memeorandum: Honduras and Constitutional Democracy (The New Republic)

7:35 PM ET, July 11, 2009

Top Items:

Sotomayor backers urge reporters to probe New Haven firefighter — WASHINGTON — Supporters of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor are quietly targeting the Connecticut firefighter who's at the center of Sotomayor's most controversial ruling. — On the eve of Sotomayor's Senate confirmation hearing …

Discussion: Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Townhall.com, Washington Post, Don Surber, PoliGazette, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Macsmind, Verum Serum, NewsBusters.org, The Jawa Report, JammieWearingFool, Gateway Pundit and The Political Carnival

Dahlia Lithwick / Slate:

The New Haven firefighter is no stranger to employment disputes. — Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee have announced that Frank Ricci, the firefighter who recently prevailed in his “reverse discrimination” lawsuit against the city of New Haven, Conn., will testify at Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearings.

Discussion: Hullabaloo, unbossed.com, TPMDC and The Volokh Conspiracy

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Path to Court: Speak Capably but Say Little — WASHINGTON — On his first day at the Justice Department in 1981, a 26-year-old lawyer named John G. Roberts Jr. was handed a high-profile assignment: to help prepare Sandra Day O'Connor, then an Arizona judge, for her Supreme Court confirmation hearings.

The Ninth Justice: How Ricci Almost Disappeared

Scott Shane / New York Times:

Cheney Is Linked to Concealment of C.I.A. Project — The Central Intelligence Agency withheld information about a secret counterterrorism program from Congress for eight years on direct orders from former Vice President Dick Cheney, the agency's director, Leon E. Panetta …

Discussion: TalkLeft, The Moderate Voice, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Washington Monthly, The Reaction, Raw Story, Donklephant, Gawker, Daily Kos, Hullabaloo, The Page, The Political Carnival, Jay Hancock's blog, JONATHAN TURLEY and Balloon Juice

Daniel Klaidman / Newsweek:

Obama doesn't want to look back, but Attorney General Eric Holder may probe Bush-era torture anyway. … From the magazine issue dated Jul 20, 2009 — It's the morning after Independence Day, and Eric Holder Jr. is feeling the weight of history. The night before, he'd stood on the roof …

Discussion: TalkLeft, Salon, The BRAD BLOG, Associated Press and Raw Story

WhiteHouse.gov Blog:

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT TO THE GHANAIAN PARLIAMENT — Accra International Conference Center — Accra, Ghana — THE PRESIDENT: (Trumpet plays.) I like this. Thank you. Thank you. I think Congress needs one of those horns. (Laughter.) That sounds pretty good. Sounds like Louis Armstrong back there.

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, UN Dispatch and TigerHawk

Peter Baker / New York Times:

Obama Delivers Call for Change to Africa — CAPE COAST, Ghana — President Obama traveled in his father's often-troubled home continent on Saturday as a potent symbol of a new political era but also as a messenger with a tough-love theme: American aid must be matched by Africa's responsibility for its own problems.

Discussion: American Power, PoliGazette, Washington Monthly and Los Angeles Times

Mark Silva / The Swamp:
Obama's African journey: ‘Promise’

Discussion: The Politico and The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:

Weekly remarks: Obama still clearing wreckage; Cantor asks, where are the jobs? — This week's weekly remarks open with President Obama in Africa opening on foreign affairs. But by the second paragraph out of 20, he gets to what he really wants — needs — to talk about: domestic business in general and the economy specifically.

Discussion: Don Surber, Hot Air and Pundit & Pundette

Edwin Chen / Bloomberg:
Obama Says Economic Stimulus Plan Worked as Intended

Discussion: Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Pajamas Media, Shot in the Dark and Wizbang

Jesse Lee / WhiteHouse.gov Blog:
Weekly Address: Recovery and the Jobs of the Future

Discussion: Jules Crittenden, Daily Kos and Crooks and Liars

David M. Herszenhorn / New York Times:

Leaders in House Seek to Tax Rich for Health Plan — WASHINGTON — House Democrats will ask the wealthiest Americans to help pay for overhauling the health care system with a $550 billion income tax increase, the chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee said Friday.

Discussion: The Caucus, And So it Goes in Shreveport, FiveThirtyEight, D-Day, Fausta's Blog, Economix, Stop The ACLU and CNN

Wall Street Journal:
House Health Bill Relies on Wealth Tax

Discussion: Felix Salmon

Lori Montgomery / Washington Post:
Democrats Agree on Tax Hike to Fund Health Care

Discussion: Washington Monthly and RedState

Steven T. Dennis / Roll Call:
Rangel to Unveil Health Bill Monday

Discussion: Daily Kos and TPMDC

Chris Frates / The Politico:
Rangel: Health bill will tax the rich

Discussion: Macsmind, JammieWearingFool, Sweetness & Light and The Hill

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

The new Report on illegal spying is not a real investigation — The Bush-era torture regime might have been that administration's most flamboyant act of criminality, but its illegal NSA warrantless eavesdropping program (and other still-unknown surveillance programs) has always been the clearest.

Discussion: Think Progress, Hullabaloo, Obsidian Wings, The Washington Independent, Balkinization, Big Brass Blog, Washington Monthly and Talking Points Memo

Paul Singer / Roll Call:

Freshman Rep. Grayson Taken to Cleaners in Ponzi Scheme — Freshman Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) lost $3 million in a stock swindle between 2000 and 2005, a Florida television station reported this week. — According to Orlando's Local 6, Grayson was an investor in a Ponzi scheme run by the company Derivium Capital.

Discussion: Redhot

Andrew Alexander / Washington Post:

The Stumbles That Led to an Ethics Blunder — The Washington Post's ill-fated plan to sell sponsorships of off-the-record “salons” was an ethical lapse of monumental proportions. — Publisher Katharine Weymouth and Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli have now taken full responsibility …

Discussion: New York Times, Emptywheel, Hot Air, Michael Calderone's Blog, The Huffington Post, Ombudsman Blog and Jay Bookman

Logan Murphy / Crooks and Liars:

David Brooks Recounts GOP Senator Who “Had His Hand On My Inner Thigh” At Dinner Party — You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player! — DOWNLOADS: (601) — PLAYS: (1431) — Think Progress has more: … This is one of those bizarre moments …

Discussion: No Sheeples Here!, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES and The Other McCain

Thers / Whiskey Fire:
Such a Collector — Flory brought up Althouse again …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Hullabaloo, protein wisdom, DISSENTING JUSTICE, The Other McCain, DownWithTyranny! and Glenn Thrush's Blog

Adriel Bettelheim / Balance of Power:

Obama Diagrams Health-Care Strategy From Abroad — President Obama dropped a few hints about how he intends to lobby Congress on health care during a news conference Friday following the G8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy. And if we're parsing his remarks correctly, lawmakers can expect firm prodding through …

Discussion: D-Day, Donklephant and Taegan Goddard's …

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:

What Would More Stimulus Look Like? — Paul Krugman and Brad DeLong both had good items yesterday discussing the desirability of additional stimulus. The politics still aren't there yet, but in the interests of moving the ball forward it's worth thinking about what additional stimulus might look like.

Discussion: MoJo Blog Posts