Ellen Barkin blasts Bloomberg as 68 get arrested on New Year's Eve

One person was accused of assaulting a police officer, who had cuts on his hands, but as ever, it went both ways. At 13th and 6th near Union Square, where police were arresting protesters, actress Ellen Barkin, who was walking to her apartment, was also targeted by cops, and tweeted in outrage:

Just threatened on my street by NYPD,cop shoved me,both hands,onto sidewalk..Is it a crime 2 stand in the street in NY?WTF is going on here?[...]

Just before Barkin said she was shoved, she began chronicling the police scuffles, writing, "Walking home...13th & 6th, police making random arrests of non protesters.Young girl in police van screaming"I'm just trying 2 get home" and then "People being thrown in police vans, arrested for "jaywalking"What happened to the NYPD of my youth?Who are u all?Shame shame on u all."

Later on, Barkin slammed New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, writing, "Fuck all of u,Bloomberg & every1 goose-stepping behind u.I cannot believe what I am seeing.U protect nothing.U ARE the violence in my city."

full story here: http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/757320/occupy_new_year%27s_eve%3A_68_arrested_in_zuccotti_park%2C_director_sam_levinson_captures_arrest_video_near_union_square/#paragraph2

Good tweet from Eric Boehlert

@EricBoehlertEric Boehlert

great job boehner!! RT @tinadupuy Congress' approval rating is down to 5%. Which means 5% of those polled didn't understand the question

Walker on Family Care

Walker taking credit for what he was forced to do.

Iowa Poll from Greg Mitchell's blog

9:00 New Iowa Poll: Who Cares 21%, Doesn't Matter 19%, Forgotten Soon 17%, Bunch O. Wackos 14%, Huntsman 4%, Stassen 2%.

Why Tuesday? » Why Do We Vote On Tuesday?

Why Tuesday? » Why Do We Vote On Tuesday?

In 1845, before Florida, California, and Texas were states or slavery had been abolished, Congress needed to pick a time for Americans to vote. We were an agrarian society. We traveled by horse and buggy. Farmers needed a day to get to the county seat, a day to vote, and a day to get back, without interfering with the three days of worship. So that left Tuesday and Wednesday, but Wednesday was market day. So, Tuesday it was. In 1875 Congress extended the Tuesday date for national House elections and in 1914 for federal Senate elections.

The Upcoming Iran War

Ohio prepares to privatize some state prisons - BusinessWeek

Ohio prepares to privatize some state prisons - BusinessWeek

David Kah will report to the same job in the same training kitchen at Ohio's 17-year-old state prison in Marion in January -- but much about his life will be changed

Kah is leaving the public payroll and taking a job with Management & Training Corp., the Centerville, Utah-based prison vendor that takes over operation of North Central Correctional Institution on Saturday. The longtime culinary arts instructor, who's 67, says he'll see significant reductions in pay and vacation days, but he's looking forward to the new operator's plans for his program.

Ohio turns over the keys to MTC at 10 p.m. Dec. 31, the start of the last shift before the management transfer. The prison is among five state facilities seeing management or operations changes that night in a consolidation and privatization effort by Republican Gov. John Kasich.

"Everybody's a little anxious," Kah said. "Any time you go from a union, unions are just a lot different, so when you work for the private guy they're going to do things a little different. But really I'm excited about it."