Mitt Romney's religion will count against him | World news | The Guardian Almost half of Mormons believe they are more discriminated against than African Americans, poll reveals (oh, sure, dudes)
South Carolina Primary: Next Stop, Foreclosureville n South Carolina, where primary voters hit the polls on Jan. 21, unemployment's flying high at 9.9 percent (very Republican states, of course)
AG Investigating Undercover Filming at Nashua Polls - Nashua, NH Patch James O'Keefe, widely known as the undercover "pimp" who exposed ACORN, takes issue with New Hampshire's lack of required ID at the polls. The state, in turn, is taking issue with his methods.
Santorum Cites a Local Legend - NYTimes.com “We need contrasts,” Mr. Santorum said, “not just a paler shade of what we have.” (you know what that means)

In Fed Officials’ 2006 Meetings, No Deep Worry on Housing - NYTimes.com (of course not)
Be Vewy, Vewy Quiet - NYTimes.com Trickle-down economics has now become shut-your-trap economics (you're just envious)
What Is Private Equity A private equity fund is a vehicle for getting a bunch of money together to buy existing public companies and "take them private," typically (though not necessarily) with the goal of re-selling the firm later (after you've outsourced and fired everybody)
Eschaton: It's Also So Confusing And of course you have to fill out a 17 page claim form in order for us to consider thinking about maybe possibly if you're lucky considering trying to find out if the money in your customer account is still there.
MF Global Customers Wrapped in Red Tape - WSJ.com So far, the trustee liquidating MF Global's brokerage has arranged for customers to be reunited with about 72% of their funds. Now customers are in a new stage of recovery for ...
Foreclosure rates plunge in 2011 - Jan. 12, 2012
Tesco announces temporary closure of more Fresh & Easy stores in US | Business | The Guardian Retailer says shops will reopen 'when economic and business conditions warrant'

Study: Simple measures could reduce global warming, save lives - The Washington Post Simple, inexpensive measures to cut emissions of two common pollutants will slow global warming, save millions of lives and boost crop production around the world, a large international team of scientists reported Thursday. (Republicans prefer to kill millions of people)
Dr. Jeff Masters' WunderBlog : U.S. weather in 2011: unprecedented rains and wet/dry extremes : Weather Underground
Daily Kos: Climate Change Goes Away (Obama stops talking about it, media goes silent, millions will die)

Veterans Flood Iraqi Restaurant To Show Support After Rock Thrown Through Its Window | ThinkProgress
Cincinnati Landlord Loses Fight Over “Whites Only” Pool Sign | Angry Black Lady Chronicles - Cincinnati Landlord Jamie Hein (makes herself famous on the internets for all eternity)

What If The New Republic Had a Sale and Nobody Came? - Forbes A smallish, money-losing highbrow political magazine whose influence peaked 15 years ago, The New Republic is hardly a hot property (Marty Peretz ran it into the ground)

Real-Life Examples Of How Google's "Search Plus" Pushes Google+ Over Relevancy
Generic top-level domain sale begins on web | Technology | guardian.co.uk New suffixes like .Pepsi and .London will be possible as an alternative to the usual .com, .net and handful of others

011112
Iranian nuclear scientist killed in Tehran bomb explosion | World news | guardian.co.uk Professor working at key nuclear facility dead following series of attacks Iranian regime links to Israel and US (Obama's and Israel's secret assassination program)
BBC News - Iran car explosion kills nuclear scientist in Tehran
Pakistan army steps up confrontation with government | World news | guardian.co.uk Military warns that remarks made by prime minister could have 'potentially grievous consequences for country'
Rwanda: at last we know the truth | Linda Melvern | Comment is free | The Guardian A new report reveals who was behind the assassination which led to genocide. But it leaves France with many questions to answer ... On the night of the crash there were senior French military officers living in the Kanombe camp embedded with the Rwandan elite units. As UN peacekeepers were prevented from getting to the wreckage these French officers are said to have taken away the cockpit voice recorder and black box.
300 Chinese Foxconn Workers 'Threaten Mass Suicide' At XBox Plant, Reports Claim

World Economic Forum warns of economic turmoil and social upheaval | Business | The Guardian Ahead of annual WEF meeting in Davos, Global Risks 2012 report says the 'seeds of dystopia' are being sown
German Economy Shrank Slightly at End of 2011 - WSJ.com Germany's economy contracted slightly in the fourth quarter, raising questions about how much longer Berlin will continue to shoulder the burden of rescuing fiscally wayward euro-zone members (who could have predicted that impoverishing their trading partners would lead to disaster?)
In Greece, fears that austerity is killing the economy - The Washington Post . But as Greece’s economy slides into free fall, critics are scanning the devastated landscape here and asking a probing question: Does austerity really work? (who could have predicted that austerity would lead to more austerity?)
Eschaton: Is Water Wet? We are ruled by fools who think mass poverty is the solution to a bad economy.

By The Numbers: 10 Years At Guantánamo Bay | ThinkProgress
Guantánamo: still a part of America's conscience, a decade on | World news | The Guardian Some 171 inmates remain, despite Obama's promises • Only six detainees ever convicted; around 600 released (yeah, he made a lot of promises)
Guantanamo Bay 10th Anniversary: Obama's Detention Law Could Fill Prison Obama Tried To Close ... Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, tried to include a provision in the bill that would have explicitly exempted Americans, but failed to garner enough support for it.
Guantanamo Bay Anniversary: Detention Center Turns Ten

Elizabeth Warren Raises $5.7 Million In Fourth Quarter 2011 In Bid To Unseat Scott Brown In Massachusetts (bye-bye, Cosmo-boy)
Eric Fehrnstrom Romney and Scott Brown Campaigns - What's Good for Willard Is Bad for Scott Brown - Esquire

The Republican Contest - NYTimes.com Where the Iowa caucuses illuminated the dark essence of social conservatism, the New Hampshire primary was a journey into the dingy, cramped quarters of the right wing’s economic policies.
Get Romney: Republican rivals prepare for 'bare knuckle' fight with frontrunner | World news | guardian.co.uk Mitt Romney's opponents set to launch no-holds-barred attack ad campaign as race moves to South Carolina
Conservative activists scrambling for a strategy to block Romney - The Washington Post A near-panic has taken hold among some core conservative activists, who are now scrambling to devise a strategy to deny Mitt Romney the Republican presidential nomination.
Political Animal - Pushing worthwhile questions into ‘quiet rooms’ - Americans are allowed to ask questions about inequality, so long as we’re not too loud about it. Let’s just stick to quiet rooms — perhaps Romney can loan us one from one of his mansions — where we can be told to stop being envious.
Sheldon Adelson's Billions And Newt Gingrich: A Match Made In Israel
Sh*t Republican candidates say | Lizz Winstead | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk -you should hear the way this GOP field talks. For starters, they're obsessed with sex …
(When Mitt Romney Came to Town: Gingrich attack-documentary)
The Dark Side of Mitt Romney | Politics | Vanity Fair
Haven't We Lived Through This Primary Before?
Election Law Experts Say James O’Keefe Allies Could Face Charges Over Voter Fraud Stunt | TPMMuckraker (the only "voter fraud" is committed by Republicans)

Brad DeLong: Raising the Medicare Eligibility Age Is a Really Bad Idea Blogging: Is This a Problem with the Media or with the Congressional Budget Office?
Poverty in America likely to get worse, report finds | Business | guardian.co.uk ndiana University study says 46 million Americans are living below the poverty line – up 27% since start of recession (Republicans at work destroying America)
Daily Kos: Gallup: Jobs and the economy a much bigger concern than deficits (tell that to the lamestream media)
Oil lobby's financial pressure on Obama over Keystone XL pipeline revealed | Environment | guardian.co.uk Study shows money flowing to oil lobby ahead of decision on tar sands pipeline in the November elections
John Castle, Leveraged Buyout King, Breaks Waiter's Finger For Bad Service
South Carolina Bill Forces Unemployed Workers To Volunteer In Order To Receive Unemployment Insurance | ThinkProgress If unemployed workers in South Carolina can’t find a job in six months, they would have to volunteer 16 hours weekly to continue getting benefits from the state under a bill up for debate today by a Senate panel (White Southerners love their slavery)

Marijuana And Lungs: Study Finds Drug Doesn't Do Same Kind Of Damage As Tobacco
New drug may keep you sober no matter how much you've had to drink | MNN - Mother Nature Network The drug is a chemical called dihydromyricetin, or DHM, and is derived from a Chinese variety of the oriental raisin tree, which has been used for at least 500 years in China as an effective hangover cure

Cop Punches Woman: Bus Passenger Tapes LA Sheriff's Deputy Hitting Rider (Shocking Video) Jermaine Green, the man who taped the Monday night incident in Bellflower, told NBC LA that the Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy who struck the woman threatened to arrest him if he didn't hand over his camera phone.
Belgian Tourist Arrested, but Crime Never Happened - NYTimes.com (white kid abused by lying NYC cops, makes NYT)


Top German cop uses spyware on daughter, gets hacked in retaliation : parents, think hard before taking technical measures against your own kids. There's a better than average chance that they—or their friends—know more than you do.
‘Rogue’ Attorney General Spreads MPAA-Fed SOPA Propaganda | TorrentFreak Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff wrote a column in the Salt Lake City Tribune supporting the pending SOPA and PIPA anti-piracy bills. In his article Shurtleff argues that the bills are a necessity if the US is to “stop Internet thieves and profiteers.” An interesting take, but not very credible, as the Attorney Generally who may soon have the power to seize domains, simply passed off MPAA-penned propaganda as his own words (See Lamar Smith)
SOPA Architect Lamar Smith Can't Hear You - Forbes

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The new WH Chief of Staff and Citigroup - Salon.com “We already got enough players in this administration that certainly were key players in the economic malaise that we currently have,” Bass continued. “Why shouldn’t we have another one?” he said with a slight chuckle.

Political Animal - GOP fails to leverage PolitiFact’s misjudgment That PolitiFact’s decision was ridiculous wouldn’t matter (it never does +Politifact is a media/Republican front)
Political Animal - Down the rabbit hole, indeed A variety of conservative media outlets, including Fox News, the New York Post, and the Daily Caller, are worked up this week about a newly-discovered White House outrage: a 2009 Halloween party.

Political Animal - Quite a field ‘This is the worst field.’ …This is the weakest field they’ve seen, by far. Not even a close second.” Mike Barnicle added, “It used to be up here, there was a libertarian candidate, Lyndon LaRouche and you’d cover him for comic relief…. Now you can cover almost the entire Republican field for comic relief.” (the clown parade)
Pain: The David Gregory Solution - Esquire - Dancin' Dave Gregory, chronic Vineyard vacationer and Beltway King of Pain. He reached an entirely new level of smarm when he asked Jon Huntsman the following question:
Ahhh Fox News | Talking Points Memo Fox reporter toasts the awesomeness of Dixville Notch, NH: “No Hanging chads, we didn’t see any black panthers with baseball bats. These were good, American folks…”
Democrats Unleash Bain Assault On Mitt Romney — With The Help Of Newt Gingrich | TPM2012
Jon Stewart Rips GOP's Hypocritical 'Class Warfare' With Mitt Romney (video)
Gingrich Argues Adoption Services Should Be Allowed To Take Taxpayer Money While Discriminating Against Gays | ThinkProgress
New Hampshire Students Carry The Nation's Largest Debt Load And The GOP Has No Solutions | ThinkProgress
Three Leading GOP Presidential Nominees Pledge To Be Tough On Porn | ThinkProgress (America's biggest problem)
Pollitt’s Perplexity about Pundits on Ron Paul « Translation Exercises

CHART: How The Debt Limit Fight Hurt The Economy, Delayed Recovery | TPMDC
U.S. Inquiry of MF Global Gains Speed - NYTimes.com Louis J. Freeh, the trustee overseeing the bankruptcy proceedings of MF Global, has not waived the legal provision, which shields records from examination by law enforcement (America's worst law-enforcement ex-offical is heading the coverup)
Pennsylvania to impose asset test for food stamps | Philadelphia Inquirer | 01/10/2012 (Republicans at work making sure you have no money at all)
Businessmen and Economics - NYTimes.com why does anyone believe that success in business qualified someone to make economic policy? (because its a religion)
MF Global Holdings Trustee Louis Freeh Seeks Bankruptcy Creditor Priority - Bloomberg (America's worst ...)


Daniel Montague Acker Jr., Alabama Teacher Accused Of Molesting Students, Defended By Schools Chief Two longtime Alabama school board leaders are defending the panel's decision in 1993 to reinstate an elementary school teacher who was accused of molesting a student, even though the teacher is now charged with more abuse.
Troy Mayor Said 'Disturbing Things' in Meeting, Gay-Straight Alliance Leader Says - Troy, MI Patch Janice Daniels' reference to homosexuality being dangerous to mental health disturbed leaders of the Troy High School Gay-Straight Alliance, whom the mayor met with on Monday ... Daniels, while discussing mental health and suicide among members of the LGBT community, at one point suggested putting together a panel of psychologists to show that homosexuality is dangerous to your mental health.

Google 'Search Plus Your World' Brings Google+ Into Search Results

010912
Amnesty warns of continued repression in Middle East | World news | guardian.co.uk Despite the Arab spring, many governments are brutalising their populations into submission for regime survival, says report
Nigeria fuel protests: two killed and dozens wounded as police open fire | World news | The Guardian Police use live ammunition and teargas to disperse crowds taking part in national strike in protest against fuel subsidy cuts
Man charged over alleged plot to bomb Tampa nightclubs | World news | guardian.co.uk FBI agents arrested Osmakac on Saturday after he allegedly bought explosive devices and firearms from an undercover agent.
Anwar Ibrahim sodomy charge dismissed by Malaysian judge | World news | guardian.co.uk Second acquittal of opposition leader on sex charges is a shock ahead of poll that could shake ruling Umno party's grip on power
Iranian court sentences 'CIA agent' to death | World news | guardian.co.uk Father of Amir Hekmati says he was just visiting family


Greece’s Least Bad Option Looks to Be Internal Devaluation: View - Bloomberg
Eschaton: Here's An Idea: Let's Improve Things By Making Everybody (Else) Suffer Default and leave the euro. Really a much better plan. The choice between Iceland and Ireland is rather simple.
The Myth of Japan’s Failure - NYTimes.com Here, for instance, is how the CNN analyst David Gergen has described Japan: “It’s now a very demoralized country and it has really been set back.” (Gergen makes shit up, as usual; actually, Japan "has done a lot better than the United States.")
Hildebrand Steps Down at SNB - Bloomberg “I came to the conclusion that it’s not possible for me to deliver definite proof that my wife requested the currency transaction without my knowledge,” Hildebrand, 48, said (little "dent" in his credibility, as in fucking liar)
Eurozone crisis: Swiss bank chief quits over dollar trades | Business | guardian.co.uk Leaders: we hope to agree fiscal compact before March
European Banks Now Get Loans From Cash-Rich Firms - European News - CNBC (they used to call them "deposits" before companies demanded "collateral")
Eschaton: Malaise - Miliband is truly inspiring ... Labour: maybe sucking slightly less than the other guys for the past 8 months or so. (austerity!)

Elizabeth Warren Stands Outside Fenway, in the Cold, Shaking Hands | Mother Jones (Cosmo-boy saved us from lawnorder Choakley)

Supreme Court decision could give California’s ‘Skid Row Stabber’ his release | McClatchy "It is a regrettable reality that some federal judges like to second-guess state courts," Scalia and Alito wrote, pointedly adding that the 9th Circuit has been "particularly needful" of Supreme Court chastisement for overt activism (no steenking appeals, either)

Bill Daley Resigned as White House Chief of Staff; Jack Lew Promoted - ABC News the current director of the Office of Management and Budget, will be the new chief of staff ... former vice chairman at JPMorgan Chase, Daley was heralded as having skills ... namely ties to the business community (at least he's not a Chicago clown, but the real question is why Obama's Chiefs of Staff are banksters?)
Bill Daley Resigning: Obama Chief Of Staff Stepping Down Despite his political pedigree, Daley was always a curious pick for the Obama administration. He had been the top lobbyist for JPMorgan Chase, the nation's second-largest bank, which issued at least $30 billion in subprime mortgages during the housing bubble ... Daley actively lobbied against the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. ("curious pick" indeed, but Jack Lew "headed the "alternative investments" division at Citigroup, a team that handled private equity investments, hedge fund bets and massive gambles on subprime mortgages" )

Political Animal - ‘Independents’ Day Gallup finds 40% of American self-identify as independents, the highest percentage Gallup has ever measured since it began keeping track. Democrats are a distant second with 31%, with Republicans third at 27%. ... [H]ere is the problem: Most independents are closet partisans. This has been well-known in political science since at least 1992, with the publication of The Myth of the Independent Voter (Obama and his crack team of idiots never read the book)
Is Jon Huntsman the Future of the Republican Party? The Republican Party seems to be dominated by an alliance of religious extremists and warmongers. It’s a longstanding trend but one that captured the leadership of the party only with the 2010 elections.
High Fives at DNC Headquarters DNC officials can't believe they have Mitt Romney on video saying he likes firing people.
Quote of the Day "Now I have no doubt that Mitt Romney was worried about pink slips -- whether he was going to have enough of them to hand out because his company Bain Capital with all the jobs that they killed, I'm sure he was worried that he'd run out of pink slips." -- Rick Perry
What Romney Meant With 'Firing' Comment: Americans Should Pay More For Health Care | ThinkProgress
Ron Paul's Strange Bedfellows | The Nation - Katha Pollitt
Mitt Romney Holds Lead But Jon Huntsman Gaining In Latest New Hampshire Polls
Balloon Juice » Romney, “Job Cremator” “Mitt Romney, I think, is more of a job cremator than a job creator,” Schultz said
Balloon Juice » Romney Apocalypse It’s interesting to compare the MoveOn.org ad on Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital history with this End of Days trailer for the movie produced by the Gingrich Super PAC Winning Our Future (MoveOn didn't want to be too divisive or they might be Politifucked)
Mike Huckabee: GOP Candidates Won't Sing 'Kumbaya' And Unite The Conservative Vote
Romney’s Opponents Intensify Attacks as Voting Nears - NYTimes.com The attacks came as Mr. Romney’s lead in New Hampshire appears to be slipping.
Black Man Confronts Gingrich On Food Stamps Comments: 'Stop Using Blacks As A Punching Bag' | ThinkProgress "I mean clearly somebody who’s served with Colin Powell, who has served with Condoleezza Rice, I have a fairly good sense of the fact that African Americans have many contributions to America." (served with? on what planet?)
Could Haley Recall Effort Gain Steam with Legislation? - West Ashley, SC Patch Several bills have been filed in the General Assembly to amend the SC Constitution to allow for the recall of elected officials as a new Recall 'Trikki Nikki' website seeks to generate public support for the move.

Economist's View: Fed Watch: Ultimately, It's About the Inflation Target
Eschaton: So They're Useless Then If this really is the Fed's view, then they're saying that monetary policy is generally going to be utterly useless in fighting recessions as they won't be willing to do anything. Time to rewrite all the textbooks.
How College Football Bowls Earn Millions In Profits But Pay Almost Nothing In Taxes | ThinkProgress

The Driest First Week of January in Recorded History : Lawyers, Guns & Money No climate change to be seen here. Nope, nothing at all. Certainly no January wildfires in Montana. Move along everyone, back to your shorts and golf courses on January 9 (is God punishing America for its stupidity by withholding water?)
Masters: "It Is Very Likely That This Has Been the Driest First Week of January in U.S. Recorded History" | ThinkProgress

Seeing quantum mechanics with the naked eye
Oil is more toxic than previously thought, study finds Bad news for the Gulf of Mexico: a study released in late December sheds new light on the toxicity of oil in aquatic environments, and shows that environmental impact studies currently in use may be inadequate
Censoring ourselves: Legal academia and the code of silence : Lawyers, Guns & Money (Prof. Dan Markel, "academic thug" makes himself famous on the internets for all eternity as a jerk and bully; well played Dan!)

Hullabaloo State sanctioned kidnapping ... One study published last year looking at cases in which deported Americans have later been able to prove they're US citizens contends that about 1 percent of those detained and deported in any given year are, in fact, Americans. That's about 20,000 people since 2003, it concludes ... Any country that routinely incarcerates and deports it's most vulnerable and poor, purely because they can't prove their citizenship, is a sick country. You almost have to wonder if some of them aren't doing it on purpose. (time to deport Obama back to Kenya)
Number of homeless students surges, putting strain on schools - Chicago Sun-Times Jarvis, like thousands of other students in Chicago Public Schools, is homeless. He is just one of more than 10,660 students who were homeless at the beginning of the school year. That’s 1,466 more than at the same point in the previous school year, according to a CPS tally (let them clean toilets)
Arizona Officials Single Out Hispanic City Council Candidate To Take An English Literacy Test | ThinkProgress There is nothing in the Constitution that protects English as the exclusive language of the United States (Arizona, #1 in facist states of America until the Hispanics take over and start Spanish-testing)

Honda Hybrid Lawsuit Brought By Heather Peters In California Small Claims Court she may have inspired what the Los Angeles Times called a "small-claims flash mob" for the approximately 500,000 Honda customers who could be affected by the pending class action suit.
Doubts Expressed On Train to Proposed Convention Center - WNYC Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a non-binding agreement last week to build the world's largest convention center at Aqueduct Racetrack, but details about how conventioneers would get to and from Manhattan are sketchy (more taxpayer money down the developer hole)
RSC grants amateur dramatics starring role in the Cultural Olympiad | Stage | The Observer Royal Shakespeare Company project applauds contribution to the arts of a peculiarly British institution (because community theatre only happens in the UK)

flv - YouTube (finger-painting virtuoso)
A Scanner Darkly - YouTube

Keith Olbermann, Current Resolve Election Feud; Olbermann Will Control 2012 Coverage "I'm pleased to tell you that I'll be running the election coverage on Current, after New Hampshire," he wrote. "Not sure GOP will share my satisfaction."
The Photographs Of Your Junk (Will Be Publicized): A Biting Social Commentary (video)
Netflix UK Launch: U.S. Giant Takes A Gamble As Fierce Web-TV Battle Shapes Up With Amazon Netflix launched in Britain and Ireland on Monday, taking on BSkyB's premium drama and movies offerings and prompting Amazon-owned rival Lovefilm to offer a new cut-price service.

010812
Pervez Musharraf, Former Pakistan President, Faces Arrest In Connection To Benazir Bhutto Murder (wheels of justice turning slowly)
Afghanistan Commission Accuses U.S. Of Detainee Abuse (how could that be?)
US reliance on Afghan paramilitaries in rural areas worries European allies | World news | The Guardian Britain wonders if local police force can keep stability, while Germans argue the units are not easy to control
Arab League's Syria Meeting Begins Arab League monitors will say on Sunday that Syria is failing to honour a promise to end its crackdown on peaceful protests (you don't say)
Arab League mission in Syria 'has only just started' | World news | The Observer The general in charge of the 67-strong group of observers, Mohammed al-Dabi, says they are prepared for the long haul
Church attacks in Nigeria leave at least 27 worshippers dead | World news | The Observer Islamist group claims responsibility amid growing concern about government's inability to tackle sectarian violence
Nigeria faces mass strike and protests over discontinued state fuel subsidy | World news | The Guardian Thousands expected to march through streets of Lagos and Abuja after petrol pump prices more than double overnight

Mission: Invade Iran - Morning Star - George Galloway (yes, they are that stupid and bloodthirsty)

Hackers expose defence and intelligence officials in US and UK | Technology | The Guardian Security breach by 'hacktivists' reveals email addresses of 221 British military staff and 242 Nato officials

Global Health Initiative | Survey| Obama Health | USAID President Obama's ambitious Global Health Initiative — announced to a receptive international community in 2009 — is faltering as budget constraints and shaky implementation limit the impact of the multibillion-dollar program.

The Weekly Standard's anti-gay email is just one of a disturbing trend | World news | guardian.co.uk Frustrated American conservatives are exploiting gay paranoia to make up for a drought of ideas on how to fix the economy (that'll work)

Fox News Again Mislabels Vermont As New Hampshire | Media Matters for America
Political Animal - Romney: elected office is for the rich
Mitt Romney At 2012 Repubican Debate: I'm Happy Ted Kennedy Had To Take Out A Mortgage In Senate Race (what an asshole)
Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney Pressed About Support For Gay Rights During 2012 New Hampshire GOP Debate Santorum's characterization of his "respect" for gay men and women. He has said that children raised by same-sex couples will lead to "dysfunction" in society and that the "country will fall" as a result of same-sex marriage (homophobic clown-parade)
Santorum Tells Kids With Gay Parents: You'd Be Better Off With Parents In Prison | ThinkProgress
Ron Paul's useful idiots on the left | Megan Carpentier | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk Progressives who make common cause with Paul on US foreign policy ignore his stunningly reactionary views on everything else
Rick Perry Would Re-Deploy Troops To Iraq To Prevent Iran Moving In "At The Speed of Light" | Video Cafe (or maybe even faster!)
MSNBC Chief: Not Sure Whether Pat Buchanan Will Be Allowed Back | Crooks and Liars Can there really be a line that even right-wingers can't cross when it comes to cable news? Or is it simply that Buchanan isn't a good fit with the network's plans? (lamestream media's favorite paleo-racist)


Prostate cancer screening does not reduce death rates, research shows | Society | guardian.co.uk Findings suggest screenings result in more diagnoses, but does not reduce number of people who die from cancer
Shocker, if this is 1960: Tobacco company misrepresented danger from cigarettes | Science Codex Philip Morris USA manipulated data on the effects of additives in cigarettes, including menthol, obscuring actual toxicity levels and increasing the risk of heart, cancer and other diseases for smokers.
Scrunch time: The peculiar physics of crumpled paper - physics-math - 05 January 2012 - New Scientist
With Subway Fare Upped to $2.50, Will Pizza Slice Prices Follow Suit? | The New York Observer

Va. prisons’ use of solitary confinement is scrutinized - The Washington Post At Red Onion State Prison, built on a mountaintop in a remote pocket of southwest Virginia, more than two-thirds of the inmates live in solitary confinement (VA, lawn-order-state, America, land of torture and sadists)
Abortion a bigger problem than joblessness, says Catholic Church · ELPAÍS.com in English Bishop warns of UNESCO plan to "make half the world population homosexual" (church of the insane)


Bob Dylan Lyrics - Mr. Tambourine Man
The Byrds-"Mr. Tambourine Man"-Frankie Avalon-5/11/65 - YouTube (the first folk-rock song?)
Hunter S. Thompson and the Music of the Sixties | Beatdom ... Then, after his death – as decided decades earlier – it was the song that played as his ashes were fired from a giant Gonzo Fist at Owl Farm.

Leaked Memo Says Apple Provides Backdoor To Governments - Slashdot (Apple gave away your privacy)

010712
US navy destroyer rescues Iranian boat from Somali pirates | World news | guardian.co.uk Rescue in which 15 suspects were detained comes just days after Tehran warned the US to keep its warships out of the Gulf
Hungary's 'Viktator' faces tide of protest at home and abroad | World news | guardian.co.uk Viktor Orbán's increasingly authoritarian regime has brought thousands on to the streets in protest, with new political movements and even hunger strikes in progress (Hungary loves its dictators)
Countess of Wessex 'should return bloodstained' gems to Bahrain | UK news | guardian.co.uk Labour MP Denis MacShane and activist Peter Tatchell call on Sophie to return jewels after crackdown on democracy protests (countess takes jewels from bloody dictators)

Kathryn Bigelow's Bin Laden film to star Joel Edgerton | Film | guardian.co.uk Cast of film about killing of Osama bin Laden grows as Republicans claim secrets leaked to film-making team (they forgot the whole "mission accomplished" thing)


Super PACs: The WMDs of Campaign Finance - Ben W. Heineman Jr. - Politics - The Atlantic How the opaque and increasingly powerful organizations are shaping the future of American elections -- and how they might be stopped (Supreme Court anti-American)

alicublog BOO FUCKING HOO. Yes, it's hilarious that John freaking Yoo is calling Obama's quasi-recess appointments an "Abuse of Executive Power... even with my broad view of executive power." Even if one didn't know the backstory of the Republicans' relentless obstructionism, that is rich.
John Yoo's Tortured Logic | The Nation Stephen Holmes April 13, 2006 (the worst of the worst)

2012 Primary Schedule « 2012 Election Central (the next four thousand Republican primaries)
Hullabaloo From the "how do you like me now?" files (live by the stupid, die by the stupid)
Dems Fire Back At GOP Proposals To Drug Test Jobless: 'You Pee In The Cup' Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) called the Republican drug test scheme unfair and insulting. "I don't see anyone in the Republican majority demanding drug testing for folks who receive oil and gas subsidies," he said (and what about the stoned banksters?)
Comment: Un-American Activities : The New Yorker In the tenth paragraph of a page A15 Times piece, Rick Santorum accuses Barack Obama of engaging in “absolutely un-American activities.” What are they? The article doesn’t say.
The Venn of Ron Paul and Other Mysteries of Libertarianism Explained | Mother Jones
Kerrey Exploring a Return to the Senate Kerrey is inclined to seek the Senate seat that will be vacated by Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson at the end of the year."
Georgia Lawmaker Apologizes For Attacking Romney's Mormon Faith, Does Not Apologize To Muslims | ThinkProgress Georgia state representative Judy Cummings (R) attacked Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith, saying that it scares her. She also said that at “least it’s not a Muslim,” indicating that she believes Islam to be an even more inferior religion.
Pat Buchanan Still Missing From MSNBC After Over Two Months (and NPR)
rethink brown.com

Hullabaloo The disempowerment of Michelle Obama ... When push comes to shove, it may well be the biggest thing wrong with the Obama Administration is that the wrong Obama is in charge. (the whimp and his whimpy dumb advisors)

EPA Could Send Water to Pa. Town With Bad Wells - ABC News Homeowners in Dimock Township have been without a reliable supply of clean water since Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., the Houston-based drilling firm blamed for polluting their aquifer, stopped making daily deliveries more than a month ago.
Balloon Juice » The Missing Link in Scary Tales of Young Bucks ... Los Angeles —- like other big cities around the country — is in the midst of a crime drop so steep and profound, it has experts scratching their heads. Crime fell in 2011 for the ninth year in a row, to levels not seen in Los Angeles since half a century ago.
Minor Offenses on N.Y. Subway Can Bring a Ticket, or Handcuffs - NYTimes.com Mr. Peppers had put his feet up on a subway seat, and that, the officer informed him, was a crime — one that in his case would lead to his arrest. He spent 12 hours in jail before he saw a judge, and was released after pleading guilty (Bloomberg's war on poor people)

Mortgage-Servicing Companies That Broke Law Should Be Fined, Raskin Says - Bloomberg (a small fine, anyway, and no jail time of course)
Hit And Run: Boeing Leaves Kansas After Promising The State Jobs For $35 Billion Contract And Slew Of Tax Breaks | ThinkProgress (oh well)
Business Is Booming For Superyacht Makers

Record Heat Floods America With Temperatures 40 Degrees Above Normal | ThinkProgress (Republicans to drug-test the weather)

Private Chen’s Family Learns More About Hazing by Fellow G.I.’s - NYTimes.com
Florida Man Tortured and Pepper-Sprayed to Death by Police | Care2 Causes It has been two and half years since 62-year old Nick Christie was tortured and pepper-sprayed to death by police at the Lee County Jail. Although the medical examiner ruled his death a homicide, the law enforcement officers who kept him strapped naked to a chair and then pepper sprayed him until he died have not been charged in his death.

Facebook Ramnit Worm Swipes 45,000 Usernames, Passwords
Symantec Hack Exposes Antivirus Source Code The software maker would not confirm the claim of a group called the Lords of Dharmaraja, who said that they had obtained Symantec's source code by hacking the Indian military ... Some governments ask their security vendors to provide their source code to ensure there is nothing in the code that could act as spyware (who could have predicted that?)
Twitter Ordered To Hand Over WikiLeaks Supporters' Account Information a federal judge ordered on Wednesday.

010612
Afghan president demands control of Bagram prison | World news | guardian.co.uk Hamid Karzai reacts to being sidelined from Taliban talks by ordering US hand over main military prison within one month
Syria: Damascus 'suicide attack' - live updates | World news | guardian.co.uk Interior ministry blames al-Qaida (oh sure)
Iran, US and Israel announce new war games as tensions rise in the Gulf | World news | The Guardian Surge in military activity in the region comes amid threat of EU embargo on Iranian oil and possible closure of strait of Hormuz
Turkey arrests former army chief over 'plot to bring down government' | World news | The Guardian General Ilker Basbug most senior officer to face trial in series of investigations into alleged anti-government plots
Ilker Basbug, Turkey General, Arrested Over Terror Plot

Eurozone unemployment hits new record | Business | guardian.co.uk In bailed-out Greece, unemployment stands at 18.8%, up from 13.3%; while Spain now has the highest unemployment rate in Europe, at 22.9% (Eurolords will treat the problem with more austerity!)
How Europe's year of indecision sowed the seeds of future conflict | Business | guardian.co.uk Closer fiscal union and the emergence of a two-speed Europe threaten a vicious deflationary debt spiral from which the eurozone will struggle to escape

48% of the World's 1% Are Americans - Business - The Atlantic Wire

What the Fact-Checkers Get Wrong : CJR The language of Politifact and its peers doesn’t match their project (yeah, they were always tools of corportate media)
Politifact Chose the Vice of the Year but They Called it a Lie. That was Dumb. » Pressthink

Iowa Caucus 2012 Results: Vote-Counter Says Mistake Gave Mitt Romney 20 Extra Votes (Greta says no big deal)
Political Animal - Conservatives to gather, look for ‘consensus’ (muhahaha)
Santorum's 'Freedom' is Pretty Much Slavery | Crooks and Liars (your soul belongs to the company store)
Hullabaloo Orwell Santorum (the last clown out of the car is the scariest)
Mitt Romney out of control - The Washington Post “What do you think of your eight-vote landslide?” the Associated Press’s Glenn Johnson asked.
New Hampshire primary: Santorum under fire and Romney snubbed - live | World news | guardian.co.uk New Hampshire GOP primary sees Rick Santorum's record under scrutiny and Mitt Romney dissed by his local newspaper
Balloon Juice » Paint It Blah This may be the most pathetic and feeble backtrack of a dog whistle ever (NPR will totally cover for him)
Santorum Denies Making Racially-Charged Claim After Apparently Acknowledging Saying It | ThinkProgress - There’s ample video evidence suggesting that Santorum did, in fact, say “black,” but Santorum’s denial is especially surprising considering that he seemed to acknowledge making the comments earlier yesterday (that was a couple of hours ago, and it's all open to interpretation)
New Hampshire Primary Election 2012: Live Updates From The Granite State Santorum: America Needs A 'Jesus Candidate'
Rick Santorum-Linked Universal Health Services Facility: Fraud, Assault And Alleged 'Exorcism' (the Republican way)
Kids sexually assaulted at psychiatric hospitals, reports say - Chicago Tribune At least 18 cases of reported rape or sex abuse identified at some of the Chicago area's most prominent centers
Mike O'Neal, Kansas House Speaker, Apologizes For Email Calling Michelle Obama 'Mrs. YoMama' (that was really funny, racist Kansas)
Magna Carta and Wingnut Legislation : Lawyers, Guns & Money New Hampshire Republicans are taking textual originalism to a whole new level: three lawmakers have proposed a bill that requires that all legislation find its origin not in the U.S. constitution, but an English document crafted in 1215 (New Hampshire, back to the 12th century: "Heirs may be given in marriage, but not to someone of lower social standing. Before a marriage takes place, it shall be’ made known to the heir’s next-of-kin.")
LIHEAP: Congress, White House Cut Heating Assistance Just In Time For Winter
Eric Holder Expands FBI's Definition Of Rape To Include Male Victims, Non-Forcible Assaults the first update to the federal definition in nearly a century (Obama didn't want to rush things and be divisive)

U.S. Economy Adds 200,000 Jobs In December As Jobless Rate Falls To 8.5 Percent
Graph Gallery: Employment Graphs Title: Percent Job Losses in Post WWII Recessions, December, posted on Jan 6, 2012 (scariest chart ever, updated, our overlords ignored it)
Eschaton: This Is What He Was Hired For Nobody could have predicted that Louis Freeh was hired to bury the bodies ... $1.2 billion was stolen. They'll never get the money back, and no one will be prosecuted. And everyone will spend a lot of time making it all appear to be oh so complicated and confusing when of course it isn't.
S.E.C. to Change Policy on Companies’ Admission of Guilt - NYTimes.com
Bank charge of the day, mortgage-payment edition | Felix Salmon That’s an up-front fee of $375, plus another $39 a year, just for the privilege of making your mortgage payments every two weeks rather than every month (Citibank, the worst bank in the world, charging you to pay your mortgage faster)
Do We Care About Social Mobility? Should We? it turns out that America is unusually unequal and has unusually low mobility. The gaps between the rungs on the American economic ladder are unusually far apart, so it's unusually hard to climb the ladder (land of opportunity if your daddy is rich)

Science Is Sure: Smart People Love Drugs - Technology - The Atlantic Wire . "The likely mechanism is openness to experience," he writes, "and, I think, it's also this idea of having an educated view of risk as well."
Taylor & Francis Online :: Why Do Better-Looking Members of Congress Receive More Television Coverage? - Political Communication - Volume 28, Issue 4
The Sultriest Members of Congress - Politics - The Atlantic Wire
Fracking will poison New York's drinking water, critics warn | Environment | guardian.co.uk Opponents of controversial gas drilling method condemn plan as environmental agency sounds alarm bells over staffing levels (Republicans want to kill the EPA)

Teenager Mistakenly Deported To Colombia | Crooks and Liars CNN just ran this report at 9 AM this morning. Note how the entire story is being twisted now to blame the victim. It's HER fault she's in Colombia. Somehow she plotted to use someone's name who was never in the ICE system? According to CNN, she jacked the whole system to get from Texas to Colombia. They can't imagine why, of course, but it's clearly this 14-year old (now 15) African-American teenager's fault that she is being held in the system in Colombia after being deported from this country (Ed Lavandera, worst person in the world yesterday)
Pa. judge dismisses 2,000 juvenile cases in 'kids for cash' scandal — NewsWorks has expunged every juvenile court case decided by a Pennsylvania jurist convicted of corruption.

Taking Parking Lots Seriously, as Public Spaces - NYTimes.com THERE are said to be at least 105 million and maybe as many as 2 billion parking spaces in the United States ... One study says we’ve built eight parking spots for every car in the country ... “in some U.S. cities, parking lots cover more than a third of the land area, becoming the single most salient landscape feature of our built environment.”


iPhone 4S Doubles Data Consumption: Study due to increasing use of online services like the virtual personal assistant Siri, an industry study showed.

010512
Iraq suicide attack kills 30 | World news | guardian.co.uk Bomber targets Shia pilgrims in southern Iraq hours after Baghdad blasts killed 30, adding to concerns over sectarian violence
Iraq Bombings: Wave Of Explosions In Shiite Area Of Baghdad Kill Dozens
Syria: army defectors meet Arab League observers - live updates | World news | guardian.co.uk Free Syrian Army tell league they want to protect civilians • Senior official defects from the Assad regime

Switzerland's central bank chief accused of insider trading | Business | The Guardian Swiss weekly Die Weltwoche alleges National Bank chief Philipp Hildebrand engaged in profitable foreign currency deals (they are all crooks)
Eurozone crisis: France passes €8bn bond auction test | Business | guardian.co.uk
UK Austerity Leaves 7 Million Brits Paying Their Rent Via Credit | Crooks and Liars

Obama unveils new defence strategy with greater emphasis on Asia | World news | guardian.co.uk President appears at Pentagon to announce plans for slimmed-down military as it prepares to absorb huge budget cuts

Hullabaloo Unless you believe, as some do, that we must get on with our impending dystopian nightmare so that we can rebuild from the rubble (sometimes known as destroying the village in order to save it) this is probably a useful group of articles. The question posed is what would happen if the Republicans win the next election:

Rick Santorum In New Hampshire: Congress Should Take Obama To Court For Recess Appointments Obama has made 28 recess appointments, compared with 61 by President George W. Bush at the same point in his term, according to the White House (hypocrisy, thy name is Republican)
The Rick Santorum that America doesn't know | Philly | 01/04/2012
Super PAC Disclosure Requirements Hot Topic Of Conversation Among GOP Candidates
Mitt Romney's Dog Incident Comes Back To Haunt Him (photo)
Rick Santorum Called Mormonism 'Dangerous Cult' In Minds Of 'Some Christians' In 2007
The Philosopher's Stone: Newt Gingrich's Doctoral Dissertation
Newt Gingrich: I'll Tell African-Americans That They Should 'Demand Paychecks And Not Be Satisfied With Food Stamps' | ThinkProgress (best racist Republican comment of the day)
S.C. Attorney General to Appeal Voter ID Ruling - West Ashley, SC Patch Although the law's co-sponsor Larry Grooms acknowledged the law is discriminatory, he rejected the assumption that it was targeting minority voters (yeah, sure)
Scott Walker Investigation Leads To Felony Charges Two people, including a former close aide to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker when he served as Milwaukee County executive, were arrested on felony theft charges Thursday as part of an ongoing criminal investigation that centers on people who served in the county during Walker's tenure.
Jan Brewer's Suit Over Arizona Medical Marijuana Law Is Dismissed A federal judge on Wednesday threw out Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer's complaint against her state's voter-approved medical marijuana law.
Medical Marijuana Could Soon Be Coming to Massachusetts | Just Say Now

How This Started - NYTimes.com I see many people claiming that the freshwater guys have not been as extreme as I say, that they never declared that Keynesian economics is completely invalid (the Chicago School of fake ecomonics and applied lying)
ADP: U.S. Companies Added 325,000 Private-Sector Jobs In December
Obama Fails On Minimum Wage Pledge The federal minimum wage remains $7.25 an hour, the same rate it's been since 2009, when the last of a series of wage bumps signed into law by George W. Bush was implemented.
David Brooks: 'The Republican Party is the Party of the Working Class' | Video Cafe

Trouble in paradise: Ocean acidification this way comes Something wicked this way comes: ocean acidification arrives in paradises like Mo'orea.Credit: NSF Moorea Coral Reef LTER Site

Tennessee Anti-Bullying Law Change Could Allow Students To Speak Out Against Gays For Religious Reasons: Report
Fine proposed for botching US national anthem | Music | guardian.co.uk Republican state senator pushes bill that would fine performers $25 for changing the words to The Star-Spangled Banner


US Threatened To Blacklist Spain For Not Implementing Site Blocking Law | TorrentFreak the US ambassador to the country warned that as punishment for not passing a SOPA-style file-sharing site blocking law, Spain risked being put on a United States trade blacklist .

010412
Global unrest: how the revolution went viral | World news | The Guardian
Ecuador court upholds $18bn penalty against Chevron | Business | guardian.co.uk Oil company vows to continue fight against ruling that subsidiary Texaco polluted Amazon rainforest
EU agrees Iran oil embargo | World news | guardian.co.uk European governments raise pressure on Tehran over its nuclear programme with agreement to ban imports of Iranian oil
Why is Britain ramping up sanctions against Iran? | Simon Jenkins | Comment is free | The Guardian Sabre-rattling at Washington's behest is an idiocy, and likely to do little other than escalate the steps to open conflict

Eurozone's phoney war will be short-lived | Business | The Guardian Stock markets are surprisingly calm as 2012 begins, but such complacency can't hide the fact that fault lines are forming across Europe
Fresh credit crunch fears as banks park record €453bn cash with ECB | Business | The Guardian Move suggests banks afraid to lend to each other
Cameron to tighten screw on top pay - FT.com (on a cold day in hell)

Former NoW editor Colin Myler takes the helm at New York Daily News | Media | guardian.co.uk Editor who presided over News of the World during fallout from phone-hacking scandal to take charge at Murdoch rival

Richard Cordray Nomination: Obama Using Recess Appointment Amid GOP Opposition (the wimp found some backbone, somewhere)

Politics Northwest | UPDATE: Gregoire proposes legislation to legalize gay marriage | Seattle Times Newspaper . "I have always been uncomfortable with the position that I have taken publicly. And then I came to realize the religions can decide what they want to do, but it is not OK for the state to discriminate."
Brad DeLong: How Blue Shield Spends Its Money The thing to focus on is the $0.13 of every dollar that Blue Shield spends on "administrative costs"--i.e., trying to make sure that they don't pay for sick people.

Iowa Caucuses (R) | TPM Election Results (Santorum got the fundie vote, which is most counties in Iowa)
Iowa caucus results: Rick Santorum presses on to New Hampshire | World news | guardian.co.uk Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum shift gear from Iowa to New Hampshire as Michele Bachmann exits the GOP race
Michele Bachmann drops out of race after dismal Iowa showing | World news | guardian.co.uk The Minnesota congresswoman, once a front-runner in Iowa, finished last in the Iowa caucuses with only 6% of the vote
Daniel Marans: Santorum's Anti-Family Stance on Social Security , David Brooks attributed Rick Santorum's last-minute surge in the polls to the appeal of his family values platform with working-class whites. If Brooks is right, then those same voters should take a second look at Santorum's position on Social Security, a program that represents the best of American family values (stupid white people in Iowa, screwing themselves, as usual)
Hullabaloo The Deconstructed Sex Candidate - Santorum thinks that people have kids for the money (therefore, people shouldn't have sex and we should outlaw birth-control)
"Conservative Analyst" E.D. Hill Anchors CNN's Straight News Programs | Media Matters for America She is perhaps best known for her time on Fox News, where she once asked if Obama and his wife were engaging in "a terrorist fist jab." (even Fox thought she was an idiot)
Romney Family Files: Fled to Mexico Due to a Polygamy Ban Making Them 'The First Displaced Persons of the 20th Century' | Crooks and Liars

The Mendacity of Dopes - NYTimes.com So Alex Tabarrok thinks I treat everyone who disagrees with me as mendacious idiots, and Tyler Cowen says that I always demonize my opponents. I plead innocent. I only treat people as mendacious idiots if they are mendacious idiots ... This is not a game. (zing)
Whiskey Fire: Civility Trolling: How It Is Done Say what you will about Tyler Cowen, the man knows how to concern troll ... Also too "tussling with Thucydides" will henceforth and forever be my preferred euphemism for masturbation.
Krugman's intellectual dishonesty - ProfessorBainbridge.com (add Bainbridge to the list)
MF Global sold assets to Goldman before collapse - sources | Reuters MF Global unloaded hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of securities to Goldman Sachs in the days leading up to its collapse, according to two former MF Global employees with direct knowledge of the transactions. But it did not immediately receive payment from its clearing firm and lender, JPMorgan Chase & Co, one of the sources said. (just tell us who's going the jail)

Florida Bill Would Make Abortion A Felony With A Maximum Sentence Of Life In Prison | ThinkProgress (endless war on your uterus)

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Iraq Body Count report: how many died and who was responsible? | Datablog | News | guardian.co.uk 14,705 (13%) of all documented civilian deaths were reported as being directly caused by the US-led coalition (remember 9/11! forget the worst blunder in American history!)
Taliban to open political office in Qatar | World news | guardian.co.uk Agreement with Qatar and other 'relevant parties' could be significant step towards peaceful end to Afghanistan conflict (bomb Qatar!) )
Syria, Egypt and Middle East unrest - live updates | World news | guardian.co.uk Arab League to discuss ending monitoring mission • Free Syrian Army threatens more attacks
Exclusive Excerpt: The Operators by Michael Hastings | Politics News | Rolling Stone McChrystal, Petraeus and the inside story of America's war in Afghanistan
Oil prices soar as Iran warns US aircraft carrier away from Persian Gulf | World news | guardian.co.uk Prices rise worldwide amid concerns that tensions between US and Iran over key oil route could lead to supply disruptions (keep those prices up!)
International Development - MSF loses track of 130 staff members in Pibor Médecins Sans Frontières.

Europe Plunging Into Doom It's worth dwelling on the perversity of the idea of a debt-induced recession. Debt occurs when you consume more than you produce. The solution to debt, then, is to produce more than you consume. Cutting production doesn't help. But when you attempt to cut consumption across the board with continent-wide austerity, this is what you get (more austerity!)
Spanish Unemployment Rises for Fifth Straight Month as Economy Contracts - Bloomberg (but they have a solution!)
BBC News - Germany's unemployment rate at record low in December German unemployment fell to its lowest rate in December since 1991, according to the German Federal Labour Agency (even Americans don't understand how you can pay workers decent wages)
Eurozone crisis: German unemployment hits record low as Greece warns over euro exit | Business | guardian.co.uk panish unemployment hits record high.... • ....As German jobless rate falls to lowest level since reunification
Rethinking the Growth Imperative - Kenneth Rogoff - Project Syndicate In a period of great economic uncertainty, it may seem inappropriate to question the growth imperative. But, then again, perhaps a crisis is exactly the occasion to rethink the longer-term goals of global economic policy.


Obama Wastes Window of Opportunity for Recess Appointments | FDL News Desk (the Whimp-in-Chief wimps out again)

Finally it comes to an end | Firedoglake The Des Moines Marriott conference room held about 250 people, at least half them media. All hail glorified participatory democracy as the media reports how large the crowd was…if you count the media.
Mitt Romney heckled in Iowa at his final rally before caucuses | World news | guardian.co.uk Frontrunner brings Clive speech to abrupt end amid shouts he is too close to Wall Street and indifferent to the poor
Crackpots Do Not Make Good Messengers | Mother Jones (Ron Paul is being taken seriously by serious liberals)
The End-Of-Year Emopants Blowout! | Angry Black Lady Chronicles Both Glenn Greenwald and Taylor Marsh saw fit to end the year with massive anti-Obama rants where they basically announce openly their opposition to the President for 2012. Not that their opposition didn’t exist before, it’s just now official.
The Mahablog » Libertarianism vs. Liberty

Sen. Thune Says There Is 'No' Merit To Idea That Multimillionaire Romney Is Of The 1 Percent | ThinkProgress (down is the new up)
Political Animal - The name that must not be spoken (Bushfuck)
Santorum: States Should Have The Right To Outlaw Birth Control | ThinkProgress
Eschaton: Unpunished Sexy Time Some of us crazy people on the internets have, for years, tried to inform (sometimes) well meaning liberals that the abortion conflict wasn't really about abortion, or specifically it wasn't about any desire to actually reduce the number of abortions, it was about increasing the punishment for unapproved sexytime. And we were, you know, proved fucking right, so to speak (and Lord Saletan was miserably wrong)
Indiana GOP to push ‘right-to-work law’ | The Columbus Dispatch Nearly a year after legislatures in several Republican-dominated states curbed the power of public-sector unions, lawmakers are turning their sights on private-sector unions, setting up what is sure to be another political storm (Indiana voters screwed themselves again)

For High-Speed Rail, Support in the Past From G.O.P. Presidential Hopefuls - NYTimes.com (Republicans now believe infrastructure is terroristic)
California high-speed rail funding could be in jeopardy - latimes.com

Deep brain stimulation shows promising results for unipolar and bipolar depression A new study shows that deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a safe and effective intervention for treatment-resistant depression in patients with either unipolar major depressive disorder (MDD) or bipolar ll disorder (BP).
States That Legalized Medical Marijuana Saw Fewer Traffic Deaths, Study Says

Tami Fitzgerald Of N.C. Values Coalition Could Be Endangering Children | Pam's House Blend the North Carolina Values Coalition posted this statement; “legalizing gay marriage would take away the right of Christian psychologists to refuse treatment on the basis of their religious beliefs.” ("Christian psychologists" hate teh gay, feel "discriminated" against" or something)

Library Sends Cops To 5-Year-Old's House For Overdue Books (video) A five-year-old girl from Charlton, Mass. burst into tears after a local library sent Police Sergeant Dan Dowd to her house to retrieve the child's two overdue library books, CBS Boston reported.


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Immunisation push propels India towards victory in war against polio | World news | The Guardian Support from initially hostile Muslim clerics means disease is rapidly vanishing, even in city where it had the strongest hold - "They were not trusting scientific medicine and thought immunisation was an American plan to sterilise our girls."
Coca-Cola accused of propping up notorious Swaziland dictator | World news | The Guardian Swaziland's King Mswati III accused by activists of human rights abuses and of looting national wealth (business as usual)
Website Blocking Law Implemented By New Spanish Government | TorrentFreak Spain’s new government has wasted no time in approving tough new legislation to combat unauthorized file-sharing. After less than two weeks in power, the Partido Popular government has fully implemented the so-called Sinde Law. Spaniards can look forward to previously legal sites being blocked by ISPs or shut down completely, all within 10 days of a rightsholder complaint (rightwingers take over)
New fencing doesn’t stop illegal crossings - The Washington Post At night, smugglers toss Hail Marys of pot-stuffed footballs and fling golf-ball-sized heroin nuggets over to waiting receivers. Stealthy ultra-light aircraft bomb the lettuce fields outside town with bundles of dope, then swoop back into Mexico, well below radar but high above the fence. (the war on some drugs that some people take is a complete failure)
World News - Coastal villages in Nigeria protest as crude oil washes ashore Shell denies that any of the oil is from its 200,000 barrel per day Bonga facility, 120 km offshore and accounting for 10 percent of monthly oil flows, which was shut down by the spill on Dec. 20.

US/Iran Rhetoric Escalates | FDL News Desk It must be an election year, because the noise about war with Iran has quite suddenly elevated. You have Republican Presidential candidates talking about blockades and putting missiles on high alert, threats to block the Strait of Hormuz, and the like

The Story of America's Amazing Comeback - The Daily Beast How America pulled itself back from the brink—and why it's destined to stay on top - Bleak is the new black (America!)
CAIR Points To Anti-Muslim Postings In Wake Of Mosque Attacks | TPMMuckraker An Islamic group is pointing to online posts encouraging individuals to toss Molotov cocktails into mosques in the wake of a wave of attacks in New York City on Sunday night that appeared to be aimed at Muslims.

Conservative White People's Primary | Informed Comment (all you need to know about why the media is going insane in Iowa in one infographic)
Montana high court upholds ban on election spending by corporations | Great Falls Tribune | greatfallstribune.com

The GOP’s game plan to end Obama’s presidency - The Plum Line - The Washington Post Obama had barely been sworn into office before the national Republican leadership mounted a concerted and determined effort to prevent any of Obama’s solutions to our severe national problems from passing (Republicans hate America and Americans love lies)
GOP’s battle plan against Obama: Use his own words against him - The Washington Post (even if he didn't exactly say those words)
Cantor refuses to admit Reagan raised taxes | The Raw Story (down the lie hole)
Political Animal - For no reason, Santorum ‘singled out blacks’ “I don’t want to make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money,” Santorum begins. “I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money and provide for themselves and their families.” (Republicans are, basically, racists)
Quote of the Day "You got a name?" -- Rick Perry, in a must-see video, refusing to answer questions about a Politico story using allegations from unnamed Perry campaign staffers.
Newt says there's insufficient evidence for climate change, citing his expertise as 'an amateur paleontologist' | ThinkProgress
Ohio Earthquake Linked To Fracking Injection Wells | ThinkProgress (reap what you drill)

As Big Bank Stocks Plunge, CEOs Continue To Reap Huge Salaries | ThinkProgress

Texas remains No. 1 in executions | McClatchy

The Big Government Takeover Of Time: A Parable (they didn't like it then, either) (Get your government hands off my time!)
Is the 'nonsense celebrities say' report good for science? | Alice Bell | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk Sense About Science's report isn't just a cheap snigger at stupid people, but it may obscure other problems – and other solutions - Nicole Polizzi says the ocean is salty because it's full of whales' sperm
High-heel orgasms? Colon cleanses? Celebrity 'science' is a bad joke | Tracey Brown | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk Some of the misinformation celebrities spread is amusing – but much of it needs urgent correction
Taylor & Francis Online :: Humble persons are more helpful than less humble persons: Evidence from three studies - The Journal of Positive Psychology (also suggest Republicans not helpful at all)
Insight: Shortage of ADHD drug Adderall seen persisting | Reuters A shortage of Adderall, which is used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, shows little sign of easing as manufacturers struggle to get enough active ingredient to make the drug and demand climbs (turns out the DEA controls the world supply based on "what the agency considers to be the country's legitimate medical need." but America has attention-deficit bigtime)
Study: Brain injury from high-fat foods may be why diets fail | McClatchy "hypothalamic neuron injury" is associated with obesity caused by a high-fat diet in rodents and humans.

Wikipedia fundraiser ends with $20M in the bank | VentureBeat

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2011: The Year In 100 Seconds - YouTube

Syrian monitors should withdraw, says Arab League body | World news | The Guardian Observer mission 'giving Syrian regime an Arab cover for inhumane actions'
North Korea's new year message declares era of prosperity | World news | guardian.co.uk State greets 2012 with promises to defend Kim Jong-un 'unto death' and address food shortages, signalling economic focus
China's tomb raiders laying waste to thousands of years of history | World news | The Guardian Bulldozers and dynamite used to strip priceless artefacts from remote sites, with booty sold on to wealthy collectors
Aum Shinrikyo cult fugitive turns himself in after 16 years | World news | The Guardian
Israel Ultra-Orthodox Protests: Nazi Garb Sparks Outrage The protesters called Israeli policemen Nazis, wore yellow Star of David patches with the word "Jude" – German for Jew – dressed their children in striped black-and-white uniforms associated with Nazi concentration camps and transported them in the back of a truck.
Child sacrificed, liver offered to gods: Indian police - Yahoo! News A seven-year-old Indian girl was murdered in a tribal sacrifice and her liver offered to the gods to improve crop growth, police in the central state of Chhattisgarh said on Sunday.

European leaders predict 2012 will be worse than 2011 | Business | guardian.co.uk Angela Merkel says new year will 'undoubtedly' be harder than the last as eurozone crisis hangover prompts more austerity
BBC News - Europe leaders warn of difficult 2012 European leaders have warned of a difficult year ahead, as many economists predict recession in 2012 - Growth in Europe has stalled as the debt crisis has forced governments to slash spending. (predicting the recession they caused; more austerity so they can have more recession! Merkel is an idiot)
Now Ed Miliband gets tough with onslaught against 'evil' of benefits scroungers | Mail Online (it's all the fault of those moochers and freeloaders; this is the face of "liberal" UK)
Why Was The Wife Of Switzerland's Central Banker Trading Francs Days Before A Devaluation? (no big deal, just "pillow talk")

Statement by the President on H.R. 1540 | The White House

New Year's Eve Occupy Wall Street Protests: Police Arrest Dozens

A MEGA-LIST of Congressmen facing 2012 reelection that are potentially vulnerable, with their voting records on controversial legislation : politics (Nelson was most evil Dem)
NewsDaily: Voter photo ID, E-Verify laws to take effect in new year Measures passed in 2011, which numbered nearly 40,000 across the country, often reflected the priorities of Republicans, who held majorities in most state legislative chambers and held the highest number of seats nationally by the party since 1928. (yes, 1928)

Ron Paul Flips Out Over Accusation That He Believed 9/11 Conspiracy Theories (must have some other Ron Paul guy)
Like Father, Like Son? - George Romney: "he seemed cast for the part by Hollywood's Central Casting. Correspondents who liked him called him 'Mr. Straight Arrow;' those whose flesh crawled at his pieties called him 'Mr. Square,' or worse... He would make a forthright statement one day, then, like a man making up his mind in public, contradict it or modify it on another."
2012 Presidential Election: Voters Feeling Dispirited As Presidential Campaign Unreels In days after Sept. 11, 2001, customers lined up outside the door. Americans wanted to show their pride, their determination, their Americanism. It's all a fading memory now (where are your flags now?)
New state bill could make it illegal to sing national anthem 'inappropriately' | The Star Press | thestarpress.com Sen. Vaneta Becker, R-Evansville, has introduced a bill that would set specific "performance standards" for singing and playing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at any event sponsored by public schools and state universities (would have to pass Republican review committies)

Hullabaloo: The failure to prosecute bankers leads to revolutionary, divisive politics (Obama is a mirror-image of who we thought we voted for)
2012 Medicare Debate: Baby Boomers At Center Of Issue "Medicare as we have known it is not part of our future." (yes, Obama is a Repubican)

Elderly can be as fast as young in some brain tasks, study shows But recent research suggests that much of that slower response is a conscious choice to emphasize accuracy over speed.
Are superluminal neutrinos possible? Pions don't want to decay into faster-than-light neutrinos, study finds
Over 65 million years, North American mammal evolution has tracked with climate change
Self-regulation of the immune system suppresses defense against cancer

Driving has lost its cool for young Americans | Grist "American youth have fallen out of love with automobiles" because of the rising cost of driving and the fact that they are "living their lives online,"

Refreshing News: Americans buy record numbers of guns for Christmas Nearly 500,000 of those were in the six days before Christmas.
The 30 Most Important Cats Of 2011

Online community Reddit driving opposition to piracy bill - The Hill's Hillicon Valley