Daily Brief

LONG-OVERDUE RETIREMENTS
In a surprise move, North Dakota Democrat Byron Dorgan says he will not seek re-election to the Senate in 2010.
AND ....
From the Washington Post: Embattled Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) is expected to announce that he will not seek re-election either. Both were running far behind challengers.

(The never-tactful Vice President - that sounds so sick - Joe Biden recently said at a Dodd fundraiser that his good friend - one of the Senate's most vulnerable Democrats - is "getting the living hell beat of him.")

MASSIVE UNEMPLOYMENT
Young Americans age 16-24 without a job has risen to a whopping 53.4 percent. Compare that to the UK rate of unemployment for 16-24 year olds in October that was 16.1 per cent - above the Euro area average of 15.9 per cent.

SOMEWHERE AL GORE IS SPEAKING
Because Britain is in the middle of the worst snow storm in 50 years.

PRACTICE WHAT YOU TEACH
In the UK, the Education Secretary is to introduce compulsory lessons in financial management for all school children. Which is hilarious considering how badly Labour has screwed up the finances of Britain which promises to be the last European country to recover from the recession.

THE NEXT SENATOR FROM MASSACHUSETTS
might possibly be Democrat Martha Coakley who has been criticized for her handling of a case against a Somerville police officer accused of raping his 23-month old niece with a curling iron. Not only did Oakley fail to get an indictment of the officer until after the family threatened a criminal complaint, but when the indictment came down ten months later, her office recommended he be released on personal recognizance with no cash bail. Label: Stupid Pols

Her successor won a conviction and two life terms. The toddler spent a month in the hospital recovering from the burns.

THE FORMER STATE SENATOR FROM MASSACHUSETTS
Anthony D. Galluccio, "a repeat drunk driver who is currently jailed because he failed a court-ordered breath alcohol test, resigned from the Legislature last night with a brief letter in which he apologized for his role in an October hit-and-run car accident but insisted that he has not had a drink since that time." Galluccio, a former mayor of Cambridge, is the third Democratic state senator to resign in disgrace in the last two years. Label: Political Corruption

IN NEW YORK,
convicted state Senator Hiram Monserrate (D) is still refusing to resign and just go away. Dems are hoping to have Republicans join them to expel the Queens politician. After a lurid trial, complete with surveillance monitoring tapes, he was convicted in a trial before a judge of misdemeanor assault for slashing girlfriend Karla Giraldo in the face with a broken glass last December. Label: Criminal Politicians

DOH
Only now is the White House is suspending Guantanamo detainee transfers to Yemen. Just days before the attempted terror attack on a jet arriving in Detroit, the Obama administration sent six men held at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention centre back to their home country of Yemen. UPDATE: Getting tough: The Obama Administration revoked the wannabe bomber's visa. ("the visa that allowed him to fly to America on a one-way ticket purchased with cash.")

DEAD SEA SCROLLS EXHIBIT CLOSED
in Canada after Jordan's last-minute request to Canada to stop the ancient manuscripts from going back to Israel. Canada has refused to intervene.

BETTER LATE
An AOL gossip columnist is reporting that CNN is not going to allow Kathy Griffin back on CNN’s New Year’s Eve show after two consecutive years of profanity-laced jokes. CNN had issued an apology for her F-word rant. Officially, they say they have made no decision.