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Binyamin Netanyahu humiliated after Barack Obama ‘dumped him for dinner’ — Giles Whittell, Washington, and James Hider, Jerusalem — For a head of state to visit the White House and not pose for photographers is rare. For a key ally to be left to his own devices while the President withdraws …
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Obama Refuses to Dine With Jewish Leader — Do you remember when Jesse Jackson said that under Obama Jews would lose all of their clout? — He was right. — (Top left clockwise) Barack and Michelle Obama and radical Leftist anti-Israel Professor Edward Said at a May 1998 Arab community event …


Post poll: Obama still in single digits
Discussion:
Commentary, Yourish.com, American Power, Power Line, Washington Post, Israel Matzav, Ben Smith's Blog and The Corner on National …

Obama snubbed Netanyahu for dinner with Michelle and the girls, Israelis claim

Frum thinks critique of GOP led to boot — 2 big bipartisan bashes — Chris Matthews, cornered — HHS Secretary is vastly more powerful — Jackie Calmes to White House beat — Kimberly Dozier to AP — FIRST LOOK: Valerie Jarrett is Jake Tapper's exclusive guest Sunday as he begins four months of interim-hosting of “This Week.”
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AEI Says Goodbye
Discussion:
Mother Jones, This Just In, Political Byline, The Plum Line, Washington Post, Truthdig, Ezra Klein, TPMMuckraker, Whiskey Fire, Hot Air, Washington Monthly, The Page, Washington Wire, Swampland, Wonkette, Michael Calderone's Blog, Roger Ailes, The Atlantic Online, Mediaite, The Corner on National … and msnbc.com

Going to Extreme — I admit it: I had fun watching right-wingers go wild as health reform finally became law. But a few days later, it doesn't seem quite as entertaining — and not just because of the wave of vandalism and threats aimed at Democratic lawmakers.


Maddow takes full-page ad in Boston to say she's still not running — An ad slated for the Boston Globe. (Click for full jpg or pdf.) — People in Massachusetts picking up their morning papers today may spot an open letter from Rachel Maddow. The full-page ad explains that she's …
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Scott Brown, #41: 'I Wasn't Just Elected on Health Care' — ABC News' Teddy Davis reports: — When Republican Scott Brown was elected to fill the Senate seat of the late Ted Kennedy, his supporters heralded him as #41, as in, the 41st Republican senator who would be able …
Discussion:
GOP 12

Rachel Maddow slams ‘creep’ Scott Brown
Discussion:
JammieWearingFool

Bullet that hit Cantor office was randomly fired — RICHMOND — A bullet that hit a window in Republican U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor's office building was fired randomly into the air, police said Thursday. — Cantor announced at a Capitol Hill news conference Thursday that a shot had been fired into his Richmond campaign office.
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Tea Party Advocates Who Scorn Socialism Want a Government Job — Tea Party activists, who are becoming a force in U.S. politics, want the federal government out of their lives except when it comes to creating jobs. — More than 90 percent of Tea Party backers interviewed …
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ObamaCare and American Power
Discussion:
The Daily Dish, Clive Crook's blog, Sadly, No!, democracyarsenal.org and Matthew Yglesias


Beneath the Obama agenda, the Obama agenda — Last night, the House of Representatives passed the reconciliation fixes. “And oh, by the way,” writes Jon Cohn, “they managed to completely revamp the student loan program along the way. At any other time in recent memory, that would have been a huge accomplishment all its own.
Discussion:
Firedoglake
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Pope Was Told Pedophile Priest Would Get Transfer — MUNICH — The future Pope Benedict XVI was kept more closely apprised of a sexual abuse case in Germany than previous church statements have suggested, raising fresh questions about his handling of a scandal unfolding under his direct supervision …
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THE LIMITS OF AN EXTREME IDEOLOGY.... The Washington Post ran a profile of Mike Vanderboegh, a 57-year-old former militiaman from Alabama, who disapproves of the new Affordable Care Act. Vanderboegh, who describes himself as a “Christian libertarian” and has been part of various clandestine militia groups …
Discussion:
Washington Post
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What do conservatives believe about health care? — Conservative strategist Patrick Ruffini has a searching and skeptical post on his party's approach to health-care reform. “On health care, I have no idea what our basic guiding principle is,” he writes. “Seriously, I don't.”
Discussion:
TalkLeft


JPMorgan, Lehman, UBS Named as Conspirators in Muni Bid-Rigging — JPMorgan Chase & Co., Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and UBS AG were among more than a dozen Wall Street firms involved in a conspiracy to pay below-market interest rates to U.S. state and local governments on investments …


U.S., Russia reach agreement on nuclear arms treaty — President Obama and Russia President Dmitry Medvedev sealed a new nuclear arms reduction treaty during a phone call this morning, committing the two nations to a significant new reduction of the strategic missiles each side has deployed, U.S. officials announced Friday.
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland


Iowa man joins protest against Obama and health-care reform — IOWA CITY, IOWA — He had no plans to throw bricks, issue death threats, spit in faces or scream racial slurs. But Randy Millam, 52, intended to make a scene, so he woke up early Thursday morning to prepare for President Obama's visit.

Obama readies steps to fight foreclosures, particularly for unemployed — The Obama administration plans to overhaul how it is tackling the foreclosure crisis, in part by requiring lenders to temporarily slash or eliminate monthly mortgage payments for many borrowers who are unemployed, senior officials said Thursday.
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In Possible Retirement, the Likelihood of an Election-Year Confrontation — WASHINGTON — No announcement has been made, but the widely anticipated retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens in coming weeks has the White House, Senate and lobbying groups bracing for an election-year confrontation over the future of the Supreme Court.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Opinionator, SCOTUSblog, Democratic Strategist, msnbc.com, The BLT and ACS Blog

Halperin, Heilemann sign deal for 2012 book — Following up on the best-selling “Game Change,” Mark Halperin and John Heilemann have signed on with Penguin to write a book on the 2012 campaign, complete with a $5 million advance. — Crain's reports: — The deal was reached earlier …

Companies say health care costs hard to swallow — The health care overhaul will cost U.S. companies billions and make them more likely to drop prescription drug coverage for retirees because of a change in how the government subsidizes those benefits. — In the first two days after the law …