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When opposition to health-care reform stops being polite and starts getting scary — In the Wyoming state legislature, 10 congressmen and three senators have co-sponsored “The Health Care Choice and Protection Act.” The intent? To make it a felony to implement the health-care reform law …
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Statement by the President on H.R. 6523 — Today I have signed into law H.R. 6523, the “Ike Skelton National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011.” The Act authorizes funding for the defense of the United States and its interests abroad, for military construction, and for national security-related energy programs.
Discussion:
TalkLeft, The Huffington Post, ProPublica, TPMMuckraker, Emptywheel and Lawfare

Buckle Up for Round 2 — The health care reform law was signed 10 months ago, and what's striking now is how vulnerable it looks. Several threats have emerged — some of them scarcely discussed before passage — that together or alone could seriously endanger the new system. These include:
Discussion:
Ezra Klein, Firedoglake, The Huffington Post, The New Republic, Hit & Run, The Daily Dish, Right Turn, The Incidental Economist and Commentary


Memo to Speaker Boehner: If You Won a Congessional Majority Because You Pledged to Cut Spending and You Can't Think of a Single Program to Cut Now, Please Go Home — That Congress botched its first-ever public reading of the Constitution is worrisome, but less so than the fact they've spent …
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway, Clusterstock, AMERICAblog News, The Other McCain and Alan Colmes' Liberaland
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Weiner Mocks House GOP Oath Blunder: 'We Violated The Constitution …

Parts of the Constitution inadvertently skipped in ‘historic reading’ on floor
Discussion:
Opinionator, New York Times, msnbc.com, Washington Post, New York Times, Theo Spark, Politics Daily, TPMDC, Washington Monthly, Raw Story, National Review and The Nation

Two Members Appear to Break Rules on First Day of New Congress

House approves resolution fixing problem with missed swearing-in
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and ThinkProgress


Rudy gearing up for DC run — Confident that he'd have a chance to win, Rudy Giuliani is rounding up his top political advisers for a possible 2012 presidential run, sources tell Page Six. — Sources say the tough-talking former mayor “thinks the Republican race will be populated …
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs, CBS News, National Review, LifeNews.com, AmSpecBlog, Cubachi, Runnin' Scared, FiveThirtyEight, Gothamist, Salon, Commentary, Weigel, The Other McCain, The Politico, No More Mister Nice Blog, msnbc.com, Hot Air, GOP 12, Outside the Beltway, Indecision Forever, Wonkette, New York Magazine, Pajamas Media, Weasel Zippers, The Hill, The Moderate Voice, FrumForum, JammieWearingFool, TPMDC and Conservatives4Palin
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Obama would easily win Nevada again...except against Romney
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GOP 12 and Primaries For Palin

Romney flexes muscle in first NH Primary poll while Palin and others lag behind
Discussion:
Ballot Box, The Confluence, Conservatives4Palin, Weigel, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, GOP 12 and Hotline On Call

In U.S., 46% Favor, 40% Oppose Repealing Healthcare Law — Three-quarters of Republicans favor repeal; 64% of Democrats oppose it — PRINCETON, NJ — Americans do not strongly endorse the new Republican House majority's efforts to repeal the landmark healthcare legislation passed last year.
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‘Job-killing’ regulation? ‘Job-killing’ spending? Let's kill this GOP canard.
Discussion:
Left Coast Rebel, Yglesias, Washington Monthly, Hullabaloo, Wonk Room, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/* and The Politico


Harvard Economist Estimates Health Repeal Would Destroy Up To 400 …
Discussion:
Ezra Klein, Bloomberg, The Huffington Post, The Plum Line and Daily Kos

House takes first step toward health care repeal
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, Pajamas Media, Weasel Zippers and The Politico


BREAKING: CBO Says Repealing ObamaCare Would Reduce Net Spending by $540 Billion — The Congressional Budget Office, in an email to Capitol Hill staffers obtained by the Spectator, has said that repealing the national health care law would reduce net spending by $540 billion in the ten year period from 2012 through 2021.
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog, Doug Ross, Hot Air, Wake up America, Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit and The New Editor


Crony capitalism — Big Labor and Big Business are teaming up to protect Big Government. As Greg Sargent put it yesterday, in describing the budding alliance between the AFL-CIO and the Chamber of Commerce: “The two groups rarely agree on anything, and frequently target each other in the harshest of terms …
Discussion:
Balloon Juice, Ezra Klein, Swampland and The Huffington Post
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Obama mouthpiece Robert Gibbs was forced out by new henchman William Daley
Discussion:
Hot Air, The Hill and Weasel Zippers

Robert Gibbs' Successor: How About a Woman as White House Press Secretary?
Discussion:
PBS and Wall Street Journal


EXCLUSIVE: Sonny Bono's Widow - Rep. Mary Bono - In Lurid Photo Scandal With Woman Investigated By FBI — Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack has been caught on camera in a lurid scandal where another woman is apparently licking her breast. — RadarOnline.com has exclusively obtained the photo …
Discussion:
Gawker, Clusterstock, Left Coast Rebel, Wonkette, DownWithTyranny!, Oliver Willis and Raw Story


‘Mother,’ ‘Father’ Changing to ‘Parent One,’ ‘Parent Two’ on Passport Applications — Section of current passport application asking for “father” and “mother” information. — The words “mother” and “father” will be removed from U.S. passport applications and replaced with gender neutral terminology, the State Department says.
Discussion:
The Jawa Report, Top of the Ticket, Fausta's Blog and JammieWearingFool
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On Passports, Mother and Father Will Soon Be ‘Parent 1’ and ‘Parent 2’ … Gay-rights proponents are cheering and some conservatives are up in arms after the State Department said it would replace the words “mother” and “father” on U.S. passport applications with gender-neutral terms.
Discussion:
PR Newswire


Levi's Vindication: The Self-Exposure Of Sarah Palin — As a long-standing Palin hysteric, I have to confess a mite less concern in 2011 than at any time since she has been farcically commanding the attention of the political class. Not much has changed essentially: Palin's favorable ratings remain roughly where they have been.
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MA Supreme Court Deals Banks a Major Blow on Foreclosure Fraud, in the Ibanez Case — In a major ruling in the Massachusetts Supreme Court today, US Bank and Wells Fargo lost the “Ibanez case,” meaning that they don't have standing to foreclose due to improper mortgage assignment.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, FT Alphaville, Daily Kos, Balloon Juice, Emptywheel, Clusterstock, naked capitalism and Bloomberg


White Flight — President Obama's path to a second term may rely on states shaped by the same social forces he embodies. — Right turn: Sen. Marco Rubio's supporters in Florida included many whites who voted for Obama in 2008. — By any standard, white voters' rejection of Democrats …
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, The Plum Line, Don Surber, The Atlantic Online, Mediaite, Weasel Zippers, JammieWearingFool and ECHIDNE of the snakes

The 40 Most Obnoxious Quotes Of 2010 — 40) My fear is that the whole island (of Guam) will become so overly populated that it will tip over and capsize. 39) Imagine if somebody were to really sit down with Osama Bin Ladin and say, 'Listen man,what is it that you're so angry …
Discussion:
NewsReal Blog


Village Voice Caught in Jayson Blair-Style Fabrication Scandal (Updated) — Rob Sgobbo (pictured), a young writer for the New York Daily News, has had a freelance story he wrote yanked from the Village Voice's website. He apparently fabricated sources and lied about his reporting.
Discussion:
Gothamist, Mediaite and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »

Egypt's Muslims attend Coptic Christmas mass, serving as “human shields” — Muslims turned up in droves for the Coptic Christmas mass Thursday night, offering their bodies, and lives, as “shields” to Egypt's threatened Christian community — Egypt's majority Muslim population stuck to its word Thursday night.
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway and Greg's Opinion

Elmendorf to GOP: Don't Kill the Messenger! — MichaelBindner — The reappointment of Elmendorf is the case study the GOP needs to realize the limits of its power. Of course, they are right to be cynical - their CBO director, Douglas Holtz-Eaken let Medicare Part D go in without telling how much it costs.
Discussion:
The Daily Dish, Mother Jones and The Incidental Economist


Egypt threatens to remove Central Park obelisk — Archaeologist concerned about damage to hieroglyphic text on Cleopatra's Needle — Below: — Since 1881, the obelisk known as Cleopatra's Needle has stood in New York's Central Park, but a letter from the secretary general …
Discussion:
Runnin' Scared and New York Magazine


PELOSI GOES MAD! Blames Bush For Dems Losing House — Maybe all those injections into her lips, or the pressure of being Speaker of the House but allow me to suggest that it is time to call those nice men to with the special jackets. You know the ones with the long sleeves that tie in the back?
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, Outside the Beltway and CNSNews