Top Items:
Des Moines Register:
Unanimous ruling: Iowa marriage no longer limited to one man, one woman — REGISTER STAFF REPORTS — The Iowa Supreme Court this morning unanimously upheld gays' right to marry. — “The Iowa statute limiting civil marriage to a union between a man and a woman violates the equal protection clause …
Discussion:
The Volokh Conspiracy, Ben Smith's Blog, Burlington Free Press, Hot Air, JustOneMinute, Opinion L.A., Colorado Independent, GayPatriot, Firedoglake, God & Country, Democratic Strategist, PoliGazette, The Nation, The Bilerico Project, Iowa Independent, Salon, American Power, Runnin' Scared, The Anonymous Liberal, #gay, Bleeding Heartland, MyDD, Left in the West, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Political Byline, Alas, a blog, DownWithTyranny!, Lawyers, Guns and Money, MoJo Blog Posts, Liberal Values, The BRAD BLOG, Feministing, Liberty Street, culturekitchen, pandagon.net and The Reaction
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Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
King warns of ‘gay marriage Mecca’ — Western Iowa Rep. Steve King: — This is an unconstitutional ruling and another example of activist judges molding the Constitution to achieve their personal political ends. Iowa law says that marriage is between one man and one woman.
Desmoinesdem / Bleeding Heartland:
Iowa Supreme Court strikes down Defense of Marriage Act — The Iowa Supreme Court unanimously affirmed a lower-court ruling that struck down Iowa's 1998 Defense of Marriage Act. Various legal experts who watched the oral arguments in December expected the plaintiffs in Varnum v Brien to prevail …
New York Times:
Iowa Court Voids Gay Marriage Ban — DES MOINES — Iowa became the first state in the Midwest to approve same-sex marriage on Friday, after the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously decided that a 1998 law limiting marriage to a man and a woman was unconstitutional.
CNN:
Gunman believed to be among 14 dead in N.Y. — (CNN) — A gunman barricaded the back door of an immigration services center with his car and burst through the front door on a shooting rampage, killing 13 people and then, apparently, himself, police said. — Four more were wounded in the attack …
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Eamon Javers / The Politico:
Inside Obama's bank CEOs meeting — The bankers struggled to make themselves clear to the president of the United States. — Arrayed around a long mahogany table in the White House state dining room last week, the CEOs of the most powerful financial institutions in the world offered several explanations …
The Tyra Banks Show:
Levi Johnston Breaks His Silence — For the first time, Levi Johnston, the former fiancé of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol, breaks his silence and sits down exclusively with the “Tyra Show.” — Levi talks about his relationship with Bristol, what it was like to be thrust …
Peter Hamby / CNN:
Ted Stevens should run against Palin, Alaska Republican says — WASHINGTON (CNN) - Now that the corruption case against former Sen. Ted Stevens has been dropped, Alaska Rep. Don Young wants Stevens to run for governor — a move that would set up a Republican primary between the veteran lawmaker …
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Economist.com l WASHINGTON / Democracy in America:
New frontiers in sore loserdom
New frontiers in sore loserdom
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice
John Crace / Guardian:
Question that flummoxed great orator — Barack Obama, the World's Greatest Orator (™all news organisations), didn't exactly cover himself in glory when the BBC's political editor Nick Robinson asked him a question about who was to blame for the financial crisis.
Rachel Holmes / Guardian:
Michelle's fashion face-off with Carla — It was the moment the fashion world was waiting for: stylish Michelle Obama and chic Carla Bruni-Sarkozy came face-to-face in Strasbourg. Who came out on top? — Last year, we avidly followed the wardrobe manoeuvres of Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.
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Robert Reich / Robert Reich's Blog:
It's a Depression — The March employment numbers, out this morning, are bleak: 8.5 percent of Americans officially unemployed, 663,000 more jobs lost. But if you include people who are out of work and have given up trying to find a job, the real unemployment rate is 9 percent.
Ezra Klein / American Prospect:
THE STRANGE CASE OF EVAN BAYH. — Ben Nelson genuinely is a conservative Democrat. The Poole-Rosenthal rankings — which most consider the leading measure of a congressman's relative ideology — have, for years, ranked Nelson as the most conservative member of the Congress. Call him Democrat #1.
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Michael J. Boskin / Wall Street Journal:
Obama's $163,000 Tax Bomb — Families well below the president's ‘no-tax’ threshold will get a six-figure bill. — The House and Senate are preparing to pass President Barack Obama's radical budget blueprint, with only minor modifications, by using (abusing would be more accurate) the budget “reconciliation” process.
Discussion:
Ross Douthat
James M. Odato / Albany Times Union:
Tedisco faces revolt over Assembly leadership — ALBANY — Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco will either step aside or face a vote of no confidence next week as he awaits the outcome of his deadlocked House race, Assembly sources say. — An unhappy Republican conference is set …
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The Week Magazine:
I smoke pot, and I like it — “The answer is no, I don't think that is a good strategy to grow our economy.” President Obama said it with a chuckle last week at a town hall-style forum. The idea was for Obama to answer some questions about the economy submitted to the White House website.
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Greg Hengler / Townhall.com:
Obama Loses Place On Teleprompter. Ouch! — Different setting, different Obama. Gone are the constant “ahhhhs,” long blank pauses and stiffness that we saw earlier this morning. I thought the teleprompter was his savior until this little glitch happened at his...
Kirk Victor / National Journal Online:
McCain Rebukes Hispanic Voters — STUNG OVER THE VOTING BLOC'S 2-TO-1 SUPPORT OF OBAMA IN NOVEMBER, THE SENATOR SAYS TO LOOK TO THE NEW PRESIDENT FOR IMMIGRATION LEADERSHIP. — John McCain sounds angry and frustrated that, despite the risks he took in pushing immigration reform …
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
Obama's Ultimate Agenda — Five minutes of explanation to James Madison, and he'll have a pretty good idea what a motorcar is (basically a steamboat on wheels; the internal combustion engine might take a few minutes more). Then try to explain to Madison how the Constitution he fathered allows …
Alaska_Politics / Anchorage Daily News:
Todd Palin's half-sister arrested for burglary — From Zaz Hollander in Wasilla: — Todd Palin's half-sister was arrested Thursday after police say she broke into a Wasilla home for the second time this week to steal money. — Palin is the husband of Gov. Sarah Palin. He declined comment.
Discussion:
The Daily Dish
Felix Salmon:
Jobless America — The unemployment rate is now 8.5%, which is very bad, and is up sharply from 5.1% a year ago. But just check out U6, the broad measure of underemployement: people who want to get more work than they've got, but can't find it. A year ago — three months into the recession — it stood at 9.3%.
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Deirdre Walsh / CNN:
Reporters' hair irks Boehner — (CNN) — House Republican Leader John Boehner is known for regularly poking fun at reporters about their hairstyles. But at his weekly press conference on Thursday he couldn't contain himself. — As he launched into his regular refrain about the Democrats' budget …