Hail Eris!

And away we go, with another news digest... 

• While some of the 1% prove that they aren't all rotters, the GOP portion are set to prove that THEY, at least, are upholding the ancient tradition of the rich, greedy miser.
• In one of the greatest ironies of 2011 -- a year famous for irony -- Hamas is about to conditionally reject violence,while the US becomes a brutal police state, and Canada trundles far down that road.
• Bradley Manning: Hero and Patriot
• In Europe & North America, our leaders are failing, making bad situations worse, horrible situations nightmarish -- but giving up is not an option. Then again, Europe, at least, seems to be falling apart anyway...unless Deborah Orr has it backwards. To be sure, the word from Greece is less-than-thrilling, while France and the UK look ready to get down in the mud, and Russia's having problems with more than just Islamic terrorists.
• RIP, Hitch.
• Sean Hannity: The Stupid, it burns, it burns!
• Rachel the Wise details how the GOP is helping Obama get re-elected on other levels, besides the campaigning for that POTUS nom.
• This should give pause to those who may be inclined to panic about the NDAA. Also, Dianne Feinstein just earned my adoration.
• OK, you may have read this, but da-yamn, it's funny. Also, this.
• The Wall Street Journal is confused about what constitutes a “refutation.”
• The Vatican's gotta be polling as poorly as US Congress, these days...I mean, 65 years is a long time. How much do ya wanna bet that most countries on the planet could report the same thing?
• The Egyptian military looks set to self-nuke, if they keep treating protestors this way.
• Julian Assange: Another great hero under threat of US persecution.
• No, it's 12 turbulent months of the Occupy Movement (including the several months before it got that name, right back to Tunisia).
• It's difficult to be sure about Syria – is it a rehash of Libya? Protesters appear to be getting killed there, but how much of the news we're seeing is anti-Syrian propaganda? Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia...
• Stephen Harper: A man with a plan for Canada (make it just like the US (ca. 1840), business-wise).
• Have A Very Scary Solstice – I highly recommend it!

Snarky