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9:05 PM ET, August 17, 2009

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Mike Allen / The Politico:
White House disables e-tip box  —  Following a furor over how the data would be used, the White House has shut down an electronic tip box — flag@whitehouse.gov — that was set up to receive information on “fishy” claims about President Barack Obama's health plan.
RELATED:
Mike Allen / The Politico:
Health concession fuels blowback  —  House Democratic officials say a public option will remain in their version of a health reform bill, even now that the White House has acknowledged it may be dropped later.  —  “This is just for the Senate,” a House leadership official said about the administration's concession on a public option.
Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:
Sorry, Can't Pass Health Care Bill Without a Public Option  —  The headline in The Hill says it loud and clear: … Many people are rightly upset that the White House is sending stronger and stronger signals that they are willing to jettison a public option.
GOP.com:
By Any Other Name  —  “PUBLIC OPTION” BY ANY OTHER NAME …
Discussion: TPMDC, TalkLeft and Wonkette
Jay Cost / HorseRaceBlog:
Obama Misread His Mandate
Dean Baker / TPMCafe:
Are Mandates Mandatory?
Discussion: Liberal Values and Hullabaloo
Chris Good / The Atlantic Politics Channel:   Republicans: A Co-op Plan Is Government-Run Health Care
Rachel Slajda / Talking Points Memo:
Man Carrying An Assault Rifle And Pistol Outside Obama Event  —  A man was seen carrying an assault rifle and a pistol outside the VFW Convention in Phoenix where President Obama spoke today, a local newspaper reports.  (Click through for a photo.)  —  Local police said it's legal under Arizona law …
RELATED:
John Faherty / Arizona Republic:
Obama: ‘Honored and humbled’ to speak before veterans in Phoenix  —  Police report no arrests or calls for medical assistance  —  President Barack Obama came to Phoenix this morning to address the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention.  —  But the real story, was on the streets outside …
National Review:
Rationing and Rationality  —  Defined at a high level of abstraction, rationing is inevitable in medicine.  Not everything that might be in a patient's best interest can be done in a world of finite resources, and some constraint has to limit his treatment.  Thus the left-wing jibe that the market features “rationing by price.”
RELATED:
Kpicket / The washington times Blogs:
Rep. Massa: I will vote against the interests of my district  —  Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) addressed an intimate group of Netroots activists during their annual Netroots Nation gathering in Pittsburgh this weekend.  Mr. Massa reiterated his support for a single-payer health care bill.
James Rucker / The Huffington Post:
Wal-Mart, CVS, Best Buy ditch Glenn Beck (plus 5 more companies)  —  Cross-posted at Jack and Jill Politics, Firedoglake, and Daily Kos.  —  Big news today.  We've confirmed that eight more major advertisers have pulled their support from Glenn Beck's show — Wal-Mart, Best Buy, CVS …
RELATED:
Ezra Klein:
Chuck Grassley's Dispiriting Bipartisanship  —  Spent a few hours today as one of the panelist's on Dylan Ratigan's “Morning Meeting.”  Toward the end of the second hour, Chuck Grassley hopped on the program to talk death panels and bipartisanship.  It sounded like bipartisanship dying.
RELATED:
Mark Murray / msnbc.com:
GOP SUPPORT MOST IMPORTANT TO GRASSLEY
Rachel Slajda / Talking Points Memo:
Sen. Grassley on Health Care: ‘The Government Is A Predator’
Discussion: TPMDC
Anill / Think Progress:
Joe The Plumber Says He Would ‘Beat The Livin’ Tar' Out Of Pelosi  —  This past weekend, at the right wing's RightOnline blogger conference in Pittsburgh — sponsored by Americans for Prosperity — Alternet's Adele Stan reported that Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher attacked Nancy Pelosi for calling teabaggers “un-American.”
RELATED:
Heather / Crooks and Liars:
Joe the Plumber: Those Kind of People I Usually Took Behind …
Discussion: TPMDC
CNSNews:
Conservatives Now Outnumber Liberals in All 50 States, Says Gallup Poll  —  (CNSNews.com) - Self-identified conservatives outnumber self-identified liberals in all 50 states of the union, according to the Gallup Poll.  —  At the same time, more Americans nationwide are saying this year …
Discussion: Don Surber
Benjamin L. Hartman / Associated Press:
Orly Taitz: Obama policies are ‘clear and present danger to Israel’  —  The driving force behind the ‘birther’ movement has found her star is rising in Israel.  —  U.S. President Barack Obama's domestic and foreign policies pose “a clear and present danger to Israel,” says the driving force behind …
Washington Post:
Time to Legalize Drugs  —  Undercover Baltimore police officer Dante Arthur was doing what he does well, arresting drug dealers, when he approached a group in January.  What he didn't know was that one of suspects knew from a previous arrest that Arthur was police.  Arthur was shot twice in the face.
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
The Swiss Menace  —  It was the blooper heard round the world.  In an editorial denouncing Democratic health reform plans, Investor's Business Daily tried to frighten its readers by declaring that in Britain, where the government runs health care, the handicapped physicist Stephen Hawking …
Allahpundit / Hot Air:
CNN anchor to protester: Hey, stop calling yourselves “real Americans”  —  All this poor guy meant by “real” is that the people at Obama's town halls were true grassroots activists who went on their own initiative, not as fronts for the White House or some conservative astroturf operation.
Ross Doutha / New York Times:
Telling Grandma ‘No’  —  When Democratic congressmen dream these days, they're tongue-tied in town halls, fumbling with their microphones while they're shouted down by slavering, pitchfork-wielding Limbaugh listeners.  —  But Barack Obama is wiser than most Democratic congressmen, and his nightmares are savvier.
Nicholas Beaudrot / Donkeylicious:
The Flowchart  —  During the FDR 2.0 panel, an audience member asked Chris Hayes to give the condensed version of what the health care bills current under debate would actually do.  He started his description by saying something like 'are you guys all familiar with flowcharts? ...  right, we're all geeks here'.
Media Matters / Media Matters for America:
On Fox, Mark Sanford “(D)” holds press conference  —  Media outlets - including Fox - misidentify as Democrats several Republicans facing scandal, poor poll numbers  —  EXPAND ALL EXPAND 1ST LEVEL COLLAPSE ALL
Discussion: TPMDC
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Exclusive: New Poll Finds Majority Of Republicans Either Believes Or Isn't Sure About “Death Panel” Claim  —  Wow.  A forthcoming poll by the nonpartisan Research 2000 for DailyKos finds that a majority of Republicans either believes, or isn't sure about, the claim that the Dem health care proposal …
Brad Heath / USA Today:
Poll: 57% don't see stimulus working  —  WASHINGTON — Six months after President Obama launched a $787 billion plan to right the nation's economy, a majority of Americans think the avalanche of new federal aid has cost too much and done too little to end the recession.  —  POLL RESULTS: Six questions
US Department of Justice:
Alleged International Hacker Indicted for Massive Attack on U.S. Retail and Banking Networks  —  Data Related to More Than 130 Million Credit and Debit Cards Allegedly Stolen  —  WASHINGTON - Albert Gonzalez, 28, of Miami, Fla., was indicted today for conspiring to hack …
Digby / Hullabaloo:
Winning By Losing  —  Charlie Cook just said something very profound (which is unusual.)  Chris Matthews asked whether or not the Democrats would lose the House next year and he said he didn't think so, but that they might lose 20 seats.  And then he said this:
Discussion: TalkLeft
 
 
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 More Items: 
Madison Park / CNN:
90 percent of U.S. bills carry traces of cocaine
Discussion: PoliBlog
CBS News:
Anti-Empathy, Anti-Judge Goes on Trial
Discussion: TalkLeft
Philip Klein / AmSpecBlog:
Public Option or Not, It's Still Government-Run
Discussion: The Daily Dish
Michael Scherer / Swampland:
The Secret Life of Tom Daschle, Moonlighting For The Insurance Industry
Discussion: Majikthise and MoJo Blog Posts
Katie Baker / Newsweek Blogs:
Why the Ladies Love Jon Hamm of ‘Mad Men’
Discussion: Alarming News and The Daily Dish
BBC:
Twitter tweets are 40% ‘babble’
Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider
Reid Wilson / The Hill:
Hutchison kicks off governor's race, slams Perry
 Earlier Items: 
Reid Wilson / The Hill:
Obama, Biden to raise money for Specter
Fox News:
Auto Dealers Paid for Just 2 Percent of ‘Clunkers’ Claims, Congressman Says
Discussion: Hot Air
 

 
From Techmeme:

Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority:
Source: Google has canceled the development of a second-generation Pixel Tablet, planned for release in 2025, due to concerns that it wouldn't sell very well

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is testing a more conversational version of Siri, dubbed “LLM Siri”, with plans to release it in spring 2026 as part of iOS 19 and macOS 16

The Information:
Sources: OpenAI considered making a browser, discussed deals to power AI features on Samsung devices and search on sites and apps from Condé Nast and others

 
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