MONDAY TIDBITS

- It's a shame that we won't have miserable bitch Lynn Cheney to kick around as much because she's decided to drop out of the Wyoming Senate race against GOP incumbent Mike Enzi.  Although it was very likely, it would have been a big plus for the Democrats if this wackadoodle had beaten Enzi in the primary.

- Why is it that the banksters only get fines instead of prison time?  JP Morgan is reported to settle with the Feds over it's abetting of Bernie Madoff.  The amount is supposed to be about $2 Billion so total fines for banksters since 2007 is approaching $90 Billion and we haven't gotten the full impact of the LIBOR & FOREX fines.

- Hong Kong has been rated #1 by the Heritage Foundation for economic freedom but contrary to wingnut beliefs, that doesn't automatically mean political freedom:

Thousands march in Hong Kong in escalating battle for democracy
Wed, Jan 01 05:19 AM EST

By James Pomfret

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Thousands protested in Hong Kong on Wednesday pressing China to allow full democracy in the city as a battle intensifies over Beijing's attempts to control the outcome of a planned direct election for the city's leader in 2017.

Protesters at the annual New Year's Day democracy rally shouted slogans demanding full democracy in 2017, with a key condition being the open nominations of candidates so that anyone, including China critics, can run for office.

But Chinese officials and leftist newspapers have rejected that, citing the city's mini-constitution that states all nominees must be endorsed by a 1,200-strong election committee, which is stacked with Beijing loyalists.