memeorandum: The logic of Taxing the Rich, and Why Dems are Afraid to Use It (Robert Reich/Robert Reich's Blog)

9:20 AM ET, October 18, 2007

Top Items:

Senate and Bush Agree On Terms of Spying Bill — Some Telecom Companies Would Receive Immunity — Senate Democrats and Republicans reached agreement with the Bush administration yesterday on the terms of new legislation to control the federal government's domestic surveillance program …

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, Captain's Quarters, Salon, Crooks and Liars, HorsesAss.Org, Associated Press, The American Street, Brilliant at Breakfast, Shakespeare's Sister, Open Left and All Spin Zone

Eric Lichtblau / New York Times:
Senate Deal on Immunity for Phone Companies

Discussion: Election Central, The Anonymous Liberal, Conservative Belle and The American Street

Brian Faughnan / Weekly Standard:
Democrats' Corrupt Process Leads to Failure on FISA

Discussion: Election Central, EricCantor.com and PrairiePundit

Andrew Malcolm / Los Angeles Times:

Breaking News: Former Speaker Hastert to resign — The Roll Call newspaper in Washington reported on its website this evening that former House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois intends to resign his House seat later this year. — The subscription-only site said Hastert …

Discussion: The Swamp, BitsBlog and DownWithTyranny!

Patrick O'Connor / The Politico:

Hastert to resign early — Former Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) is expected to announce that he plans to leave the House later this year, setting up the widely anticipated prospect of a special election to replace him, Republican sources on Capitol Hill confirmed.

Discussion: Swing State Project, Daily Kos, On Deadline, Salon, The BRAD BLOG and ArchPundit

CNN:

GOP sources: Hastert won't finish term — WASHINGTON (CNN) — Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert will resign his congressional seat rather than serve out the rest of his term, two GOP congressional sources told CNN. — The Illinois Republican said in August he would not seek re-election in the state's 14th District.

Discussion: Conservative Belle

Robert Wilonsky / Unfair Park:

KDFW Suspends Rebecca Aguilar After Controversial "Ambush" — Monday night, KDFW-Channel 4 ran a piece about 70-year-old James Walton, owner of Able Walton Machine & Welding in West Dallas, who, early Sunday morning, shot and killed and man trying to break into his business.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, media.www.bgnews.com, michellemalkin.com, Conservative Belle and Ed Driscoll.com

Dan / Riehl World View:
Senior Reduced To Tears By Reporter After Shooting

Discussion: Hot Air

Glenn Reynolds / Instapundit.com:
YOUR FIRST AMENDMENT AT WORK: "So much for bloggers stalking people in the news.

Discussion: alicublog

Juan Cole / Salon:

The Iran hawks — Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton think a tough line on Tehran will sell politically. They could be right. — Rudy Giuliani speaks during the Republican presidential debate in Dearborn, Mich., on Oct. 9, left; Sen. Hillary Clinton campaigns in Atlanta on Oct. 12.

Discussion: The Newshoggers, Wampum and Prairie Weather

Jason Horowitz / New York Observer:
Rudy's Doin' It! — Battle Stations! Shocked Cacophony Among …

Discussion: Likelihood of Success and HazZzMat

Chris Dorsey / Iowa Politics:
IowaPolitics.com: Giuliani says Dem victory would leave U.S. 'to the left of France'

Discussion: The Van Der Galiën Gazette and Washington Monthly

Chip / NEWS.com.au:

Posted by: Lallye of she changes movement's why! 8:19am today — As soon as the page opened, I immediately and definitely saw clockwise, even before I saw the question. I tried for several minutes to see anit-clockwise. Could almost catch a glimpse by looking to the right or left …

Discussion: Peach Pundit and Fact-esque

Stephen Labaton / New York Times:

Plan Would Ease Limits on Media Owners — The head of the Federal Communications Commission has circulated an ambitious plan to relax the decades-old media ownership rules, including repealing a rule that forbids a company to own both a newspaper and a television or radio station in the same city.

Discussion: The Swamp, Stop Big Media and The Agonist

Mike McIntire / New York Times:

Law Firm's Gifts Bring Questions After Guilty Pleas — Over the years, as it became Exhibit A for critics of shareholders' class-action lawsuits, the law firm of Milberg Weiss often enjoyed the support of Democrats who called the suits an invaluable weapon in the universal conflict between big business and the little guy.

Discussion: Law Blog, National Review, Overlawyered and PrairiePundit

Howard LaFranchi / Christian Science Monitor:

HOW 'GENOCIDE' VOTE LOST STEAM — A House vote to condemn mass killings of Armenians as 'genocide' has stumbled on pragmatic concerns. … The sudden misgivings about a popular House resolution condemning as "genocide" the large-scale killings of Armenians more than nine decades ago illustrate …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, L.A. Daily News, Bloomberg, Boston Globe, The Van Der Galiën Gazette and Daily Kos

The Atlantic Online:
Realism and the Armenian Genocide

Discussion: Unqualified Offerings and democracyarsenal.org

Jennifer Dobner / Associated Press:

Judge orders TV reporter to do story or face contempt — SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A judge ordered a TV news reporter Wednesday to produce a public-service story as a consequence for airing an interview with a potential juror before the recent trial of a polygamous-sect leader.

Discussion: Outside The Beltway, Corrente and TalkLeft

CNN Political Ticker:

Republican to Democrats: Watch Out — WASHINGTON (CNN) — What does a special election in Massachusetts have to do with next year's battle for Congress? — A lot, Republicans hope. The Democrat beat the Republican in Tuesday's contest, but the GOP sees victory in defeat.

Discussion: The Newshoggers, The Politico, Blue Crab Boulevard, New York Times, Hullabaloo, The Swamp and The American Street

David Ignatius / Washington Post:

Portents of A Nuclear Al-Qaeda — Rolf Mowatt-Larssen is paid to think about the unthinkable. As the Energy Department's director of intelligence, he's responsible for gathering information about the threat that a terrorist group will attack America with a nuclear weapon.

Discussion: Dr. Sanity, SWJ Blog and Blue Crab Boulevard

Estes Thompson / Associated Press:

'Fragging' Is Rare in Iraq, Afghanistan — RALEIGH, N.C. — American troops killed their own commanders so often during the Vietnam War that the crime earned its own name - "fragging." — But since the start of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the military has charged only one soldier …

Discussion: Jules Crittenden, NewsBusters.org, BizzyBlog, The Belmont Club, Don Surber, Confederate Yankee and Wizbang

Arthur Martin / Daily Mail:

Father delivered baby after partner was turned away from NHS hospital - TWICE — During a difficult pregnancy, Elizabeth Jones was monitored every day because doctors were worried about the health of her baby. — But on the day of the birth, she was twice turned away from the hospital …

Discussion: Don Surber, Wizbang, Right Wing News, PrairiePundit and Hot Air

John Distaso / New Hampshire Union Leader:

Gardner the guardian — HE'S BEEN featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and the Boston Globe, and on the ABC News Web site and more. He's been referred to as the most powerful man in America no one knows. — He's been portrayed by those in other states …