memeorandum: Michigan Democrat blasts GOP leaders for Bunning's objection on benefits (Jordan Fabian/The Hill)

1:15 PM ET, February 27, 2010

Top Items:

Alexei Barrionuevo / New York Times:

8.8-Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Chile — RIO DE JANEIRO — A powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck Chile early Saturday, shaking the capital of Santiago for 90 seconds and sending tsunami warnings along much of the Pacific basin. — Enlarge This Image — A woman sat in front a quake-damaged house in Talca, Chile.

Discussion: Guardian, Left Coast Rebel, Hot Air, FP Passport, The Lonely Conservative, Vanity Fair, PoliBlog, MyDD, The Confluence, Breitbart.tv, Fausta's Blog, American Power, The Agonist, Matthew Yglesias, TalkLeft and BBC

CNN:

Powerful earthquake rattles Chile; tsunami warning issued — (CNN) — An magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck central Chile early Saturday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. — The quake's epicenter was located near the city of Concepcion, 212 miles (341 kilometers) from the capital of Santiago.

Discussion: Townhall.com, The Impolitic, Achenblog, Washington Post, Raw Story, The Moderate Voice, New York Magazine, EW.com and Pam's House Blend

Robert Mackey / The Lede:

Latest Updates on Earthquake in Chile — A map showing the location of Saturday's 8.8 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Chile from the Web site of the U.S. Geological Survey. … About one hour ago, Reuters reported that a bulletin from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Daily Dish and Daily Kos

BBC:

Massive earthquake strikes Chile — A massive earthquake has hit central Chile, killing at least 122 people, the country's president-elect says. — The 8.8 magnitude quake struck at 0634 GMT about 115km (70 miles) north-east of the city of Concepcion and 325km south-west of the capital, Santiago.

Discussion: Pharyngula, Truthdig and Docudharma

Associated Press:

Huge quake hits Chile; tsunami threatens Pacific — TALCA, Chile - A devastating earthquake struck Chile early Saturday, toppling homes, collapsing bridges and plunging trucks into the fractured earth. A tsunami set off by the magnitude-8.8 quake threatened every nation around the Pacific Ocean — roughly a quarter of the globe.

Discussion: Gateway Pundit

Reuters:
Huge earthquake batters Chile, 78 dead

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, Clusterstock, AMERICAblog News and Political Wrinkles

Fox News: Massive Magnitude 8.8 Quake Hits Chile, Killing Over 80

msnbc.com:
Huge quake hits Chile, sparks tsunami alert

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and Associated Press

Andy McCarthy / The Corner on National Review Online:

Transformation — By: Andy McCarthy — On Sean's panel last night, when the conversation turned to how nervous Democrats supposedly are over what for now is teeing up like a very bad November, I felt like I was channeling Mark Steyn, Mark Levin and Rush. That is, I think our side is analyzing …

Discussion: RedState, Sense of Events and Power Line

Irwin M. Stelzer / Weekly Standard:
Fly Now, Pay Later

Discussion: GayPatriot

Elizabeth Landau / CNN:

Liberalism, atheism linked to IQ — (CNN) — Political, religious and sexual behaviors may be reflections of intelligence, a new study finds. — Evolutionary psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa at the the London School of Economics and Political Science correlated data on these behaviors with IQ …

Discussion: TalkLeft, The Mahablog and Don Surber

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

Coburn warns against majority-vote tactic in weekly Republican address — Should Democrats use the budget reconciliation process to pass healthcare reform, it would fly in the face of public opinion, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said in the Republicans' weekly address.

Discussion: The Swamp, CNN and The Politico

Robert Pear / New York Times:

Democrats to Press Health Bill With Simple Majority — WASHINGTON — Seeing no prospect of a bipartisan agreement on health care, Congressional Democrats said Friday that they would make another effort to pass sweeping health care legislation on their own. — If anything, Democrats said …

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Washington Monthly, The Caucus, Right Pundits, Pundit & Pundette, PostPartisan and Hit & Run

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Ben Nelson: Dems may have to abandon comprehensive health bill, go step-by-step

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Hot Air, The New Republic, JammieWearingFool and Political Punch

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

Michigan Democrat blasts GOP leaders for Bunning's objection on benefits — Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) on Saturday blamed Senate Republican leaders for the stalled unemployment benefits extension. — The senator said that by remaining silent on Sen. Jim Bunning's (R-Ky.) …

Discussion: The Politico

Tuathadedannan / Associated Press:
Unemployment Extension Fails in Senate

Discussion: Outside The Beltway and Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!

The Politico:
Sen. Jim Bunning holds floor: ‘Tough s—t’

Discussion: CNN, Daily Kos, Democratic Strategist and Hullabaloo

Alex Seitz-Wald / Think Progress:

Rep. Trent Franks: African-Americans were better off under slavery. — Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) — one of the most conservative member of Congress, according to a new National Journal ranking — decried the strained state of political discourse in an interview today with blogger-activist Mike Stark.

Discussion: American Power, New York Times, Salon, Jules Crittenden, Right Wing Nut House, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Hotline On Call and Firedoglake

Mike Stark / StarkReports.com:
Bipartisanship is dead — At yesterday's health care discussion …

Discussion: Raw Story, No More Mister Nice Blog, TPM LiveWire, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Hill

Walid Zafar / Media Matters Action Network:
Rep. Trent Franks: Blacks Better Off Under Slavery

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Atlantic Online and Matthew Yglesias

Kingebretson / DoD Social Media Hub:

DoD Official Policy on New/Social Media — The Department of Defense released its official policy on new/social media today. The policy (Directive-Type Memorandum 09-026), which is effective immediately, states that the default for the DoD non-classified network (the NIPRNET) is for open access so that all of DoD can use new media.

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Washington Post:

Senators to propose abandoning cap-and-trade — Three key senators are engaged in a radical behind-the-scenes overhaul of climate legislation, preparing to jettison the broad “cap-and-trade” approach that has defined the legislative debate for close to a decade.

Discussion: Climate Progress

Karl West / Daily Mail:

Man who broke the Bank of England, George Soros, ‘at centre of hedge funds plot to cash in on fall of the euro’ — A secretive group of Wall Street hedge fund bosses are said to be behind a plot to cash in on the decline of the euro. — Representatives of George Soros's investment business …