memeorandum: 'He never spoke a word' (MSNBC)

8:10 AM ET, April 19, 2007

Top Items:

Full coverage: Virginia Tech massacre — April 18: NBC News releases a picture of Cho Seung-Hui that was in the package the Virginia Tech gunman sent to NBC between the two shootings on Monday. — Photos & audio — Virginia Tech students, faculty come to terms with the horror of the mass shooting at the Blacksburg, Va., school.

NBC Nightly / The Daily Nightly:

ONE WORD — This morning, about five miles outside of Roanoke, Va., I watched a Nissan pickup truck merge into traffic in front of us on the interstate. I noticed there was something written on the rear cab window. When we got closer, I was able to read what it was — just one word, written in white shoe polish on the glass: WHY?

Discussion: Threat Level, On Deadline and Dick Polman's American Debate

Calvin Woodward / Associated Press:

McCain says he backs no gun control — WASHINGTON - Republican presidential candidate John McCain (news, bio, voting record) declared Wednesday he believes in "no gun control," making the strongest affirmation of support for gun rights in the GOP field since the Virginia Tech massacre.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters and theneweditor.com

Bill Carter / New York Times:

Package Forced NBC to Make Tough Decisions — The package that arrived yesterday at NBC headquarters in New York was almost immediately flagged as suspicious, because it had been mailed from Blacksburg, Va., and bore the return name A. Ishmael. — Last night, the anchor of "The NBC Nightly News …

Discussion: Betsy's Page and NewsBusters.org

Mike Nizza / The Lede:
Updates on Virginia Tech

Discussion: Hot Air, The Huffington Post, Michelle Malkin, Boing Boing, Redstate, Threat Level, TalkLeft, Los Angeles Times and The Volokh Conspiracy

ABCNEWS:
VT Killer Ruled Mentally Ill by Court; Let Go After Hospital Visit

Discussion: Dr. Helen, A Second Hand Conjecture, The Moderate Voice, Leibowitz's Canticle, Liberal Values, Wizbang and Wall Street Journal

Matt Apuzzo / Associated Press:
Va. Tech gunman sent material to NBC

Discussion: ninemsn, Don Surber, Wake up America and Sister Toldjah

Dave Winer / Scripting News:
Vlogging comes to mass murder

Discussion: Personal Democracy Forum, BuzzMachine, Captain's Quarters and Ed Driscoll.com

Dinesh D'Souza / News Bloggers Blog:
Where Is Atheism When Bad Things Happen?

Discussion: Obsidian Wings, The Democratic Daily, TBogg and Pharyngula

Linda Greenhouse / New York Times:

In Reversal, Justices Back Ban on Method of Abortion — The Supreme Court reversed course on abortion on Wednesday, upholding the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in a 5-to-4 decision that promises to reframe the abortion debate and define the young Roberts court.

Discussion: Pacific Views, The Galloping Beaver and Think Progress

MSNBC:

Top court upholds ban on abortion procedure — 'Partial birth' law at issue; first time for justices to ban a specific procedure — April 18: NBC's Pete Williams explains the Supreme Court ruling on partial birth abortions and the procedure itself. — See photos of quirky landmarks that you sent in!

Discussion: SCOTUSblog, AlterNet.org, About U.S. Politics, On Politics, Brilliant at Breakfast, Crooks and Liars, Public Eye, Sister Toldjah, CNN and TBogg

Scott Lemieux / Lawyers, Guns and Money:
Four Things To Remember When Reading Gonzales v. Carhart

Discussion: Feminist Law Professors, Hullabaloo, the talking dog, a bird and a bottle, LiberalOasis, Feministing, The Reaction, The Mahablog, Wake up America, Matthew Yglesias and Bradford Plumer

Dahlia Lithwick / Slate:
Father Knows Best

Discussion: My Left Wing, Lawyers, Guns and Money, a bird and a bottle and protein wisdom

Robert Barnes / Washington Post:
High Court Upholds Curb on Abortion

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, The Daily Dish, Slate, Right Wing News, Scared Monkeys, Crunchy Con, SCOTUSblog, The Democratic Daily and Daily Kos

LII:
Supreme Court collection

Discussion: Pacific Views

Michael Stokes Paulsen / Balkinization: The Pernicious Doctrine of Stare Decisis

Lyle Denniston / SCOTUSblog:
Commentary: Some consequences of Carhart II

Discussion: Political Animal and The Sideshow

The Hill:

FBI searches Republican lawmaker's home — The FBI searched the Virginia home of Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.) last Friday in its investigation into ties between the congressman and his wife, Julie, and disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to law enforcement and other Congressional and K Street sources.

Discussion: The Newshoggers, On Deadline, Firedoglake, DownWithTyranny!, TPMmuckraker and Obsidian Wings

Nico / Think Progress:
Breaking: FBI Raids Rep. Doolittle's Home

Discussion: CANNONFIRE, Calitics, Michael P.F. van der Galiën, Shakesville, The Impolitic and Left in the West

Washington Post: FBI Searches Congressman's Home

Nico / Think Progress:
Doolittle Throws His Wife Under The Bus

Discussion: Real Cities, Jesus' General, Calitics and The Gun Toting Liberal™

Eric Boehlert / Media Matters for America:

Can conservative bloggers tell the truth? — Here's a simple challenge for John Hinderaker, a writer for the popular conservative blog Power Line who recently revisited the 2004 Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign controversy. Upset by recent media references that suggested …

Discussion: The Jawa Report, The Mahablog, Power Line, Hullabaloo and Liberal Values

Hindrocket / Power Line: INEFFECTIVE, EVEN FOR A LIBERAL — Eric Boehlert of Media Matters must …

Nazila Fathi / New York Times:

Iran Exonerates Six Who Killed in Islam's Name — The Iranian Supreme Court has overturned the murder convictions of six members of a prestigious state militia who killed five people they considered "morally corrupt." — The reversal, in an infamous five-year-old case from Kerman …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters and Overlawyered

Allahpundit / Hot Air:

Video: Carolyn McCarthy doesn't understand her own gun-control legislation — I wish I could show you the bill (H.R. 1859) but the text isn't online at Thomas yet. It's probably identical or nearly identical to this bill, which she introduced in February, to reinstate the assault-weapons ban.

Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:

Don't Reward Failure By Giving Money to NARAL — I'm sure Nancy Keenan is licking her sweet chops over the latest SCOTUS decision. It is, after all, probably going to be the biggest fundraising opportunity she's had during her tenure at NARAL. Bigger even than Sandra Day O'Connor's retirement.

Discussion: Redstate and The American Street

Associated Press:

Kitty Carlisle Hart dead at 96 … NEW YORK (AP) — Kitty Carlisle Hart, whose long career spanned Broadway, opera, television and film, including the classic Marx Brothers movie "A Night at the Opera," has died at age 96, her son said Wednesday. — Christopher Hart said his mother …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Kirk Semple / New York Times:

Bombings Kill at Least 171 Iraqis in Baghdad — Bombs ravaged Baghdad in five horrific explosions aimed mainly at Shiite crowds on Wednesday, killing at least 169 people in the deadliest day in the capital since the American-led security plan for the city took effect two months ago.

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Political Radar:

Fred Thompson 2008: A Matter of When — Not If — ABC News' Teddy Davis Reports: Fred Thompson's top cheerleader on Capitol Hill — Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn. — said Wednesday that the former Republican senator's entrance into the 2008 presidential race is a matter of when — not if.

Discussion: Don Surber and TIME