New York Times:

In a major surprise on the politically charged new health care law, the Obama administration said Friday that it would not define a single uniform set of “essential health benefits” that must be provided by insurers for tens of millions of Americans. Instead, it will allow each state to specify the benefits within broad categories.

Florida v Texas A&M hoops starts now.

Go Gators!

Open Thread.

I forgot Newt Gingrich is a converted Catholic (disclosure - I am a lapsed Catholic):

Newt Gingrich sat beneath the soaring dome in the largest Roman Catholic church in North America, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, and listened as a choir that included his wife sang at an evening vespers service for Pope Benedict XVI and 300 American bishops.

That is the moment, three years ago, that Mr. Gingrich says he decided to become a Roman Catholic, after having been born a Lutheran and joining the Southern Baptist Church in college. [. . .] Mr. Gingrich represents a new kind of Catholic [. . .] To a Kennedy-era Catholic, divorce was a sin [. . .] Mr. Gingrich is a culture wars Catholic for whom the church seems a logical home for conservative Republicans.

(Emphasis supplied.) It's really weird that Gingrich, whose personal life does not really shout out Christian virtue, is the darling of the Evangelical Right. I mean it's nothing to me, who lives in a glass house on this, but:

Gingrich is on his third marriage — this one to Callista Bisek, a former Hill staff member 22 years his junior who had been his mistress for six years.

The article does not say, but I assume Gingrich is not married in the eyes of the Catholic Church, unless he annulled his first 2 marriages (NOTE: this apparently occurred. Nice of the Church ay?) The article says "[l]ike many recent converts to the church, Mr. Gingrich is what Catholics call a “John Paul II Catholic,” those inspired by that pope to embrace traditional church teaching, eschewing calls to liberalize or modernize the faith[.]"

Except on divorce one presumes.

speaking for me only

Bump and Update: Lori Berenson and her son were prevented from leaving Peru at the airport. The prosecutor says he filed a motion to nullify her travel order on the grounds that parolees may not leave Peru. He didn't know if it had been granted. (A three judge panel had granted her permission, overruling a lower court which had denied it in October.) Berenson says Peruvian airport officials are falsely stating she arrived late.

Original Post below: [More...]

Good call by Time Magazine. The 2011 person of the year is The Protester.

The weekend has arrived, just in time for an open thread. All topics welcome.

Marin County Superior Court Judge Faye D'Opal has invalidated California's new execution protocol for multiple failures to comply with the Administrative Procedures Act, including a consideration of the alternative one drug method used elsewhere (and proposed in public comments to the changes.) Six years ago, a federal court in California invalidated the three drug protocol, finding it could constitute cruel and unusual punishment. The state decided to come up with new protocols, for which it had to comply with the Administrative Procedures Act.

D'Opal said...that the state's failure to consider replacing the former execution practice with a single-injection method violated state law and ignored the courts' and public criticism of the previous protocols.

The case is Mitchell Sims vs California Department of Corrections Rehabilitation, et al, case number CIV 1004019. I've uploaded the ruling here. [More...]

A state court in Pennsylvania held a preliminary hearing today for Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, the two Penn State officals charged with perjury before the grand jury investigating sexual assault allegations against Jerry Sandusky and failing to report child abuse.

Mike McQueary testified, and Joe Paterno's grand jury testimony was read into the record, as was that of the two officials.

Other witnesses were Thomas Harmon, a former director of Penn State's university police and John McQueary, Mr. McQueary's father.

The court found there was probable cause the officials committed the charged crimes and they were bound over for trial. [More...]

Wait, what?

If Tebow wins the Super Bowl, against all odds, it will buoy his faithful, and emboldened faithful can do insane things, like burning mosques, bashing gays and indiscriminately banishing immigrants. While America has become more inclusive since Jerry Falwell’s first political forays, a Tebow triumph could set those efforts back considerably.

The rabbi, Josh Hammerman of Temple Beth El in Stamford, appears to claim to be a progressive. I claim he is an idiot.

Speaking for me only

Update: Bonds was sentenced to 2 years probation and 30 days home detention. The sentence was stayed pending appeal.

Former baseball giant Barry Bonds faces sentencing today (11 am PT) for his conviction for obstruction of justice, resulting from his evasive answer to a grand jury question in the BALCO steroids use probe.

Prosecutors are asking for 15 months. The Presentence Report by the Probation Department recommends probation, location monitoring and community service.

Pvt. Bradley Manning, accused of aiding the enemy and violating the Espionage Act by leaking the Wikileaks documents and other material, is finally getting a hearing in military court.

Firedoglake has bloggers in the overflow media center. They can't post while court is in session, but are posting during recesses with a running live blog. The Guardian also has a running live-blog. [More...]

The U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York issued a press release yesterday about its massive civil lawsuit alleging money laundering against the defunct Canadian Lebanese Bank and various U.S. businesses and auto dealerships for engaging in monetary transactions to support Hezbollah. . The 66 page complaint is here.

8 of the car dealerships are in Michigan. According to a Detroit news station, DEA Special Operations Chief Derek Maltz told ABC's Brian Ross that the dealerships, as well as all 30 US businesses named in the Complaint are being investigated to determine whether they were aware their proceeds from sales of cars shipped to Africa ended up in Hezbollah's coffers. Maltz said it's not clear yet whether the businesses did have knowledge. [More...]