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12:20 PM ET, May 8, 2009

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Paul Kane / Capitol Briefing:
CIA Says Pelosi Was Briefed on Use of ‘Enhanced Interrogations’  —  Intelligence officials released documents this evening saying that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was briefed in September 2002 about the use of harsh interrogation tactics against al-Qaeda prisoners …
RELATED:
Josh Gerstein / Josh Gerstein's Blog:
40 Hill briefings on interrogations disclosed  —  An intelligence report sent recently to Capitol Hill shows that members of Congress were briefed 40 times since 2002 on aspects of the so-called “enhanced interrogation” program.  Many have decried the techniques used in the program as torture.
Domenico Montanaro / MSNBC:
FIRST THOUGHTS: JOBS, JOBS, JOBS  —  From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Abby Livingston  —  *** Jobs, jobs, jobs: The big news today is the latest unemployment number.  It stands at 8.9% with another 539,000 jobs shed.  It's the highest unemployment number since 1983 and is up from last month's 8.5 percent.
Discussion: The New Republic
CNN:
Palin pulls out of White House Correspondents' Dinner  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will miss a chance to chat up President Obama this weekend because she's cancelling plans to attend the White House Correspondents' dinner, but she's got a good excuse.
RELATED:
Mary Ann Akers / The Sleuth:
Gonzo Goes (Back) to Washington  —  Guess who's coming to dinner?  Well, the man who may be the biggest surprise guest at this weekend's White House Correspondents' Association dinner isn't exactly an international celebrity, or a sex symbol, or a man of power.
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Stressing the Positive  —  Hooray!  The banking crisis is over!  Let's party!  O.K., maybe not.  —  In the end, the actual release of the much-hyped bank stress tests on Thursday came as an anticlimax.  Everyone knew more or less what the results would say: some big players need to raise more capital …
RELATED:
Dean Baker / American Prospect:
Background on the Stress Tests: Anyone Got an Extra $120 Billion?  —  Most news outlets seem anxious to join the Treasury's PR campaign in pronouncing the banks essentially healthy based on the stress test results.  There is of course enormous uncertainty around the course of the economy …
Dan Eggen / Washington Post:
Diminished Conservative Groups Gear Up for Supreme Court Nomination Battle  —  Conservatives Prepare For Underdog Role  —  When John G. Roberts Jr. was nominated to the Supreme Court as chief justice, a pro-Republican group called Progress for America had $18 million in the bank.
RELATED:
Susan Donaldson James / ABCNEWS:
Gay Advocates Eye Supreme Court  —  LGBT Groups Give President Obama High Grades for Considering Two Lesbians for High Court  —  In 2004, the Oregon Supreme Court unanimously struck down an effort to legalize same-sex marriage even though one of its justices — Rives Kistler — was openly gay.
Discussion: Townhall.com
Katherine Mangu-Ward / Reason:
Your Yard Sale Is Illegal  —  Thinking of having a yard sale this weekend?  Before you do, be sure to consult CSPC Publication #254 [PDF].  —  This handy 28-pager from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reminds the American people that, thanks to the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act …
DealBook:
Dissident Chrysler Group Is Likely to Disband  —  The withdrawals of OppenheimerFunds and Stairway Capital Management will likely drop the group, calling itself the Committee of Non-TARP Lenders, below 5 percent of Chrysler's $6.9 billion in secured debt, this person said.
Discussion: Zero Hedge and Felix Salmon
RELATED:
Tom Blumer / Wall Street Journal:
Non-TARP Lenders Aren't Making Up the Stories of White House Pressure
Discussion: Kausfiles
Debra Burlingame / Wall Street Journal:
Obama and the 9/11 Families  —  The president isn't sincere about ‘swift and certain’ justice for terrorists.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  In February I was among a group of USS Cole and 9/11 victims' families who met with the president at the White House to discuss his policies regarding Guantanamo detainees.
Guardian:
Pakistan slams door on Taliban  —  Pakistan's government today declared an end to peace initiatives with Taliban insurgents controlling Swat , signalling the start of a major military operation to drive the militants from the valley.  —  In a televised address, prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani …
RELATED:
Pamela Constable / Washington Post:
Pakistan Announces Army Offensive Against Taliban
Discussion: Hot Air
Megan McArdle:
Canadian Exceptionism  —  Canada is one of the few countries without a major banking crisis.  Weirdly, this was also true in 1930.  I've seen this list of the success factors for Canadian banks in several places.  I want to believe it, but . . .  ..it doesn't seem to be as simple as “Canadian banks are more tightly-regulated”.
Discussion: Marginal Revolution and EconLog
Aaron Belkin / The Huffington Post:
Obama To Fire His First Gay Arabic Linguist  —  Dan Choi, a West Point graduate and officer in the Army National Guard who is fluent in Arabic and who returned recently from Iraq, received notice today that the military is about to fire him.  Why?  Because he came out of the closet as a gay man on national television.
RELATED:
Mark Silva / The Swamp:   Obama's 'don't ask' discharge: Choi talks
Peter Whoriskey / Washington Post:
Under Restructuring, GM To Build More Cars Overseas  —  The U.S. government is pouring billions into General Motors in hopes of reviving the domestic economy, but when the automaker completes its restructuring plan, many of the company's new jobs will be filled by workers overseas.
Associated Press:
Weak Treasury auction sends stocks lower  —  NEW YORK (AP) — Weak demand at a Treasury bond auction touched off worries in the stock market Thursday about the government's ability to raise funds to fight the recession.  —  The government had to pay greater interest than expected in a sale of 30-year Treasurys.
Discussion: Hot Air and QandO
Tim Arango / New York Times:
The President's Name Trips Up a Would-Be Voice of the News  —  The Amazon Kindle, an electronic reader, has been lavished with praise by hopeful newspaper and book executives who say they believe it has the potential to do for newspapers and books what the iPod did for music.
Evan Halper / Los Angeles Times:
U.S. threatens to rescind stimulus money over wage cuts  —  The Obama administration threatens to rescind billions in stimulus money if Gov. Schwarzenegger and lawmakers do not restore wage cuts to unionized home healthcare workers.  —  Reporting from Sacramento — The Obama administration …
Discussion: Pajamas Media
Raymond Hernandez / New York Times:
N.Y.'s Junior Senator Gains a Defender: The Senior Senator  —  WASHINGTON — At a recent Capitol Hill fund-raising event, Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand rose to thank her donors.  It was important for her to raise money now, she told them, because she might face a Democratic primary challenge next year.
Satyam Khanna / Think Progress:
Obama sends handwritten letter to gay soldier ousted from the military promising to repeal DADT.  —  In January, Sandy Tsao, an army officer based out of St. Louis, MO, told her superiors that she is gay — a violation of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell law.  Tsao then wrote to President Obama …
Peter Spiegel / Wall Street Journal:
U.S. to Appoint Top General to Kabul  —  WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is expected to bolster the U.S. military leadership in Afghanistan by appointing a three-star general to Kabul, according to senior defense officials.  The move underscores growing concern in the military …
Jim Carlton / Wall Street Journal:
Spring Thaw Triggers Floods in Alaska  —  An unusually warm spring thaw in Alaska is causing some of the state's worst flooding in decades, with rising rivers wiping out an entire village and bombarding another town with ice chunks as big as houses.  —  The Alaska Railroad shut …
Discussion: Think Progress and Wonk Room
TPMDC:
Sessions Subordinate: I Thought I'd Be Fired If I Objected To Being Called ‘Boy’  —  When it became clear that Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) was poised to become ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, we recalled this 2002 article by Sarah Wildman which addresses some of the controversies …
Discussion: Bark Bark Woof Woof
David Kravets / Threat Level:
Lawmaker Defends Imprisoning Hostile Bloggers  —  Rep. Linda Sanchez responded Wednesday to Threat Level's tirade against her proposed legislation outlawing hostile electronic speech.  Her answer: “Congress has no interest in censoring.”  —  Sanchez, with the introduction …
 
 
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 More Items: 
Michael Weisskopf / Time:
Jack Kemp: Running a Very Different Republican Race
Discussion: Townhall.com
Mike Allen / The Politico:
Vitter mixes politics, FEMA
Discussion: The Swamp
Dennis Hevesi / New York Times:
Harold E. Fischer Jr., an American Flier Tortured in a Chinese Prison, Dies at 83
Discussion: Salon and The Daily Dish
Evan Halper / Los Angeles Times:
California could be broke by July, state official warns
Discussion: Hot Air, On Deadline and Truthdig
Simon Scowl / Deceiver.com:
Hey, Let's Destroy Carrie Prejean for Agreeing with the President!
The Politico:
First step toward change
Discussion: The Moderate Voice
 Earlier Items: 
Andy Barr / The Politico:
GOP base rips Cantor's new group
Alex Isenstadt / The Politico:
Dem blowback on Gitmo closing
Discussion: Wake up America and TQIA
 

 
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The Hollywood Reporter:
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Matthew Keys / The Desk:
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Emma Roth / The Verge:
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