memeorandum: US watchdog calls for bank executives to be sacked (James Doran/Guardian)

5:50 PM ET, April 5, 2009

Top Items:

57% Want Military Response to North Korea Missile Launch — Fifty-seven percent (57%) of U.S. voters nationwide favor a military response to eliminate North Korea's missile launching capability. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that just 15% of voters oppose a military response while 28% are not sure.

Discussion: The Corner, Pundit & Pundette, Don Surber, PoliGazette and The Politico

New York Times:

Defying World, North Koreans Launch Rocket — SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea defied the United States, China and a series of United Nations resolutions by launching a rocket on Sunday that the country said was designed to propel a satellite into space, but that much of the world viewed …

Discussion: ABCNEWS, BBC, Associated Press, Think Progress, Time, Political Byline, Gawker, Commentary, Liberty Street, Outside The Beltway, UPI, Washington Monthly and TalkLeft

Washington Post:
Obama Calls for World Without Nuclear Weapons

Discussion: Hot Air and Pam's House Blend

New York Times:
Obama Calls on U.N. to Punish North Korea Over Rocket

Discussion: Associated Press, D-Day and Democrats.com

The Politico:
Obama calls for ‘world without’ nukes

Discussion: The Swamp, The Note, No Sheeples Here!, Patterico's Pontifications, Gateway Pundit, American Power, Scared Monkeys, Taylor Marsh, Israel Matzav, Jules Crittenden, New York Times, Michelle Malkin and New York Times

Associated Press:
NKorea launches rocket, defying world pressure

Discussion: BBC, Right Wing News, Power Line and Paco Enterprises

Jennifer Loven / Associated Press:
Obama In Prague: Launches Effort To Rid World Of Nuclear Weapons

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Washington Monthly

Blaine Harden / Washington Post:
North Korea Defies Warnings, Launches Powerful Rocket

Discussion: The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

Dennis B. Roddy / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Suspect in officers' shooting was into conspiracy theories — Richard Andrew Poplawski was a young man convinced the nation was secretly controlled by a cabal that would eradicate freedom of speech, take away his guns and use the military to enslave the citizenry.

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Raw Story, 24Ahead, PERRspectives, Little Green Footballs, Pam's House Blend, Political Byline, TBogg, The Impolitic and Crooks and Liars

KDKA-TV:

Gunmen Kills Three Pittsburgh Police Officers — PITTSBURGH (KDKA/AP) ― A man opened fire on officers during a domestic disturbance call Saturday morning, killing three of them, a police official said. — Friends said 23 year-old Richard Poplawski feared the Obama administration was poised to ban guns.

Discussion: Donklephant, NewsBusters.org, The Daily Dish, TPMCafe and Clayton Cramer's BLOG

Alexander Mooney / CNN:

Axelrod hits back at Cheney: Not behaving like a ‘statesman’ — (CNN) — Top Obama adviser David Axelrod sharply criticized Dick Cheney's recent contention that the president's national security policies have made the country less safe, suggesting the former vice president is not behaving like a “statesman.”

Discussion: The Politico

Satyam Khanna / Think Progress:

Axelrod hits back at Cheney: He has not been acting like a ‘statesman.’ — Vice President Cheney has used his public appearances in recent months to launch fearmongering attacks against the Obama administration, in contrast to President Bush, who said Obama “deserves my silence.”

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, The Moderate Voice, MoJo Blog Posts, The Huffington Post, PoliGazette and Washington Monthly

James Doran / Guardian:

US watchdog calls for bank executives to be sacked — Elizabeth Warren, chief watchdog of America's $700bn (£472bn) bank bailout plan, will this week call for the removal of top executives from Citigroup, AIG and other institutions that have received government funds in a damning report …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, TalkLeft, Newshoggers.com, DownWithTyranny! and Firedoglake

Scott Glover / Los Angeles Times:

FBI database links long-haul truckers, serial killings — The growing database includes more than 500 female victims, most of whom were killed and their bodies dumped at truck stops, motels and other spots along popular trucking routes crisscrossing the U.S.

Discussion: Daily Pundit

Thomas Beaumont / Des Moines Register:

Approval ratings decline for key elected officials — Iowans' approval of key public officials has ebbed in the weeks since the federal government passed huge spending measures and as state officials have battled over budget, labor and tax issues at the Statehouse.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

Carla Marinucci / San Francisco Chronicle:

California Dems target 8 GOP districts — California GOP voter registration is “dropping like a rock,” a new study shows, declining so fast that Democratic Party officials see an unprecedented opportunity to gain voters and House seats in the 2010 election.

Discussion: Washington Post, D-Day, DownWithTyranny! and Daily Kos

Little Green Footballs:

Le Pen Calls Nazi Gas Chambers ‘A Detail’ of WWII — Jean Marie Le Pen, the leader of French neo-Nazi party “Front Nationale” and friend and ally of Filip DeWinter of the Belgian fascist group Vlaams Belang, is back in the news again — for reiterating his Holocaust denial in a speech …

Discussion: PoliGazette

Mike Allen / The Politico:

GM planning for bankruptcy — Fritz Henderson, GM's new president and CEO, said for the first time Sunday that the automaker is planning for the possibility of restructuring within bankruptcy, although he said he still hoped to avoid that public-relations nightmare.

Discussion: The Note and PoliGazette