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Colombian Escort Speaks About Secret Service Scandal — CARTAGENA, Colombia — A Secret Service agent preparing for President Obama's arrival at an international summit meeting and a single mother from Colombia who makes a living as a high-priced escort faced off in a room at the Hotel Caribe …
Discussion:
USA Today, CBS News, Mediaite, The PJ Tatler, Pat Dollard, Guardian, Politico, The Daily Caller, Hot Air, Business Insider, PJ Media, msnbc.com, Above the Law, New York Magazine, Outside the Beltway, Yahoo! News and ABCNEWS
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NUGENT REVEALS DATE OF HIS SECRET SERVICE INTERVIEW IN EPIC GLENN BECK INTERVIEW: 'WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A LITTLE BBQ' — Rock star and gun enthusiast Ted Nugent appeared on Glenn Beck's radio show this morning. The outspoken musician discussed the heat he's been taking over controversial comments …
Discussion:
CNN, PopWatch, Wake up America, The Raw Story, Wonkette, Gawker, Politico and ABCNEWS


New low ‘blow’: Coke eyed at Secret Service ho-down
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, Don Surber, Gawker and New York Times

Congressional Oversight Leaders Say Secret Service Agents Brought Prostitutes into Contact …
Discussion:
Business Insider

Three Secret Service agents leave due to prostitution scandal
Discussion:
Politico

Ted Nugent to meet with Secret Service
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, Livewire, Mediaite, The Week and New York Magazine


Bam Bites Dog — The political perils of personal attacks. — One time Barack Obama went to an Indian restaurant and ordered the lassi. Was he ever disappointed when the waiter brought him a yogurt drink! — We'll be here all week. But seriously, folks, we have a man-bites-dog story for you today.
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Dogs Against Romney: On Obama, Dog Meat, and Mitt
Discussion:
Mediaite, Weasel Zippers and ABCNEWS

Why Seamus Matters — The now famous story of how Mitt Romney strapped …
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, RADAMISTO and The Daily Caller

Dogs Against Romney Defends Obama Over Dog Consumption Revelations
Discussion:
Hot Air, ABCNEWS, The Week, Little Green Footballs and The Huffington Post

Jim Webb: Health-care law represents a leadership failure for Obama — President Obama's new health-care law will be his greatest liability as he attempts to once again win the critical swing state of Virginia, Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) warned Wednesday. — “I'll be real frank here,” Webb said at a breakfast organized by Bloomberg News.
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, Booman Tribune, Business Insider and Conservatives4Palin
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Obama camp tries to diversify — President Barack Obama's team is looking to hire more African-Americans, a search that has stirred a debate among black Democrats about Obama's record on diversity and its implications for his reelection. — Stefanie Brown, director of the campaign's African …
Discussion:
Campaign 2012 and Weasel Zippers


The smartest choice Ann Romney made — There is no shame in marrying up — Mitt and Ann, serving a pancake breakfast. — As a thirtysomething, city-dwelling, hypereducated, independent-thinking woman, I suppose I should recoil at the idea of one day getting married …
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, Jezebel and TBogg
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Phony Mommy Wars
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Washington Monthly, The Daily Dish, Weekly Standard, The Moderate Voice, The PJ Tatler and Daily Kos

Democrats to introduce WORK Act to give all mothers the same choice Ann Romney had
Discussion:
The Confluence and ECHIDNE of the snakes

The most amazing Supreme Court chart. Maybe ever. — While browsing around the Pew polling site this morning — and, yes, we do a fair amount of that — we came across a chart on the Supreme Court that reminded us, for the billionth time, that assuming the average person follows …


U.S. troops posed with body parts of Afghan bombers — An American soldier says he released the photos to the Los Angeles Times to draw attention to the safety risk of a breakdown in leadership and discipline. The Army has started a criminal investigation.
Discussion:
CBS News, Yahoo! News, Boing Boing, NO QUARTER, New York Times, msnbc.com, ABCNEWS, News Desk, Fox News, Mediaite, World Now, JOSHUAPUNDIT, Hot Air, Guardian, The Daily Caller, Firedoglake, Washington Post, Poynter, Truthdig, Politico, Outside the Beltway, Weasel Zippers, Campaign 2012, emptywheel, Atlas Shrugs, Taylor Marsh, TalkLeft, Wonkette, New York Magazine, Jammie Wearing Fools, CNN, National Review, The Daily Dish, Shakesville, Jihad Watch and The Jawa Report, more at Mediagazer »

Romney: Obama is ‘in over his head’ on the economy — Mitt Romney said President Barack Obama is “in over his head and swimming in the wrong direction” when it comes to the nation's economy and that his policies are “putting in peril” America's future. — Speaking in Charlotte, N.C. …
Discussion:
Politico, Reuters, Yahoo! News and CNN
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TV and music pioneer Dick Clark dies at age 82 — Dick Clark, the creator of “American Bandstand” and “Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve,” died Wednesday morning. — He was 82. — Clark suffered a massive heart attack after entering St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica on Tuesday night …
Discussion:
Media Decoder, The Gateway Pundit, Jezebel, Scared Monkeys and PunditGuy
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TV Host and Icon of New Year's Eve
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Gawker and Media Decoder, more at Mediagazer »

Vatican orders crackdown on American nuns — WASHINGTON — The Vatican has launched a crackdown on the umbrella group that represents most of America's 55,000 Catholic nuns, saying that the group was not speaking out strongly enough against gay marriage, abortion and women's ordination.
Discussion:
New York Times, Little Green Footballs and Towleroad News #gay


Whistleblower Alleges Top U.S. Official Got Blowjob On Roof Of Baghdad Embassy — State Department gadfly Peter Van Buren drops a bombshell on his blog. He claims there's a sex tape. — A Foreign Service Officer who once posed for Playboy, according to State Departement official and blogger Peter Van Buren.
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Rule No. 1: It is Poor Judgement to Talk About Fight Club
Discussion:
Business Insider, emptywheel and nation.foxnews.com


Gulf seafood deformities alarm scientists — Eyeless shrimp and fish with lesions are becoming common, with BP oil pollution believed to be the likely cause. — New Orleans, LA - “The fishermen have never seen anything like this,” Dr Jim Cowan told Al Jazeera.
Discussion:
naked capitalism, Wonkette, US Politics, Boing Boing, Towleroad News #gay, The Raw Story, New York Times and Mother Jones
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Legacy Of BP Oil Spill: Eyeless Shrimp And Fish With Lesions
Discussion:
New Orleans Times-Picayune and The Impolitic


What's with Obama? His Falklands gaffe angers Brits, puzzles others — OK, picture this: President George W. Bush, he of the cast-iron Texas tongue, at a news conference concluding an international summit. — He's asked about a dispute involving Argentina and Great Britain …
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The $5 Trillion Man: Debt Has Increased Under Obama by $5,027,761,476,484.56
Discussion:
CNN, Wake up America, The Gateway Pundit, Weasel Zippers, The Jawa Report and Conservatives4Palin


MEDIA MATTERS' ERIC BOEHLERT DOWNPLAYED GENOCIDAL ANTI-SEMITISM — Two weeks ago, Media Matters for America (MMFA) quasi-parted ways with anti-Semitic Senior Foreign Policy Fellow MJ Rosenberg, who was fond of labeling pro-Israel Jews “Israel firsters.” This PR maneuver was designed …
Discussion:
The PJ Tatler and The Jawa Report


Mel Gibson Rage Rant in Costa Rica: ‘Filthy C—sucker Whore’ (Audio) — Mel Gibson shouted terrifying epithets at his houseguests during a rampage at his home in Costa Rica in December, according to a recording obtained by TheWrap. — Houseguest and screenwriter Joe Eszterhas provided the recording …
Discussion:
TMZ.com

Catholic League Promises To “Mobilize” Religious Groups Against Jon Stewart — A bit about a “vagina manger” offends. “We will not stop with a boycott,” the League's president writes. — A segment of The Daily Show skewering the media fervor over the “war on women” that recommended that women use …
Discussion:
Mediaite, Jezebel, TBogg, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Raw Story


Studies Question the Pairing of Food Deserts and Obesity — It has become an article of faith among some policy makers and advocates, including Michelle Obama, that poor urban neighborhoods are food deserts, bereft of fresh fruits and vegetables. — But two new studies have found something unexpected.
Discussion:
Rush Limbaugh, Ezra Klein, Hit & Run, Power Line and Opinionator


Secret poll: State senators favor Liljenquist in U.S. Senate race — SALT LAKE CITY — A secret poll of state senators found them favoring one of their former colleagues in the race for U.S. Senate. — Republican Dan Liljenquist came out on top in an informal poll conducted by the Office of the Legislative Auditor General.

CNN Poll: Republicans divided on VP choice — Washington (CNN) - Who should Mitt Romney choose as his running mate? — According to a new national poll, there's no consensus among Republicans. But a CNN/ORC International survey released Wednesday does indicate there's an ideological split …
Discussion:
msnbc.com, New York Magazine, Guardian, The Caucus and ABCNEWS

Ken Lester named new judge in Zimmerman murder case — The 15-year judge has experience in high-profile cases. — SANFORD - The new judge in the George Zimmerman murder case will be Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester Jr., who's been on the bench 15 years. — The case passed to him today, but not before things got a bit complicated.