Top Items:
John Ward Anderson / The Politico:
Pot-related questions deluge W.H. — When the White House put out a call for town hall questions, it might not have been expecting this. — The more than 92,000 people who responded either have Cheech and Chong senses of humor or there is a deep concern in America — undetected by the media …
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Michelle Malkin:
Obama's online townhall: What's really going on? Updated: Megalomania-palooza! — Scroll down for updates... At 11:30am Eastern, President Obama will conduct an “online townhall” on the economy. — At this moment, the White House website reports that “92,889 people have submitted 104,079 questions and cast 3,608,538 votes.”
Sheryl Gay Stolberg / The Caucus:
Obama's Interactive Town Hall Meeting — President Obama conducted an Internet version of the question and answer sessions he has been holding around the country on Thursday. The event was the latest example of efforts by the Obama team to replicate its creative use of the Internet during the election campaign.
Discussion:
The New Republic, BBC, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, L.A. Times Tech Blog, Connecting.the.Dots, Wonkette and Althouse
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Bachmann Introducing Bill to Ban Use of Made-Up Global Currency — The madness continues as Michelle Bachmann introduces legislation that “would bar the dollar from being replaced by any foreign currency.” — What the Chinese were proposing, of course, was to replace the dollar as the world's reserve currency.
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Wall Street Journal:
China and the Dollar — Markets don't like Treasury talking down the dollar's status.
China and the Dollar — Markets don't like Treasury talking down the dollar's status.
Discussion:
The Atlanticist, Winds of Change.NET, Scared Monkeys, Fausta's Blog, Jules Crittenden, The Corner, Bloomberg, BeltwayBlips and Telegraph
Dan Raviv / CBS News:
U.S. Accused Of Killing 39 In Sudan Strike — A government minister in Sudan is accusing the United States Air Force of killing dozens of people in that north African country this past January - but the semi-official American version of the story is very different.
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Amos Harel / Haaretz:
ANALYSIS / In bombing Sudan, Israel sends message to Iran — As the final curtain comes down on the Olmert government, CBS reported a sensational air force bombing of an Iranian weapons convoy in Sudan. If Olmert's critics claim that his main legacy is two wars - one failed (Lebanon) …
Chicago Tribune:
Rahm Emanuel's profitable stint at mortgage giant — Short Freddie Mac stay made him at least $320,000 — Before its portfolio of bad loans helped trigger the current housing crisis, mortgage giant Freddie Mac was the focus of a major accounting scandal that led to a management shake-up …
Discussion:
The Swamp, pw, Six Meat Buffet, Hot Air, Michelle Malkin, Clayton Cramer's BLOG, Right Wing News, Pat Dollard, Sweetness & Light, The New Ledger and Gateway Pundit
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
MICHAEL STEELE'S MASTER PLAN.... Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele went into a temporary, self-imposed exile recently, after a series of humiliating mistakes that put his job in jeopardy. After insulting, annoying, and frustrating nearly every member of the party establishment …
Discussion:
The Poor Man Institute
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Satyam Khanna / Think Progress: Steele on Limbaugh gaffe: ‘There is a logic behind it,’ 'it's all strategic.'
Eric Kleefeld / TPMDC:
Steele On Rush Flap: “It's All Strategic”
Steele On Rush Flap: “It's All Strategic”
Discussion:
MSNBC, The Moderate Voice, PoliGazette, Hotline On Call, BeltwayBlips, Whiskey Fire and MyDD
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
WSJ Says Bayh Wants to Shake Up Status Quo By Protecting Business Interests — Here's a curious report from The Wall Street Journal's Naftali Bendavid and Greg Hitt: … The presumption here being that over the past eight years, the political powerhouses in Washington were insufficiently solicitous …
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Wall Street Journal:
AIG Fights a Fire at Its Paris Unit — Executives' Resignations Put Billions in Contracts at Risk of Default — Amid the flap over bonuses at American International Group Inc. two of the company's top managers in Paris have resigned. Their moves have left the giant insurer …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, OpenMarket.org, Emptywheel, Clusterstock, Balloon Juice, Megan McArdle, BeltwayBlips and Wake up America
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Richard Pérez-Peña / New York Times:
The Times Plans Temporary Pay Cuts — Facing a steep drop in revenue, The New York Times Company plans to cut the pay of most employees by 5 percent for nine months, in return for 10 days' leave, and will lay off 100 people and make other budget cuts, executives said on Thursday.
The Politico:
GOP gloves off for budget brawl — House Republicans have begun unveiling detailed alternatives to President Barack Obama's policies — a concerted effort to push back against Democratic efforts to label them “the Party of No.” — On Wednesday, it was a housing plan.
Josh Gerstein / The Politico:
Dems warn against first lady bill — House Republicans are pressing for a change in federal law that could force Michelle Obama and future first ladies to do more of their policy work in public. But Democrats warn President Obama may take the attempt personally “as an attack on his wife.”
Rep. Barney Frank / The Huffington Post:
Why I Called Justice Scalia A Homophobe — While responding to questions from journalists about my characterization of Justice Antonin Scalia as a homophobe, I realized that the fact that I made that comment in conjunction with a potential lawsuit about the Defense of Marriage Act created …
Jeffrey Sachs / Financial Times:
Obama's bank plan could rob the taxpayer — The Geithner-Summers plan, officially called the public/private investment programme, is a thinly veiled attempt to transfer up to hundreds of billions of dollars of US taxpayer funds to the commercial banks, by buying toxic assets from the banks at far above their market value.
Richard A. Epstein / Wall Street Journal:
Is the Bonus Tax Unconstitutional? — The Supreme Court defers too much to Congress. — Bills now winding their way through Congress would tax between 70% and 90% of bonuses paid to any executive earning in excess of $250,000, if he or she is employed by a business that received more than $5 billion from U.S. bailout funds.
E.J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:
Cutting Deficit Will Require Tax Increases — The debate on the budget is phony, the howling on deficits a charade. Few politicians want to acknowledge that if you really are concerned about long-term deficits, you have to support tax increases. — That's why the most significant moment …
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
The Odd Lies Of Sarah Palin: XXVII — She said she'd turned down some of the federal stimulus money: … No, she didn't say she did. … But she did: … But she didn't:
Discussion:
Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!
Gordon Lubold / Christian Science Monitor:
Obama overhauls US Afghan strategy — The Iraq-style troop surge is one part of a plan that hopes to bring stability through civilian know-how and a fresh Pakistan policy. — WASHINGTON - — Since the United States invaded Iraq six years ago, its attention, effort, and military know-how has tilted toward the Gulf.
Nicholas D. Kristof / New York Times:
Learning How to Think — Ever wonder how financial experts could lead the world over the economic cliff? — One explanation is that so-called experts turn out to be, in many situations, a stunningly poor source of expertise. There's evidence that what matters in making a sound forecast …
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
AN EXCESSIVE PLAY BY PLAY.... There are plenty of circumstances in which a professional journalist is justified in not only reporting on a story, but exploring the work that went into the story. Woodward and Bernstein, for example, not only broke Watergate, but went on to write at length about their legwork behind the scenes.
Peter Foster / Telegraph:
US deploys warships as North Korea prepares to launch missile — The US has deployed two warships with anti-missile capabilities in the waters off Japan as tensions mount over North Korea's plans to test-fire a long-range ballistic missile capable of striking Alaska.
Bartle Bull / Prospect Magazine:
No, he can't — 157 » Features » No, he can't — The wheels are already coming off Obama's Trojan horse revolution. Will he, like Jimmy Carter, be seen as a one-term disaster? — Discuss this article at First Drafts, Prospect's blog — Barack Obama was always going to disappoint.
New York Times:
Geithner Calls for Major Overhaul of Financial Rules — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Thursday detailed its wide-ranging plan to overhaul financial regulation by subjecting hedge funds and traders of exotic financial instruments, now among the biggest and most freewheeling players on Wall Street …
Bloomberg:
Jindal Spurns Obama's Jobless Aid as Mayor Pleads ‘Help Me Now’ — Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, a Republican, cited fiscal responsibility when he turned down about $98 million in unemployment aid that was part of President Barack Obama's $787 billion federal stimulus package.
Discussion:
AMERICAblog News
The Hill:
Domino's ads delivering for Gov. contender — Corporate CEOs aren't the most popular people right now, but one of them wants to make it very clear that he had no part in this whole bailout thing. — Domino's Pizza Chairman and CEO David Brandon has been on national television for two weeks touting the …
Scott Kraus / Pennsylvania Ave.:
Obama 2.0 Volunteer Effort: Still a work in progress — Organizing for America, the Democratic National Committee-based group that took over for Barack Obama's prodigious grassroots campaign organization released the results of their weekend canvassing effort in support of Obama's budget proposal.