Top Items:
Eli Lake / Washington Times:
Foreign ties of nominee questioned — Post handles classified data — An independent inspector general will look into the foreign financial ties of Chas W. Freeman Jr., the Obama administration's pick to serve as chairman of the group that prepares the U.S. intelligence community's …
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Jennifer Rubin / Commentary:
Freeman NOW Gets Vetted? — Eli Lake reports that Chas Freeman is indeed to be investigated by the Inspector General. At issue are his ties the to China National Offshore Oil Corp, in which the Chinese government has a majority stake, and his role as president of the Middle East Policy Council (MEPC), which is in part Saudi-funded.
Discussion:
The Hill's Blog Briefing Room
Helene Cooper / New York Times:
For Young President, Flecks of Gray — WASHINGTON — Well, that didn't take long. Just 44 days into the job, and President Obama is going gray. — It happens to all of them, of course — Bill Clinton still had about half a head of brown hair when he took office but was a silver fox two years later …
John Boehner / Washington Post:
Democrats' Diversionary Tactics — In the first two months of 2009, the Democratic Congress and the White House have spent more money than the combined cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and the response to Hurricane Katrina. After they doled out taxpayer dollars at such a blistering pace …
Wall Street Journal:
White House Rethinks Tax Hikes — Obama Open to Revising Plan to Cap Breaks on Mortgage Interest and Donations — WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is meeting strong Democratic Party resistance to his proposal to reduce tax deductions enjoyed by upper-income Americans and could be forced to drop or modify the idea.
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CNNMoney.com:
GM: ‘Substantial doubt’ about survival — Automaker's annual report says it hopes to get $7.7 billion from the government to remain viable. — NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — General Motors Corp. said in a government filing Thursday that its accounting firm has found there is “substantial doubt” about the automaker's ability to survive.
Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
Obama Taps Clinton Ideas but Not Clinton Herself — WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton has not participated in any of the White House's planning sessions on health care, the issue that defined her public persona during the 1990s. Intent on establishing herself as a powerful secretary of state …
Discussion:
Washington Post, USA Today, TaylorMarsh.com, The Note, Los Angeles Times, Political Punch and No More Mister Nice Blog
ABCNEWS:
Ex-First Lady Barbara Bush Has Heart Surgery — Bush Aide Says the Former First Lady Was ‘Alert and Funny’ After Surgery — Former first lady Barbara Bush had open-heart surgery Wednesday and is resting comfortably at a Houston hospital with her husband, former President George H.W. Bush …
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Iain Martin / Iain Martin's blog listings:
President Barack Obama just plain rude to Britain. Don't call us in future. — Why couldn't President Obama have put on more of a show for his British guests? He looked like he simply couldn't be bothered. — Gordon Brown and Barack Obama — Number 10 may be content …
Anthony Faiola / Washington Post:
A Global Retreat As Economies Dry Up — As World Trade Plummets, Bustling Ports Stand Idle And Foreign Workers Track Back Home — SINGAPORE This shimmering city-state was the house globalization built. When world trade boomed, Singapore's seaport at the crossroads of East and West became …
Libby Quaid / Associated Press:
US schools chief wants DC kids to keep vouchers — WASHINGTON (AP) — Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Wednesday that poor children getting vouchers to attend private schools in the District of Columbia should be allowed to stay there, putting the Obama administration at odds with Democrats trying to end the program.
Associated Press:
Obama surprises daughters with new swing set — WASHINGTON (AP) — First daughters Malia and Sasha Obama got a big surprise after school Wednesday: a brand-new swing set. — They squealed with delight upon seeing it, a spokeswoman for the first lady said.
Wall Street Journal:
Merrill Men Paid Over $10 Million Subpoenaed — New York state's attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, has issued subpoenas to several top Merrill Lynch & Co. executives who were each paid more than $10 million in cash and stock last year, according to people familiar with the situation.
Maxim Lott / Fox News:
Professor Takes Heat for Calling Cops on Student Who Discussed Guns in Class — A professor in Connecticut reported one of her students to the police after he gave a class presentation on why students and teachers should be allowed to carry concealed weapons on campus.
Discussion:
Stop The ACLU
Detroit News:
Cap-and-trade plan will sink Michigan — President Barack Obama's proposed cap-and-trade system on greenhouse gas emissions is a giant economic dagger aimed at the nation's heartland — particularly Michigan. It is a multibillion-dollar tax hike on everything that Michigan does, including making things, driving cars and burning coal.
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Jeremy McDermott / Telegraph:
Venezuela's Hugo Chavez tightens state control of food amid rocketing inflation and food shortages — President Hugo Chavez is tightening state control over Venezuela's food supply, setting quotas for food staples which are to be sold at government-imposed prices.
Directorblue / Doug Ross:
Mission Accomplished! Did Obama intentionally nuke the economy? — Is President Obama intentionally attempting to bring the stock market to its knees? Some argue that, indeed, he is. “The free market has failed,” he could say, “just as it failed the housing market!”
Ben Smith / The Politico:
For GOP: all pain, no gain — Four months after John McCain's sweeping defeat, senior Republicans are coming to grips with the fact that the party is still - in stock market terms - looking for the bottom. — Republicans this week are processing two sobering new polls that found …
Zombie / zomblog:
Islam bus ads sponsored by CAIR and ICNA roll into San Francisco — San Franciscans have recently been finding themselves in the uncomfortable position of riding around on public buses plastered with the words “ISLAM - Submission to God.” I say “uncomfortable” because San Francisco …
Wall Street Journal:
Bailout to Aid 1 in 9 Homeowners — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration announced details of a housing-rescue plan it said would help as many as many as one in nine homeowners, from low-income Americans struggling to avoid foreclosure to well-off borrowers who owe more than their homes are worth.
Seumas Milne / Guardian:
If this becomes Obama's war, it will poison his presidency — Pakistan is being ripped apart by the fallout from the Afghan occupation. If the US escalates, the impact will be devastating — The armed assault on Sri Lanka's cricket team in Lahore has been a brutal demonstration …
Megan McArdle:
Atlas raised his eyebrows — Perhaps predictibly, Ayn Rand is making a comeback on the right, with Congressmen handing out her books, and loose talk of rich people “Going Galt”. — I don't think that we will see a mass exodus of productive people to secret hideouts.
New York Times:
Matters of Principal — TO stanch the hemorrhage of foreclosures, we don't need another bailout. What we need is a fix — and the wisdom to see what is in our own self-interest. — An avalanche of foreclosures is coming — as many as eight million in the next several years.
Paul Kane / Washington Post:
Democrats Stop Effort To Remove Earmarks — The Senate approved $10 million in funding yesterday for clients of a now-disbanded lobbying firm that is under federal investigation for alleged fraud in political contributions to members of Congress, while approving an additional $16 million …
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight.com:
When Will Voters Blame Obama? — Buried in the latest NBC/WSJ survey (.pdf) is a question asking voters who they blame for the country's economic problems. Currently, 8 percent of voters say that Obama's policies are “mostly responsible” for the poor economy and another 6 percent blame him in part.
Discussion:
Donklephant
Hillel Fendel / Arutz Sheva:
Jerusalem: Arab Tractor Driver Plows Into Police Car, 2 Hurt — (IsraelNN.com) Two police officers were wounded in Jerusalem shortly after 1:00 p.m. when an Arab-driven tractor plowed into their vehicle. The officers, though hurt, fired at the terrorist, as did a civilian, and the terrorist was killed.
Attaturk / Firedoglake:
Eight plus minutes of truth — digg it — This early morning I could write about Rush Limbaugh again but those insurance companies that are not insolvent have mortality tables which say it's likely we've got another 4 years, 1 month to make fun of Rush Limbaugh. So let's pace ourselves.
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