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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, The Moderate Voice, Opinion L.A., FiveThirtyEight, Hot Air, Washington Monthly, JustOneMinute, AMERICAN DIGEST, Burlington Free Press, #gay, Firedoglake, GayPatriot, Iowa Independent, Law Dork, 2.0, Bleeding Heartland, The Nation, God & Country, Colorado Independent, PoliGazette, DownWithTyranny!, Lawyers, Guns and Money, Alas, a blog, The BRAD BLOG, Liberal Values, Left in the West, The Bilerico Project, Feministing, MyDD, Ben Smith's Blog, Democratic Strategist, Liberty Street, DISSENTING JUSTICE, MoJo Blog Posts and Political Byline
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The Iowa Supreme Court's Attack on Marriage
Discussion:
American Prospect, The Moderate Voice, GayPatriot, Lawyers, Guns and Money and PoliGazette
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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 …
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Obama to Bankers: I'm Standing ‘Between You and the Pitchforks’ — ABC News' Matthew Jaffe reports: When President Obama welcomed the chief executives from 13 of the nation's biggest banks to the White House last Friday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs billed it as a “good, productive, and frank” conversation.
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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.
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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 …
Discussion:
People.com, NY Daily News, Political Machine, Conservatives4Palin.com, Vanity Fair and Gawker
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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.
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Obama Loses Place On Teleprompter. Ouch! UPDATE: UK Guardian Mocks 'World's Greatest Orator' — 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 …
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Obama on Binghamton shootings; and a strange one from Gov. Paterson — Traveling in Europe this week, President Obama's White House released a statement after the fatal shootings in Binghamton, N.Y., today that apparently killed 13 people plus the shooter, and injured others.
Discussion:
Liberty Street
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Gunman barricaded back door, police say — (CNN) — A gunman barricaded the back door of a Binghamton, New York, immigration services center with a car and burst through the front door on a shooting rampage, killing 13 people and then, apparently, himself, police said Friday.
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‘Holy Hell’ Over Torture Memos — Attorney General Eric Holder wants to release classified Bush-era interrogation memos. But U.S. intel officials are fiercely lobbying the White House to block him from moving forward. — A fierce internal battle within the White House over the disclosure …
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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 …
Discussion:
TPMDC
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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.
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I Have Smoked Pot and Don't Really Care for It — Will Wilkinson has a good essay on marijuana in The Week: … For my part, I'll say that my name is Matthew Yglesias. I have smoked marijuana in the past, and enjoyed it on occasion, but mostly I haven't really liked it so I don't expect I'll smoke any more in the future.
Discussion:
Overruled
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Times co. threatens to shut down Globe — The New York Times Co. has threatened to shut the Boston Globe unless the newspaper's unions swiftly agree to $20 million in concessions, union leaders said. — Executives from the Times Co. and Globe made the demands Thursday morning …
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Talking Points Memo
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Should Obama Control the Internet? — A new bill would give the President emergency authority to halt web traffic and access private data. — Post Comment — Should President Obama have the power to shut down domestic Internet traffic during a state of emergency?
Discussion:
Pajamas Media
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Barack Obama fails to win Nato troops he wants for Afghanistan — Michael Evans and David Charter in Strasbourg — Barack Obama made an impassioned plea to America's allies to send more troops to Afghanistan, warning that failure to do so would leave Europe vulnerable to more terrorist atrocities.
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Michelle Obama, Carla Bruni ‘smackdown’ — “The first ladies fashion smackdown.” — That's what MSNBC was calling the public appearance of Michelle Obama, first lady of the United States, and Carla Bruni, first lady of France, today in Strasbourg, France. — They both wore bows.
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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
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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 …
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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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Hedge Fund Paid Summers $5.2 Million in Past Year — WASHINGTON — Top White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers received about $5.2 million over the past year in compensation from hedge fund D.E. Shaw, and also received hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaking fees from major financial institutions.
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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 …
Discussion:
Firedoglake