MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Republicans in the Wisconsin Assembly took the first significant action on their plan to strip collective bargaining rights from most public workers, abruptly passing the measure early Friday morning before sleep-deprived Democrats realized what was happening.   The vote ended three straight days of punishing debate in the Assembly. But the political standoff over the bill – and the monumental protests at the state Capitol against it – appear far from over.  (more…)

*Prayers Desperately needed* Tearing Down Walls — Egyptian Style  For the last three days the Egyptian army has been systematically destroying the protective fences that Coptic Christians recently built around three of their monasteries. Three ancient monasteries in Egypt are among the oldest continuously functioning Christian religious establishments in the world. Until the recent insurrection and the overthrow of the Mubarak regime, the monasteries could count on the police protection from marauding Muslim zealots and thieves looking for valuable icons.  (more…)

I’ll bet this guy can at least keep the party crashers out… 🙂 h/t Bijou – (Washington Post) – The White House is set to make news and history this afternoon when it announces the new social secretary. Jeremy Bernard, currently the chief of staff to the U.S. ambassador to France, will become the third person to hold the job in the Obama administration. But he will be the first man and the first openly gay person to be the first family’s and the executive mansion’s chief event planner and host.  (more…)

1.) REBELS SIEZE OIL FIELDS – BENGHAZI, Libya, Feb 25 (Reuters) – Rebels in eastern Libya said on Friday they now controlled most of the oil fields east of the town of Ras Lanuf, and said they would honour oil deals as long as they were in the interest of the people. The eastern Libyan town of Brega and its oil terminal are under rebel control, and soldiers who have defected are helping the rebels to secure the port, Reuters witnesses said on Friday. (more…)

Whoot Whoot….. Shaking it up…. (AP) — With each bill, newly elected tea party lawmakers are offering Montanans a vision of the future. . . .  Some residents, Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer and even some Republican lawmakers say the bills are making Montana [too conservative]. And, they say, the push to nullify federal laws could be dangerous.  “We are the United States of America,” said Schweitzer. “This talk of nullifying is pretty toxic talk. That led to the Civil War.”  (more…)

(CBS News)- A resident of the increasingly violent Libyan capital of Tripoli told CBS Radio News Thursday that armed supporters of Muammar Qaddafi, the country’s longtime leader, have stormed into hospitals to shoot wounded demonstrators and take dead bodies to an unknown location.  (more…)

“Class” – elegance, grace, or dignity, as in dress and behavior: (Telegraph) — Michelle Obama is likely to exasperate courtiers with her comments about the royal wedding after they went to such lengths to accommodate the White House. Even after it was clear that Prince William and Kate Middleton would not be sending a wedding invitation to the White House, Michelle Obama still appears not to have given up hope.  (more…)

Our Father who art in heaven,  hallowed be thy name.  Thy kingdom come,  thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses,  as we forgive those who trespass against us. 
Lead us not into temptation,  but deliver us from evil.   -Amen
What is on your mind today?

Just ask Al Sharpton….. (NY Daily News) – A controversial anti-abortion billboard in SoHo equating abortion among black women with genocide is coming down. The Rev. Al Sharpton says Lamar Outdoor advertising has agreed to yank the ad above Sixth Ave. and Watts St., which features a picture of a young black girl below the message, “The most dangerous place for African Americans is in the womb.” (more…)

“…our forefathers brought forth on this land a new nation; conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.  Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether this nation, or any nation, so conceived, and so dedicated can long endure…”