memeorandum: ABM Poll: Voters want Coleman to concede, Pawlenty to sign certificate (Joe Bodell/MN Progressive Project)

6:50 PM ET, April 26, 2009

Top Items:

As Nations Try to Contain Flu, N.Y. Cases Are Confirmed — American health officials announced Sunday they had confirmed 20 cases of swine flu across the United States, and they said the number of infections was likely to grow as investigators fan out to track down the path of the outbreak.

Discussion: Associated Press, Top of the Ticket, Daily Kos, Gawker, Reuters, HorsesAss.Org, H5N1 and Global Guerrillas

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Administration declares flu ‘emergency’ — In an unusual Sunday briefing at the White House, administration officials said a “public health emergency” is being declared in the United States in order to mobilize maximum resources to combat fears of a global swine flu pandemic.

Discussion: The Swamp and PoliGazette

David Brown / Washington Post:

U.S. Slow to Learn of Mexico Flu — Canadian Officials Knew of Rare Strain Before Americans Did — U.S. public health officials did not know about a growing outbreak of swine flu in Mexico until nearly a week after that country started invoking protective measures, and didn't learn …

Discussion: Dot Earth, Founding Bloggers, Effect Measure, Blue Crab Boulevard, Wizbang, The Moderate Voice, Jules Crittenden, NO QUARTER, Wake up America, Fausta's Blog, The Other McCain, JustOneMinute, Daily Kos, Pundit & Pundette, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, New York Times and Bloomberg

Tom Philpott / Grist:

Swine-flu outbreak linked to Smithfield Foods — TWITTER - NEWSVINE - GOOGLE BOOKMARKS - STUMBLEUPON — The outbreak of a new flu strain—a nasty mash-up of swine, avian, and human viruses—has infected 1000 people in Mexico and the U.S., killing 68.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, At-Largely, Latest Open Salon Blog, Newshoggers.com, Aetiology, H5N1, MSNBC and Washington Monthly

Associated Press:
US declares public health emergency for swine flu

Discussion: Think Progress, Talking Points Memo and D-Day

Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés / The Moderate Voice:
Swine Flu: U.S. Declares Public Health Emergency

Discussion: LGF 2.0 The Blogmocracy and Newshoggers.com

Jim Tankersley / The Swamp: WH: Don't panic on swine flu

Thomas H. Maugh II / Los Angeles Times:
11 more suspected swine flu cases in U.S.

Discussion: Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog

BBC:
Mexico flu: Your experiences

Discussion: Effect Measure, Guardian, Right Wing Nut House, The Moderate Voice, New York Times, Paul Kedrosky's …, Wonkette, Reuters and Bloomberg

Frank Rich / New York Times:

The Banality of Bush White House Evil — WE don't like our evil to be banal. Ten years after Columbine, it only now may be sinking in that the psychopathic killers were not jock-hating dorks from a “Trench Coat Mafia,” or, as ABC News maintained at the time, “part of a dark …

Discussion: D-Day, JustOneMinute, Liberty Street, Open Left, Right Wing News, Prairie Weather, TalkLeft, Newshoggers.com, American Street and Balloon Juice

Brian Montopoli / CBS News:

McCain: Don't Investigate Torture Memos — Arizona Sen. John McCain suggested today that the push to investigate and possibly prosecute Bush administration officials who crafted the legal basis for the use of “enhanced interrogation techniques,” such as waterboarding, may have grown from a desire to “settle old political scores.”

Discussion: Think Progress, Washington Monthly, Hot Air and The Page

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Nadler on torture investigations: 'There can't be a compromise'

Discussion: Raw Story

Kevin Duchschere / Minneapolis Star Tribune:

Minnesota Poll: Most want Coleman to call it quits — The Republican should end his recount fight, most say, and fatigue over the six-month ordeal is clear. — Nearly two-thirds of Minnesotans surveyed think Norm Coleman should concede the U.S. Senate race to Al Franken …

Discussion: Scorecard's Blog and The Huffington Post

Joe Bodell / MN Progressive Project: ABM Poll: Voters want Coleman to concede, Pawlenty to sign certificate

Maia Szalavitz / Time:

Drugs in Portugal: Did Decriminalization Work? — Pop quiz: Which European country has the most liberal drug laws? (Hint: It's not the Netherlands.) — Although its capital is notorious among stoners and college kids for marijuana haze-filled “coffee shops,” Holland has never actually legalized cannabis …

Discussion: American Power, Salon and The Impolitic

Washington Post:

Obama Off to Solid Start, Poll Finds — But Release of Memos on Detainee Interrogations Reveals Deep Partisan Split — Barack Obama's performance in the first 100 days of his presidency draws strong public approval in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, but there is decidedly less support …

Discussion: Liberty Street, Macsmind, Daily Kos, The Moderate Voice, The Page, Washington Monthly, On Deadline, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room and PoliGazette

The Politico:

In GOP base, a ‘rebellion brewing’ — A quick tour through the week's headlines suggests the Republican Party is beginning to come to terms with the last election and that consensus is emerging among GOP elites that the party needs to move away from discordant social issues.

Discussion: Think Progress, DownWithTyranny! and Matthew Yglesias

ABCNEWS:

‘This Week’ Transcript: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — Exclusive Interview Between ABC's George Stephanopoulos and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — STEPHANOPOULOS: During the last administration, no other world leader next to you was as critical of the American administration as Mr. Chavez.

Discussion: Mideast Peace Pulse, The Raw Story and Harry's Place

John F. Burns / New York Times:

At the Polls, Icelanders Punish Conservatives — REYKJAVIK, Iceland — It is a tale of light and dark — of a small but rugged country far from anywhere that has suffered as severely as any in the developed world at the hands of buccaneering free-marketeers, but which is now slowly digging itself out from the financial wreckage.

Discussion: MyDD