Top Items:
Susan Page / USA Today:
USA fumes over politics — WASHINGTON — Seven months before the midterm elections, Americans seem disaffected about nearly everything political. — A majority disapprove of both political parties, their leaders and most members of Congress, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds.
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Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Republicans Move Ahead in 2010 Vote for Congress — Hold 47% to 44% advantage in registered voters' preferences — PRINCETON, NJ — Registered voters now say they prefer the Republican to the Democratic candidate in their district by 47% to 44% in the midterm congressional elections …
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, Weekly Standard, Politics Daily, Mediaite, The Swamp, Scared Monkeys, Washington Times and Riehl World View
Susan Page / USA Today:
Poll: More blame Obama for poor economy, unemployment
Poll: More blame Obama for poor economy, unemployment
Discussion:
NRSC, The Page, Below The Beltway, Scared Monkeys, Shot in the Dark and Riehl World View
Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:
Post-healthcare Gallup Poll finds Republicans now leading on congressional ballot
Post-healthcare Gallup Poll finds Republicans now leading on congressional ballot
Discussion:
Hot Air
Christina Wilkie / The Hill:
Rep. Hank Johnson: Guam could ‘tip over and capsize’ — Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) is afraid that the U.S. Territory of Guam is going to “tip over and capsize” due to overpopulation. — Johnson expressed his worries during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on the defense budget Friday.
Discussion:
Democracy in America, National Review, The Foundry, Babalú Blog, Clayton Cramer's BLOG and Althouse
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Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Dem congressman: If Guam gets too overpopulated, it might tip over — Via Weasel Zippers, a clip that's destined to be viral by tomorrow morning. Even so, go easy on him. Yes, he was an Iraq defeatist, and granted, he demagogued Joe Wilson's outburst in the scummiest way imaginable …
The Official Google Blog:
A different kind of company name — Early last month the mayor of Topeka, Kansas stunned the world by announcing that his city was changing its name to Google. We've been wondering ever since how best to honor that moving gesture. Today we are pleased to announce that as of 1AM …
Discussion:
AnnArbor.com News, TechCrunch, DCist, Left Coast Rebel, Engadget, Boing Boing, The Reaction, Mediaite and Mashable!
New York Times:
Federal Judge Finds N.S.A. Wiretapping Program Illegal — WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance program was illegal, rejecting the Obama administration's effort to keep shrouded in secrecy one of the most disputed …
Discussion:
Salon, The Volokh Conspiracy, Think Progress, The Moderate Voice, The Reaction, Latest Open Salon Blog, Emptywheel, Wall Street Journal, Law Blog, Jay Bookman, The BLT, The BRAD BLOG, Prairie Weather, Swampland, The Washington Independent, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Gawker, TalkLeft, Truthdig and Threat Level
Sarah Palin / The Corner on National Review Online:
Stall, Baby, Stall — By: Sarah Palin — Many Americans fear that President Obama's new energy proposal is once again “all talk and no real action,” this time in an effort to shore up fading support for the Democrats' job-killing cap-and-trade (a.k.a. cap-and-tax) proposals.
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ArtsBeat:
Furor Grows Over Celebrity Appearances on Palin Show — Hours after LL Cool J complained that Fox News was recycling an old interview with him for a new program hosted by Sarah Palin, representatives for the country musician Toby Keith, who was also listed as a guest for the show, made a similar charge against the cable channel.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Gawker, Indecision Forever, Think Progress, Associated Press, PopEater, Talking Points Memo, Wonkette, TBogg and News Hounds
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Tomoeh Murakami Tse / Washington Post:
Administration seeks to change pay incentives at major firms — When the Obama administration imposed restrictions on executive pay last year at some of the largest companies the government had bailed out, officials said they were aiming to set a new standard for compensation across corporate America …
Andrew Sabl / The Reality-Based Community:
The Affordable Care act is not a “mandate.” It's government paying for your private insurance when your employer doesn't. — My post on why the ACA will become popular was too long and confusing. Shorter me: — The phrase “individual mandate,” though it explained to wonks …
David Pogue / New York Times:
State of the Art: David Pogue's Review of the iPad — In 10 years of reviewing tech products for The New York Times, I've never seen a product as polarizing as Apple's iPad, which arrives in stores on Saturday. — “This device is laughably absurd,” goes a typical remark on a tech blog's comments board.
Discussion:
Left Coast Rebel, Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal, Boing Boing, TechCrunch, Silicon Alley Insider, DealBook and Mashable!
David Catanese / The Politico:
Dems squeezed by health care lawsuit — They played almost no role in crafting or passing the new federal health care legislation, but Democratic attorneys general have suddenly emerged as prominent actors in the post-passage drama over the constitutionality of the landmark law.
Discussion:
MyDD
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Democrat Boxer warns colleagues: Don't take your seats for granted — Democratic incumbents must be wary of taking their seats for granted this election cycle, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said Thursday. — Boxer, who's facing one of the most competitive election challenges in her own career …
Discussion:
JammieWearingFool
Clayton Henkel / The Progressive Pulse:
Burr: A series of fixes...maybe not repeal — Even as staunch conservatives continue to call for the repeal of the new health care law, there are signs that some Republicans are wary about how that move would be perceived in November. — North Carolina's senior senator now acknowledges …
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Jim Hoft / Gateway Pundit:
Anarchists Plan War On April 15th Tea Parties — WARNING: Be on the lookout- — Bring your cameras. — Violent anarchists are planning on infilitrating and sabotaging the Tea Party Protests on April 15th. — The Jawa Report posted this call to arms from the violent anarchists at Infowars today:
Reuters:
Democrats lie low after healthcare victory — (Reuters) - The week after passing landmark healthcare reform and handing President Barack Obama an important victory, members of the U.S. Congress returned to their home districts for a recess to face constituents and justify their votes after the bruising legislative battle.
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Geithner: Unemployment will stay ‘unacceptably high’ for some time — The unemployment rate will remain “unacceptably high” for some time, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said Thursday. — Geithner said that while the Obama administration's had made great strides toward repairing the …
Tim Townsend / St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
ACLU program will protect Muslims in FBI questioning — Adil Imdad, 41, moved to the United States as a teenager from his native Pakistan in 1981. Five years later, he became an American citizen, and in 1995, he moved to St. Louis to pursue a master's degree in environmental engineering at Washington University.
Jonathan Martin / Ben Smith's Blog:
RNC “Census” mailer offers phone sex number — A new entrant in the when-it-rains-it-pours category. — The Republican National Committee sent a fundraising mail piece earlier this month with a return number that leads to a phone sex line offering “live, one-on-one talk with a nasty girl …
Elisabeth Bumiller / New York Times:
Secretary of the Army Says He Will Not Pursue 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Discharges — WASHINGTON — The secretary of the Army, John M. McHugh, said Wednesday that he was effectively ignoring the “don't ask, don't tell” law because he had no intention of pursuing discharges of active-duty service members …
Discussion:
GayPatriot, Outside The Beltway, AMERICAblog Gay, DISSENTING JUSTICE and Pam's House Blend
Dion Lefler / Wichita Eagle:
Complaints about Obama drive 11 percent surge in Tiahrt's office spending — In a year when he was saying government needed to tighten its belt to get through the recession, Rep. Todd Tiahrt increased spending on his taxpayer-funded congressional office by 11 percent, federal records show.
Washington Times:
SUDERMAN: Whimsical FCC encroaches on First Amendment rights — A doddering bureaucracy whose time has passed — As exercises in bureau-cratic hairsplitting go, it is tough to beat the sheer audacity of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski's recent declaration …
Michael Yon / Online Magazine:
RED HORSE — Some troops in Afghanistan go months without a shower. Major Ryan O'Conner, XO of the 1-17th Infantry, now in Kandahar Province, said that during a previous tour his Soldiers fought half a year without so much as a dip in a creek. Shortages of drinking water affected combat operations.
Discussion:
The Jawa Report
Jonathan Martin / Ben Smith's Blog:
Tony Perkins urges conservatives to stop giving money to RNC — Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council and an influential social conservative, is urging his members to stop giving money to the Republican National Committee, POLITICO has learned. — “I've hinted at this before …
Thomas B. Edsall / The Atlantic Online:
An Electoral Majority for Obama? — Over the last two years, there has been a massive increase in the number of people who have no place to turn except to the government. Enactment of the Obama administration's health care reform legislation demonstrates the growing power of this burgeoning constituency …
Discussion:
Democratic Strategist
Nina Bernstein / New York Times:
Rushed From Haiti, Then Jailed for Lacking Visas — More than two months after the earthquake that devastated Haiti, at least 30 survivors who were waved onto planes by Marines in the chaotic aftermath are prisoners of the United States immigration system, locked up since their arrival in detention centers in Florida.
Discussion:
Hit & Run
Ciara Linnane / Reuters:
Calif looks into banks' role in underwriting, CDS — California's Treasurer has sent a letter to six big banks that underwrite the state's municipal bond sales, asking what the banks' role may be in also selling credit default swaps on California debt. — The letter to Bank of America Merrill Lynch …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post
Brody Mullins / Washington Wire:
Former GOP Officials Launch Political Group — As troubles at the Republican National Committee continue, a group of former Republican officials are starting an outside political group that could compete with the RNC for wealthy donors and prominence. — The group, American Crossroads …
Discussion:
The Hill, Los Angeles Times, Riehl World View, The Washington Independent and Washington Post