GOP's first New Year's resolution: deny health care to 'New Year's Baby' - by Don Davis

"WHAT BETTER WAY TO SEND A MESSAGE OF RUGGED INDIVIDUALISM, AND SET THE TABLE FOR REPEAL OF HEALTH CARE, BY CUTTING OFF GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE AS SOON AS THEY CUT THE UMBILICAL CORD."

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He probably thinks the President was born in Kenya too. Good thing we let Bush administration off the hook when the Obama administration moved in. It clearly is going to pay off.

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This is for fans of weedy issues, and contains mainly background and links. As we say in the Biz, this is a developing story. Stay tuned.

The background. You know that Bradley Manning is being held in a military brig within the U.S., in conditions that would be called "torture" if applied by al-Qaeda to our own people. He hasn't been charged with a crime, except in the court of public opinion (the one with the hanging tabloid judge).

His offense? Allegedly leaking hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables (and maybe the Baghdad assault helicopter tape) to WikiLeaks.

And that's as far as most people go. At this point, Mr. and Ms. Busy America switch to a football game, of which we have many. Thank you, friendly media, for doing our thinking for us.

But a key question remains — how do we know that Bradley Manning is the leaker? Answer — by the word of one man, an ex-hacker and known government informant named Adrian Lamo. And that's all. Lamo somehow got into an IM-type chat with Manning (he's changed his story about that), and Manning somehow confessed. Somehow.

So where are the chat logs in which Manning confessed? Wired.com has them, and you can't read those parts.

And here's where the weeds start, and the links. If you're a fan of mystery stories, potential government sting ops, embedded informers within hacker–darling publication Wired, secret chat logs and "public enemies", this is for you. It's a puzzle waiting to be solved, and new pieces appear every week.

There are far too many open questions. For example, when did Lamo start working with the Feds, before his forced hospitalization or after? (Intrigued? I sure am.)

For an analysis of the Manning–Lamo–Wired timeline, click here.

For Greenwald's response to Wired's ad hominem counterattack, click here. (Greenwald's "crime" — asking for the part of the logs that verifies any of Lamo's stories.)

For Greenwald's most recent analysis of the events so far, click here.

For Greg Mitchell's ongoing daily blog of all things WikiLeaky, click here.

Or you could google "lamo wired assange".

To keep the complexity at bay, just keep the government goal in mind. If I'm the Feds, my perfect world includes a confession from Manning that he personally handed the leaks to Julian Assange, preferably over mocha cappuccino.

Why? Because that's a conspiracy, they can indict and extradite him, and then they can spend the next twenty years wiping that smile off his face; or not.

Enjoy.

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The poo-flinging monkeys are apparently all enraged because Obama noted both the Christian dead and wounded and the Muslim wounded in suicide attacks in Egypt:

Here is the offending statement:

I strongly condemn the separate and outrageous terrorist bombing attacks in Egypt and Nigeria. The attack on a church in Alexandria, Egypt caused 21 reported deaths and dozens of injured from both the Christian and Muslim communities. The perpetrators of this attack were clearly targeting Christian worshipers, and have no respect for human life and dignity. They must be brought to justice for this barbaric and heinous act. We are continuing to gather information regarding this terrible event, and are prepared to offer any necessary assistance to the Government of Egypt in responding to it.

Apparently what has the shitheads upset is that all 21 dead were Christian, so therefore the wounded Muslims don't count.

I seriously wish I was kidding. Jesus would be proud, no doubt.

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Mr & Mrs Gingrich

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Standing by their man "The board of a Rio Linda (California) church, whose pastor has been arrested on suspicion of child molestation, on Saturday released a statement of support. ... Tim Gene Daniels, 48, pastor of Rio Linda Baptist Church, is charged with suspicion of lewd or lascivious act with a child under 14 and engaging in three or more acts of sexual conduct with a child. ... "Until such time as the courts prove Pastor Tom Daniels guilty, we have an obligation to support him and his family," said the statement. The statement also said that accusations such as those facing Daniels need to be tried in the court and not the media."

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Department of I Should Know

Lying Warmonger Judith Miller Blasts Assange For Not Verifying Info

Disgraced Newsmax "reporter" (government neo-con lie re-spewer) Judith Miller is also on Fox News, it turns out, because they hire commentators based on how many war crimes they're responsible for. (Even though nobody on Fox & Friends can understand what Genghis Khan is saying.) According to Miller who, yes, blindly spread the lies warmongers in the government gave to her in order to explode the Middle East, Julian Assange is a bad journalist "because he didn't care at all about attempting to verfiy the information that he was putting out or determine whether or not it would hurt anyone." Thank God we have this paragon of journalistic ethics to help us judge Julian Assange.

Video: http://wonkette.com/433933/lying-warmonger-newsmax-reporter-judith-miller-criticizes-wikileaks-for-not-verifying-information

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You will want to bookmark this site PolitiFact quietly rolled out an auxilliary site yesterday that was designed specifically to keep track of the promises made by the GOP leadership in Congress.

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Regarding Bristol Palin's new home in Arizona: The American Dream is still alive, when the talentless daughter of a notorious grifter can become a home owner in Jan Brewer's foreclosure desert without so much as a GED.

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SPAIN: Pope Blesses Anti-Gay Rally

Yesterday Pope Benedict (who once worked for Hitler and also covered up the rape of little boys within his church) spoke via satellite from the Vatican to bless the hundreds of thousands gathered at a massive annual anti-gay marriage rally in Madrid. The rally was sponsored by the Archdiocese of Madrid with the support of the Popular Party, Spain's right-wing movement which has vowed to overturn same-sex marriage.

Organized by the Archdiocese of Madrid and Cardinal Antonio Rouco Varela under the motto 'The Christian Family: the hope of Europe,' the event began at 10 AM in the Plaza de Colon. The cardinal, in the company of fifty bishops from Spain, France, The Netherlands, and as far away as Poland, celebrated Mass on an elevated dais that was surmounted by a white cross some sixty feet tall. Also present were the thousands of lay people, including small children, representing not only Spain, but also various other countries and represented by their national flags. Bishop José Ignacio Munilla of San Sebastian called on participants to offer "testimony that encourage us, because what is being offered in the media is an untruthful model of unstructured family. We want a real family model that encourages us, testimony from exemplary families. Secondly, prayer that is offered communally has a very special power and the more people united in communion the more power there will be to foster a stable family."

This clip is from the Vatican's official YouTube channel.

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Breaking news!

Pastor Tom Daniels of Rio Linda, California is being held on $6M bail after being charged with multiple felony counts of sexual assault on a child. Lavender Newswire reports that Daniels twice made donations to Protect Marriage, the backers of Proposition 8.

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political pictures - Caribou burger, anyone?

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National Geographic has launched a year-long series on the global population, which grew by almost one billion in just the last ten years.

Keep reproducing, people!

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Adults? That's rich.

The House Republicans continue to play grabass with the debt ceiling. Benen reports:

...incoming House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) acknowledged that he's well aware of the fact that his chamber is going to have to extend the federal debt limit. He noted that's already "made it pretty clear" to his own caucus that Republicans are "going to have to deal with it as adults."
Boehner added, "Whether we like it or not, the federal government has obligations and we have obligations on our part."

Dealing with the debt limit "as adults" doesn't appear to be going well. This morning, two right-wing lawmakers -- Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Rep.-elect Mike Kelly (R-Minn.) -- reiterated their opposition to raising the debt limit on CBS's "Face the Nation."

Two things here. 1) Do they have any clue what will happen if the debt ceiling isn't raised? Obviously not. And, 2) Why the hell was Michele Bachmann on Face the Nation? Very serious of them. Were they unable to book a tiny car filled with clowns?

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John Huntsman's secret plan to capture the GOP nomination - by Don Davis