Top Items:
Daniel Wagner / Associated Press:
SEC staffers watched porn as economy crashed — WASHINGTON - Senior staffers at the Securities and Exchange Commission spent hours surfing pornographic websites on government-issued computers while they were being paid to police the financial system, an agency watchdog says.
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Jonathan Karl / ABCNEWS:
SEC Officials Surfing Porn During Financial Crisis, Report Finds — SEC Employees Exposed Downloading, Uploading Pornography at Work — The Securities and Exchange Commission is the sheriff of the financial industry, looking for crimes such as Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme …
Discussion:
ProPublica
David Brooks / New York Times:
The Government War — In these columns I try to give voice to a philosophy you might call progressive conservatism. It starts with the wisdom of Edmund Burke — the belief that the world is more complex than we can know and we should be skeptical of handing too much power to government planners.
Discussion:
The Daily Dish, No More Mister Nice Blog, Hit & Run, EconLog, Pundit & Pundette, Commentary, Guardian, Grim's Hall and The Moderate Voice
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Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Party Affiliation Gap in U.S. Narrowest Since 2005 — Democratic advantage shrinks as more independents lean to the Republican Party — PRINCETON, NJ — The advantage in public support the Democratic Party built up during the latter part of the Bush administration and the early part …
Discussion:
Commentary, Weekly Standard, Washington Wire, Hot Air, American Power and The Corner on National …
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Obama Blasts Arizona Illegal Immigration Effort — This is pretty big: Obama just now sharply condemned the controversial anti-illegal immigration effort in Arizona, calling it “misguided” and “irresponsible” — and even said his administration could insert itself into the fight if civil rights are found to be violated.
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Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Don't Cry for Wall Street — On Thursday, President Obama went to Manhattan, where he urged an audience drawn largely from Wall Street to back financial reform. “I believe,” he declared, “that these reforms are, in the end, not only in the best interest of our country, but in the best interest of the financial sector.”
Discussion:
Washington Post, Left Coast Rebel, Hullabaloo, Bloomberg, Buttonwood's notebook and Prairie Weather
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Robert Kuttner / The Huffington Post:
Financial Reform at a Crossroads — The financial reform bill now pending in the Senate could be a huge win— for both restraining the excesses of Wall Street and for Democratic progressives — or Senator Chris Dodd could snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory.
Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Dodd: Fannie and Freddie must be addressed in ‘next wave’ of legislation
Dodd: Fannie and Freddie must be addressed in ‘next wave’ of legislation
Discussion:
The Washington Independent
Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:
Barack Obama Strangelove Backing A Weapon Too Crazy For Bush/Cheney — The NY Times continues to present the Administration spin in favor of reducing our nuclear arsenal. Part of the rationale was that our conventional weapons, such as smart bombs and cruise missile, are much more accurate and powerful.
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Wall Street Journal:
The Real Republican Civil War — The struggle between Marco Rubio and Charlie Crist for the Florida Senate seat symbolizes the rift between the reformers and the establishment in the GOP. — Marco Rubio appeared on a Sunday talk show this month to say something remarkable.
Discussion:
Commentary
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Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar / Associated Press:
Report says health care will cover more, cost more — WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law is getting a mixed verdict in the first comprehensive look by neutral experts: More Americans will be covered, but costs are also going up. — Economic experts at the Health …
Stephanie Schriock / EMILY's List:
GOP: Put Betty Sutton ‘back in the kitchen’?! — What's the best way to move women back decades? Just ask the GOP. — The Republican Review, an apparent newsletter produced by the Medina County (Ohio) Republican Executive Committee, states the following:
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Amanda Terkel / Think Progress:
GOP newsletter: 'Let's take Betty Sutton out of the House and put …
GOP newsletter: 'Let's take Betty Sutton out of the House and put …
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Schumer: Obama's ‘counter-productive’ Israel policy ‘has to stop’ — New York Senator Chuck Schumer harshly criticized the Obama Administration's attempts to exert pressure on Israel today, making him the highest-ranking Democrat to object to Obama's policies in such blunt terms.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, The Hill, Political Punch, NachumSegal.com, Think Progress, Israel Matzav, Gateway Pundit, Firedoglake, Commentary, Taylor Marsh, Weekly Standard, Riehl World View, Scared Monkeys, The Washington Note, Pajamas Media, Hot Air, TPM LiveWire, The Corner on National …, The Note and CNN
Jonah Goldberg / Commentary:
What Kind of Socialist Is Barack Obama? — The assertion that Barack Obama is a socialist became a hallmark of the 2008 presidential campaign. His opponent, John McCain, used Obama's own extemporaneous words to an Ohio plumber as Exhibit A: “When you spread the wealth around,” Obama had said, “it's good for everybody.”
Carol D. Leonnig / Washington Post:
Potential Supreme Court pick Garland could find foes on left — Unlike several other possible candidates to succeed retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Merrick B. Garland probably won't face conservative opposition. Instead, it could be liberals lining up against him.
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Dan Eggen / Washington Post:
Democrats plan to introduce bill to blunt ruling on political spending
Democrats plan to introduce bill to blunt ruling on political spending
Discussion:
The Plum Line
The Politico:
White House leaves Durbin hanging — Sen. Dick Durbin slipped into the West Wing last week to ask Rahm Emanuel for White House help in saving Barack Obama's old Senate seat. — But he didn't leave with any ironclad commitments. — Durbin told Emanuel that Democratic nominee Alexi Giannoulias …
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Jamie Dimon Inadvertently Makes the Case for Derivatives Reform — Forcing most over-the-counter derivatives contracts to be centrally cleared can do a lot to ensure the stability of the financial system. But it will cause very real financial losses to banks, asdetailed here:
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Karen Brettell / XE:
Derivatives industry fights back as reform momentum grows
Derivatives industry fights back as reform momentum grows
Discussion:
Ezra Klein
Sarah Palin / Facebook:
Institutionalizing Crony Capitalism — In the wake of the recent financial meltdown, Americans know that we need reform. Not only have many individuals learned lessons about personal responsibility through this, but we've been able to engage in a discussion about government's appropriate role.
Rush Limbaugh / Wall Street Journal:
Liberals and the Violence Card — Conservative protest is motivated by a love of what America stands for. — The latest liberal meme is to equate skepticism of the Obama administration with a tendency toward violence. That takes me back 15 years ago to the time President Bill Clinton accused …
New York Times:
Greece Calls for Activation of Financial Rescue — ATHENS — Describing his country's economy as “a sinking ship,” the Greek prime minister formally requested an international bailout on Friday, an unprecedented step that will test the bonds of the European Union.
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