memeorandum: Obama's Truly Courageous Budget Move (Noam Scheiber/The New Republic)

Bunning: Justice Ginsberg likely will be dead in 9 months — ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. — U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning predicted over the weekend that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg would likely be dead from pancreatic cancer within nine months. — During a wide-ranging 30-minute speech …

Discussion: Brilliant at Breakfast, Outside The Beltway, PoliGazette and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Brett Hall / Kentucky Politics:

BOMBSHELL: Williams meets with NRSC, eyes run for U.S. Senate — A political bombshell this weekend from several well-placed GOP sources, in Frankfort and Washington: State senate President David Williams met with officials at the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) …

Discussion: Scorecard's Blogs and MyDD

Reid Wilson / The Hill:
Kentucky legislator courted to face Bunning

Discussion: Senate Guru and Swing State Project

MSNBC:

Feb. 22: Jindal, Crist, roundtable — Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, Al Hunt, Michele Norris, Becky Quick — MR. DAVID GREGORY: Our issues this Sunday: An unprecedented economic crisis grips the nation, and it's the states at a breaking point.

Discussion: The Fix, Maggie's Farm, Betsy's Page and The Campaign Spot

Joe Klein / Swampland:

Bobby Jindal's Blustery Day — Bobby Jindal is a very smart fellow. Back when he was in Congress, I'd try to check in with him every six months or so, just to see what he was thinking about. At first, we talked about health insurance—his specialty. Then, about the federal response to Hurricane Katrina (he was appalled).

Discussion: PoliGazette, Washington Monthly and Newshoggers.com

Wall Street Journal:

U.S. Eyes Large Stake in Citi — Taxpayers Could Own Up to 40% of Bank's Common Stock, Diluting Value of Shares — Citigroup Inc. is in talks with federal officials that could result in the U.S. government substantially expanding its ownership of the struggling bank, according to people familiar with the situation.

Discussion: DealBook, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, The Politico, Cafe Talk Aggregator, TIME.com, naked capitalism, Newshoggers.com, Wizbang, The Big Picture, Matthew Yglesias and Calculated Risk

Financial Times:
Citi presses US to take 40% stake

Discussion: The Big Picture and Firedoglake

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Banking on the Brink — Comrade Greenspan wants us to seize the economy's commanding heights. — O.K., not exactly. What Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman — and a staunch defender of free markets — actually said was, “It may be necessary to temporarily nationalize …

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Edmund L. Andrews / New York Times:

As Doubts Grow, U.S. Will Judge Banks' Stability — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration will begin taking a hard look at the financial condition of the country's 20 biggest banks this week to judge whether they could hold up even if the downturn worsens further than policy makers already expect.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Calculated Risk and Talking Points Memo

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

The Words Of Alan Keyes — Watch this astonishing video. I've posted about Keyes's remarks before but the full text of what he's saying is truly disturbing. He calls Obama an “abomination.” He says that “we have to stop him” or the US will cease to exist.

Discussion: PoliGazette and Political Machine

Anne Bayefsky / Forbes:

The Obama Administration Sacrifices Israel — The cover-up on Durban II's anti-Semitic agenda. — The Obama administration's decision to join the planning of the U.N.'s Durban II “anti-racism” conference has just taken a new twist: cover-up. On Friday, State Department officials …

Discussion: Israel Matzav, The New Republic and Betsy's Page

Laurie Goodstein / New York Times:

Milwaukee Archbishop Chosen to Succeed Egan — Pope Benedict XVI on Monday named Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan, who has led the archdiocese of Milwaukee for the last seven years, to succeed Cardinal Edward M. Egan as the Roman Catholic archbishop of New York.

Discussion: Glenn Thrush's Blogs, Whispers in the Loggia and NY Daily News

Manu Raju / The Politico:

How Burris blew it — CHICAGO — The crisis now threatening Sen. Roland Burris' political career started with revelations about his entanglements with disgraced former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. — But it was the way the situation was handled by Burris and his advisers …

Discussion: TIME.com

David Jackson / USA Today:

Obama aims to cut deficit in half by 2013 — WASHINGTON — Now that his $787 billion stimulus bill is law, President Obama plans to spend this week promoting a budget plan designed to cut the federal deficit in half by the end of his first term. — The president will host a …

Discussion: MyDD and TIME.com

Associated Press:

Condoleezza Rice agrees to a three-book deal — Contract will begin with a memoir about her time in the Bush White House — Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has agreed to a three-book deal with Crown Publishers, starting with a memoir about her years in the administration of President George W. Bush.

Discussion: Firedoglake

John / Power Line:

ASTRONOMY PICTURE OF THE DAY — Astronomy Picture of the Day, run by NASA, has been around for a while, but I just learned of it from a reader last week. It's a fun site, and helps put your declining net worth in perspective—something we can all use these days.

Discussion: APOD

Paul Lewis / Guardian:

UK faces summer of rage, say police — Police are preparing for a “summer of rage” as victims of the economic downturn take to the streets to demonstrate against financial institutions, the Guardian has learned. — Britain's most senior police officer with responsibility for public order raised …

Discussion: Riehl World View

Jennifer Parker / George's Bottom Line:

Schwarzenegger to GOP: Put Aside Ideology — California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger repeated today on “This Week” that he'd take any state aid money GOP governors like Gov. Mark Sanford, R-S.C. turn down — a position that has raised the ire of many of his Republican colleagues in Washington, D.C. this weekend.

Discussion: CQ Politics, CNN, Outside The Beltway, Don Surber, Riehl World View, DownWithTyranny! and Firedoglake

Victoria McGrane / The Politico:
GOP out of touch, says Arnold

Discussion: Don Surber and Right Wing News