Ex-WikiLeak Worker Starting Alternative Whistleblower Site OpenLeaks

Daniel Domscheit-Berg (pictured with Julian Assange of WikiLeaks), who once worked for WikiLeaks, is starting his own whistleblowing site that will operate a bit differently.

The German Domscheit-Berg, along with several other former Wikileaks staffers, plans to launch a website they’re calling OpenLeaks as early as next week, Domscheit-Berg told Forbes in an interview. Like WikiLeaks, the new site will allow leakers to anonymously submit information to a secure online dropbox. But unlike its parent site, it won’t publish that information itself. Instead, it will allow the source to designate any media or non-governmental organizations he or she chooses and …

YMCA, Rebranding Itself As “The Y”, Dumps Santa For Frosty To Be More Inclusive

YMCA officials are “rebranding” the Young Men’s Christian Association as “The Y,” and are defending a decision to replace Santa with Frosty the Snowman.

“It wasn’t replacing; it was transitioning,” said John Rappaport, executive director of the McBurney YMCA. “We realized that change is sometimes good, and that Frosty is a great winter character who would appeal to a broader number of kids.”

The decision to ditch Father Christmas came down from McBurney branch administration, not the Y’s Chicago headquarters.

A chilly reception greeted the news that the YMCA — an organization founded to spread Christian values in1844 — was …

Couple Faces 10 Years For Using Prayer Instead Of Medicine On Dying Child

Herbert and Catherine Shaible of Philadelphia, a fundamentalist Christian couple, allowed their two-year-old son, Kent, to die rather than get him medical help, believing prayer could cure him.

“We were careful to make sure we didn’t have their religion on trial but were holding them responsible for their conduct,” jury foreman Vince Bertolini, 49, told The Associated Press. “At the least, they were guilty of gross negligence, and (therefore) of involuntary manslaughter.”

The Schaibles, who have six other children, declined to comment as they left the courthouse to await sentencing Feb. 2.

Experts say about a dozen U.S. children …

Giuliani Says Republican Vote Against Aid To 9/11 Workers Wrong And Inconsiderate

The Senate vote by Republicans blocking aid for 9/11 health care workers is incurring the wrath of Rudy Giuliani.

“I think this is a very big mistake,” said Giuliani, a Republican whose leadership of the city during and after the attacks earned him the moniker “America’s Mayor.”

“Any time you treat Sept. 11 as a political issue, which is what they are doing . . . I think is just wrong. That’s the wrong thing to do.”

…

Senate Republicans stopped the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act — named after an NYPD cop who died of respiratory …

Mark Madoff Couldn’t Live With Family Curse; Told Wife She’d Be Better Off Without Him

Bernie Madoff’s son Mark, who committed suicide Saturday, couldn’t live any longer with the family curse, and sent desperate early morning emails to his wife reports the New York Daily News.

“At one point he said something like, ‘You’ll have a better life if I’m not around … I love you … Our son needs someone here,’” one source told the News.

Madoff, 46, was discovered hanging from a pipe inside the living room of his luxurious Mercer St. home in Soho around 7:30 a.m. by his father-in-law, who immediately called 911, the sources indicated.

Mark Madoff’s 2-year-old son …

When Is An Earmark Not An Earmark?

by Stuart Shapiro

Um, when it is requested by a Republican.  Chapter 3 of (approximately) 654 in the GOP betrayal of Tea Party “principles” comes in the form of backtracking on one of their signature issues.  And it’s not just establishment GOPers who are saying they want earmarks to continue.

Conservatives like [Tennessee's Phil] Roe, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and Iowa Rep. Steve King (pictured) are among those trying to figure out a longer-term, sustainable way to get money back to projects in their districts.

“This isn’t trying to be too cute by half of what is an earmark …

The Musical Stylings Of Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin was coaxed to the microphone on Russian TV to perform the Fats Domino classic. (h/t Mediaite)

The reception at an ice stadium in St. Petersburg was dedicated to fighting children’s cancer. International celebrities including Kevin Costner, Gerard Depardieu, Mickey Rourke, Sharon Stone, Kurt Russell, Vincent Cassel, Monica Belucci, Ornella Muti, Goldie Hawn and many others attended the benefit concert…after seeing the pictures of ill children shown to the audience on the big screen, he took to the stage. “Like the majority of people I cannot — but do like to sing and to play — …

Those Who Attack Controversial Work Of Art Fail To Understand Its Meaning

Even though the Smithsonian recently removed an offensive four-minute video, the battle over its contents rages on.  Bill Donohue of the Catholic League and several members of Congress are attacking the late artist David Wojnarowicz (pronounced voy-nah-ROH-vitch) because of the image on a video of ants swarming over a crucifix. In 1989, American Family Association founder Donald Wildmon mailed examples of Wojnarowicz’s work to every member of Congress, religious leaders and the media, decrying the images as pornographic or blasphemous.  The artist sued Wildmon for misrepresenting his work and won the case. “A Fire in My Belly,” the work currently in …

Richard Nixon Disparaged Jews And Blacks In Newly-Released Tapes

Newly-released tapes of President Richard Nixon from 1973, captured by his secret White House taping system, reveal animosity toward blacks and Jews, and other racial stereotyping. “The Jews have certain traits,” Nixon is heard remarking. “The Irish have certain — for example, the Irish can’t drink. What you always have to remember with the Irish is they get mean. Virtually every Irish I’ve known gets mean when he drinks. Particularly the real Irish.” Nixon added that Italians “don’t have their heads screwed on tight,” but the Jews, “are just a very aggressive and abrasive and obnoxious personality.” Referring to the views …

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher: If DREAM Act Passes Whites “Lose Our Freedom”

California Congressman Dana Rohrabacher appeared an a radio show bemoaning the rights minorities, particularly Hispanics, would obtain should the DREAM Act pass (via Think Progress).

So they go to college, they finish, they get their legal status. Well, if that person happens to be a minority, which many, as we know, illegal aliens are Hispanic in background and other minorities, they then are immediately eligible to all the preferences we have written into our laws.

So we’re not only putting them in the line, so to speak, but we’re putting them ahead of every American child who’s not a …

I Used To Think Maybe You Loved Me Now Baby I’m Sure

From: Barbara
Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2010 1:30 PM
To: Alan
Subject: LIAR, LIAR, LIAR!!!!!

you need to get out of this profession!!!! Move to Europe!!!!

Okay, but do you mind if I then ply my craft there? Or how about I stay here and go into dry goods?

From: itsucks2bu
Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2010 1:35 PM
To: Alan

You are still a flaming asshole liberal. Here you are yelling at Megan trying to get your Socialist points acrossed and you know what Alan the only thing you do is piss people off….I hope if …