Top Items:
CNN:
Porn industry seeks federal bailout — WASHINGTON (CNN) — Another major American industry is asking for assistance as the global financial crisis continues: Hustler publisher Larry Flynt and Girls Gone Wild CEO Joe Francis said Wednesday they will request that Congress allocate $5 billion …
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Amanda Terkel / Think Progress:
Porn Industry Goes Limp, Seeks $5 Billion Federal Injection — When President Bush announced his economic stimulus in January 2008, he bragged that his package was the “right size” and would “boost” the economy: … Bush's package did stimulate spending...in the adult pornography industry.
Discussion:
The Jed Report
Ali Frick / Think Progress:
White House Asked Howard To Stay In Blair House To Give ‘Some Plausible Reason’ For Refusing Obama — In December, President-elect Obama asked the White House if he and his family could move into Blair House — the White House's guest house — a week early, so that his daughters Malia and Sasha could start school.
Discussion:
The Caucus, Matthew Yglesias, Taylor Marsh, D-Day, Outside The Beltway, The Raw Story, DownWithTyranny!, The New Republic and Kevin Drum
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Michael Calderone / Michael Calderone's Blogs:
Matthews: Todd ‘just lost his virginity’ — After a record-setting number of transition press conferences in Chicago, Obama answered questions from reporters in Washington for the first time as President-Elect. On hand were several new members of the White House press corps.
Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:
I want to play poker with Harry Reid. Really I do. — Rather than call for a special election in Illinois, Reid sends a letter to Blagojevich signed by everyone in the Democratic caucus asking him to step down. They assert that they will not seat anyone he appoints. — Harumph.
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David Kurtz / Talking Points Memo:
A SIGN OF THINGS TO COME? — In his press conference just now, Barack Obama softened his approach on seating Roland Burris: … If he gets seated, I'll work with him? That's different from his earlier statement that Burris shouldn't be seated. — Late Update: The video:
Associated Press:
Joe the Plumber to become war correspondent — TOLEDO, Ohio - Joe The Plumber is putting down his wrenches and picking up a reporter's notebook. — The Ohio man who became a household name during the presidential campaign says he is heading to Israel as a war correspondent for the conservative Web site pjtv.com.
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Thomas E. Ricks / Foreign Policy:
Fiasco at the Army War College — Did faculty members at the Army War College curtail their criticism of the Iraq war for fear of institutional retaliation? — That seems to be the bottom line in a situation I stumbled across just a few days ago. A friend passed along a 2005 e-mail note …
Discussion:
American Prospect, Macsmind, Think Progress, Lawyers, Guns and Money and Matthew Yglesias
Andy Barr / The Politico:
Kemp diagnosed with cancer — Former GOP vice presidential nominee Jack Kemp, 73, has been diagnosed with cancer. — According to a statement from his consulting firm, Kemp Partners, doctors are still testing Kemp before determining a course of treatment.
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Michael J. Totten:
Stop Juan Cole — Juan Cole is decrying all the neocons he's forced to compete with in the 2008 Weblog Awards for Best Middle East or Africa Blog. He thinks Helena Cobban — a deranged Hezbollah supporter — should have been nominated instead of someone like me.
Joseph Abrams / Fox News:
Protester Calls for Jews to ‘Go Back to the Oven’ at Anti-Israel Demonstration — Like many other protests of Israel's campaign in Gaza, this one ended badly — police had to cool an ugly fight between supporters of Israel and Gaza, breaking up the warring sides as their screaming and chanting threatened to turn into something worse.
Ezra Klein / American Prospect:
PARTISAN SELF-DECEPTION. — Matt Yglesias notes that left-of-center commentary has been notably more pessimistic on the state of the economy than right-of-center commentary. He offers three hypotheses (left-wing positions are psychologically correlated to pessimism, pessimism was correct …
Pacified / SoapBlox:
Where we stand — We are stabilizing everything as best we can right now, and getting ourselves backups to help keep everything safe and restoreable in the short-term — A long term fix is also on the way. — It also seems like SoapBlox needs to be transformed from a proprietary model …
Discussion:
Pam's House Blend, Burnt Orange Report, Blue Hampshire, Ben Smith's Blogs, Blog P.I., Open Left and First Draft
Bob Cesca / The Huffington Post:
The Myth of Bush As “The Hero of September 11” — As January 20 grows larger in the window, I've been thinking more often about the Bush legacy — specifically about certain aspects of the president's record that are in danger of being completely obliterated and replaced with myths and wholesale fiction.
Discussion:
Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!
Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
Unintended Consequences Pose Risks for Mideast Policy — Obama Breaks His Silence, Vows to Work for Peace Deal — President-elect Barack Obama will inherit a perilous situation in the Middle East, with Israel under increasing pressure to halt its ground invasion of the Gaza Strip …
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Pundit Review Radio / BLACKFIVE:
TAKING CHANCE - HBO MOVIE TO AIR IN FEBRUARY — “Chance Phelps was wearing his Saint Christopher medal when he was killed on Good Friday. Eight days later, I handed the medallion to his mother. I didn't know Chance before he died. Today, I miss him.” - LtCol Michael R. Strobl, USMC (Ret.), “Taking Chance”
Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
Sweet on Caroline — Ask not, you know, what your country can, like, do for you. Ask what you, um, can, you know, do for your country. — After a lifetime of shying away from the public spotlight, Caroline Kennedy asked herself what she could do for her country.
Discussion:
Commentary, The Fix, NewsBusters.org, Politics on the Hudson, Gothamist, Whiskey Fire, Buck Naked Politics, Jon Swift, Wonkette and Spin Cycle
Thomas Geoghegan / New York Times:
A Job Too Big for One Man to Fill — IN 2009 four new senators will slip into office — all in violation of the Constitution, which requires a special election to fill a Senate vacancy. Colorado, Delaware, hapless Illinois and star-struck New York will have senators “elected” by a single voter, the governors who appoint them.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Wall Street Journal, The G Spot, JoeTrippi.com, Hullabaloo and D-Day
Andrew Roth / Club for Growth:
Dumbness on the First Day — Over 400 bills were proposed by congressional members on the first day of business yesterday. Jim Harper offers up some of his “favorites”. Here are ones that stuck out in my mind: … Who were the most prolific bill writers? In the House: … In the Senate:
Discussion:
PoliPundit.com
Eric Black / MinnPost:
Senate recount: It's unlikely Coleman will win in court — Norm Coleman is surrounded by supporters and members of the media following his press conference on Tuesday. — Norm Coleman's public statement Tuesday, in officially announcing that he would contest the election result, struck the right tone.
Discussion:
Power Line
David Harsanyi / Denver Post:
Get out of the way, you old fogies — Warning: This column is replete with ageism — a hazardous prejudice to have in a nation growing progressively older. — The average American's life expectancy (or, as it's referred to in Washington, the “junior senator") is now a crusty 77 years.
Discussion:
Reason
Adam Lashinsky / Fortune:
CEO Eric Schmidt wishes he could rescue newspapers. — (Fortune Magazine) — Metaphorically speaking, Google is killing the newspaper industry. Online news is quickly hollowing out the traditional paper - the Christian Science Monitor eliminates its print edition, Tribune Co. declares bankruptcy …
Michael O'Brien / The Hill's Blog Briefing Room:
Palin Draws First Major Dem Challenger for 2010 Race — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) has drawn her first Democratic challenger in a potential reelection bid in 2010, a hurdle the former vice presidential nominee may need to clear before pursuing national ambitions.
Discussion:
Swing State Project
The Huffington Post:
Dem Activists Plan ‘PCCC’ To Back Progressives — On Tuesday, Tom Perriello was sworn in as a freshman member of Congress. Sam Bennett was not. — The divergent courses these two progressive candidates took were not driven by the political winds. Perriello won in a deeply conservative …