Gingrich Compares Virginia Ballot Fiasco to Pearl Harbor  —  Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich stepped into controversy Christmas weekend as he compared his exclusion from the Virginia primary ballot to the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

Newly recovered court files cast doubt on Gingrich version of first divorce  —  Editor's note: Alan Duke grew up in Carrollton, Georgia, and began his career covering politics there.  He began covering Newt Gingrich during Gingrich's first campaigns for public office.

A first: Newt camp goes on attack (and with oppo)  —  In a sign that he's formally backing off his pledge to avoid negative politics, Newt Gingrich is taking direct aim at Mitt Romney.  —  Gingrich's campaign, urgently in need of recapturing their momentum from earlier this month …

Treasury plans for euro failure  —  The Government is considering plans to restrict the flow of money in and out of Britain to protect the economy in the event of a full-blown euro break-up.  —  A break up of the euro would have a devastating impact on the UK.

Japan's Secret Plan to Dominate the World  —  And now for something completely different.  The Counterparties blog today highlights an old post from Eamonn Fingleton arguing that Japan's “Lost Decade” is a myth.  This is not the story I've heard before, suggesting merely that Japan …

Ron Paul, In 1996, ‘Did Not Deny’ Controversial Statement In Newsletter … 2012 Election , Elections 2012 , Ron Paul , Video , Iowa Caucuses , Politics News , Ron Paul 2012 , Ron Paul Iowa , Ron Paul Letters , Ron Paul Martin Luther King , Gop 2012 , Iowa Caucus , Paul Newsletter …

Growing wealth widens distance between lawmakers and constituents  —  BUTLER, Pa. — One day after his shift at the steel mill, Gary Myers drove home in his 10-year-old Pontiac and told his wife he was going to run for Congress.  —  The odds were long.  At 34, Myers was the shift foreman at the “hot mill” of the Armco plant here.

GW Bush + Six Years = Islamists?  —  A hat tip to Jim Pinkerton for sending this my way.  —  Washington Post, 22 December 2011: … President George W. Bush, 20 January 2005:

Georgia woman who threatened 2 New York lawmakers is shot to death by cop  —  Jameela Barnette targeted Rep. Pete King & state Sen. Greg Ball  —  Cobb County, Ga., police investigate shooting of Jameela Barnette.  —  A Muslim woman who had been charged with sending fake weapons and a pig's foot …

Siobhan Reynolds, RIP  —  I'm saddened to learn this morning that Siobhan Reynolds was killed over the weekend in a plane crash.  —  I met Reynolds several years ago when I attended a forum on Capitol Hill on the under-treatment of pain.  Her story about her husband's chronic pain …

Solyndra: Politics infused Obama energy programs  —  Tony Avelar/FOR THE WASHINGTON POST - Linda Sterio, along with 1,100 full-time and temporary employees, were laid off Aug. 31 from Solyndra.  The company shut down without paying severance; today Sterio remains out of work and in danger of losing her home.

Schumer bro-in-law judge nod stuns NJ  —  Sen. Charles Schumer's brother-in-law was quietly nominated this month to a federal judgeship in New Jersey — a move that has some in the Garden State crying political foul, The Post has learned.  —  Kevin McNulty, who is married to Schumer's sister …

Sakineh Ashtiani could be hanged in Iran  —  Judiciary officials exploring whether woman whose sentence to death by stoning was suspended can be hanged instead  —  An Iranian woman whose sentence of death by stoning for adultery provoked an international outcry could be executed by hanging instead …

The Anti-Entitlement Strategy  —  Mitt Romney wants to stigmatize most “safety net” spending - the array of social insurance programs from Medicare to food stamps to unemployment compensation to free school lunches — as a form of welfare that is “cultivating government dependence.”

“We Don't Have Our ‘A Team’ on the Field”  —  Speaking of discontent with the Republican field, I talked the other day to a pretty prominent conservative officeholder who's constantly been discussing with people around the country the possibility of a new entrant or a push to draft someone.  But who?