memeorandum: Muslim Girl Gets $400G From Nevada School District in Head Scarf Bully Case (Fox News)

10:30 PM ET, April 8, 2009

Top Items:

White House: No bow to Saudi — The White House is denying that the president bowed to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia at a G-20 meeting in London, a scene that drew criticism on the right and praise from some Arab outlets. — “It wasn't a bow. He grasped his hand with two hands …

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

Big Liberal Bloggers Tee Off On Progressive Groups For Not Sharing Ad Wealth — Some of the leading liberal bloggers are privately furious with the major progressive groups — and in some cases, the Democratic Party committees — for failing to spend money advertising on their sites …

Discussion: AMERICAblog News, Sister Toldjah, JammieWearingFool, Don Surber, Right Wing Nut House, Ben Smith's Blog, Right Wing News, Moe Lane and Stop The ACLU

Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:
White House May be Dictating, But We're Not Stenographers

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog

Hilary Leila Krieger / Jerusalem Post:
Obama to host Seder Thursday night

Discussion: Fox News, The Note, Political Machine, Think Progress, TIME.com, The Moderate Voice and Anne Schroeder's Blog

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
‘Common Purpose’

Discussion: Salon

Wall Street Journal:

Obama and Gates Gut the Military — The secretary's new budget will leave us weaker to pay for the president's domestic programs. — On Monday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced a significant reordering of U.S. defense programs. His recommendations should not go unchallenged.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Sister Toldjah, Flopping Aces, The Opinionator, The Moderate Voice, Matthew Yglesias and Commentary

Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
The ‘Defense Spending Cuts’ Meme Grows

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Wonkette, Commentary, Daily Kos, PERRspectives, Talking Points Memo, The Politico, The Plum Line and DownWithTyranny!

New York Times:
Mr. Gates's Budget — Defense Secretary Robert Gates …

Discussion: democracyarsenal.org, The Reaction and Washington Post

Spencer Ackerman / The Washington Independent:
Neocons vs. Bob Gates, With Special Guest Appearance by KKK Founder

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, ATTACKERMAN and Information Dissemination

New York Times:

U.S. Crew in Standoff With Pirates Off Somalia Coast — Hours after pirates commandeered a United States-flagged container ship with 20 American crew members off the coast of Somalia on Wednesday, the pirates and crew appeared to be in a standoff, with the ship under control of its crew once again …

BBC:

Hijacked US crew ‘retake vessel’ — US crew members have retaken their hijacked ship but their captain is still being held by Somali pirates on a lifeboat, reports say. — Pentagon sources and relatives of the Maersk Alabama's 20 crew were earlier quoted as saying the ship was back under control after a struggle.

Discussion: TigerHawk

Doug TenNapel / Big Hollywood:

Does God Exist? Hitchens vs. Craig — I had the opportunity to see Christopher Hitchens debate Dr. William Lane Craig on the topic “Does God Exist?” at BIOLA University. The gymnasium was packed with 3,000 people, most of whom were Christians but some non-believers made a showing.

Discussion: Hot Air

Townhall.com:
Rick Warren on the Newsweek ‘End of Christian America’ article, Pt. 1

Discussion: Majikthise

Matt Corley / Think Progress:
Did Rick Warren compare Democrats to prostitutes?

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Roger Ebert / Chicago Sun Times:

Thoughts on Bill O'Reilly and Squeaky the Chicago Mouse — Dear Bill: Thanks for including the Chicago Sun-Times on your exclusive list of newspapers on your “Hall of Shame.” To be in an O'Reilly Hall of Fame would be a cruel blow to any newspaper. It would place us in the favor of a man …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Washington Monthly, La Figa and Lean Left

JONATHAN TURLEY:

Lost in Translation: Turkish Anchor Appears in Blackface on Air in Coverage of President Obama — There is a great deal of chatter on the Internet today about an anchor who appears in blackface in the coverage of President Obama's trip to Turkey. The rough translation from the appearance is “Welcome, Mr. Obama.

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Amanda Terkel / Think Progress:

Turkish anchor wears blackface to report on Obama's visit. — A YouTube video has popped up of a Turkish anchor wearing dark face paint when reporting on President Obama's recent visit to the country. Jonathan Turley has a rough translation of what the anchor is saying: … Watch it:

Discussion: ScoopThis.Org

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

Keith Olbermann's scathing criticism of Obama's secrecy/immunity claims — (updated below - Update II - Update III) — Several weeks ago, I noted that unlike the Right — which turned itself into a virtual cult of uncritical reverence for George W. Bush especially during the first several years …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, RedState, Big Brass Blog, The Moderate Voice, TalkLeft, Obsidian Wings and Booman Tribune

Seth Borenstein / Associated Press:

AP Newsbreak: Obama looks at climate engineering … WASHINGTON (AP) - The president's new science adviser said Wednesday that global warming is so dire, the Obama administration is discussing radical technologies to cool Earth's air. — John Holdren told The Associated Press …

Discussion: Tammy Bruce and Politics and Critical Thinking

HRC:

Human Rights Campaign Exposes National Organization for Marriage's Fake Ad for Fake Problems — Right-wing group does not have truth on its side, so it hires actors to spew lies; Audition reel uncovered online — WASHINGTON -The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest lesbian, gay …

Discussion: Pam's House Blend, The Daily Dish, #gay, Minnesota Independent, Ben Smith's Blog, American Power, Oliver Willis, No More Mister Nice Blog and Real Clear Politics

Paul Foy / Associated Press:

Mitt Romney sells Utah ski house … SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Race-car driver and money manager Hal Prewitt bought Mitt Romney's ski house at Deer Valley Resort for “a little less” than the asking price of $5.25 million, his agent said — Tuesday. — “It's beautiful.

Discussion: Salon and Truthdig

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:

The Best State Political Blogs — The day has arrived! — After sifting through hundreds upon hundreds of recommendations that came in via the Fix comments section, Twitter and email, we are finally ready to unveil our list of the best political blogs in each of the 50 states.

Discussion: John Deeth Blog and Minnesota Independent

Fox News:

Muslim Girl Gets $400G From Nevada School District in Head Scarf Bully Case — A Nevada school district agreed to pay $400,000 to a Muslim girl and her friend over allegations that other students threatened to kill her in the stairwell for wearing a religious head scarf and the staff did nothing to stop it.

Discussion: Debbie Schlussel, JammieWearingFool and Jihad Watch

Chris Irvine / Telegraph:

South Park creators given signed photo of Saddam Hussein — Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the creators of South Park, were given a signed photo of Saddam Hussein by US marines after the former Iraqi leader was shown their movie in prison. — During his captivity, US marines forced Saddam …

Discussion: Amygdala

Martina Stewart / CNN:

Palin fan sets up Web site to cover her legal defense costs — (CNN) — A Texas businessman launched a Web site Tuesday that allows users to help defray Gov. Sarah Palin's legal costs. — The donations will be forwarded to the governor's attorney in Alaska.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Conservatives4Palin.com, Political Machine and Hot Air

Sean Cockerham / Anchorage Daily News:
Palin plans to assist Murkowski campaign in 2010

Discussion: Political Machine, GayPatriot and RedState

Steven R. Hurst / Associated Press:

Analysis: Obama achieves defining TV shot in Iraq — Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition — WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama went for the defining television shot in Iraq and got it — pictures of hundreds of U.S. troops cheering wildly as he told …

Discussion: Associated Press, Michelle Malkin, The Politico and Gateway Pundit

Aluf Benn / Haaretz:
Obama team readying for confrontation with Netanyahu

Discussion: Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Media Blog, ATTACKERMAN and The Washington Independent

New York Times:

U.S. to Join Iran Talks Over Nuclear Program — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration said Wednesday that the United States for the first time would participate regularly with other global powers in negotiations with the Iranian government about its nuclear program.

Discussion: Taylor Marsh

Associated Press: U.S. to take part in group talks with Iran

Ramesh Ponnuru / The Corner:

Why Coleman Should Drop Out — If he keeps up the fight, he is likely to lose, unnecessarily deprive Minnesota of a second senator, end his political career seen as a sore loser, and hurt his party in a state that is eager for this fight to be over. His team has talked enough …

Discussion: MinnPost, The New Republic and Minnesota Independent

Montgomery Advertiser:

Rogers urged to apologize for comments — The head of the Alabama Democratic Party said U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Saks, owes the U.S. speaker of the House an apology. — Rogers came to Montgomery on Monday to speak to constituents, and Alabama Democratic Party Chairman Joe Turnham found …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Media Matters for America:

“Fair and balanced” Fox News aggressively promotes “tea party” protests … Despite its repeated insistence that its coverage is “fair and balanced” and its invitation to viewers to “say ‘no’ to biased media,” in recent weeks, Fox News has frequently aired segments encouraging viewers to get involved with …

Discussion: Think Progress and skippy the bush kangaroo

David Siders / Recordnet.com:

Concerned resident aims to form armed militia to patrol Stockton — STOCKTON - A retired truck driver and Vietnam War veteran said Monday that he is forming an armed militia - mostly men with rifles and armbands, four to a car - to patrol Stockton this summer, when at least 43 police officers are to be laid off.