Bristol Palin Buys 5-Bedroom Arizona Home For $172,000

Bristol Palin is the sole buyer of a 5-bedroom, 3,900 square foot home in Maricopa, AZ, for $172,000. It is not clear whether she will move there or be a season resident, or if the home is an investment property.…

WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Signs $1.3 Million Book Deal

Julian Assange says he needs to do this book to pay his legal bills, and has signed for both American and British versions of his story.

“I don’t want to write this book, but I have to,” he told the Sunday Times. “I have already spent £200,000 for legal costs and I need to defend myself and to keep WikiLeaks afloat.”

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Assange told the British newspaper that he will receive $800,000 from Knopf while his deal with Canongate is worth £325,000, or approximately $502,000.

Crown Publishers announced last Wednesday that Daniel Domscheit-Berg, also known as Daniel Schmitt, who …

Education And National Security: Can The Republicans Be Shamed Into Closing The Gap?

The Republicans may want to drown most of the federal government in a bathtub, but they want to save the military. Perhaps the Dem’s can save education by hammering, hammering, and hammering some more the fact that an educational system that turns out unprepared students doesn’t just harm the students and our economy; it also harms our national security.

White House To Encourage End-Of-Life Planning; Expect RWNJ’s To Talk “Death Panels” Again

President Obama will pay doctors under the Medicare plan who help patients with end-of-life planning, an issue dropped in the health care legislation but achievable via regulation.

The final version of the health care legislation, signed into law by President Obama in March, authorized Medicare coverage of yearly physical examinations, or wellness visits. The new rule says Medicare will cover “voluntary advance care planning,” to discuss end-of-life treatment, as part of the annual visit.

Under the rule, doctors can provide information to patients on how to prepare an “advance directive,” stating how aggressively they wish to be treated …

Maine Tea Party Gov-Elect Hires Daughter For $41,000 A Year

Maine’s Governor-elect Paul LePage told President Obama to “go to hell” and told a reporter he would punch him in the face.  He promised to avoid political cronyism. (h/t Think Progress)

Lauren LePage, 22, will serve as assistant to the governor’s chief of staff, John McGough — a position that administration officials describe as entry-level and is commensurate with her experience, work history and education.

LePage, a recent college graduate, will be a salaried political appointee earning approximately $41,000 a year, according to Dan Demeritt, incoming director of communications in the LePage administration. ... Read more »

Maine …

Our Preposterous Military Spending And Its Disasterous Consequences

Nicholas Kristoff in the New York Times has data that should put things in perspective.

Hugh Hefner Engaged To 24-Year-Old Playmate

Playboy founder Hugh Hefner has found love again, this time with Playmate Crystal Harris, to whom he gave a ring for Christmas.

To clear up confusion over whether the ring was simply a Christmas gift, Hefner later tweeted: “Yes, the ring I gave Crystal is an engagement ring. I didn’t mean to make a mystery out of it. A very merry Christmas to all.”

This would be the third marriage for the 84-year-old, star of E! reality series “The Girls Next Door,” which chronicles Hefner’s life at the Playboy Mansion. He divorced Playmate Kimberly Conrad last year.…

What Jesus Wants For Christmas: No More Impoverished Children

by Bruce Friedrich

The New York Times and Politico offer a pair of articles that, taken seriously, capture the true spirit of Christmas. In the New York Times, Charles Blow (now firmly entrenched as one of my “must read” columnists) makes us aware of some damning statistics:

According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, 42 percent of American children live in low-income homes and about a fifth live in poverty. It gets worse. The number of children living in poverty has risen 33 percent since 2000. For perspective, the child population of the country over all increased …

New Hawaii Governor Was There When Obama Was Born; Determined To Correct Birthers

New Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie knew Barack Obama’s parents when the future president was born in 1961, and he is determined to address the birther movement.

“What bothers me is that some people who should know better are trying to use this for political reasons,” said Abercrombie, 72. “Maybe I’m the only one in the country that could look you right in the eye right now and tell you, ‘I was here when that baby was born.’ “

One of Abercrombie’s aides said the governor is voicing the frustration of many Hawaiians who continue to be troubled by the …

INS Grants Immigrant Dying Wish For Christmas: U.S. Citizenship

Manuel Lara Lopez has lived in the United States for 30 years, and has been a legal resident for 20 years, having  immigrated to Texas from Mexico for a better life. He was diagnosed with advanced intestinal cancer, and said his dying wish was to become an American citizen.

Lopez was too weak to leave his house, so Tuesday, an officer from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services came to his home and administered the exam he was originally scheduled to take in January 2011, but wishing to grant him a Christmas wish, he was allowed to take it early.…

Alleged Murderer Wins Prison Christmas Caroling Contest

Jodi Arias, accused of killing her boyfriend (a murder she says she did not commit) won a Christmas caroling contest put on by Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio (h/t Mediaite)

Jodi Arias, a woman currently awaiting trail for the alleged murder of her boyfriend, beat out some 50 other inmates for the contest’s top prize, winning a Christmas stocking brimming with goodies, as well as a turkey dinner for herself and her cellmates.

The contest was judged by Arpaio, Santa Claus and “Elfis” the singing detention officer.

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