memeorandum: Mehdi Army dissolving, reports say (Middle East Times)

10:00 AM ET, June 27, 2008

Top Items:

Sandy Levinson / Balkinization:

Some preliminary reflections on Heller — There are many things that one can say about today's today's decision in the Heller case from both “external” political perspectives or from a more “internal” legal one. No doubt I (and others) will have more to say about Heller in coming days.

Discussion: PoliBlog (TM), The Volokh Conspiracy, Unqualified Offerings, Legal Theory Blog, Law Blog, Obsidian Wings, USA Today and Washington Post

Randy E. Barnett / Wall Street Journal:

News Flash: The Constitution Means What It Says — Justice Antonin Scalia's majority opinion in yesterday's Supreme Court decision in District of Columbia v. Heller is historic in its implications and exemplary in its reasoning. — A federal ban on an entire class of guns in ordinary use …

Discussion: The Volokh Conspiracy and Betsy's Page

New York Times:

Lock and Load — Thirty-thousand Americans are killed by guns every year — on the job, walking to school, at the shopping mall. The Supreme Court on Thursday all but ensured that even more Americans will die senselessly with its wrongheaded and dangerous ruling striking down key parts of the District of Columbia's gun-control law.

Discussion: TigerHawk, New York Times and Broadband Politics

Linda Greenhouse / New York Times:
Landmark Ruling Enshrines Right to Own Guns

Discussion: rubber hose, The Volokh Conspiracy, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and The Agonist

Adam Liptak / New York Times:
Supreme Court Strikes Down 'Millionaire's Amendment'

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!, MSNBC, Outside The Beltway, BitsBlog, QandO, Jonathan Martin's Blogs, Althouse and Wake up America

Lyle Denniston / SCOTUSblog:
Commentary: So, what's next on guns?

Discussion: The Volokh Conspiracy, Redstate and Daily Pundit

James Taranto / Wall Street Journal:
Bill of Rights or Bill of Goods?

Discussion: Reuters and The Volokh Conspiracy

Peggy Noonan / Wall Street Journal:

Let McCain Be McCain — The big political headline this week, of course, involves John McCain's endless and humiliating attempts to placate Mitt Romney by bowing to demands he hire his operatives and pay his campaign debt. So far all he's got is a grudging one-sentence endorsement from that rampaging rage-aholic Ann Romney.

Discussion: alicublog, Shakesville and TIME.com

Jay Newton-Small / Time:

Obama Lead Tight Over McCain — Illinois Senator Barack Obama enters the General Election with a tight lead, 43% to 38%, over Arizona Senator John McCain, according to a new TIME Magazine poll of registered voters. The poll shows Obama gaining only a slight bounce from Hillary Clinton's departure from the campaign early this month.

Discussion: Hot Air, Taegan Goddard's …, Swampland, TIME.com and Real Clear Politics

Nate / FiveThirtyEight.com:
Which Candidate has a Base Problem?

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

When Anonymity Fails, Be Nasty, Brutish and Short — Throughout the Bush presidency, he toiled in secrecy deep within the White House, a mysterious and feared presence who never stepped into the sunlight of public disclosure. — Until yesterday. — There he sat, hunched and scowling …

Discussion: Sic Semper Tyrannis 2008, Intel Dump and LewRockwell.com Blog

Dan Eggen / Washington Post:
Bush Policy Authors Defend Their Actions

Discussion: On Deadline, Washington Wire, Emptywheel and Balkinization

Choe Sang-Hun / New York Times:

North Korea Destroys Tower at Nuclear Site — SEOUL, South Korea — In a gesture demonstrating its commitment to halt its nuclear weapons program, North Korea blew up the most prominent symbol of its plutonium production Friday. — The 60-foot cooling tower at the North's main nuclear power plant collapsed …

Discussion: Outside The Beltway and Intel Dump

Steven Lee Myers / New York Times:
A Diplomatic Success That Defies the Critics

Discussion: The Swamp, American Power, TPM Election Central, Outside The Beltway, The Washington Note, Washington Post and New York Times

Condoleezza Rice / Wall Street Journal:
Diplomacy Is Working on North Korea

Discussion: OneFreeKorea, Associated Press, Counterterrorism Blog, Pajamas Media, News Hounds, Washington Post, The Nation and Gateway Pundit

Sara Just / Political Radar:

Tensions Remain Among Clinton Donors — ABC's Kate Snow reports: The crowd's mood was but strained but supportive at Thursday's meeting between Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and about 150 of Clinton's top donors at a Washington hotel. — The former rivals appeared upbeat …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs and TIME.com

Jeff Zeleny / The Caucus:
Obama-Clinton Meeting Fest

Discussion: Washington Post, CNN, Associated Press, MSNBC, NO QUARTER, The Democratic Daily and TIME.com

Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal:
It's All About Obama — Many candidates have measured the Oval Office drapes prematurely.

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, American Spectator and The Huffington Post

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:

Sadr's army dissolving? — According to the Middle East Times, Moqtada al-Sadr's militia has begun to disintegrate after a series of confrontations with the Iraqi Army throughout the south of Iraq. The remnants of the Mahdi Army have gone underground, forming an armed network on a much smaller scale.

Discussion: The Hill's Blog Briefing Room and Confederate Yankee

Middle East Times:
Mehdi Army dissolving, reports say

Discussion: QandO

Gerard Baker / Times of London:

Cheer up. We're winning this War on Terror — Al-Qaeda and the Taleban are in retreat, the surge has worked in Iraq and Islamism is discredited. Not a bad haul — “My centre is giving way. My right is in retreat. Situation excellent. I shall attack!”

Discussion: Hot Air and Samizdata.net

Dan Frosch / New York Times:

Citing Need for Assessments, U.S. Freezes Solar Energy Projects — DENVER — Faced with a surge in the number of proposed solar power plants, the federal government has placed a moratorium on new solar projects on public land until it studies their environmental impact, which is expected to take about two years.

Discussion: Newshoggers.com and Gristmill

Fox News:

Congressman Meant ‘No Ill’ With Al Qaeda Comment to Cheney Aide — A Democratic congressman who was accused of suggesting that Al Qaeda may want to harm a prominent White House official told FOX News he meant “no ill” by the comment. — Massachusetts Rep. Bill Delahunt made the remark Thursday …

Discussion: Redstate, Power Line, Hot Air and Political Machine

Satyam / Think Progress:
Addington won't talk about torture because ‘al Qaeda may watch C-SPAN.’

Discussion: Redstate, TPMMuckraker, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room and Crooks and Liars

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Fuels on the Hill — Congress has always had a soft spot for “experts” who tell members what they want to hear, whether it's supply-side economists declaring that tax cuts increase revenue or climate-change skeptics insisting that global warming is a myth. — Right now, the welcome mat …

Discussion: Marginal Revolution, Economist's View, EconLog, Environmental Capital and Angry Bear

Charles Krauthammer / Real Clear Politics:

The Ever-Malleable Mr. Obama — “To be clear: Barack will support a filibuster of any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies.” — That was then: Democratic primaries to be won, netroot lefties to be seduced. With all that (and Hillary Clinton) …

Discussion: Power Line and Classical Values