AP: Kim Jong Il Dead: North Korean Leader’s Nukes, Threats Stoked World Fears
Kim Jong Il, the mercurial and enigmatic North Korean leader whose iron rule and nuclear ambitions dominated world security fears for more than a decade, has died. He was 69.
Learn more HERE

The New York Times: Extension of Tax Cut Stalls in House as GOP Objects
The House Republican leader on Sunday flatly rejected a short-term, bipartisan Senate measure to extend a payroll tax break and unemployment insurance, setting the stage for a bitter year-end Congressional collision and the potential loss of benefits for millions of Americans.
Learn more HERE

Huffington Post: Christian Group Recalls Pink Bible
From contraceptives to breastfeeding to eating disorders, many women's health issues are controversial. And it seems even breast cancer isn't above all the bickering. On Wednesday a Christian group recalled the pink bible it manufactured and sold for those with breast cancer over concerns that some of the proceeds would go to Planned Parenthood.
Learn more HERE

Huffington Post: For Times Such As These: The Radical Christian Witness of the New Monastics
"I often say I was drafted by injustice," explains Shane Claiborne, one of the founders of The Simple Way, a Christian community located in North Philadelphia. Tall, thin, with dreadlocks and a ready smile, Shane shares with me the religious experience that changed his life.
Learn more HERE

The New Zealand Herald: ‘People’s year’ gives hope that the tide is turning
In his book God's Politics, the Reverend Jim Wallis tells of a young African American woman who worked with urban youth in Washington, DC. He describes her as "a smart kid from a working-class family who went to Yale and earned a PhD."
Learn more HERE

Montgomery Advertiser: Speaker targets immigration law
Jim Wallis turns to the Bible for his views on immigration.

"No matter what else we think about issue, those undocumented immigrants are in (the) biblical category of sojourners," the prominent evangelical preacher said in a phone interview. "And our Scripture gives us strict instruction about how to treat the stranger."
Learn more HERE

Slate: Vaclav Havel, Czech’s Velvet Revolution Leader, Dead at 75
Vaclav Havel, a writer who was instrumental in the Velvet Revolution that delivered Czechoslovakia from Soviet rule, has died at the age of 75.
Learn more HERE

Hot Air: PPP: Paul Leads Iowa, Gingrich drops to 3
Democratic pollster PPP says that the race in Iowa has flipped yet again.  Just a couple of weeks ago, Newt Gingrich rode high in the polls as the alternative to Mitt Romney, but PPP now says that role has fallen to … Ron Paul.
Learn more HERE

Think Progress: Mitt Romney’s Dream World: Cutting Billions Out of Medicaid Will Not 'Hurt the Poor'
Medicaid, which is funded jointly by the states and the federal government, provides health coverage to approximately 53 million lower income Americans. The federal government helps fund the program by matching state spending on a per-claim basis and paying a percentage of each state’s Medicaid costs (anywhere between 50 and 75 percent).
Learn more HERE