Top Items:
Washington Post:
House Democrats Want to Fund Health Care With an Ill-Advised Surtax on the Rich. — THERE IS a serious case to be made that the U.S. income tax system should become more progressive. The average rate paid by the top 1 percent of households shrank from 33 percent in 1986 to about 23 percent in 2006.
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Peter Singer / New York Times:
Why We Must Ration Health Care — You have advanced kidney cancer. It will kill you, probably in the next year or two. A drug called Sutent slows the spread of the cancer and may give you an extra six months, but at a cost of $54,000. Is a few more months worth that much?
Discussion:
Don Surber, PoliGazette, Tammy Bruce, Say Anything, Political Punch, Riehl World View and Sweetness & Light
Kbh / KeithHennessey.com:
Does the House really want to raise taxes on eight million uninsured people? — The President has said he would not allow taxes to be raised on anyone with less than $250,000 of income. — Today for the first time we see the legislative language for and a summary of the health care reform bill …
Edwin Chen / Bloomberg:
Obama Open to Partisan Vote on Health-Care Overhaul, Aides Say — President Barack Obama may rely only on Democrats to push health-care legislation through the U.S. Congress if Republican opposition doesn't yield soon, two of the president's top advisers said.
Discussion:
My Left Nutmeg, ABCNEWS, Associated Press, Daily Kos, CNN, Think Progress, The Huffington Post, Washington Post, The Note, Ezra Klein, Washington Monthly, Don Surber, Open Congress, The Anchoress, WhiteHouse.gov Blog, Zandar Versus The Stupid, NOW! Blog, The Politico, AMERICAblog News, Commentary, Wall Street Journal and Gateway Pundit
Wall Street Journal:
Health Bill Would Hit Small Business — $1.04 Trillion House Health Bill Hits All but Tiniest Firms for Not Providing Insurance — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, from left, stands with House Democratic leaders Steny Hoyer, Pete Stark, Henry Waxman, Charles Rangel, and John Dingell to announce health-care legislation on Tuesday.
Randy Barnett / The Volokh Conspiracy:
Sotomayor Again Misstates Fundamental Rights Doctrine: — As she did yesterday, Sotomayor asserted that a right is “fundamental” if it is “incorporated” against the states via the 14th Amendment rather than that a right is incorporated against the states if it is fundamental.
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WorldNetDaily:
Bombshell: Orders revoked for soldier challenging prez — Major victory for Army warrior questioning Obama's birthplace — A U.S. Army Reserve major from Florida scheduled to report for deployment to Afghanistan within days has had his military orders revoked after arguing he should not be required …
Discussion:
JustOneMinute, Vox Popoli, Confederate Yankee, Clayton Cramer's BLOG and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS
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Greyhawk / Mudville Gazette:
Was the Cook case a scam? … But by the end of the day: … That decision has Cook's lawyer declaring victory. However, there are other indications that the entire case may be somewhat of a fraud. — David Weigel revealed yesterday that Cook was a member of the Free Republic message board.
Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
White Man's Last Stand — You can't judge a judge by her cover. — Despite the best efforts of Republicans to root out any sign that Sonia Sotomayor has emotions that color her views on the law, the Bronx Bomber kept a robotic mask in place. — A wise Latina woman with the richness …
Discussion:
Slate, Washington Post, Craig Crawford's Trail Mix, Salon, Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, Washington Times, Wall Street Journal, The Moderate Voice, RedState, NY Daily News, Christian Science Monitor, THE WEEK News & Opinion, Time, New York Times, Latest Open Salon Blog, Right Wing News and The Mahablog
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Kyle / Right Wing Watch:
CFJ: Obama Is Putting a Terrorist On The Bench!
CFJ: Obama Is Putting a Terrorist On The Bench!
Discussion:
Think Progress, TPMDC, Wonk Room, Salon, The Caucus, Washington Monthly, Wonkette, Balloon Juice, The Daily Dish and Pam's House Blend
Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Republicans don't believe Sotomayor's stories
Republicans don't believe Sotomayor's stories
Discussion:
IBDeditorials.com, The Volokh Conspiracy, Hot Air, Washington Post, Althouse, American Power, NewsBusters.org, Sister Toldjah, Power Line and The Note
Jonathan Cohn / The Treatment:
Rube Goldberg Already Lives Here — House Republicans today released a chart depicting what health care in America would look like if the House Democrats get their way. It's confusing, if colorful—full of boxes, lines, and all sorts of hard-to-say acronyms. Which, of course, is the point.
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Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
THEY DO LOVE THEIR CHARTS.... Republican opponents of health care reform …
THEY DO LOVE THEIR CHARTS.... Republican opponents of health care reform …
Abby Goodnough / New York Times:
Massachusetts Takes a Step Back From Health Care for All
Massachusetts Takes a Step Back From Health Care for All
Discussion:
Reason
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Buchanan: GOP Needs More Race-Baiting, Not Less — A provocative article by Pat Buchanan argues that contrary to conventional wisdom, Republicans shouldn't worry about alienating Hispanic voters, they should just focus on getting white people to like them more: … And he sees race-baiting attacks as the way to do it:
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Conor Clarke / The Daily Dish:
Why We Beltway Elites Like Sotomayor More Than Palin
Why We Beltway Elites Like Sotomayor More Than Palin
Discussion:
The American Scene
Jeffrey Young / The Hill:
Senate panel passes health reform bill — A Senate committee became the first congressional panel to advance healthcare reform legislation this year, marking a significant step toward the achievement of President Obama's foremost domestic initiative. — On a party-line, 13-10 tally …
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David M. Herszenhorn / The Caucus:
Senate Committee Approves Health Care Bill
Senate Committee Approves Health Care Bill
Discussion:
The Treatment, Democracy in America, Don Surber, The Washington Independent and The Moderate Voice
Will Holland / okgazette.com:
As Republicans gain control, face of Oklahoma Democrats changes — Democratic Congressman Dan Boren sits behind a desk with two bucks mounted on wooden plaques peering over each of his shoulders. The sleeves of his button-down shirt are rolled almost to his elbows, and like everyone milling about outside, he is sweaty.
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Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Palin: All Tail, No Head — Sarah Palin's political action committee — SarahPAC — raised $733,000 in the first half of the year and is set to push past $1 million in the wake of the recent attention she's gotten herself. On the one hand, this isn't that impressive. Mitt Romney, for instance, has raised twice as much.
Jeffrey Goldberg:
Fundraising Corruption at Human Rights Watch — An on-line Wall Street Journal op-ed posted two days ago alleged that Human Rights Watch officials went trolling for dollars in Saudi Arabia, and that the organization's senior Middle East official, Sarah Leah Whitson, attempted to extract money …
Gen. Lee Wright / Breitbart.tv:
‘COMINSKEY FIELD’? PRESIDENT OBAMA BOTCHES NAME OF HOME OF HIS BELOVED WHITE SOX — “I do think that there's a different quality to what used to be Cominskey Field vs. Wrigley,” President Obama told Bob Costas during an interview that aired during Tuesday night's MLB All-Star Game.
David Freddoso / Washington Examiner:
Obama's science czar suggested compulsory abortion, sterilization — Internet reports are now circulating that Obama's Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, John Holdren, penned a 1977 book that approved of and recommended compulsory sterilization and even abortion in some cases …
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David Harsanyi / Reason:
Science Fiction ‘Czar’
Science Fiction ‘Czar’
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin, Washington Times, News Hounds, Dr. Melissa Clouthier, Bookworm Room and zomblog
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Calorie Labeling and the Dunch Problem — I wrote earlier today about the problem of large portion sizes in which many of us who might have one kind of desire to consume fewer calories nonetheless find ourselves drawn toward high-calorie orders in the moment.
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Thomas Szasz / Wall Street Journal:
Universal Health Care Isn't Worth Our Freedom — What would Thoreau have made of the current debate? — Printer — Friendly — People who seek the services of auto mechanics want car repair, not “auto care.” Similarly, most people who seek the services of medical doctors want body repair, not “health care.”
Discussion:
Zandar Versus The Stupid, And So it Goes in Shreveport, Pundit & Pundette and Firedoglake
Derek Thompson / The Atlantic Business Channel:
This Recession is Over — Daniel Gross, writing for Newsweek, finds that two of his favorite economic forecasters have predicted an end to the recession, starting ... now. We're growing, everybody! We're a real economy! Let's look at the evidence: — The Macroeconomic Advisers …
Discussion:
Newsweek
Paul Krugman:
Deficits saved the world — Jan Hatzius of Goldman Sachs has a new note (no link) responding to claims that government support for the economy is postponing the necessary adjustment. He doesn't think much of that argument; neither do I. But one passage in particular caught my eye:
Jen DiMascio / The Politico:
Levin bails on F-22 cuts — The effort to strip $1.75 billion from the defense authorization bill to fund F-22 Raptors has stalled. — Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) has pulled the amendment he and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) co-sponsored that would have yanked funding for the controversial jet fighter, Levin's office confirmed.
Barry Ritholtz / The Big Picture:
Calpers: Rating Agencies to Blame for Huge Losses — Way back when, I mentioned there was a surprise coming S&P's way. Since it is now out there officially, I can discuss it publicly. — After the brouhaha with McGraw Hill began, I was contacted by numerous people — mostly readers emailing words of support.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, New York Times, Newshoggers.com, Balloon Juice and Wall Street Journal
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Chuck Todd's arguments against investigations — (updated below - Update II) — NBC's Chuck Todd — who, remember, is billed as a reporter covering the White House, not a pundit expressing opinions — was on MSNBC's Morning Joe on Tuesday discussing reports that Eric Holder is likely …
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Chris Dodd, lobbyist scourge — Sen. Chris Dodd, working hard to remake himself as an outsider after a series of very insidery bad publicity — his presidential campaign depended heavily on finance industry contributions driven by his position on the banking committee …