Top Items:
Declan McCullagh / CNET News:
Bill would give president emergency control of Internet — Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet. — They're not much happier …
Discussion:
Open Congress, The Jawa Report, Right Wing News, QandO, The Other McCain and Weasel Zippers
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Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel:
On Cyber Bill, Skepticism Warranted — But Nuance Needed
On Cyber Bill, Skepticism Warranted — But Nuance Needed
Discussion:
The Hill's Blog Briefing Room
Matt Corley / Think Progress:
Local official to Bachmann: 'I'll be danged if I am going to give up my Social Security because of socialism.' — In Lake Elmo, Minnesota yesterday, Rep. Michele Bachmann held a “raucous” town hall meeting to discuss health care reform that was filled with “deafening cheers and a few jeers.”
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Anna Palmer / Roll Call:
Bachmann Faces Raucous Crowd in Minnesota — LAKE ELMO, Minn. — In her first health care town hall of the August recess, Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann faced a volatile crowd looking for answers on the future of health care in America. — Hundreds of constituents packed …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Minneapolis Star Tribune, American Power, Hot Air and Minnesota Independent
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
A Strategy to Save Obamacare, But at What Cost — Obamacare Version 1.0 is dead. The 1,000-page monstrosity that emerged in various editions from Congress was done in by widespread national revulsion not just at its expense and intrusiveness but also at the mendacity with which it is being sold.
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Ezra Klein:
We Ration. We Ration. We Ration. We Ration. — “Look at Canada,” says Charles Krauthammer. “Look at Britain. They got hooked; now they ration. So will we.” — So do we. This is not an arguable proposition. It is not a difference of opinion, or a conversation about semantics.
Washington Post:
Holder's Decision To Probe CIA Hints At a New Dynamic — About five weeks ago, faced with a crucial decision on how to react to brutal CIA interrogation practices, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. concluded that it would be all but impossible to follow President Obama's mandate to move forward …
Discussion:
Townhall.com, New York Times, Firedoglake, The BLT, Redhot, Ta-Nehisi Coates and Emptywheel
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Wall Street Journal:
The Fall Guy — CIA Director Leon Panetta getting sacked by his own team. — Printer — Friendly — In the game of political football that is today national security, spare a thought for CIA Director Leon Panetta. Quarterbacking is hard enough without getting sacked by your own team.
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
‘Public Option’, Rolls Off the Tongue — Nate Silver wrote a post last night flagging an AARP poll, the upshot of which is that Americans don't seem to have any idea what the ‘public option’ even is. As Silver notes, the fact that only 37% of respondents correctly identified what the ‘public option’ was …
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Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
Senate Has Changed in Kennedy's Time — WASHINGTON — In the spring of 2003, the United States Senate was heading for a meltdown. Democrats were blocking confirmation of federal judges. Republicans were set to retaliate with a “nuclear option”: a new rule stripping senators of their right to filibuster judicial nominations.
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Paul Kane / Capitol Briefing:
With LeMieux Pick, the Dawn of a New Era of Appointed Senators — George LeMieux, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist's selection to succeed retired Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.), will become the fifth senator this year to take his seat through appointment. A possible sixth appointee is waiting …
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David Cho / Washington Post:
Banks ‘Too Big to Fail’ Have Grown Even Bigger — Behemoths Born of the Bailout Reduce Consumer Choice, Tempt Corporate Moral Hazard — When the credit crisis struck last year, federal regulators pumped tens of billions of dollars into the nation's leading financial institutions …
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias, The Confluence, The Agonist, Gawker, Ezra Klein, AMERICAblog News, John Stossel's Take, EconoPundit, Open Left and Marginal Revolution
Kevin Sack / New York Times:
Dealing With Being the Health Care ‘Villains’ — LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Max Shireman says that when he looks in the mirror he does not see the monster the politicians have made him out to be. — Sure, he could stand to lose a few pounds. And there was that speeding ticket last year for going 40 in a 30-mile-an-hour zone.
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, The Huffington Post and Lean Left
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Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Ben Calhoun / NPR:
‘Reading Rainbow’ Reaches Its Final Chapter … For 26 years, Reading Rainbow host LeVar Burton (left) shepherded kids through the exciting world of books. The show, which fostered a love of reading, was the third longest-running program in PBS history, outlasted only by Sesame Street and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.
KABC 790 TalkRadio:
Rep. Diane Watson Raises Race, Praises Fidel Castro in Obamacare Debate — KABC's Michael Linder was the only broadcast reporter at Thursday night's town hall health care debate at Wade AME Church when Rep. Diane Watson [D] made some astonishing comments including claims that those opposed …
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Michelle Malkin:
Rep. Michele Bachmann to heckler: “I've given birth here probably more times than you, sir” — Some pro-socialized medicine hecklers tried to shout down GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann as she pointed to the crappy care pregnant moms are getting in the U.K. — Watch her snappy retort.
Charles Hurt / New York Post:
OOPS! CHARLIE FORGOT THIS $1M HOUSE — REALTY BITES TAX-THEM-NOT-ME RANGEL — WASHINGTON — Rep. Charles Rangel failed to report as much as $1.3 million in outside income — including up to $1 million for a Harlem building sale — on financial-disclosure forms he filed between 2002 and 2006, according to newly amended records.
The Politico:
Burton defends new vacation — After a mid-August trip to America's national parks and a weeklong vacation on Martha's Vineyard, President Obama plans ... ... to take a little more time away from the office next week. — Obama will head to Camp David on Wednesday, Sept. 2 …
James Rowley / Bloomberg:
Pawlenty Says ‘Ludicrous’ to Claim Stimulus Pivoted Economy — Aug. 28 (Bloomberg) — Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, a possible 2012 Republican presidential candidate, charged that President Barack Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus program still isn't working and that his health-care overhaul proposal …
Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:
Obama defies safety advocates, shuns bike helmet, looks great, ignites debate — In an obvious bid to broaden public support for his troubled healthcare reform plans, a vacationing President Obama has now taken to defying the advice of safety advocates at both the federal and state levels.
P.J. Tobia / Afghan Desk:
US Military Investigates Afghan Desk — This article from Stars and Stripes has a lot of journalists talking. It is about The Rendon Group, a company that puts together background briefs on reporters who apply for embeds with the US military in Afghanistan. — Most reporters in Afghanistan know about these reports.
Blue Texan / Firedoglake:
Joe Scarborough & Peggy Noonan: Americans Secretly Yearning for Republican-Controlled Congress — Some pretty first-rate concern trolling here on “Morning Joe.” — What Nooners and Scar conveniently ignore is that Obama's numbers are dropping primarily because he's losing Democrats.
Kate Southwood / The Huffington Post:
Why Isn't Health Care a Right? — I am an American citizen without health insurance. I don't have a dental plan, either. I am, however, very familiar with the inside of my doctor's office as well as that of my municipal emergency room. Not to mention the operating rooms at two city hospitals …
Stephen Power / Wall Street Journal:
Coal Group Says Fake Letters on Climate Bill Sent by Temp Worker — The case of the fake letters gets curiouser and curiouser. — The Washington lobbying firm that sent fake letters to lawmakers purporting to be from nonprofit groups opposed to climate-change legislation was …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, TPMMuckraker, The New Republic, EnviroKnow, Think Progress and DeSmogBlog
David Brooks / New York Times:
The Great Gradualist — In the days since Ted Kennedy's death, the news programs have shown and re-shown the unforgettable ending of his 1980 Democratic convention speech — the passage from Tennyson and the beautiful final lines: “The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.”
Discussion:
The Note, Washington Post, Time, Washington Times, New York Times, marbury, Commentary and The Moderate Voice
Bloomberg:
Leverage Rising on Wall Street at Fastest Pace Since '07 Freeze — Aug. 28 (Bloomberg) — Banks are increasing lending to buyers of high-yield company loans and mortgage bonds at what may be the fastest pace since the credit-market debacle began in 2007. — Credit Suisse Group AG and Scotia Capital …
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Till Debt Does Its Part — So new budget projections show a cumulative deficit of $9 trillion over the next decade. According to many commentators, that's a terrifying number, requiring drastic action — in particular, of course, canceling efforts to boost the economy and calling off health care reform.
Michael Slackman / New York Times:
Ahmadinejad Urges Prosecution of Political Rivals — CAIRO — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lashed out at his chief political rivals on Friday, calling on judiciary officials to “decisively” and “mercilessly” prosecute them for challenging the legitimacy of his electoral victory and tarnishing the image of the state.
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
QUOTE OF THE DAY.... The good news is, nearly four-dozen advertisers have now pulled their sponsorship of Glenn Beck's deranged Fox News program. The bad news is, Beck's ratings have gone up, in part because he's acting like an even bigger lunatic than usual, and clowns doing funny dances tend to draw a crowd.