Top Items:
The Caucus:
White House Blocks Testimony on Party Crashers — Updated | 10:22 p.m. The White House on Wednesday invoked the separation of powers to keep Desiree Rogers, President Obama's social secretary, from testifying on Capitol Hill about how a couple of aspiring reality television show celebrities crashed …
Discussion:
American Power, New Orleans Times-Picayune, Balkinization, Washington Post, Prairie Weather, TPMDC and Stop The ACLU
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Josh Rogin / The Cable:
Exclusive: White House aides insisted F-22 be removed from Obama speech venue — When President Obama spoke to troops at Alaska's Elmendorf Air Force Base last month, the unit there parked a shiny new F-22 fighter plane in the hanger. But according to multiple sources …
CBS News:
White House: July 2011 Is Locked In for Afghanistan Withdrawal — Posted by Chip Reid During the Senate Armed Services hearing today, Defense Secretary Robert Gates was pressed by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. on whether the July 2011 date for beginning to withdrawal troops is “locked in.”
Discussion:
The Politico, USA Today, The Sundries Shack, Hot Air, JOSHUAPUNDIT and Taegan Goddard's …
Glynnis MacNicol / Mediaite:
Will Desiree Rogers Be The White House's Next Van Jones? — While there are plenty of jokes to be made about the Salahi's White House state dinner party crashing, it is at the core, an extremely serious breach of White House security that could have endangered the President's life. That is not a joke.
Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:
New York State Senate Votes Down Gay Marriage Bill — ALBANY — The State Senate defeated a bill on Wednesday that would legalize same-sex marriage, after an emotional debate that touched on civil rights, family and history. The vote means that the bill, pushed by Gov. David A. Paterson …
Discussion:
Joe. My. God., Syracuse Post-Standard, Newsweek Blogs, The Reaction, Gothamist, The Awl, Towleroad News #gay, CNN, nysenate.gov/blog, Think Progress, Opinion L.A., Paper Chase, Hot Air, AmSpecBlog, Gawker, The Page, Prairie Weather, Redhot, Indecision Forever, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Washington Monthly, msnbc.com, Lawyers, Guns and Money, Truthdig, TPM LiveWire and Feministe
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Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Boxer: Hackers should face criminal probe over ‘Climategate’ — Leaked e-mails allegedly undermining climate change science should be treated as a criminal matter, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said Wednesday afternoon. — Boxer, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee …
Discussion:
Pajamas Media, AmSpecBlog, Hot Air, Flopping Aces, Gateway Pundit, Confederate Yankee and Eschaton
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Edmund L. Andrews / New York Times:
Senator Moves to Hold Up Bernanke Confirmation — WASHINGTON — Senator Bernard Sanders of Vermont said on Wednesday that he would try to block the Senate from confirming Ben S. Bernanke to a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve. — The move is unlikely to derail Mr. Bernanke's reappointment …
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U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders:
RELEASE: SANDERS PUTS HOLD ON BERNANKE — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today placed a hold on the nomination of Ben Bernanke for a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve. — “The American people overwhelmingly voted last year for a change in our national priorities to put the interests …
Katherine Goldstein / The Huffington Post:
ClimateGate: The 7 Biggest Lies About The Supposed “Global Warming Hoax” — A few weeks ago, hackers broke into the emails of one of the Climate Research Unit of The University of East Anglia, and climate skeptics have been having a field day making mountains out of molehills about what the emails contain.
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The Huffington Post:
GOP Senator Pens Obstruction Manual For Health Care — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — Sen. Judd Gregg, (R-NH) has penned the equivalent of an obstruction manual — a how-to for holding up health care reform — and has distributed the document to his Republican colleagues.
Discussion:
Firedoglake, TPMDC, White House.gov Blog Feed, Ezra Klein, Raw Story, The Lonely Conservative and Washington Monthly
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Manu Raju / The Politico:
Franken fallout has GOP fuming — Republican senators feel burned by Al Franken — and not by his old jokes. — The Republicans are steamed at Franken because partisans on the left are using a measure he sponsored to paint them as rapist sympathizers — and because Franken isn't doing much to stop them.
Spencer Morgan / New York Observer:
Rrrowl! Beware Cougar's Young Niece, the Cheetah — The cheetah is most often a just-one-of-the-guys girl. That's her cover. In nature, a cheetah will lurk in the high grass and use her spots as camouflage. — I called up an accomplished and self-described cougar named Angela …
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Lee Davidson / Deseret News:
Utahns growing tired of Bennett — Poll shows most want a change — but rivals trail far behind senator — Two of every three Utahns want to see Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, ousted in his re-election bid next year. — However, all of the challengers seeking to unseat him currently trail far behind …
Tiger Woods:
Tiger comments on current events — I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart. I have not been true to my values and the behavior my family deserves. I am not without faults and I am far short of perfect. I am dealing with my behavior and personal failings behind closed doors with my family.
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Jonathan Liew / Telegraph:
All men watch porn, scientists find — Scientists at the University of Montreal launched a search for men who had never looked at pornography - but couldn't find any. — Researchers were conducting a study comparing the views of men in their 20s who had never been exposed to pornography with regular users.
Erin Carlson / Silicon Alley Insider:
Anderson Cooper's Ratings Plummet — Anderson Cooper is fading in the ratings. — The respected CNN anchor has seen his numbers slip significantly through the past year. His 10 p.m. show, “Anderson Cooper 360,” has declined 62% in total viewers and 70% in adults 25-54 from November 2008, according to Nielsen figures.
Ezra Klein:
If you give away the public option, what do you get? — Most of the energy in the Senate right now is being directed into a mad rush for compromise proposals on the public option. This reflects the sense that the right compromise on the public option is a compromised public option.
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Michelle Malkin:
Unbelievable update: The crappiest NYTimes column on Obamacare just got crappier; Update: Kristof's disingenuous non-response — Scroll for updates...Kristof non-responds...holes remain... Today, I did something that Pulitzer Prize-winning NYTimes columnist Nick Kristof apparently didn't do …
Discussion:
Media Blog on National …
Kos / Daily Kos:
Sens. Feinstein and Durbins attack on citizen journalism — The Senate is currently considering a media shield law, pushed by media outfits that want federal protection for their journalists. — The legislation originally had a broad definition of “journalist”, but that was curtailed thanks …
Vidya Rao / msnbc.com:
‘Family Ties’ mom: ‘I am a lesbian’ — Meredith Baxter says she has been dating women for the past seven years — For seven years, actress Meredith Baxter has been hiding a secret. — Now Baxter, who played the devoted hippie mom constantly butting heads with her conservative kids on “Family Ties,” is making a public admission.
Discussion:
The Stranger …, Towleroad News #gay, Viewer Discretion, The Faster Times and Box Turtle Bulletin
Bree Palin:
Sarah Palin's Fee Schedule - Found! — Many of us were surprised to learn from news reports today that while cameras and all recording devices have been banned from ALL of Sarah Palin's appearances, one can purchase a photo of oneself meeting Sarah at a book signing event:
Scott McLemee / Inside Higher Ed:
Decline of the West — Ten years ago, in the final pages of a collection of his selected writings, Cornel West gave readers a look at the work he had in progress, or at least in mind, for the years ahead. One would be “a major treatment of African-American literature and modern Greek literature.”
Adam Ciralsky / Vanity Fair:
Tycoon, Contractor, Soldier, Spy — Erik Prince, recently outed as a participant in a C.I.A. assassination program, has gained notoriety as head of the military-contracting juggernaut Blackwater, a company dogged by a grand-jury investigation, bribery accusations, and the voluntary-manslaughter trial …