Top Items:
Camille Paglia / Salon:
Heads should roll — President Obama's clumsy, smirky staff is sinking him — and resurrecting a deflated GOP! Plus: Lay off Rush! And a Brazilian diva, up close and electric — View a slide show of Daniela Mercury at the 2009 carnival in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil. — Free Barack!
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Alan Greenspan / Wall Street Journal:
The Fed Didn't Cause the Housing Bubble — Any new regulations should help direct savings toward productive investments. — We are in the midst of a global crisis that will unquestionably rank as the most virulent since the 1930s. It will eventually subside and pass into history.
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias, The Swamp, JustOneMinute, Think Progress, Economist's View, AmSpecBlog and Balloon Juice
Roll Call:
Heard on the Hill: Vitter Goes From Hookergate to Gate-Crashing — Among Members of Congress, there's a long-standing, proud tradition of the Airport Freakout. Add to the list of those who've indulged in meltdowns and temper tantrums while traveling one Sen. David Vitter …
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John Byrne / The Raw Story:
GOP senator flips out at airline, sets off security alarm — The Republican senator who found himself on a DC madam's client list is drawing new attention over “impulse control.” — After missing a flight last Thursday from Washington to New Orleans, — Louisiana Sen. David Vitter opened …
Mike Allen / The Politico:
No quit: the campaign to boost Bush — The defense never rests. When President Barack Obama released his own policy this week on former President George W. Bush's practice of attaching controversial signing statements to legislation, a reporter quickly got a tip from a Bush loyalist …
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Laura Rozen / The Cable:
Freeman speaks out on his exit — Retired Amb. Chas Freeman, who said today that he no longer accepts an offer to chair the National Intelligence Council, has just sent this message: … More to come.
Discussion:
Salon, The Daily Dish, The American Scene, Hot Air, JTA, Democracy in America, Consortiumnews.com, Fox News, New York Times, Commentary, The Plum Line, Media Blog, CANNONFIRE, The Reaction, Wonk Room, Newsweek, James Fallows, Real Clear Politics, The Corner, Moe_Lane's blog, Israel Matzav, Macsmind, MyDD, Conventional Folly, Power Line, David Rothkopf, Eunomia, Swampland, Political Punch, Capital J | JTA, The Volokh Conspiracy, Taylor Marsh, The New Republic, The Peking Duck, Sandbox, Ben Smith's Blogs, Needlenose, Winds of Change.NET and The Washington Independent
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Peter Finn / Washington Post:
U.S., Israel Disagree on Iran Arms Threat
U.S., Israel Disagree on Iran Arms Threat
Discussion:
Mideast Peace Pulse
Walter Pincus / Washington Post:
Impartiality Questioned, Intelligence Pick Pulls Out
Impartiality Questioned, Intelligence Pick Pulls Out
Discussion:
The Daily Dish, Power Line, The Corner, The Cable, Mondoweiss, Commentary, The Politico, Corrente, Instapundit and Salon
Stephen Labaton / New York Times:
Some Banks, Citing Strings, Want to Return Federal Aid — WASHINGTON — The list of demands keeps getting longer. — Financial institutions that are getting government bailout funds have been told to put off evictions and modify mortgages for distressed homeowners.
Discussion:
CBS News, TalkLeft, The Corner, The Curious Capitalist, Dealbreaker and Riehl World View
Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Approval of Congress Hits Four-Year High, Fueled by Dems — PRINCETON, NJ — Americans' job approval rating of Congress is up an additional 8 points this month, after a 12-point increase last month, and now stands at 39% — the most positive assessment of Congress since February 2005.
Ezra Klein / American Prospect:
ZOMBIE LIES THAT WILL NOT DIE. — We're not even going to talk about the tendentious Matrix analogy laced into this column Amity Shlaes wrote for Bloomberg. Not. Even. Going. To. Talk. About. It. I already read the thing for you. I refuse to relive it.
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Amity Shlaes / Bloomberg:
Obama's ‘Matrix’ Alters Reality of Health Care: Amity Shlaes
Obama's ‘Matrix’ Alters Reality of Health Care: Amity Shlaes
Discussion:
Washington Monthly
Barbara Barrett / Raleigh News & Observer:
Edwards talks about poverty, stays silent on paternity — PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards took another tentative step into the public spotlight tonight, speaking at Brown University about extreme poverty around the world and urging Americans to get involved in what he called a “fundamental moral issue.”
Discussion:
MSNBC
Howard Fineman / Newsweek:
A Turning Tide? — Obama still has the approval of the people, but the establishment is beginning to mumble that the president may not have what it takes. — Surfer that he is, President Obama should know a riptide when he's in one. The center usually is the safest, most productive place in politics …
Discussion:
QandO, BAGnewsNotes, Open Left, Buck Naked Politics, Hot Air, Macsmind, NewsBusters.org, Babalú Blog, Whiskey Fire, Firedoglake and Jules Crittenden
David Leonhardt / New York Times:
Banks Counted on Looting America's Coffers — Sixteen years ago, two economists published a research paper with a delightfully simple title: “Looting.” — The economists were George Akerlof, who would later win a Nobel Prize, and Paul Romer, the renowned expert on economic growth.
John Bresnahan / The Politico:
Dem closing in key N.Y. House race — Democrat Scott Murphy has slashed into the huge lead once held by Republican Jim Tedisco in the New York special House election scheduled for March 31, according to a new Democratic-sponsored poll. — Tedisco, the state Assembly minority leader …
Shailagh Murray / Washington Post:
Senate Approves $410 Billion Bill to Fund Federal Government — The Senate gave final approval last night to a $410 billion spending bill to fund most of the federal government for the remainder of the year after overcoming a resilient Republican opposition and several Democratic defections.
Bruce Kesler / Maggie's Farm:
Top Ten Reasons For ObamaCare Are Based On False Information — George Bernard Shaw warned “Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.” The major overhaul of American health care pursued by President Obama and his supporters is based on many false premises and is excessive and likely to do more harm than good.
John Bresnahan / The Politico:
Inside Murtha's ‘earmark factory’ — Over the course of the past decade, Rep. John P. Murtha has earmarked millions of dollars for the Electro-Optics Center at Penn State University — money that has, in turn, gone to clients of the PMA Group, the Murtha-linked lobbying shop that was raided …
Capital Commerce:
Putting Obama on the Couch — “So, like, do you think Obama is just mean or something?” That is how a twentysomething television booker recently responded to my critique to her of the president's stimulus package and banking bailout plans. Actually, I think Team Obama is filled with dedicated …
José M. Guardia / Barcepundit:
IN MEMORIAM, 5 YEARS AFTER — Eva Belén Abad Quijada, Spain, 30 years old — Óscar Abril Alegre, Spain, 19 years old — Liliana Guillermina Acero Ushiña, Ecuador, 26 years old — Florencio Aguado Rojano, Spain, 60 years old — Juan Alberto Alonso Rodríguez, Spain, 38 years old
Pamela Hess / Associated Press:
Officials: Afghanistan Taliban leader was at Gitmo — WASHINGTON (AP) — The Taliban's new top operations officer in southern Afghanistan had been a prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, the latest example of a freed detainee who took a militant leadership role and a potential complication …
Discussion:
Associated Press, The Long War Journal, Agence France Presse, Moonbattery, Pajamas Media and Reuters
Dan Gainor / FOX Forum:
Rain or Shine, Environmentalists Want to Control Us — Vice President Business & Media Institute — This is the winter of environmentalists' discontent. They desperately want the earth to be warming to prove Al Gore's truth inviolate and they are going to make you pay thousands of dollars for it no matter whether it's true or not.
Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:
This Is Not a Test. This Is Not a Test. — It's always great to see the stock market come back from the dead. But I am deeply worried that our political system doesn't grasp how much our financial crisis can still undermine everything we want to be as a country. Friends, this is not a test.
Dan Bilefsky / New York Times:
Europeans Debate Castration of Sex Offenders — PRAGUE — Pavel remembers the violent night sweats two days before the murder. He went to see a family doctor, who said they would go away. But after viewing a Bruce Lee martial arts film, he said, he felt uncontrollable sexual desires.
Discussion:
The New Republic
Times of London:
Renegade IRA groups ‘co-ordinated Northern Ireland attacks’ — The Irish republican terrorist groups that murdered two soldiers and a police constable in two separate attacks over 48 hours may have co-ordinated their operations, security officials have told The Times.
Discussion:
abu muqawama
Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:
Shut Up, She Explained — Free speech for TARP recipients? Jane Hamsher thinks not. — Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake surely considers herself a champion of civil liberties (and an ally of Big Labor). However, her view of legitimate dissent and free speech seems oddly cramped - apparently …
Howard Witt / Los Angeles Times:
Driving through Tenaha, Texas, doesn't pay for some — A lawsuit alleges that the town's police pull over motorists — especially African Americans — and extort money and valuables by threatening criminal charges or worse. — Reporting from Tenaha, Texas — You can drive into this dusty fleck …
Telegraph:
Muslim extremists shout abuse at British soldiers during homecoming march — Muslim extremists shouted abuse at British soldiers during a home-coming march by the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Anglian Regiment. — A group of around 20 men in traditional Islamic dress held up banners and placards that read …
Catherine Rampell / Economix:
The Happiest States of America — Want to be live among the happiest Americans? Move to Utah. — People in Utah report the highest levels of well-being, according to recent survey results from Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. West Virginia had the lowest score.