Customers hit by pepper spray at Wal-Mart describe scene of chaos  —  Matthew Lopez went to the Wal-Mart in Porter Ranch on Thursday night for the Black Friday sale but instead was caught in a pepper-spray attack by a woman who authorities said was “competitive shopping.”

Support Builds for a Plan to Rein In Medicare Costs  —  WASHINGTON — Though it reached no agreement, the special Congressional committee on deficit reduction built a case for major structural changes in Medicare that would limit the government's open-ended financial commitment to the program, lawmakers and health policy experts say.

Death of a currency as eurogeddon approaches  —  It's time to think what hitherto markets have regarded as unthinkable - that the euro really is on its last legs.  —  They need to wake up fast; it's happening before their very eyes.  In its current form, the single currency may always have been doomed …

“Awful” Italy debt sale heightens euro zone stress  —  (Reuters) - Italy paid a record 6.5 percent to borrow money over six months on Friday and its longer-term funding costs soared far above levels seen as sustainable for public finances, raising the pressure on Rome's new emergency government.

Frank Miller and the rise of cryptofascist Hollywood  —  Fans were shocked when Batman writer Frank Miller furiously attacked the Occupy movement.  They shouldn't have been, says Rick Moody - he was just voicing Hollywood's unspoken values  —  A sturdy corollary emerges in the wake …

Not Photoshopped: Beam of Light Shines on Fallen Soldier's Miracle Dog  —  Reported by ABC News' Kimberly Launier:  —  It was an overcast day in Newport, N.H., when a simple “20/20″ shoot turned into something that made me wonder about life after death.

Disparaging tweet about Gov. Sam Brownback lands Kansas teen in principal's office  —  A Kansas teenager is in trouble after mocking Gov. Sam Brownback during a mock legislative assembly for high school students.  —  Emma Sullivan, a senior at Shawnee Mission East High School in Prairie Village …

We Are the 99.9%  —  “We are the 99 percent” is a great slogan.  It correctly defines the issue as being the middle class versus the elite (as opposed to the middle class versus the poor).  And it also gets past the common but wrong establishment notion that rising inequality is mainly …

Russian newsreader fired after Obama middle finger insult  —  A top Russian female newsreader who appeared to defiantly show US President Barack Obama her middle finger during a live newscast has been fired.  —  Tatyana Limanova, an award-winning senior newsreader at the channel, can be seen briskly reading out an item about APEC

Image Expert Shapes Romney (His Hair, Anyway)  —  BELMONT, Mass. — Voters routinely ask about it on the campaign trail.  Pundits chronicle the slightest changes in its presentation.  There is a Facebook page devoted it — not to mention an entire blog.  “Has it always been this good?” read a recent online entry.

Anarchy in the U.S.A.  —  The roots of American disorder.  —  Ever since September, when activists heeded Adbusters editor Kalle Lasn's call to Occupy Wall Street, it's become a rite of passage for reporters, bloggers, and video trackers to go to the occupiers' tent cities and comment on what they see.

Man arrested for Facebook comment threatening Gov. Haley's life  —  COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - A South Carolina man is accused of threatening the life of Gov. Nikki Haley on Facebook, but he claims he was only making a point about free speech.  —  When 26-year-old Nathan Shafer heard about the arrests …