• Just more proof that the Associated Press is controlled by Erik Erickson and the Pharmaceutical Knights Templar. [Matt Yglesias]
• When will you whiny liberals thank S&M black belt John Yoo for correcting FISA’s many typos and run-on sentences? And why aren’t you more appreciative of all the fabulous features he added in the process, like the provision for warrantless NSA succubus home invasions? [Think Progress]
• CONFIRMED RUMOR: RedState’s mission is “activism” — or to be more specific — actively capturing Karl Rove’s queefs in zip lock bags, so they can be treasured and passed on as heirlooms to the next generation of crazies. [RedState]
• Claudia Deutsch is bursting with jellybean joy because HURRAY for Goldman Sachs and all the billions of dollars they made while pounding the entire world in the anus! But WAIT. Matt Taibbi and his Merry Pranksters have arrived at the scene, with “facts” and “logic” — they were not invited! [True/Slant BLOG WAR]
• If health care is reformed, blue dog Democrat Mike Ross will handcuff himself to Nancy Pelosi and make fart noises with his armpits until America stops being so socialist. [AMERICAblog]

• A brilliant graduate student has compiled thousands of shocking photographs from North Korea, after visiting the country on Google Earth. How did we not know about North Korea’s trees and hills and stuff, which according to these photographs are practically everywhere, and how much longer before they’re auctioned off to the highest terrorist-bidder? [HuffPost]
• TIME Magazine’s Eunuch of the Year John Yoo will testify in court about how he purposely pees the bed every night. It’s true, John Yoo can’t sleep comfortably unless he’s covered in his own urine, and he really needs his rest because his Circadian rhythm is super sensitive to sleep deprivation. Good luck in court, John! [Think Progress]
• The Left loves Racial Profiling because they both adore Belle & Sebastian and have so many hilarious inside jokes that you just wouldn’t get and when they’re at work, they call each other every half hour. They are in love and every night they snuggle on the beach until the tide carries them away. And just because you can’t understand it, RedState — that doesn’t mean it’s not real. Because it is and it’s beautiful. [RedState]
• The Jews have ruined Ahmadinejad’s landslide victory by using Twitter to expose his terrible regime. Please appreciate this: “@BabakMehrabani is saying that he was beaten by a baton and his right hand is numb. He is twitting with the left hand.” [The Daily Dish]

• Fancy newspaper columnist Edmund Andrews wrote a book about why you should buy his book so the proceeds of his book can go to paying off his subprime mortgage. AIG gave it a AAA rating, which is why the entire universe has already pre-ordered on Amazon. [Matt Taibbi]
• Back when Money Czar Henry Paulson ran things, you weren’t allowed to leave a “working dinner” until you finished the box of Franzia Merlot that was duct-taped to your stomach. And then there was Timmy Geithner, the prude. [Politico]
• Barack Obama has a secret caging list he keeps on his BlackBerry, which is used to disenfranchise Dodge Durangos and other Chrysler products. [RedState]
• A pharmaceutical company has fulfilled an ancient Aztec prophesy — and a more recent Bill Kristol prediction — by tragically “sterilizing” marijuana in the form of a not-cool oral spray. [Slate]
• John Yoo, the microphallus who wrote Abu Ghraib fan fiction for the Bush Administration, has mercilessly broadsided Sonia-Maria Sotomayor with his creative grammar: “credentials do not an excellent justice make.” You should be expecting that royalty check in the mail any day now, Yoda. [The Enterprise Blog]

Greetings and best wishes to all you folks out there in Wonketteland. We hope that the new year finds you well and, you know, poised to perhaps wrap yourself up in the comforting embrace of, say, a new book. MORE »

• Former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) says Congress rejected White House request for the authority to eavesdrop on U.S. citizens: “I can state categorically that the subject of warrantless wiretaps of American citizens never came up. I did not and never would have supported giving authority to the president for such wiretaps. I am also confident that the 98 senators who voted in favor of authorization of force against al Qaeda did not believe that they were also voting for warrantless domestic surveillance.” [WP, WP]
• Congress has turned on Bush. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.): “What you have seen is a Congress, which has been AWOL through intimidation or lack of unity, get off the sidelines and jump in with both feet.” [WP, LAT]
• Republican lawmakers “largely have themselves to blame for the muddled and haphazard finale of the Congressional session.” [NYT]
• House and Senate extend the Patriot Act for five weeks, pushing fight into the new year. [WP, NYT, LAT]
• Bush approves reduction of U.S. combat forces in Iraq; troop level could fall to 130,000. [WP, USAT]
• John Yoo, “a mere deputy assistant attorney general in the legal counsel office,” was the main author of controversial legal policies; viewed as an aggressive force among conservative legal scholars. Yoo: “If you’re being criticized for what you did and you believe that what you did was right, you shouldn’t take it lying down. You should go out and defend yourself.” [NYT]
• Michael Brown warned Tom Ridge in 2003 that the bureaucracy of the DHS would strangle FEMA’s effectiveness: “People became distracted from the mission, because we spent so much time and energy fighting for resources and working on reorganization. It just disintegrated our capacity.” [WP, WT]

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• Time reporter Viveca Novak says Karl Rove was the likely source of a July 2003 article about Valerie Plame. Novak: “I remember [Rove's lawyer] looking at me and saying something to the effect of ‘Karl doesn’t have a [Matt Cooper] problem. He was not a source for Matt.’ I responded instinctively, thinking he was trying to spin me, and said something like, ‘Are you sure about that? That’s not what I hear around Time.’ He looked surprised and very serious.” [Time, NYT, WSJ]
• Sen. Frist threatens to use the “nuclear option” to save Samuel Alito from a filibuster. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.): “We’re not close to a deal.” [WP, NYT, LAT]
• White House flack Trent Duffy: “What you will see more of next year is the president going back to the basics — winning the war and growing the economy and creating jobs.” [WT]
• Sen. Clinton’s quiet, centrist approach to Iraq “is drawing increasing scorn from liberal activists.” [WP]
• Ronald Brownstein on Alito’s abortion memos: “It’s still not clear these disclosures will seriously threaten Alito’s confirmation. And if they do not, both sides might need to rethink basic assumptions about the politics of the Supreme Court.” [LAT]
• Gov. Mark Warner (D-Va.) tours battleground states for a head-start on ‘08. Warner: “As Democrats, what we have to do is put forward ideas and candidates that can win in places like Florida, that can win in places like Virginia.” [NYT]

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