memeorandum: War? What War? — Janet Napolitano — former Arizona governor … (Charles Krauthammer/National Review)

9:35 AM ET, January 2, 2010

Top Items:

EXCLUSIVE: Obama Got Pre-Christmas Intelligence Briefing About Terror Threats to “Homeland” — President Barack Obama received a high-level briefing only three days before Christmas about possible holiday-period terrorist threats against the US, Newsweek has learned.

Discussion: Erick's blog, Gateway Pundit, The Strata-Sphere, Outside The Beltway, YID With LID, Riehl World View and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

BBC:

Somali shot in attack on cartoonist — Danish police have shot and wounded a man at the home of Kurt Westergaard, whose cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad sparked an international row. — Mr Westergaard scrambled into a panic room at his home in Aarhus after a man wielding an axe and a knife broke in.

Discussion: snooperreport.com, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Outside The Beltway, Power Line and Gateway Pundit

Telegraph:

Danish police shoot man trying to enter Mohammed cartoonist's home — Danish police on Friday shot and wounded a man trying to enter the home of an artist who drew controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. — The man, a 27-year-old Somalian who was armed with an axe …

Discussion: The Corner on National …

CNN:
Somali shot after allegedly attempting to attack Danish cartoonist

Discussion: The Jawa Report

Peter S. Goodman / New York Times:

U.S. Loan Effort Is Seen as Adding to Housing Woes — The Obama administration's $75 billion program to protect homeowners from foreclosure has been widely pronounced a disappointment, and some economists and real estate experts now contend it has done more harm than good.

Discussion: Calculated Risk, The Big Picture, snooperreport.com, naked capitalism, Don Surber, Flopping Aces and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Fox News:

Democrats Join Calls for Napolitano to Step Down Following Failed Attack — Democrats have joined the ranks of those calling for Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to step down following the attempted bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight a week ago.

Discussion: Eschaton, YID With LID, snooperreport.com, The Strata-Sphere, Scared Monkeys, Another Black Conservative, MyDD, Riehl World View, JammieWearingFool and Opinionator

CNN:

Tests reveal ‘nothing wrong’ with Limbaugh's heart — (CNN) - Tests that were performed on Rush Limbaugh after he was admitted to a Hawaii hospital for chest pains “found absolutely nothing wrong,” the conservative talk show host said Friday. — “It was a blessing,” Limbaugh told reporters …

Discussion: Breitbart.tv

Carol E. Lee / The Politico:

Rush: U.S. health system ‘just fine’ — HONOLULU - Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh said Friday that he had not suffered a heart attack and that his physician did not know the reason for the symptoms that resulted in his hospitalization in Hawaii this week, despite a number of tests performed on him.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Reaction, snooperreport.com and Townhall.com

Sally Jo Sorensen / Bluestem Prairie:

It takes a worried man: SD 26 GOP Endorsee Mike Parry scrubs potentially offensive twitter posts — According to today's Waseca County News, GOP-endorsed SD 26 candidate Mike Parry boasted at the recent GOP endorsing convention in Faribault: … However, when progressives on twitter began …

Discussion: skippy the bush kangaroo, MN Progressive Project and Riehl World View

Anill / Think Progress:
Minnesota State Senate candidate removes racist comments from his Twitter feed.

Discussion: The Political Carnival

Andy Birkey / Minnesota Independent:
Senate candidate scrubs racist comments from Twitter

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Matthew L. Wald / New York Times:

U.S. Lawyers Knew About Legal Pitfalls in Blackwater Case — WASHINGTON — The sudden blow to the case against the former Blackwater security guards over a shooting that killed 17 Iraqis and wounded at least 20 may have come as a surprise to the public in Iraq and the United States …

Discussion: MyDD, Raw Story, Atlas Shrugs and The Confluence

TheDenverChannel.com:

Doctored Obama Photo Has CDOT Supervisor In Hot Water — E-Mail Sent To Several Agency Employees Makes Its Way To Public — DENVER — A 73-year-old Colorado Department of Transportation supervisor is in hot water after forwarding a Photoshopped image of President Barack Obama shining the shoes of Sarah Palin.

Discussion: JammieWearingFool

Hiroko Tabuchi / New York Times:

For Some in Japan, Home Is a Tiny Plastic Bunk — TOKYO — For Atsushi Nakanishi, jobless since Christmas, home is a cubicle barely bigger than a coffin — one of dozens of berths stacked two units high in one of central Tokyo's decrepit “capsule” hotels. — “It's just a place to crawl …

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias and Bloomberg

Neil Irwin / Washington Post:

Aughts were a lost decade for U.S. economy, workers — For most of the past 70 years, the U.S. economy has grown at a steady clip, generating perpetually higher incomes and wealth for American households. But since 2000, the story is starkly different. — The past decade was the worst …

Discussion: Ezra Klein and Calculated Risk

Don Loos / Big Government:

Obama Gives Big Labor Another Gift in Final Days of 2009 — In November BigGovernment.com, sounded the warning - here's the update. — As 2009 fades away, President Obama has decided to let disclosure of hundreds of millions of dollars in forced-union-dues disclosure fade away too.

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

How Cheney Made America A Torture Nation — The comparison with Richard Reid is, of course, instructive. The Bush administration treated the shoe-bomber exactly as the Obama administration has treated the pantie-bomber - and convicted him the way no one has yet convicted anyone directly connected to 9/11.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Instapundit

Dana Loesch / Big Government:

Its a Wrap: The Most Underreported Stories of 2009 — This year saw the birth of the tea party movement, the rise of administrative radicalism, and a suppression of information unlike ever before seen. Were it not for the new penny presses, blogs and the investigative citizens who author them …

Discussion: American Power, Gateway Pundit, GayPatriot, snooperreport.com and Pajamas Media