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From the MSNBC:

WASILLA, Alaska - Sarah Palin plans to resign as governor of Alaska in a few weeks, KTUU-TV reported Friday.

Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate in 2008, made the announcement at her home Friday morning, the station said.

Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell will take over at the end of the month, KTUU reported.

This raises many questions. Palin says she thinks she can be more effective outside of government. Really? More effective than being Governor? Hell, Mark Sanford was caught with a mistress and is in the midst of a major, public meltdown and he's staying in office. We'll stay on top of this and bring you more information as it happens.

American Nonsense: FISA Fight: Hoyer, Blue Dogs, and Compromise (h/t Swimgirl)

The Brad Blog: How to cast a ballot in Indiana if you don't have a state-issued ID. Disenfranchishing the poor, minorities, and the elderly makes wingmutts happy. But it's not really a big deal to some of our trivia-obsessed journamalists.

Justice League: The lawyer for vice-president Dick Cheney claimed that the Congress lacks any authority to examine his behavior on the job.

Intel Dump: In his first public comments about the Iraq war since stepping down as the No. 2 official at the Pentagon, Paul Wolfowitz decided to open with a variant of the classic "mistakes were made" Washington mea culpa.

Poverty News Blog: Yesterday, while Bubble Boy was conducting the most fatuous press conference in human history, he refused to discuss Afghanistan, where war and narcotics have contributed to surging prices on diminished food supplies.

Blue Gal: Getting to know your neighbors...

Denver Post

The leader of one of Colorado's most popular mega-churches, Ted Haggard, is temporarily stepping down from his leadership role, after allegations from a male prostitute that Haggard solicited gay sex.

Haggard, the founder and senior leader of the 14,000-member New Life Church in Colorado Springs and president of the multimillion- member National Association of Evangelicals, denied the accusations raised by the prostitute on Wednesday.

Today, a press conference by church leaders to support Haggard was cancelled shortly before it was scheduled to take place....read on

Cheney stepping down and Condi stepping up. Not if she's indicted too.

Atrios nails it with: The issue isn't that the rumors are true, but that it's apparently true that there are rumors.

DEBKAfile Special Military Report

Last Sunday, January 2, US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage performed his last major mission before stepping down in favor of Robert B. Zoellick, whom incoming secretary Condoleezza Rice has picked as her deputy. (Zoellick, currently trade representative in charge US world trade, served as deputy to secretary of state James Baker in the Reagan and Bush Sr. administrations. read on

There were 9 demands made by the U.S.

But the punchline was in the last demand.

9. Syria had better make sure that none of the Kornet AT-14 anti-tank missiles which it recently purchased in large quantities from East Europe turn up in Iraq. US intelligence has recorded their serial numbers to identify their source. DEBKAfile’s military sources add: Because he cannot afford to buy advanced fighter planes and tanks, Assad purchased massive quantities of the “third generation” Kornet AT-14 anti-tank weapons. Just in case any are found in Iraq, General Casey, commander of US forces in Iraq has already received orders from the commander-in-chief in the White House to pursue military action inside Syria according to his best military judgment.

Number 9 therefore incorporates a tangible threat. The American general has the authority to launch military action against Syria as he sees fit and without delay if Damascus continues to meddle in Iraq’s affairs.