memeorandum: Feds charge Countrywide execs (Martin Kady II/The Politico)

2:15 PM ET, June 5, 2009

Top Items:

Jared Allen / The Hill:

Intel firestorm: GOP reveals briefing info — Republicans ignited a firestorm of controversy on Thursday by revealing some of what they had been told at a closed-door Intelligence Committee hearing on the interrogation of terrorism suspects. — Democrats immediately blasted the GOP lawmakers …

Discussion: Emptywheel, TPMMuckraker, PERRspectives, protein wisdom, YID With LID, Wake up America, Raw Story and Cold Fury

Jack Healy / New York Times:

Job Losses Slow; Unemployment at 9.4% — The United States economy lost 345,000 jobs in May, the government reported on Friday, a sharp slowing in the pace of job losses that fueled hopes that the economy was on its way toward a recovery. — The recession continued to take a toll …

Discussion: Economix, Matthew Yglesias, FP Passport, Think Progress, Los Angeles Times, Gawker, Washington Monthly, The Page, Donklephant, Truthdig, The Agonist, Newsweek Blogs and Time

Bureau of Labor Statistics:

Employment Situation Summary — Technical information: — Household data: (202) 691-6378 USDL 09-0588 — Establishment data: (202) 691-6555 Transmission of material in this release — http://www.bls.gov/ces/ is embargoed until 8:30 A.M. (EDT), Media contact: (202) 691-5902 Friday, June 5, 2009.

Discussion: Innocent Bystanders, Hot Air, Outside The Beltway, BizzyBlog, Calculated Risk, DailyFinance, TIME.com, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, NewsBusters.org, Salon, Real Clear Politics and Conservatives4Palin.com

Felix Salmon:
Unemployment datapoint of the day — Remember the stress tests?

Discussion: Bloomberg, Ezra Klein, The Bellows and MoJo Blog Posts

Jeannine Aversa / Associated Press:
Jobless rate hits 9.4 percent in May; layoffs slow

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, MSNBC, Don Surber, The Strata-Sphere, Fox News, Gateway Pundit, Moonbattery and Donklephant

CNBC.com:
Job Losses at 345,000, Less Than Forecast; Rate at 9.4%

Discussion: CNBC Guest Blog

The Corner:

The End of America's Strategic Alliance with Israel? — From an Israeli perspective, Pres. Barack Obama's speech today in Cairo was deeply disturbing. Both rhetorically and programmatically, Obama's speech was a renunciation of America's strategic alliance with Israel.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Mondoweiss, Gateway Pundit, PoliGazette, Taylor Marsh, Wake up America, The Mahablog, Newshoggers.com and Israel Matzav

Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:

Barack Obama's Israeli Settlements Canard — President Obama repeatedly insists that American foreign policy be conducted with modesty and humility. Above all, there will be no more “dictating” to other countries. We should “forge partnerships as opposed to simply dictating solutions,” he told the G-20 summit.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Matthew Yglesias, American Prospect, CNN, Israel Matzav, The Moderate Voice, Commentary, Wonk Room, Betsy's Page, American Footprints, The Daily Dish, The Washington Independent, ATTACKERMAN, Clive Crook and Think Progress

Washington Post:
President Obama's Cairo Appeal

Discussion: Middle East Strategy …, New York Times, POMED and abu muqawama

Herb Keinon / Jerusalem Post:
US official to ‘Post’: We can find deal on West Bank settlements

Discussion: The Confluence, Talking Points Memo, Israellycool and Pat Dollard

Faiz Shakir / Think Progress:

Inhofe Rips Obama As ‘Un-American,’ Suggests He's On The Side Of Terrorists — Reacting to President Obama's outreach to the Muslim world yesterday, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) decried the president's speech as “un-American” and even suggested Obama might be on the side of terrorists:

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, NPR, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Washington Monthly, Christian Science Monitor, Blogs and Stories, Wall Street Journal, D-Day, Raw Story, Salon and TPMDC

Mike Allen / The Politico:
Obama takes aim at Osama

Discussion: Washington Monthly, PoliticalBase.com Blog, Crooks and Liars and The Reaction

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Keeping Them Honest — “I appreciate your efforts, and look forward to working with you so that the Congress can complete health care reform by October.” So declared President Obama in a letter this week to Senators Max Baucus and Edward Kennedy. The big health care push is officially on.

Discussion: Commentary, Incertus, Prairie Weather, Blog entry, Washington Post, AMERICAblog News, The Washington Independent, The Caucus, Ezra Klein and The Note

Greg Mankiw / Greg Mankiw's Blog:

What's the point of a public option? — In the national debate over health insurance reform, a key issue is whether the government should offer a “public plan” to compete with private insurers. For example, in today's NY Times, Paul Krugman writes,

Discussion: Obsidian Wings and Marginal Revolution

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Blue Dog Public Plan Ideas Are Not What Deficit Control Looks Like

Discussion: TPMDC, Hullabaloo, Ezra Klein and Open Left

Wall Street Journal:

Nominee's Criminal Rulings Tilt to Right of Souter — WASHINGTON — While Judge Sonia Sotomayor stands in the liberal mainstream on many issues, her record suggests that the Supreme Court nominee could sometimes rule with the top court's conservatives on questions of criminal justice.

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Times, USA Today, The Caucus, The Note and The Washington Independent

Stuart Taylor / National Journal Online:
Race: Sotomayor And Obama Versus Voters

Discussion: The World Newser, The Ninth Justice, pandagon.net and Power Line

Big Tent Democrat / TalkLeft:
Stuart Taylor: Conservative Roberts Court Is Judicially Activist

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns and Money, The Washington Independent and Lean Left

Seth Stern / Legal Beat:

Sotomayor Repeatedly Referenced ‘Wise Woman’ in Speeches — Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is greeted by Sen. Arlen Specter before a meeting on Capitol Hill Thursday. (Getty) — Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor delivered multiple speeches between 1994 and 2003 in which she suggested …

Discussion: CBS News, The Campaign Spot, Roll Call, Omaha World-Herald, Commentary, Hot Air, Flopping Aces, Fox News, Washington Post, Outside The Beltway and 24Ahead

Michael Doyle / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Sotomayor's finances look a lot like the average person's

Discussion: Washington Post and CBS News

Wall Street Journal:

FDIC Pushes Purge at Citi — Bair Wants to Shake Up Management, Sought to Cut Rating of Bank's Health — WASHINGTON — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is pushing for a shake-up of Citigroup Inc.'s top management, imperiling Chief Executive Vikram Pandit, people familiar with the matter said.

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Times, The New Republic, DailyFinance, The Foundry, Felix Salmon, naked capitalism and Wonk Room

Yalman Onaran / Bloomberg:
Bank Profits From Accounting Rules Masking Looming Loan Losses

Discussion: The Reaction and Balloon Juice

Deborah Solomon / Wall Street Journal:

White House Set to Appoint a Pay Czar — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration plans to appoint a “Special Master for Compensation” to ensure that companies receiving federal bailout funds are abiding by executive-pay guidelines, according to people familiar with the matter.

Discussion: Fox News, Dealbreaker, Blog entry, Salon, Scared Monkeys, PoliBlog, ScrappleFace, ProfessorBainbridge.com, QandO, The Page and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

Racist Knows the Pain of Being Called Racist — This is pretty rich — both for Sen. Sessions (R-AL) and CNN for taking his line at face value. Sessions is saying he can feel Sonia Sotomayor's pain over being called a ‘racist’ since he was called a ‘racist’ too.

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Dana Bash / CNN: Sessions knows what it's like to be called ‘racist’

Lydia Saad / Gallup:

Cheney and Pelosi Have Poor Ratings in Common — Pelosi's ratings down, while Cheney's improved from record low — PRINCETON, NJ — Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former Vice President Dick Cheney have little in common politically, but they receive almost identical image ratings from the American public.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Fox News, Brendan Nyhan, Glenn Thrush's Blog, Commentary, The Plum Line, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Townhall.com, NewsBusters.org and The New Argument

Nicholas Kulish / New York Times:

Rift With Germany Is Next on Diplomatic Agenda — DRESDEN, Germany — After mending fences with the Muslim world in Cairo on Thursday, President Obama might want to keep his diplomatic tools handy for his stopover here, to repair his increasingly strained relationship with Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Discussion: Don Surber and RedState

Washington Wire:
Remarks From Obama, Merkel News Conference

Discussion: Weekly Standard, No Sheeples Here! and Wonk Room

Michael Andrews / DailyTech:

NASA Study Acknowledges Solar Cycle, Not Man, Responsible for Past Warming — Report indicates solar cycle has been impacting Earth since the Industrial Revolution — Some researchers believe that the solar cycle influences global climate changes. They attribute recent warming trends to cyclic variation.

Discussion: Cold Fury and Watts Up With That?

P.J. Gladnick / NewsBusters.org blogs:
NASA Study Makes ‘Amazing’ Discovery: Sun Heats Earth

Discussion: protein wisdom

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

MSNBC Shrugs About Liz Cheney's Over-Exposure: “Liz Is A Great Guest” — MSNBC is shrugging off the growing criticism of the extensive airtime the network has granted Liz Cheney to mount a political defense of her father and a political offensive against the Obama administration …

Discussion: Raw Story, Daily Kos, Eschaton and Washington Monthly

Stephen Gutowski / NewsBusters.org blogs:

Liberal Writer Fired By AOL News For Reporting Vile Playboy List — Editor's Note/Update below: AOL editor's email revealed. — AOL News has been bending over backwards lately to make sure that they do not cover the controversy surrounding Playboy.com writer Guy Cimbalo's vile attack on conservative women.

Discussion: Townhall.com, media lizzy & friends, Hot Air, Michelle Malkin, Daily Dose, Don Surber, Flopping Aces, YID With LID, Blogcritics, Riehl World View and five feet of fury.

Sarah Posner / American Prospect:

ABORTION FOE TO LEAD HHS FAITH-BASED OFFICE. — President Obama has appointed Alexia Kelley, executive director of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good (CACG), to head the Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Raw Story, Feministing and Feministe

Amanda Terkel / Think Progress:

Rove: ‘Who Cares’ Whether Muslims ‘Approve Or Like The President Of The United States’? — Last night, Karl Rove went on Fox News and lambasted President Obama's speech in Cairo, saying that he would give him a grade of “D minus” on the “important parts of the speech.”

Discussion: INSTAPUTZ