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Alexander Mooney / CNN:
Rick Warren to give inaugural invocation — (CNN) — President-elect Barack Obama's swearing-in ceremony will feature big names like minister Rick Warren and legendary singer Aretha Franklin, the Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies announced Wednesday.
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John Aravosis / AMERICAblog News:
Obama picks homophobe pro-'Prop 8' evangelical preacher to give the invocation at inaugural — 5:22PM UPDATE: Warren compared abortion to the “Jewish Holocaust,” and said that making abortion “rare” wasn't enough, he's for outlawing abortion, period. So that would make pro-choice people …
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Ugh — Rick Warren will give the invocation at Obama's inauguration. Warren is a man who believes my marriage removes his freedom of speech and cannot say that authorizing torture is a moral failing. Shrewd politics, but if anyone is under any illusion that Obama is interested in advancing gay equality …
The Politico:
Gay activists furious with Obama — Barack Obama's choice of a prominent evangelical minister to perform the invocation at his inauguration is a conciliatory gesture toward social conservatives who opposed him in November, but it is drawing fierce challenges from a gay rights movement that …
Aretha Franklin / CBN.com:
Pro-Life Rick Warren to Give Invocation at Obama Inauguration — Pro-life pastor Rick Warren will give the invocation at President-Elect Barack Obama's inauguration. It makes a whole lot of sense. Even though Warren and Obama disagree on the life issue, they do see eye to eye on many social justice issues.
Greg Sargent / TPM Election Central:
Top Liberal Group Hammers Decision For Rick Warren To Deliver Obama's Inaugural Invocation — This isn't going to help dispel the “Obama stiff-arming liberals” narrative. The news today that bigoted pastor Rick Warren is going to give the invocation at Barack Obama's inauguration is sparking …
Katharine Q. Seelye / The Caucus:
Aretha Franklin to Participate in Inaugural Ceremony — Aretha Franklin and Dr. Rick Warren, an author and leader of the Saddleback Church, are among the select group of people who will participate in Barack Obama's inaugural swearing-in ceremony on Jan. 20.
Discussion:
Box Turtle Bulletin, PageOneQ, Right Wing Watch, The Daily Dish, Firedoglake, Feministing, The RBC, Blogging Faith and Booman Tribune
Aretha Franklin / inaugural.senate.gov:JCCIC ANNOUNCES INAUGURAL PROGRAM
Discussion:
Chronicle of Higher Education
Matt Duss / Think Progress:Anti-gay, anti-choice, pro-assassination pastor to give inaugural invocation.»
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:WARREN TO GIVE INVOCATION.... Barack Obama is, for the time being …
Gateway Pundit:
IRAQI AMBASSADOR TELLS OFF CODE PINK WHACKOS (Video) — CODE PINK AMBUSHES IRAQI AMBASSADOR- AMBASSADOR FIRES BACK — “He's lucky he didn't try something like this under Saddam Hussein.” — Ambassador Samir Sumaida'ie: … The anti-American Marxist front group Code Pink ambushed Iraq Ambassador …
Discussion:
Moe_Lane's blog, Weekly Standard, This ain't Hell …, The Raw Story, Brave New Films blog and JammieWearingFool
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Patrick / FishBowlDC:
WaPo: Only Positive Obama Ads, Please — Hoping to make a little cash off of Barack Obama's inauguration (that's certainly nothing new...), Washington Post.Newsweek Interactive and the Washington Post's classifieds departments have launched “Welcome to the White House”, a classfieds …
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Mike Dorning / The Swamp:
LaHood to be Transportation Sec — Peoria Republican congressman Ray LaHood will be nominated Transportation Secretary for the Obama Administration, Republican and Democratic sources said today. — A spokesman for the Obama transition team declined to comment and LaHood's office did not immediately return phone calls.
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Adam Doster / Progress Illinois:“Ray LaHood? Really?” (UPDATED)
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The Huffington Post, Washington Post, Salon, Firedoglake, Gristmill, The Caucus and Chicago Breaking News
Greg Sargent / TPM Election Central:
Report: Obama Campaign Manager Disdained Mark Halperin, Politico — The Huffington Post got an advance look at the forthcoming New York Times magazine profile of Robert Gibbs, the campaign spokesperson who will be White House press secretary. — Check out the disdain that Obama campaign …
Discussion:
The Jed Report
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Newsdesk / Clout St:
Illinois Supreme Court rejects Madigan bid to declare Blagojevich ‘unfit’ — SPRINGFIELD—The Illinois Supreme Court today rejected Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan's attempt to have disgraced Gov. Rod Blagojevich declared unable to hold the office of Illinois chief executive, court officials said.
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Associated Press:
Cake request for 3-year-old Hitler namesake denied — EASTON, Pa. - The father of 3-year-old Adolf Hitler Campbell, denied a birthday cake with the child's full name on it by one New Jersey supermarket, is asking for a little tolerance. Heath Campbell and his wife, Deborah …
New York Times:
Kennedy, Touring Upstate, Gets Less and Less Low-Key — BUFFALO — The first day of Caroline Kennedy's tour through upstate New York on Wednesday was meant to be a low-key, decorous excursion, mindful of the skepticism surrounding her bid to be appointed the state's next United States senator.
Nicholas Kristof / Nicholas D. Kristof:
For senate, Caroline or Carolyn? — Caroline Kennedy strikes me as a very impressive woman with all the right priorities, such as education. But I also find it unseemly and undemocratic that she seems to have vaulted to the top of the Senate list by virtue of who her dad was.
Discussion:
City Room, Balkinization, Washington Post, The Daily Politics, The Huffington Post and Michael Calderone's Blogs
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Mark Preston / CNN:
Second GOP senator to announce retirement — WASHINGTON (CNN) - Sen. Sam Brownback will announce Thursday he is retiring from the Senate when his term ends in 2010, allowing the Kansas Republican to explore a run for governor. — He will be the second GOP senator this year to publicly state …
Discussion:
Real Clear Politics, Senate Guru, Political Machine, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room and MyDD
Media Matters for America:
Sean Hannity: Media Matters ' 2008 Misinformer of the Year — As Media Matters for America has demonstrated time and again, Fox News' Sean Hannity has been a prolific and influential purveyor of conservative misinformation. But never has he so enthusiastically applied his talents …
Chuck Goudie / WLS-TV:
Blagojevich was bookie, says federal informant — The ABC7 I-Team has learned that an attorney who went undercover for the FBI in the late 1980's says he told federal authorities years ago about wrongdoing by Blagojevich. — His name is Robert Cooley. — Cooley was a criminal defense lawyer …
Matthew Kaminski / Forbes:
You Like Us! But Not For Long — America's euphoria over global goodwill is misplaced. — In the weeks since Barack Obama and his family walked out on that Grant Park stage, our euphoria about the world's euphoria must surely count as the most endearingly silly outcome of this election.
Discussion:
INSTAPUTZ
Wall Street Journal:
Low-Interest Mortgages Are the Answer — Stop the decline in home prices, stop the crisis. — Recent news articles suggest that the Treasury Department is considering a plan to offer a 4.5% mortgage for home buyers for a period of time. Let's hope it does.
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