Top Items:
John D. McKinnon / Wall Street Journal:
Auto Makers to Get $17.4 Billion — The White House announced a $17.4 billion rescue package for the troubled Detroit auto makers that allows them to avoid bankruptcy and leaves many of the big decisions for the incoming Obama administration. — Speaking from the White House …
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New York Times:
Bush Approves $17.4 Billion Auto Bailout — WASHINGTON — President Bush on Friday announced $13.4 billion in emergency loans to prevent the collapse of General Motors and Chrysler, and another $4 billion available for the hobbled automakers in February with the entire bailout conditioned …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Bloomberg, Portfolio, Althouse, Washington Post, Associated Press, Kevin Drum, The Impolitic, Gothamist, Spin Cycle and Truthdig
Jonathan Karl / ABCNEWS:
To the Rescue: Bush to Give Low-Interest Loans to Carmakers — Obama Team Agrees to Bush's Strategy — The White House has decided to come to the rescue of General Motors and Chrysler by providing them with $17.4 billion in low-interest loans to keep them afloat, ABC News has learned.
Discussion:
Think Progress, Washington Post, American Street, Wake up America, Scared Monkeys, On Deadline, PoliBlog and Outside The Beltway
The Politico:
Bush announces $17.4 billion auto bailout — President Bush stepped in Friday to keep America's auto industry afloat, announcing a $17.4 billion bailout for GM and Chrysler, with the terms of the loans requiring that the firms radically restructure and show they can become profitable soon.
Roosevelt Room / White House:
President Bush Discusses Administration's Plan to Assist Automakers — THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. For years, America's automakers have faced serious challenges — burdensome costs, a shrinking share of the market, and declining profits. In recent months, the global financial crisis has made these challenges even more severe.
Zaz Hollander / Anchorage Daily News:
Levi Johnston's mother hit with drug charges — Arrested: her son was in the spotlight as father of bristol palin's baby. — zhollander@adn.com — WASILLA — A 42-year-old Wasilla woman was arrested Thursday at her home by Alaska State Troopers with a search warrant in an undercover drug investigation.
Discussion:
JammieWearingFool, Runnin' Scared, Fox News, The Note, Gawker, Wonkette, Don Surber and The Impolitic
Joe Solmonese / Washington Post:
Obama's Inaugural Mistake — It is difficult to comprehend how our president-elect, who has been so spot on in nearly every political move and gesture, could fail to grasp the symbolism of inviting an anti-gay theologian to deliver his inaugural invocation. And the Obama campaign's response to the anger about this decision?
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, The Note, Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, Time, AMERICAblog News and Lynn Sweet
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Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
How new is Obama's New Politics? — The disparity is stark between the actual importance of the Inaugural invocation and the anger triggered by Obama's choice of Rick Warren to deliver it. Obviously, the controversy is a proxy for numerous pre-existing conflicts and agendas that have nothing to do with Rick Warren.
Paul Walsh / Minneapolis Star Tribune:
Franken pushes his lead over Coleman past 150 — The state Canvassing Board's first rush of ballot rulings in the U.S. Senate race has unofficially put challenger Al Franken in the lead by more than 150. — The intense scrutiny of “voter intent” resumed this morning by the five-member board charged …
Discussion:
Wilshire & Washington
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Jeff Poor / The Business & Media Institute:
CNN Meteorologist: Manmade Global Warming Theory ‘Arrogant’ — Network's second meteorologist to challenge notion man can alter climate. — Business & Media Institute — Unprecedented snow in Las Vegas has some scratching their heads - how can there be global warming with this unusual cold and snowy weather?
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias, Pajamas Media, Don Surber, LewRockwell.com Blog, Babalu Blog and Wake up America
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
The Madoff Economy — The revelation that Bernard Madoff — brilliant investor (or so almost everyone thought), philanthropist, pillar of the community — was a phony has shocked the world, and understandably so. The scale of his alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme is hard to comprehend.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, theheretik.us, American Street, Vox Popoli, American Prospect, Prairie Weather and EconLog
Kathleen Parker / Washington Post:
Caroline Kennedy Is No Sarah Palin — WASHINGTON — It is a legitimate question: Why is the resume-thin Caroline Kennedy being treated seriously as a prospective appointee to the U.S. Senate when the comparatively more-qualified Gov. Sarah Palin received such a harsh review?
Discussion:
Don Surber, Booman Tribune, New York Times, Riehl World View, National Review and Tennessee Guerilla Women
Richard A. Epstein / Wall Street Journal:
The Employee Free Choice Act Is Unconstitutional — Free speech and the takings clause are at stake. — A top priority of the incoming Democratic Congress and Obama administration is the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act. The EFCA, as is well known, introduces a card-check procedure …
Washington Post:
Advocates for Action on Global Warming Chosen as Obama's Top Science Advisers — President-elect Barack Obama has selected two of the nation's most prominent scientific advocates for a vigorous response to climate change to serve in his administration's top ranks, according to sources …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Boston Globe, Environmental Capital, Oliver Willis, Stop The ACLU and Firedoglake
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Juliet Eilperin / Washington Post:
Lubchenco Will Helm National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Lubchenco Will Helm National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Discussion:
Reason, Upturned Earth, Washington Monthly, Environmental Defense, Oregonian and Gristmill
Wall Street Journal:
Music Industry to Abandon Mass Suits — After years of suing thousands of people for allegedly stealing music via the Internet, the recording industry is set to drop its legal assault as it searches for more effective ways to combat online music piracy. — The decision represents …
NY Daily News:
Caroline Kennedy's voting record proves spotty — Caroline Kennedy wants to be the next senator from New York, but her voting record is already spotty, the Daily News has found. — City Board of Elections records show Kennedy has failed to vote in many elections since she registered in the city in 1988 …
Discussion:
Washington Post, ANIMAL New York, Spin Cycle, Commentary, MSNBC, Politics on the Hudson and Riehl World View
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Tim Weiner / New York Times:
W. Mark Felt, Watergate Deep Throat, Dies at 95 — W. Mark Felt, who was the No. 2 official at the F.B.I. when he helped bring down President Richard M. Nixon by resisting the Watergate cover-up and becoming Deep Throat, the most famous anonymous source in American history, died Thursday.
Discussion:
The Politico, JammieWearingFool, Guardian, Whiskey Fire, Ed Driscoll.com and Gateway Pundit
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Charles Homans / Washington Monthly:
Last Secrets of the Bush Administration — How to find out what we still don't know. — In March 2001, U.S. Archivist John W. Carlin received a letter from Alberto Gonzales, then counsel to the newly inaugurated president George W. Bush. It concerned an important deadline that was looming—one that Bush owed to Richard Nixon.
Wall Street Journal:
Democrats Are the New Ethics Story — Blagojevich is just the tip of the iceberg. — A note to all those visitors who will soon flood Washington for the inauguration: Be careful of the “swamp.” — That would be the swamp Speaker Nancy Pelosi vowed to drain when she led her party to victory in 2006.