memeorandum: China building more power plants (Roger Harrabin/BBC)

1:10 PM ET, June 20, 2007

Top Items:

Bloomberg Severs G.O.P. Ties, Fueling Talk of '08 Bid — Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced Tuesday that he was dropping his Republican affiliation, a step that could clear the way for him to make an independent bid for the presidency. — The announcement was released during …

Michael D. Shear / Washington Post:

N.Y. Mayor Bloomberg Leaves GOP — Move Fuels Speculation About Independent Bid for the White House — New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg abruptly left the Republican Party yesterday, declaring himself free of a "rigid adherence" to ideology and stoking speculation that he will use …

Discussion: Boston Globe, Washington Monthly, New York Post, The Politico, Dick Polman's American Debate, City Room and New York Times

David Weigel / Reason Magazine:

A Spoiler Passes the Torch — Last night New York Mayor (and noted ubermensch) Michael Bloomberg skunked his GOP registration card and became an independent, presumably setting up a 2008 run for president. As luck would have it I had talked with 1996/2000/2004 Green Party/independent …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Time, Washington Post, CNN Political Ticker and Lawyers, Guns and Money

Ben Smith / The Politico:

Billion-dollar elephant inches toward run — New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg revealed Monday that he has ended his marriage of convenience with the Republican Party, thrusting himself firmly onto the national stage as a potential independent candidate for president - a billion-dollar elephant in the room of presidential politics.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Townhall.com, TIME and Vox Popoli

Byron York / National Review:

Hillary Clinton Booed Again — Sen. Hillary Clinton was booed again this morning at the Take Back America conference, sponsored by the lefty activist group Campaign for America's Future here in Washington. At this same conference last year, Sen. Clinton was booed for her position on the war in Iraq.

Discussion: Taylor Marsh and Seeing the Forest

Patrick Healy / The Caucus:

Clinton Gets Better Reception on Iraq — Here's a totally unscientific but not unimportant measure of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's evolution from Iraq war supporter to antiwar partisan in the last year: She was booed more lightly and gently at this morning's Take Back America gathering of liberal activists than she was a year ago.

Discussion: Wonkette, Reason Magazine, AMERICAN DIGEST and Ian Schwartz

David Segal / Washington Post:

Carl Bernstein, Back on the Beat — With His Hillary Clinton Book, the Reporter Finally May Have Taken Charge of His Own Life — Carl Bernstein would like to talk about his book, a meaty, 640-page slab that is parked on a table where he is eating lunch one recent afternoon.

Discussion: mediabistro.com and Romenesko

Bill Scher / commonsense.ourfuture.org:

What The Boos Were About — Sen. Hillary Clinton being booed during her remarks is likely to be the big story coming out of Day 3 of Take Back America. What the boos were actually about is likely to be misreported. — Byron York at the National Review writes that the boos began after Clinton said …

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report

Michael R. Gordon / New York Times:

U.S. Seeks to Block Exits for Iraq Insurgents — In more than four years in Iraq, American forces have been confounded by insurgents who have often slipped away only to fight another day. The war in Iraq has been likened to the arcade game of whack-a-mole, where as soon as you knock down one mole another pops up.

Discussion: The Heretik, The Swamp and Kiko's House

Bill Roggio / The Fourth Rail:
The Battle of Iraq - 2007 — Baghdad and the Belts.

Discussion: Multi-National Force

Robert Farley / Lawyers, Guns and Money:
The Offensive — I'm as skeptical of the latest offensive effort …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online and American Footprints

Norm / normblog:

Rushdie, Self and Berlins — I don't know if Will Self's words as given here (scroll down) are complete, or accurate to what he said to the Guardian, but if they are, then they do him no credit: … Self allows an ambiguity: should Rushdie not have accepted the honour just because honours …

Discussion: Ed Driscoll.com

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:

Bush Will Pair Veto With New Cell Initiative — President Bush will issue an executive order intended to encourage scientific advances in regenerative medicine, according to senior White House officials who said Mr. Bush would announce the initiative on Wednesday, just as he vetoes a measure promoting embryonic stem cell research.

Discussion: Redstate, The Gavel and Washington Post

Michael Cook / TCS Daily:
Will a Disruptive Technology Mothball Therapeutic Cloning?

Discussion: Clayton Cramer's BLOG

Quinnipiac University News and Events:

June 20, 2007 - Clinton Tops Giuliani, Bloomberg In New York State, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Thompson Tops McCain Among Republicans — In a hypothetical all-New York presidential race, Sen. Hillary Clinton wins with 43 percent of voters statewide, followed by former …

Discussion: culturekitchen, City Room, The Swamp and TIME

Ryan Lizza / The New Republic:

RICHARDSON'S LATEST: — Yesterday at the Take Back America conference Bill Richardson attacked his Democratic primary opponents for supporting recent legislation on Iraq. Said Richardson: … What is the nefarious legislation Richardson's opponents supported?

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …, The Atlantic Online, Transterrestrial Musings and Hot Air

National Lampoon Humor Network:

National Lampoon's 72 Virgins — Two idiot college students unwittingly join an Al Qaeda cell in order to get the 72 virgins promised to terrorists when they die. From the makers of Animal House, Van Wilder, and the Vacation movies. Join the Jihad at NationalLampoon.com!

Discussion: NewsBusters.org and Little Green Footballs

White House:

President Bush Meets With Prime Minister Olmert of Israel — PRESIDENT BUSH: Mr. Prime Minister, thanks for coming. I've been looking forward to this visit. Last time we were together we had a long and serious discussion about what we can do together to keep the peace.

Discussion: Reuters, First Draft, Middle East Progress and Israpundit

Nick Schulz / TCS Daily:

Dumbocracy in America — Editor's note: Bryan Caplan is an economist at George Mason University and the author of an important new book - "The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies." … SCHULZ: The title of your book is "The Myth of the Rational Voter."

Discussion: WILLisms.com, Unqualified Offerings and EconLog

Ahmed Yousef / New York Times:

What Hamas Wants — THE events in Gaza over the last few days have been described in the West as a coup. In essence, they have been the opposite. Eighteen months ago, our Hamas Party won the Palestinian parliamentary elections and entered office under Prime Minister Ismail Haniya …

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, The Jawa Report, FP Passport and A Blog For All

Matthew Yglesias / Guardian:

How to lose Afghanistan — Air strikes against a counter-insurgency should be a last resort. But the US is undertaking them - and creating more enemies. — A headline like Seven afghan children killed in US-led airstrike, which I read in Monday's New York Times, can't help but make you angry.

Discussion: The Impolitic

USA Today:

Tribes help U.S. against al-Qaeda — BAGHDAD — More than 10 Iraqi tribes in the Baghdad area have reached agreements with U.S. and Iraqi forces for the first time to oppose al-Qaeda, raising the U.S. military's hopes that a trend started in western Iraq is spreading here.

Discussion: The Strata-Sphere

Confederate Yankee:

Recycling the Dead — Just eight days ago, in advance of the now-engaged campaign in Baquba, Italian-based "news" site Uruknet re-posted in full an article by The Peoples Voice, a site dedicated, according to the masthead, to "Environmental, political, and social justice issues."