Great Women of Egypt; Lori Berenson On Parole; Lie of the Year: PM Links

House rejects two-month extension of payroll tax holiday. Republicans insist on a year-long extension, not the 60 days the Senate recently approved. The cockamamie piece of legislation, which also includes language about the Keyston XL pipeline and what Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nevada) calls a "bipartisan compromise to protect middle-class families," goes back to the Senate, which is on vacation. 

Egyptian women protest public abuse of women activists by the army. Ruling military council issues statement expressing "deep regret to the great women of Egypt" and affirming "respect and total appreciation" for the rights of women. 

Lori Berenson returns to U.S. Fifteen years after being convicted (first by a closed military tribunal and then in an open court) of aiding Tupac Amaru, the New York native has been paroled and is expected to return to Peru next month. 

Your revolution is over! The bums lost! Newt Gingrich's Tea Party appeal proves that the Tea Party movement is even deader than Occupy Wall Street. 

Politifact's "Lie of the Year" generates more mojo than Time's "Person of the Year." Lefties go apeshit as the St. Petersburg Times' fact-checking site (which this reporter is not sure he had ever heard of until today) calls bullshit on the claim the Republicans want to end Medicare (if only!). The frenzied response from Krugabe, the Washington Monthly and others proves Steve Martin right: Comedy is not pretty. 

Woman endures 25 years with a felt-tip pen stuck in her stomach. But when doctors take it out, it still writes. In Vegas they call that a push.