Top Items:
Lisa Leff / Associated Press:
Jerry Brown urges court to void Prop. 8 — SAN FRANCISCO — California Attorney General Jerry Brown changed course on the state's new same-sex marriage ban Friday and urged the state Supreme Court to void Proposition 8. — In a dramatic reversal, Brown filed a legal brief saying the measure …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Hullabaloo, Towleroad, Calitics, Pam's House Blend and Taylor Marsh
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Shelby Grad / L.A. Now:
Jerry Brown: Gay-marriage ban should be invalidated — In a surprise move, state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown asked the California Supreme Court on Friday to invalidate Proposition 8. He said the November ballot measure that banned gay marriage “deprives people of the right to marry …
Linda Hirshman / The Huffington Post:
We Call on You Lord: Leaked Rick Warren Invocation — (NOTE: Copies of what seemed to be a draft of an inaugural invocation by Pastor Rick Warren arrived in the fax machines of several prominent journalists this morning. This site does not vouch for the authenticity of the draft …
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Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Taking Yes For An Answer — Dish readers will know my own conflicted feelings about the selection of Rick Warren for the Inaugural Invocation. But feelings must at some point cede to reason. And I sense an understandable but, the more I think about it, misjudged response on the part of my fellow gays and lesbians.
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, RedState, The Bilerico Project, The Huffington Post, Salon and Marc Ambinder
John Aravosis / AMERICAblog News:
Rick Warren explicitly bans “unrepentant” gays from membership in his church
Rick Warren explicitly bans “unrepentant” gays from membership in his church
Discussion:
Washington Post, Taylor Marsh, Macsmind, Think Progress, HRC Back Story, MyDD, MoJoBlog and Lynn Sweet
Looseheadprop / Firedoglake:
Somebody Needs to Serve a Subpoena on Ole Fourth Branch, in a Hurry — Welcome back to another day in [CrazyWorld] CheneyWorld, or as we like to call it, the “Fourth Branch”. The NYTimes via AP is reporting that Darth Cheney has declared that he, and he alone, has the power to decide which …
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Associated Press:
Cheney Claims Power to Decide His Public Records — WASHINGTON (AP) — Dick Cheney's lawyers are asserting that the vice president alone has the authority to determine which records, if any, from his tenure will be handed over to the National Archives when he leaves office in January.
Associated Press:
Blagojevich: ‘I have done nothing wrong’ — Governor's attorney challenging lawfulness of court-ordered wiretaps — CHICAGO - In an unwavering statement of innocence, Gov. Rod Blagojevich said Friday he will be vindicated of criminal corruption charges and has no intention of letting what he called a …
Discussion:
Spin Cycle
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Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Blago: I am not a crook
Blago: I am not a crook
Discussion:
Fox News, The Politico, Reuters, Gateway Pundit, Tennessee Guerilla Women, The New Republic, Daily Kos, Macsmind and Associated Press
Zaz Hollander / Anchorage Daily News:
Levi Johnston's mother hit with drug charges — Arrested: her son was in the spotlight as father of bristol palin's baby. — zhollander@adn.com — WASILLA — A 42-year-old Wasilla woman was arrested Thursday at her home by Alaska State Troopers with a search warrant in an undercover drug investigation.
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Joel Mowbray / Fox News:
Jihadist Group Trying to ‘Invade’ Facebook Gets Shut Down — A quickly growing jihadist group that used Facebook to spread its radical message has been shut down by the popular Web networking site after FOXNews.com alerted the company to the group's activities.
Dan Eggen / Washington Post:
Americans Take Parting Shots at Bush — It was bad enough for President Bush to have shoes tossed at his head during his farewell journey to Baghdad. Now comes a new poll in which Americans call Bush all sorts of names — some of them a lot worse than “dog.”
Dana Priest / Washington Post:
Blair Is Steeped in the Ways Intelligence Works — After Dennis Blair's assignment as military liaison to the CIA 13 years ago, he groused about all the cloak-and-dagger politics at Langley headquarters. “You'd go to a meeting and think everyone had agreed” to a particular course of action …
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Paul Walsh / Minneapolis Star Tribune:
Franken pushes his lead over Coleman past 150 — The state Canvassing Board's first rush of ballot rulings in the U.S. Senate race has unofficially put challenger Al Franken in the lead by more than 150. — The intense scrutiny of “voter intent” resumed this morning by the five-member board charged …
Discussion:
The Note, The Fix, Gawker, Wilshire & Washington, Washington Post, AmSpecBlog and The Caucus
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Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight.com:
Franken Appears Likely to Lead After Challenge Phase
Franken Appears Likely to Lead After Challenge Phase
Discussion:
Hot Air, TPM Election Central, Gawker, Associated Press, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!, Firedoglake and Kevin Drum
Martin Kady II / The Politico:
GOP slams Bush over bailout — Republican leaders across the board have let loose on President Bush's auto industry bailout in what may be some of the toughest GOP criticism of the Bush presidency. — John McCain is leading the way, saying it is “unacceptable that we would leave …
PewForum.org:
Faith on the Hill: The Religious Affiliations of Members of Congress — Members of Congress are often accused of being out of touch with average citizens, but an examination of the religious affiliations of U.S. senators and representatives shows that, on one very basic level, Congress looks much like the rest of the country.
Nour Akkad / The Huffington Post:
Iraqis Respond To House Of Saddam — For some, he was a national hero. For most, he was a terrifying tyrant. And for the past two Sundays, HBO gave us an inside look into the life of the brutal dictator Saddam Hussein and his family. House of Saddam is a four-part miniseries that can best …
Discussion:
Guardian
Azam Ahmed / Chicago Tribune:
Sequel to Sarah Palin ‘nude painting’: A Rod Blagojevich ‘nude painting’? — Bruce Elliott works on a new painting of Governor Rod Blagojevich in his Chicago studio on Thursday, December 18, 2008. Elliott's wife owns the Old Town Ale House where the painting will hang next to an earlier painting of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
William Grimes / New York Times:
Conor Cruise O'Brien Is Dead at 91 — Conor Cruise O'Brien, an Irish diplomat, politician, man of letters and public intellectual who staked out an independent position for Ireland in the United Nations and, despite his Roman-Catholic origins, championed the rights of Protestants in Northern Ireland …
Discussion:
The New Republic
Jennifer Parker / George's Bottom Line:
Biden: U.S. Economy in Danger of ‘Absolutely Tanking’ — Vice President-Elect Joe Biden said the U.S. economy is in danger of “absolutely tanking” and will need a second stimulus package in the $600-billion to $700-billion range. — “The economy is in much worse shape than we thought it was in …
James Fallows:
Tech followups on NYTimes.com blockage in China (updated) — On December 19, the NYTimes.com site was apparently blocked all across China. For the sake of completeness, these followups. — 1) Could the problem be related to a recent physical break in three of the four main internet cables connecting Asia to North America?