Top Items:
KTLA:
Man's Finger Bitten Off in Scuffle at Health Care Rally — THOUSAND OAKS — A 65-year-old man had his finger bitten off Wednesday evening at a health care rally in Thousand Oaks, according to the Ventura County Sheriff's Department. — Sheriff's investigators were called to Hillcrest and Lynn Road at 7:26 p.m.
Discussion:
Confederate Yankee, Politics Daily, Capitol Briefing, LiveWire, Gateway Pundit, theblogprof, Freedom's Lighthouse, skippy the bush kangaroo, JustOneMinute, DISSENTING JUSTICE, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Mahablog, The Atlantic Politics Channel, Christian Science Monitor, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, pandagon.net, Glenn Thrush's Blog, The Jawa Report, Fausta's Blog, Salon, NewsBusters.org, Wonkette, Don Surber, Another Black Conservative, Riehl World View, Sweetness & Light, Blue Crab Boulevard and Little Green Footballs
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Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
MoveOn: California fracas, finger-biting ‘regrettable’ — A spokeswoman for MoveOn responded to an incident this morning in which a supporter allegedly bit the finger off a conservative demonstrator amid a health care-related fracas in Ventura County, calling the violence “regrettable.”
Discussion:
Patterico's Pontifications, Peoples Press Collective, Weekly Standard, NewsBusters.org and Swampland
Carlos Lozano / L.A. Now:
Healthcare reform activist bites off fingertip of 65-year-old man, authorities say [Updated] — Authorities today are searching for a healthcare reform activist who they said bit off the fingertip of a 65-year-old man during a fight at a MoveOn.org rally in Thousand Oaks.
Discussion:
The Swamp, Power Line, American Power, Alternate Brain, Flopping Aces and Wake up America
Mary Katharine Ham / Weekly Standard:
Obama Critic Gives MoveOn the Finger — Doesn't Get It Back — Well, William Rice didn't actually give MoveOn the finger — his pinky was forcibly removed by an Obamacare supporter's teeth. — Rice, a 65-year-old real-estate appraiser from Newbury Park, Calif., expected some heated arguments …
Adam Foxman / VenturaCountyStar.com:Healthcare-reform opponent says bit-off finger could not be re-attached
Discussion:
American Power
Eric Ingemunson / Red County:Man at MoveOn.org healthcare vigil bites off opponent's finger
Discussion:
Moe Lane
Gateway Pundit:
A Truther Czar?... Obama's Green Czar Van Jones Believes Bush Administration Was Behind 9-11 — It figures. — Barack Obama's communist Green Czar Van Jones is a Truther. — He believes the Bush Administration was behind 9-11 and signed the official 9-11 Truth Document demanding a further investigation.
Discussion:
Hot Air, The Raw Story, Power Line, And So it Goes in Shreveport, The TrogloPundit, Pat Dollard, The Sundries Shack, RBO, The Jawa Report, Freedom's Lighthouse, Moonbattery, 24Ahead, Adrienne's Catholic Corner, theblogprof, Nice Deb, Erick's blog, Weekly Standard, Flopping Aces, Conservative Dallas and National Review Online
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Amanda Carpenter / Washington Times:
Green jobs ‘czar’ signed ‘truther’ statement in 2004 — President Obama's “green jobs czar” Van Jones has been targeted again and again by conservatives for his controversial views and now they'll have another item to use as fodder. — Mr. Jones signed a statement for 911Truth.org …
Discussion:
Right Wing News, The Atlantic Politics Channel, The Foundry, The Hill and Ben Smith's Blog
Fox News:
‘Green Jobs’ Adviser's Past Could Stir Trouble for White House at Critical Time — White House green jobs adviser Van Jones' past associations and remarks are stirring controversy at a time when the Obama administration is trying to keep controversy at a minimum. — FOXNews.com
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
House Liberals Write Directly To Obama: No Public Option, No Support — In a letter delivered to the White House moments ago, the two leaders of the bloc of House progressives bluntly told President Obama that they will not support any health care plan without a public option in it — and demanded a meeting to inform him face to face.
RELATED:
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:Long-Term Implication of the Public Option Fight
Discussion:
Ezra Klein, Democratic Strategist, Open Left, Hullabaloo, FiveThirtyEight, TalkLeft and Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!
E.J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:
Extremism in Media's Glare — Health-care reform is said to be in trouble partly because of those raucous August town-hall meetings in which Democratic members of Congress were besieged by shouters opposed to change. — But what if our media-created impression of the meetings is wrong?
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Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
THE FABRIC IS STRONG, BUT IT'S NOT INDESTRUCTIBLE.... Time's Joe Klein reports from Arkansas, where he attended a town-hall event hosted by Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D). He found an “astonishing” number of attendees who were absolutely certain that President Obama has “larded the government with communists.”
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Joe Klein / Swampland:
It Gets Worse — I was at a Blanche Lincoln town hall meeting in Russellville, Arkansas, yesterday—and the number of people who believe that the President has larded the government with communists (!) was astonishing. One woman said there were four known communists in the government and that she'd researched it on the internet.
Discussion:
The New Republic
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
How Did Economists Get it So Wrong? — I. MISTAKING BEAUTY FOR TRUTH — It's hard to believe now, but not long ago economists were congratulating themselves over the success of their field. Those successes — or so they believed — were both theoretical and practical, leading to a golden era for the profession.
Washington Post:
Rep. Charles Rangel Must Step Aside as Chairman of Ways and Means — FOR POLITICIANS with major bad news to release or to make public, there's no time like the dead of August to do it. The thinking goes that the public won't remember a thing come September. We hope Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) will have no such luck.
Discussion:
Hot Air, Wizbang, The Hill, Gothamist, National Legal …, TalkLeft, TigerHawk and Michelle Malkin
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Media Matters / Media Matters for America:
MSNBC promoting Buchanan's Hitler column on its own website — From MSNBC's website: — UPDATE: It appears that the column has been removed from the MSNBC website. MSNBC, however, has yet to offer any explanation on why it was posted in the first place. — Previously:
Discussion:
TPMMuckraker
RELATED:
George F. Will / Washington Post:
The Inexorable Logic of Iraq — Since U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq's cities, two months have passed, and so has the illusion that Iraq is smoothly transitioning to a normality free of sectarian violence. Recently, Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of U.S. troops there, “blanched” when asked if the war is “functionally over.”
Ashley Dupre / Global Grind:
The Controversy Won't Stop... SOURCE: — I read the front page of the NY Post this week and was happy to see that Mr. Spitzer is moving on with his life and considering getting back into politics. Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone deserves a second chance. Me too, right? Well, apparently not.
Discussion:
New York Post, Liberal Values, Gawker, Gothamist, Clusterstock, Salon and Ben Smith's Blog
Robert Quigley / Mediaite:
Anti-Beck Backlash Hits Nauseating Extreme with “Murder and Rape” Meme (UPDATED THRICE) — The viral posters that compared Obama to the Joker and to Hitler feel tame compared to the latest nasty meme to hit the Internet: insinuating that Glenn Beck raped and killed a young girl in 1990.
Discussion:
TVNewser
Carol J. Williams / Los Angeles Times:
WellPoint, United Healthcare accused of illegal actions — The insurers pressured employees to lobby against healthcare reform, Consumer Watchdog alleges. — The nation's two largest health insurers have been pressuring employees to lobby against healthcare reform in Congress in violation …
Adam Fogle / The Palmetto Scoop:
Senator: Sanford behind rumors that Bauer is gay — KNOTTS CALLS FOR LEGISLATURE TO ‘MOVE SWIFTLY TO RID OUR STATE OF THIS GOVERNOR’ — In a letter to South Carolina legislators, a prominent state senator Thursday said Gov. Mark Sanford's supporters were behind recent Internet rumors that Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer is gay.
Associated Press:
Obama speech to students draws conservative ire — DALLAS — President Barack Obama's back-to-school address next week was supposed to be a feel-good story for an administration battered over its health care agenda. Now Republican critics are calling it an effort to foist a political agenda on children …
Discussion:
The Politico, Political Punch, Hot Air, NewsBusters.org, Associated Press and Newsweek Blogs
Michelle Malkin:
Video: Rep. Pete Stark tells interviewer, “Get the f**k out of here or I'll throw you out the window” — Longtime readers of this blog are well aware of California Democrat Rep. Pete Stark (Raving Mad)'s unhingedness. — He has called a Republican opponent a “c**ksucker” …
Helen Kennedy / NY Daily News:
Khadafy to United Nations: Abolish Switzerland! — Libya's Col. Moammar Khadafy has a beef with Switzerland and plans to ask the United Nations to abolish the tiny Alpine home of milk chocolate, cuckoo clocks and yodeling. — According to Swiss minister Christa Markwalder …
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs
Karen Tumulty / Time:
Why Senator Chuck Grassley Turned on Health-Care Reform — If there had ever been any hope for a truly bipartisan health-care bill this year, it came in the person of one cantankerous and quirky Iowan. For months, much to the consternation of many of his fellow Republicans, Charles Grassley …
Josh Kraushaar / Scorecard's Blog:
Schilling ineligible to run as Republican — Former Red Sox pitching ace Curt Schilling may be making noises about running for the Senate to succeed the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) but, according to Massachusetts election law, he's ineligible to run as a Republican.
Discussion:
Boston Globe, MyDD, Swing State Project, Top of the Ticket, MoJo Blog Posts, Salon and The Atlantic Politics Channel
BBC:
Saudis ‘must offer Shia equality’ — A report by the Human Rights Watch pressure group has detailed what it says is systematic discrimination in Saudi Arabia against Shia Muslims. — Unfavourable treatment of minority Shia extends from education and employment to the justice system …
Discussion:
Israel Matzav
Guardian:
Lehman downfall triggered by mix-up — • Communication breakdown revealed in first-hand accounts of bank collapse — • Blame game goes on as G20 ministers prepare for crucial London talks — A breakdown in communications at the highest level between the US and the UK led …
Emptywheel:
A Decent Health Care Reform Plan-from Max Baucus — Tell me how this sounds for a health care reform plan. — A national health care exchange — Buy-in to Medicare at age 55 — No discrimination against those with pre-existing conditions — No waiting period for Medicare for disabled
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias
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