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The Obama administration is recess appointing Richard Cordry to the new consumer watchdog job despite GOP opposition, the AP reports. White House official Dan Pfeiffer later tweets, “Today in Ohio,…

The Marriage Vow: A Declaration of Dependence Upon Marriage and Family Congrats Pandora. 3,131 views and counting.

Why the country's two main political parties allow bunch of rubes and hayseeds who don't have enough sense to move out of Iowa have so much power is beyond me.

Alright, 2012 is here, and it time to focus on the 2012 Legislative elections. Because most often than not, state legislative races are ignored, even though they are our most direct connection to democracy, as those we elect from our respective districts in the House and Senate are our neighbors (or at least they are supposed to be). So we are going to begin to familiarize ourselves with each district and who currently represents that district. Now, it is early enough in the calendar that we don't yet know if many of the Representatives and Senators are going to run for reelection, or if they will face challengers in their efforts to get reelected. In 2012, all seats in the General Assembly are up for election. All 21 Senators. All 41 Representatives. The reason for this is because we have just drawn up new districts in both chambers as a result of population changes over the last 10 years, as indicated by the 2010 census. As a result, Kent and Sussex Counties have each gained a House seat, and the Sussex County gains a Senate seat.

Since the Redistricting debacle, I have been thinking about ways to reform the process in the General Assembly, but also about our districts themselves. Neighborhoods are divided and thrown together in an adhoc manner. So while the process must be reformed, there also must be a way to keep communities together in this process. So while the process must be more transparent and open in 2020, and based on more rational criteria than Tony Deluca's vengeance, we must also draw our legislative districts to better keep established communities together. So I came up with the Hundreds Plan.

In the end, no one knows who is going to win Iowa. It could be Romney, Paul, Santorum or Gingrich. It is wide open with one day to go.

Rupert Murdoch tweeted the following over the weekend: "Good to see Santorum surging in Iowa. Regardless of policies, all debates showed principles, consistency and humility like no other."

The respected Des Moines Register's final Iowa Poll, often considered the final word on caucus, shows Mitt Romney leading at 24%, followed by Ron Paul at 22%, Rick Santorum at 15%, Newt Gingrich at 12%, Rick Perry at 11%, Michele Bachmann at 7%. But, there is more to the story.....

Sarah Palin is feeling neglected. She tells the Washington Post that the GOP presidential candidates need to pick up a copy of her book. We've also got some year end compilations for you inside, including DJ Earworms' mashup of the top 25 songs of 2011: