The Wrex Files

...Resigning from office with 17 months to go in her first term, Sarah Palin has made herself the bull goose loony of the GOP.

Let's stipulate that if there is some heretofore unknown personal, medical or family crisis, this was the right move. But Gov. Palin didn't say anything like that. Her statement was incoherent, bizarre and juvenile. The text, as posted on Gov. Palin's official website (here), uses 2,549 words and 18 exclamation points. Lincoln freed the slaves with 719 words and nary an exclamation; Mr. Jefferson declared our independence in 1,322 words and, again, no exclamation points. Nixon resigned the presidency in 1,796 words -- still no exclamation points. Gov. Palin capitalized words at random - whole words, like "TO," "HELP," and "AND," and the first letter of "Troops."

Gov. Palin's official announcement that she is resigning as chief executive of the great state of Alaska had all the depth and gravitas of a 13-year-old's review of the Jonas Brothers' album on Facebook. She even quoted her parents' refrigerator magnet. (Note to self: if one of my kids becomes governor, throw away the refrigerator magnet that says: "Murray's Oyster Bar: We Shuck Em, You Suck Em!") She put her son's name in quotations marks. Why? Who knows. She writes, "I promised efficiencies and effectiveness!?" Was she exclaiming or questioning? I get it: both! And I don't even know what to make of a sentence that reads:

*((Gotta put First Things First))*

Ponder the fact that Rupert Murdoch's Harper Collins publishing house is paying this, umm, writer $11 million for a book. Ponder that and say a prayer for Ms. Palin's editor.

Matt Taibbi on how Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression

Democrat Al Franken won Minnesota’s disputed U.S. Senate seat as a loss at the state Supreme Court prompted Republican Norm Coleman to concede after an eight-month post-election battle.

“I congratulate Al Franken” on his victory, Coleman, 59, said at a news conference outside his home in St. Paul. “We’ve reached a point where it’s now time to come together.”

Democrats will now control the Senate 60-40 as it works to overhaul health care, limit greenhouse-gas emissions and revamp financial regulations. The party needs 60 votes to overcome Republican delaying tactics on legislation. The Minnesota seat has remained vacant since January.

“I look forward to working with Senator-Elect Franken to build a new foundation for growth and prosperity,” President Barack Obama said in a statement released by the White House. Franken, 58, plans a news conference later this afternoon at his home in Minneapolis.

June 30, 2009, US Forces will pullout from Iraqi cities while the complete withdrawal is expected at the end of 2011. Meanwhile, the countdown for the exit of non-US troops has started as well.

Michael Jackson, the moonwalking former child star who became known the world over as the "King of Pop" before his life and career deteriorated in a freakish series of scandals, died Thursday, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press. He was 50.

A public relations bomb just landed in my inbox: an email fromUC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau and Provost George Breslauer announcing the impending reality of horrific budget cuts across the Berkeley campus and the rest of the UC system as the state slowly faces up to fiscal reality. Instead of the 8% cuts (approximately $67.2 million) that the campus had originally projected during their budgeting process, they now anticipate that the cuts likely to be approved by the legislature will force a 20% (or $145 million) cut. As you can imagine, the letter doesn’t get better after that.

this is a great sentence from this article. They guard their fracking recipes as proprietary information.