memeorandum: Blue Cross hits customers with 22% rate hike (Tom Walsh/Detroit Free Press)

1:30 PM ET, September 7, 2009

Top Items:

We All Blew It — On Thursday evening, I got worried. Friday I put in a call to ask Van Jones how to help. Saturday I started writing a blog post, which would have appeared this morning. (I've attached it below because it goes into more detail on the history of the “Bush as addict” meme.)

Discussion: The American Scene, Firedoglake, And So it Goes in Shreveport, Verum Serum, Los Angeles Times, Sandra Rose, The Other McCain, Riehl World View, Whiskey Fire and The Sundries Shack

Mickey Kaus / Kausfiles:

Van Jones: Does the NYT Know What a Truther Is? — Amazingly, many New York Times print readers still don't know why Van Jones resigned! Here's how the paper's John Broder describes his situation: … Reading that, would you realize the petition was a Truther petition?

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, Riehl World View, JustOneMinute, The Corner on National …, NewsBusters.org, Don Surber and Washington Post

The Politico:

Beck up, left let down — The resignation early Sunday of “green jobs” adviser Van Jones says as much about the Obama White House as it does about Jones - marking the latest sacrifice to the political gods after a long summer of compromises and surrenders highlighted the limits of White House power.

Discussion: Commentary, NewsBusters.org, American Power, RedState, The Strata-Sphere, Betsy's Page, POWIP, Pat Dollard, Weekly Standard, Gateway Pundit, Fox News, Ben Smith's Blog and Firedoglake

Andy McCarthy / The Corner on National Review Online:

The Death of the Soviet Union Was Not the Death of Communism — By: Andy McCarthy — With due respect, I think Charles Krauthammer had it badly wrong on Van Jones when he said (see post below), “I'm not even disturbed that this guy is a communist. It is not the first time we had a communist in the U.S. government.

Discussion: Power Line, Pajamas Media and alicublog

Washington Post:

In Adviser's Resignation, Vetting Bites Obama Again — Uproar Concerned Environmental Aide's Past Activism — The resignation of White House environmental adviser Van Jones has revealed a lapse in the administration's vetting procedures that, nearly eight months into his tenure …

Discussion: Swampland, Balloon Juice, Blue Crab Boulevard, The Corner on National …, AmSpecBlog, The Reaction, Hot Air, Pajamas Media, NewsBusters.org and Power Line

Joe Garofoli / San Francisco Chronicle:
Progressives decry resignation of Van Jones

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, RBO, Pajamas Media and Riehl World View

Andrew Breitbart / Washington Times:
Couric should look in mirror

Discussion: Instapundit and Riehl World View

Glenn Beck:
Glenn Beck statement on resignation of Van Jones

Discussion: PoliBlog, Think Progress, Taylor Marsh, Political Byline, HotAirPundit, Wake up America, American Power, Ben Smith's Blog, Hot Air, Pajamas Media, Climate Progress, AmSpecBlog and New York Times

Robert Pear / New York Times:

New Fee on Health Insurance Companies Is Proposed to Help Expand Coverage — WASHINGTON — In a last effort to give the Senate a bipartisan health care bill, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee circulated a comprehensive proposal on Sunday to overhaul the health care system and proposed …

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Huffington Post, TPMDC, The Hill, Salon, Washington Monthly, Brave New Films blog, Angry Bear, TalkLeft, Daily Kos, The Confluence, Emptywheel, Obsidian Wings, MyDD, George's Bottom Line and The Politico

Digby / Hullabaloo:
That's It? — Feel the magic. The Baucus plan is finally revealed:

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Firedoglake and Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!

Edmund Conway / Telegraph:

Barack Obama accused of making ‘Depression’ mistakes — Barack Obama is committing the same mistakes made by policymakers during the Great Depression, according to a new study endorsed by Nobel laureate James Buchanan. — His policies even have the potential to consign the US to a similar fate …

Discussion: Stop The ACLU, Scared Monkeys, Axis of Right, Pajamas Media, The Hinterland Gazette and Vox Popoli

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard / Telegraph: Adam Smith would not be optimistic in today's economic world

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

Where's This Going? — Am I the only one who thinks that if the Dems pass a bill with mandates and subsidies for poor and moderate income people to purchase it but no public option or competition with the insurers, that it will be pretty much a catastrophe for the Democrats in political terms?

Discussion: Newshoggers.com, No More Mister Nice Blog, Eschaton and Balloon Juice

WhiteHouse.gov Blog:

Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama — Back to School Event — The President: Hello everyone - how's everybody doing today? I'm here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we've got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade.

Discussion: Mediaite, HotAirPundit, Political Punch, Knoxville News-Sentinel, And So it Goes in Shreveport and JammieWearingFool

Mike Collett-White / Reuters:

“Capitalism is evil,” says new Michael Moore film — VENICE (Reuters) - Capitalism is evil. That is the conclusion U.S. documentary maker Michael Moore comes to in his latest movie “Capitalism: A Love Story,” which premieres at the Venice film festival Sunday.

Discussion: theblogprof, The TrogloPundit, The Anchoress, The Other McCain, Pajamas Media, Cold Fury, Babalú Blog and JammieWearingFool

Gateway Pundit:
To Michael Moore “Capitalism Is Evil” Except For Its Perks

Discussion: The Jawa Report and Althouse

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard / Telegraph:

China alarmed by US money printing — The US Federal Reserve's policy of printing money to buy Treasury debt threatens to set off a serious decline of the dollar and compel China to redesign its foreign reserve policy, according to a top member of the Communist hierarchy.

Discussion: Outside The Beltway, The Moderate Voice, The Other McCain, Below The Beltway, Fausta's Blog, Not Tucker Carlson, Wake up America and Ztower

John / Power Line:

Labor Yes, Unions No — Both Gallup (via Byron York) and Rasmussen find support for labor unions at a historic low. This Gallup chart shows the trend: — What seems odd about these poll data is their volatility. Both Gallup and Rasmussen find support for unions down sharply from a year ago.

Discussion: Scared Monkeys

Byron York / Washington Examiner:
On Labor Day, support for unions plunges to all-time low

Discussion: Michelle Malkin and The Foundry

Forbes:

Too Many Kooks — Obama's school speech drives the right crazy. — The Silly Season ceases to be “silly” when what passes for political debate in America turns not merely stupid or witless, but certifiably demented. — I write of the kooky reaction of many conservatives—politicians …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin

Michael Luo / New York Times:

Out of Work, and Too Down to Search On — “You send out so much, and you don't get responses. Then when you get called in, you're treated like you're too old.” RAY RUCKER, a 62-year-old former facilities manager from Overland Park, Kan. More Photos > — They were left out of the latest …

Discussion: On Deadline

Washington Post:

Major U.S. Role in Mortgages Shaping Entire Market — Classes of Borrowers Cannot Find Loans as Publicly Backed Debt Mounts — In the go-go years of the U.S. housing boom, virtually anybody could get a few hundred thousand dollars to buy a home, and private lenders flooded the market …

Discussion: A Blog For All and EconLog

Andrew J. Bacevich / Los Angeles Times:

Should Obama go ‘all in’ on Afghanistan? — Before the president bets his chips on a military solution, he should figure out if there are other cards that can be played. — Back in January when he took office, Barack Obama had amassed a very considerable pile of chips.

Discussion: Newshoggers.com