Top Items:
Steve Clemons / The Washington Note:
The Four Iran Scenarios and “Basiji Hunting” — One of my colleagues at the New America Foundation's Global Strategic Finance Initiative, Douglas Rediker, received this note from a friend abroad. It's illuminating as to how a well-connected Iranian internationalist who has been in Tehran during …
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Mohsen Makhmalbaf / Guardian:
I speak for Mousavi. And Iran — The man Iranians want as their leader has been silenced. This is what he wants you to know — I have been given the responsibility of telling the world what is happening in Iran. The office of Mir Hossein Mousavi, who the Iranian people truly want as their leader, has asked me to do so.
Discussion:
The Field on the Narcosphere, Informed Comment, the talking dog, Associated Press, The Lede and niacINsight
Roger Cohen / New York Times:
City of Whispers — TEHRAN — This has become the city of whispers. Many of the people I spoke to when I arrived last week are in prison. Stabbings and shootings punctuate the night. Fear rushes down alleys and dead ends. Still the whispering continues. — “Tomorrow, Vanak Square.”
Blake Hounshell / FP Passport:
Iran analyst: Is Mousavi willing to risk “slaughter” in the streets?
Iran analyst: Is Mousavi willing to risk “slaughter” in the streets?
Discussion:
Washington Monthly
United States House of Representatives …:
Statement of Congressman Ron Paul United States House of Representatives — Statement Opposing Resolution on Iran — I rise in reluctant opposition to H Res 560, which condemns the Iranian government for its recent actions during the unrest in that country.
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John McCormack / Weekly Standard:
House Passes Bipartisan Resolution to Support Iranian Dissidents, 405 to 1
House Passes Bipartisan Resolution to Support Iranian Dissidents, 405 to 1
Discussion:
The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, RedState, Will Wilkinson, The Daily Dish, Hot Air and Commentary
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Conservative Justices' Strange Enthusiasm for the Punishment of the Innocent — Here's a beaut of a decision from the increasingly brutal and inhumane conservative-dominated Supreme Court. Not content with gutting anti-discrimination legislation, a 5-4 majority has decided that if people …
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New York Times:
Unparalleled and Denied — In an appalling 5-to-4 ruling on Thursday, the Supreme Court's conservative majority tossed aside compelling due process claims, the demands of justice and a considered decision by a lower federal appeals court to deny the right of prisoners to obtain post-conviction DNA testing …
Discussion:
TalkLeft, The Moderate Voice, Washington Post, Blue Mass. Group, The Reaction, Agence France Presse and Los Angeles Times
The Huffington Post:
DOJ: We Can't Release Cheney Records Because Of Late Night Comedy — But this pull from the original AP story, which captures the reasoning of Justice Department for attempting to deny the request, is simply mind-blowing: … I hardly think that citing the need to shield public figures …
Discussion:
Latest Open Salon Blog, White House Watch, The Reaction, Big Brass Blog, Associated Press and Washington Post
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New York Times:
House Unveils Health Bill, Minus Key Details — WASHINGTON — House Democrats on Friday answered President Obama's call for a sweeping overhaul of the health care system, unveiling a bill that they said would cover 95 percent of Americans. But they said they did not know how much it would cost and had not decided how to pay for it.
Discussion:
TalkLeft
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Jeffrey Goldberg:
Sullivan, Froomkin, Hiatt, Iran and AIPAC — The incipient Iranian revolution has upset certain political categories at home, two to be exact: Scowcroftian realism and liberal interventionism (a/k/a neoconservatism). Both, IMHO, are inadequate to the current crisis.
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Jane Hamsher / Campaign Silo:
Froomkin v. Washington Post — The Battle Continues
Froomkin v. Washington Post — The Battle Continues
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Raw Story, Paul Krugman, Latest Open Salon Blog, The Daily Dish, Salon, Ombudsman Blog, Crooked Timber, The BRAD BLOG and The Impolitic
Las Vegas Sun:
Text of Doug Hampton's letter to Fox News — Editor's note: Doug Hampton, the husband of Cynthia Hampton, who had an affair with Sen. John Ensign, explains in a letter to a Fox News Channel anchorwoman, Megyn Kelly, how the senator's affair with his wife has"completely ruined" the couple's lives.
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, The Caucus, ProPublica, TPMMuckraker, Emptywheel, Blogs and Stories, Talking Points Memo, Politics and Critical Thinking, Sunlight Foundation, Gawker, Daily Kos, Roger Ailes, Balloon Juice, Michael Calderone's Blog, Firedoglake, Donklephant, Glenn Thrush's Blog and DownWithTyranny!
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Zack Stovall / Arkansas News:
Lincoln prefers co-op to government-run public option in health care — LITTLE ROCK — U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., says she prefers private insurance cooperatives to a government-run provider that would compete with the private sector in reforming the nation's health care system.
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William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:
NeoCon Derangement Syndrome On Steroids — To read Andrew Sullivan's posts on the suppression of the opposition in Iran, you would think American “NeoCons” (whoever they may be) were in the streets swinging batons from the backs of motorcycles, trashing the library at Tehran University …
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Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
The Coming Crackdown — [T]he green light has now been given to the basij to kick ass and take names. “The way of the law is open,” [Khamenei] says. “If people continue to take the other way, I will come back and speak more directly.” Qanun, qanun, qanun. Law, law, law.
Discussion:
Balloon Juice
Eric Lichtblau / New York Times:
On Terrorist Watch List, but Allowed to Buy Guns — WASHINGTON — People on the government's terrorist watch list tried to buy guns nearly 1,000 times in the last five years, and federal authorities cleared the purchases 9 times out of 10 because they had no legal way to stop them, according to a new government report.
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland
Fox News:
U.S. Military Set to Intercept North Korean Ship Suspected of Proliferating Missiles, Nukes — The USS John McCain, a navy destroyer, will intercept the ship Kang Nam as soon as it leaves the vicinity off the coast of China, according to a senior U.S. defense official. — FOXNews.com
Discussion:
Indecision Forever, Right Wing News, Don Surber, Wall Street Journal, Donklephant, Zero Hedge and Neptunus Lex
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Obama Administration Set To Hold Powwow With Big Gay Groups — The Obama Justice Department has reached out to major gay rights organizations and scheduled a private meeting for next week with the groups, in an apparent effort to smooth over tensions in the wake of the controversy …
Discussion:
AMERICAblog News, Law Dork, 2.0, Pam's House Blend, The Daily Dish, Balloon Juice, Think Progress and Ben Smith's Blog
Kendra Marr / Washington Post:
‘Cash-for-Clunkers’ Bill Passes in Bid To Revive Car Sales — Trade-In Plan Set for Obama's Signature — The Senate approved a $1 billion program yesterday to give vouchers to consumers who trade in their gas-guzzling clunkers for more fuel-efficient models — a move that dealers hope will revive slumping auto sales.
Discussion:
Atlantic Correspondents, The American Scene, DailyFinance and The Atlantic Business Channel
Fox News:
NIH Funds $423,500 Study of Why Men Don't Like to Use Condoms — In what government watchdogs are calling a waste of taxpayer money, the National Institutes of Health is spending nearly half a million dollars to determine why men don't like to wear condoms during sex. — FOXNews.com