The Gitmo piece reminded me of the Chaplin that visited detainees and then was arrested for having porn--yup those pictures of the guards doing their sick crap to the detainees was the porn.

Watching Newt's temper tantrum. Somehow, the devoutly conservative crowd always seems to wind up cheering for things they claim to oppose. I don't get it.

sorry ot but.

from Think Progress

POLITICS

Breaking: Harry Reid Cancels Senate Debate Over Protect IP Act

By Faiz Shakir on Jan 20, 2012 at 9:30 am

The view from across the pond:

http://newsthump.com/2012/01/20/newt-gingrich-attacks-media-for-behaving-like-newt-gingrich/

Marc Fisher has a great piece up at the Washington Post today about the polarization of the electorate and how people now can nigh-permanently tune out anything they might disagree with.

Once somebody's got their shields set up, the rest of us vanish from their universe. I'll admit, it's nice to filter out anything from, say, creationists, but it has its costs. Now people are mistakenly regarding their little corners as the whole of public discourse.

WOW the circus of the GOP continues....... what a show...you couldn't write this stuff.....surprises and forgiveness daily....why is it that only republicans get forgiven everyone else are dammed for "mistakes" or wrong choices of their lives!?

Watch Stephen Colbert's interview on Morning Joe today.

I thought my stomach was going to burst from the laughter.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036789/vp/46070451#46070451

Rare and very cool-looking sea creature trades arctic ice for Seattle dock.

http://news.yahoo.com/rare-sea-creature-appears-seattle-womans-dock-152011178.html

Cute. I Can Haz as Pet?

Did anyone besides comedy central get footage of the Cain-Colbert event? Some of the quotes were great (politico story)

'the only difference between Mitt Romney and a statue and Mitt Romney is the statue never changes his position,

or:

"And I am not going to answer the 'gotcha' question, 'Are you interested in an open marriage?'" he said. "Though I am flattered Newt Gingrich asked me."

Rachel you were the only host on MSNBC dug into the votes missing in 8 precincts story.

Chris Matthews Ed, Martin Bashir, and Al Sharpton started their shows last night with saying that Santorum had won in Iowa. They sounded as far out in left field as Limbaugh is out in right field. 8 precincts missing in Iowa should have been the story. Possible Republican fraud should have been the story. That race can not be determined with those 8 precincts missing. Why would the MSNBC folks go so far out and not stick with the facts.

It's not just that somehow ballots from 8 districts were lost despite the supposed GOP concern over electoral fraud. Other irregularities are as disturbing:

But GOP officials discovered double-digit errors in 51 of those certified precincts when they compared what was reported on caucus night with the official Form E documents signed by precinct volunteers. Eleven precincts had errors of 50 or more votes. (Des Moines Register story)

Ok, maybe you can see by some accident one count going off that much. But do the math. The average attendance at precincts was only 68. (121,503 votes counted and 1,774 precincts). (wiki article) Even if a few of the precincts had several hundred participants, that's a huge error. Consider a large precinct with 500 voters, this means that those counting the ballots are missing one in 10 votes? And multiple precinct volunteers have to sign off on the Form E for reporting that night? And this happened not just in once, not a handful, but in 11 precincts?

Momentum is often obsessed over by campaign strategists. The perception of a tide of support surging early for your candidate can be crucial, so there is a great deal of motivation to move the vote in favor of your candidate.

The whole thing smells and I hope the Iowa journalists stay on this.

Contraceptives: Broad exemption sought by Catholic Church but some given a 1-yr. extension to comply

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/21/health/policy/administration-rules-insurers-must-cover-contraceptives.html?_r=1&hp