Vatican, Budget limits to transplants, Sanders on democracy, Assange on democracy

Surrendering to the authorities and hoping for justice may be an oxymoron for Assange
LONDON – Assange faces a new extradition hearing in London next week where his lawyers plan to reapply for bail. The 39-year-old Australian denies two women's allegations in Sweden of rape, molestation and unlawful coercion, and is fighting his extradition to Sweden.
Hackers rushed to the defense of WikiLeaks on Wednesday, launching attacks on MasterCard, Visa, Swedish prosecutors, a Swiss bank and others who have acted against the site and its jailed founder Julian Assange.
"While we don't have much of an affiliation with WikiLeaks, we fight for the same reasons," the group said in a statement. "We want transparency and we counter censorship ... we intend to utilize our resources to raise awareness, attack those against and support those who are helping lead our world to freedom and democracy."
The coming budget reality for the transplant industry and the right to lifers
First Arizona, now Indiana, finally an end to saving everybody from the inevitable
After budget cuts, Indiana baby denied life-saving treatment
By Zachary Roth – Thu Dec 9, 11:42 am ET
An Indiana baby needs life-saving surgery, but the state health care agency -- whose budget was slashed this year -- won't pay for it.
Six-month-old Seth Petreikis suffers from complete DiGeorge syndrome, which keeps him from developing a thymus, an infection-fighting glandular organ. He needs a transplant that's been pioneered by a specialist at Duke University in North Carolina. But the procedure costs $500,000, and the state's Family Social Services Administration won't pay for it under the state's Medicaid, reports the Northwest Indiana Times. It claims that the treatment is "experimental”….
Vatican just another corrupt government—nothing holy about it
The Institute for Religious Works is a bank, and it's under harsh new scrutiny in a case involving money-laundering allegations that led police to seize euro23 million ($30 million) in Vatican assets in September. Critics say the case shows that the "Vatican Bank" has never shed its penchant for secrecy and scandal.
The Vatican calls the seizure of assets a "misunderstanding" and expresses optimism it will be quickly cleared up. But court documents show that prosecutors say the Vatican Bank deliberately flouted anti-laundering laws "with the aim of hiding the ownership, destination and origin of the capital." The documents also reveal investigators' suspicions that clergy may have acted as fronts for corrupt businessmen and Mafia.
The documents pinpoint two transactions that have not been reported: one in 2009 involving the use of a false name, and another in 2010 in which the Vatican Bank withdrew euro650,000 ($860 million) from an Italian bank account but ignored bank requests to disclose where the money was headed.
Emile Zola and Bernie Sanders
What Bernie did on the floor of the Senate earns him the "BuzzFlash Wings of Justice" Award for the year. There have been many courageous actions in 2010 by many people, but what Bernie accomplished was to let the genie of truth out of the bottle, and as much as the White House and the Republicans will try to ignore it, the truth has a way of going viral.
After many years of news releases and short floor speeches deploring the economic heist that is taking taking place - with DC's blessing - in America, Bernie Sanders had had enough.
He was like a rainbow of devastating insight and reality shining across the Senate chamber.
The infamous White House/GOP tax cut deal will likely pass both the Senate and House next week and then become law. But Bernie Sanders has opened a Pandora's box of illumination that will vex the feckless, ever-retreating White House and the grossly hypocritical Republicans for some time to come.
Bernie, we got your back, because you have ours.
Class War Finding Its Voice
Zaid Jilani, ThinkProgress: "Friday morning at approximately 10:30 am, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) began what he referred to on his Twitter account as a 'filibuster' or 'very long speech' making his case against President Obama's tax deal, which would prolong the Bush tax cuts for all Americans for two years, extend unemployment benefits for 13 months, and instate a temporary 2 percent reduction in the payroll tax.... 'What this agreement says is, we're going to provide huge tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires. That is insane,' argued Sanders."
Mark Karlin
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Some Appointees to Oil and Gas Commission Are Industry Execs, Lobbyists
Marie C. Baca, ProPublica: "The Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission ... is increasingly positioning itself as an authority on drilling-related issues like hydraulic fracturing.... The commission members are appointed by the member governors. Most are state regulators who oversee gas and oil drilling, but at least seven states have representatives who are either lobbyists or energy executives."
The latest attack on the First Amendment
In the Humanitarian Law Project case, human rights workers wanted to teach members of the Kurdistan PKK, which seeks an independent Kurdish state, and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which sought an independent state in Sri Lanka, how to use humanitarian and international law to peacefully resolve disputes and obtain relief from the United Nations and other international bodies for human rights abuses by the governments of Turkey and Sri Lanka. Both organizations were designated as FTOs by the Secretary of State in a closed hearing, in which the evidence is heard secretly.
Despite the nonviolent, peacemaking goal of the Humanitarian Law Project's speech and training, the majority of the Supreme Court nonetheless interpreted the law to make such conduct a crime. Finding a whole new exception to the First Amendment, the Court decided that any support, even if it involves nonviolent efforts towards peace, is illegal under the law since it "frees up other resources within the organization that may be put to violent ends," and also helps lend "legitimacy" to foreign terrorist groups. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice Roberts, despite the lack of any evidence, further opined that the FTO could use the human rights law to "intimidate, harass or destruct" its adversaries, and that even peace talks themselves could be used as a cover to re-arm for further attacks. Thus, the Court's opinion criminalizes efforts by independent groups to work for peace if they in any way cooperate or coordinate with designated FTOs.