memeorandum: Conservation message lost in packaging (John Spears/Toronto Star)

2:55 PM ET, May 20, 2009

Top Items:

California voters exercise their power — and that's the problem — Residents relish their role in the lawmaking process, but they share the blame for the state's severe dysfunction. — Californians are well known for periodic voter revolts, but on Tuesday they did more than just lash …

Discussion: Reuters, Reason, Redhot, Midwest Voices, Townhall.com, Say Anything, PoliBlog, DownWithTyranny!, The Rhetorican, The Mahablog, Michelle Malkin and American Power

Eric Bailey / Los Angeles Times:

California voters kill budget measures — Only salary curbs survive in a rout of Schwarzenegger's slate of reforms — Reporting from Sacramento — The “big five” elected leaders — Schwarzenegger and the legislative chieftains from both houses — are slated to begin closed-door meetings today upon …

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Associated Press, MoJo Blog Posts, JammieWearingFool, USA Today, L.A. Now, Hot Air, Townhall.com, theblogprof, Right Pundits, Power Line, The Foundry, The Page, Wonkette, Riehl World View and Neptunus Lex

Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times:

Calif. Voters Reject Measures to Keep State Solvent — LOS ANGELES — A smattering of California voters on Tuesday soundly rejected five ballot measures designed to keep the state solvent through the rest of the year. — The results dealt a severe setback to the state's fragile fiscal structure …

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, Hullabaloo, Say Anything, Wake up America, Sweetness & Light, L.A. Now and Michelle Malkin

Megan McArdle:

Is California Too Big to Fail? — So what about California? A reader asks. Ummm, that's a tough one. No, wait, it's not: California is completely, totally, irreparably hosed. And not a little garden hose. More like this. Their outflow is bigger than their inflow.

Discussion: Dean's World, Commentary, Balloon Juice, The Campaign Spot, Daily Pundit, Shot in the Dark, ParaPundit and Gateway Pundit

Matthew Yi / San Francisco Chronicle:
Defeat is sharp rebuke to governor, Legislature

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, MSNBC, American Power and QandO

Ben Smith / The Politico:

Obama's biggest critic: Krauthammer — The dinner guest that night at George Will's house in Chevy Chase was intellectually nimble, personally formidable and completely baffling, recalled columnist Charles Krauthammer - who was getting his first up-close look at President-elect Barack Obama.

Discussion: Swampland, Jules Crittenden, Fausta's Blog, The Corner, White House Watch and Betsy's Page

John Podhoretz / Commentary:

A Small Man — This blog has had many differences with Joe Klein of Time magazine, whom I once considered a very friendly acquaintance before he accused me and those who argued for an aggressive policy in Iraq and with Iran of being war criminals and began spouting anti-Semitic conspiracy nonsense that …

Discussion: Hot Air, Weekly Standard, ATTACKERMAN, protein wisdom and Gateway Pundit

The Politico:

Obama, Cheney plan dueling speeches — President Barack Obama will attempt to regain control of a boiling debate over anti-terrorism policy with a major speech on Thursday—an address that comes on the same day that former Vice President Cheney will be weighing in with his own speech on the same theme.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …, White House Watch, Liberal Values, Washington Monthly, Weekly Standard, The Page, Ben Smith's Blog, Swampland, Crooks and Liars and Daily Kos

Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:

Stand Up, Joe Klein, So We Can Kick Your A** — Times columnist and sensitive liberal Joe Klein actually said this about Charles Krauthammer: — “He became Ground Zero among the neo-cons, but he's vastly smarter than most of them,” said Time's Joe Klein, an admirer and critic who praised Krauthammer's …

Theresa Cook / Legalities:

Judge Wood Goes to Washington — Just two days after Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm's sudden appearance in Washington set off a flurry of speculation about Supreme Court interviews, here's something that actually could be significant: — Federal Appeals Court Judge Diane Wood …

Discussion: The New Republic, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Power Line, Washington Post, Washington Monthly, Above the Law, Open Left, Taegan Goddard's …, Salon, The Volokh Conspiracy and Weekly Standard

Wall Street Journal:
Obama Begins Interviewing Potential Supreme Court Picks

Discussion: Washington Post and Reason

Eric Zimmermann / The Hill's Blog Briefing Room:
Colorado judge is latest SCOTUS name to surface

Discussion: Law Blog

Robert Boczkiewicz / Pueblo Chiefton:
Coloradan may be considered for high court

Discussion: CBS News and Colorado Independent

ABCNEWS:

Democrats on Capitol Hill Rebel Against President Obama's Guantanamo Bay Plan — Lawmakers Reject Funding To Shut Down Detainee Center At Gitmo, Want Obama To Present A Plan For How The White House Plans To Close The Facility — The U.S. Senate today voted overwhelmingly to block funding …

Discussion: Associated Press, New York Times, Washington Post, Think Progress, Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal, Indecision Forever and USS Neverdock

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
A LEADER WHO WON'T LEAD.... Hilzoy mentioned this overnight …

Discussion: Think Progress, The Moderate Voice and The Reaction

Associated Press: FBI chief worried about Gitmo detainees in U.S.

Mark Joseph / Fox News:
Obama Tries to Restore Order on Gitmo, After Senate Blocks Closure Funds

Discussion: New York Post

David Beard / Boston Globe:

Powell to Rush, Cheney: Room For Me Among ‘Emerging’ Republican Party — Colin Powell issued a sharp rebuke Tuesday night to Rush Limbaugh and Dick Cheney for trying to exclude him from the backbiting Republican Party. — Before some 1,500 business leaders in Boston …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, Think Progress, CBS News, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Moderate Voice, Hot Air, The Page, Cold Fury, Gateway Pundit and Newsweek Blogs

Carl Hulse / New York Times:

Advocates of Gun Rights Are Poised for a Victory — WASHINGTON — Advocates of gun rights are poised to win a Congressional victory that eluded them under a Republican president. — To the frustration and discouragement of many Democrats, House and Senate lawmakers and aides …

Discussion: Liberal Values, Top of the Ticket, The Caucus, The Politico, Think Progress, Clayton Cramer's BLOG, The Page, Cafe Talk Aggregator and Swampland

Newt Gingrich / Human Events:

Why Pelosi Should Step Down — The case against Nancy Pelosi remaining Speaker of the House is as simple as it is devastating: — The person who is No. 2 in line to be commander in chief can't have contempt for the men and women who protect our nation. America can't afford it.

Discussion: CBS News, BuzzFlash.org, New York Magazine, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, The Page, Crooks and Liars and The Washington Independent

Mike Soraghan / The Hill:
Dems rally around Pelosi while Republicans ponder next move

Discussion: The Note, The Politico, DownWithTyranny! and Think Progress

Associated Press:

Clinton: Iran can't have nuclear arms capability — WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday that a nuclear-armed Iran is “going to spark an arms race” in the Middle East. — In an appearance before a Senate Appropriations panel, Clinton reiterated …

Discussion: rubber hose and The Page

Eli Lake / Washington Times:
EXCLUSIVE: U.S., Israel forming working group on Iran

Discussion: Times of London, Commentary, Taylor Marsh, Wonk Room and Ben Smith's Blog

Ali Akbar Dareini / Associated Press:
Iran says it tests missile, Israel within range

Discussion: The Swamp, A Blog For All, Gateway Pundit, Donklephant and Jihad Watch

Peter Hamby / CNN:

RNC showdown over ‘socialist’ resolution may be avoided — OXON HILL, Maryland (CNN) — Members of the Republican National Committee appear to have reached a compromise that would let GOP leaders avoid a possible dispute over a controversial resolution that calls on Democrats to re-name their party the “Democrat Socialist party.”

Discussion: PostPartisan, Balloon Juice, Newshoggers.com and The Plank

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Washington Sketch: When Steele Talks, Republicans Check Their BlackBerrys

Discussion: Rough Sketch, The Caucus, The Swamp, The Note, Connecting.the.Dots, Daily Pundit and Fox News

Danielle Pletka / The Enterprise Blog:

Obama v. Cheney Heats Up — So, the White House announced today that President Obama will deliver a “major” speech on antiterrorism policy tomorrow. The timing isn't entirely clear, but MSNBC reports that it will be “about an hour” after former Vice President Dick Cheney delivers an address …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Hot Air and Weekly Standard

Mark Murray / MSNBC:
FIRST THOUGHTS: OBAMA VS. CHENEY

Discussion: Balance of Power, New York Times, MoJo Blog Posts and The Washington Independent

Ali Frick / Think Progress:

Feinstein: California prisons are ‘eminently capable of holding’ Guantanamo detainees. — Since President Obama announced his goal to shut down the Guantanamo prison, conservatives have fearmongered that it would mean terrorists would be coming to Americans' “backyards.”

Discussion: Weekly Standard and No More Mister Nice Blog

Sandra Sobieraj Westfall / People.com:

Bristol Palin Exposes Her Sometimes Isolated Life — Bristol Palin's pretty, lightly freckled face was nowhere to be seen on the overhead screen as images from her high-school senior slideshow - photos from the prom and a Class of 2009 portrait set against the Alaska snow - played during May 14's Wasilla High commencement ceremony.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog

Eric Zimmermann / The Hill:

Clinton-era hard drive missing from archives — A massive amount of sensitive, national security-related information from the Clinton administration has gone missing from the national archives. — The Inspector General of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) …

Discussion: New York Times, Michelle Malkin and The Atlantic Politics Channel

Tom Golisano / New York Post:

ADIOS, NEW YORK — TAXED OUT OF THE STATE — I LOVE New York. But how much should it cost to call New York home? Decades of out-of-control budgets, spending hikes and relentless borrowing have made New York simply too expensive. — Politicians like to talk about incentives …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Cheney Grabs a Third Term — Dick and Rummy are at Cafe Milano in Georgetown, holding court. The maître d' fawns. Waiters hover. Tourists snap pics on their digital cameras. Cable chatterers stop by to ingratiate themselves. — It isn't so much that Dick and Rummy are back.

Discussion: Commentary, No More Mister Nice Blog, Michael Calderone's Blog, The Atlantic Politics Channel, RedState and JammieWearingFool

ABCNEWS:

America's Richest Givers Hold Secret Meeting — Oprah, Gates, Buffett Gather in NY to Compare Notes About Charity, Economy — Under a cloak of secrecy, some of the world's wealthiest people gathered in an unprecedented meeting early this month in New York City possibly to coordinate strategies …

Discussion: City Room, The Impolitic and Don Surber

CNN:

Major Mexican drug cartel suspects arrested, officials say — MEXICO CITY, Mexico (CNN) — A top Mexican drug cartel suspect has been arrested along with 12 accomplices, including five women, federal authorities said. — Rodolfo Lopez Ibarra, known as El Nito and believed to be a top lieutenant …

Discussion: Washington Monthly

C. J. Chivers / New York Times:

Arms Sent by U.S. May Be Falling Into Taliban Hands — KABUL — Insurgents in Afghanistan, fighting from some of the poorest and most remote regions on earth, have managed for years to maintain an intensive guerrilla war against materially superior American and Afghan forces.

Discussion: Shadow Government, USA Today, The Stimulist, Democracy in America, The Page, NPR Blogs, ATTACKERMAN and Registan.net

Wall Street Journal:

The GOP's Health-Care Alternative — We can cover more people by making the current insurance tax subsidy more fair. — Printer — Friendly — Republican congressional leaders are finally offering a clear alternative to the health-reform plans being developed by the White House and Democrats in Congress.