Top Items:
The Politico:
Reid rolls dice on Wall St. bill — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) placed a bet Thursday: call the roll on a Wall Street reform bill and at least one Republican will say aye. — Emboldened by public anger toward Wall Street, Democrats set the first key vote for Monday on a bill …
Discussion:
CNN, TPMDC, Blogs and Stories, Clusterstock, The Hill, The Note, The Page, Gateway Pundit, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, Pat Dollard, EnviroKnow, Washington Monthly and Think Progress
RELATED:
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.
Ben Armbruster / Think Progress:
Issa Admits He Has No Proof For His Conspiracy That Obama White House Is Colluding With SEC — Last Friday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a civil lawsuit against Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs for allegedly selling mortgage investments that were secretly intended to fail …
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Higher Taxes: The Solution to Obscene Wall Street Profits — Ezra Klein uses some charts and graphs to demonstrate how profits and compensation have skyrocketed on Wall Street, and concludes: … I don't really understand this progressive passion for trying to micromanage the structure of the American economy.
Discussion:
Ezra Klein
Lee Fang / Think Progress:
VIDEO: Bank Lobbyists Huddle For Another Secret Meeting With GOP Senators
VIDEO: Bank Lobbyists Huddle For Another Secret Meeting With GOP Senators
Yves Smith / naked capitalism:
Blankfein: Suit Against Goldman Will “Hurt America”
Blankfein: Suit Against Goldman Will “Hurt America”
Discussion:
Corrente, Law Blog, Think Progress, Pacific Views, Clusterstock and The Washington Independent
New York Times:
Obama Criticizes Wall St. in Push for Reform
Obama Criticizes Wall St. in Push for Reform
Discussion:
The Baseline Scenario, Townhall.com, Daily Kos, Firedoglake, DealBook, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, The Caucus, The Spot and Crooks and Liars
NBC Chicago:
Redactions Revealed: The Six Secrets You Need to Know From the Obama Subpoena Request — Former governor Rod Blagojevich's defense team asked Thursday to issue a trial subpoena to the President of the United States of America. — The motion, intended to be heavily redacted …
RELATED:
WBBM-TV:
Judge Holds Emergency Hearing In Blagojevich Case — Defense Motion To Subpoena President Barack Obama Contained Sealed Information That Was Visible In Some Electronic Formats — CHICAGO (CBS) ― The judge presiding over the corruption case against former Gov. Rod Blagojevich summoned attorneys …
Frances Martel / Mediaite:
Mediaite Exclusive: Censored Portions of Blago Subpoena May Implicate Team Obama — Today in United States v. Rod Blagojevich: following up on his 2008 claims that then-Senator Barack Obama was one of a few people who could testify to his innocence, his defense team issued a motion today to subpoena the President to testify in court.
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.
RELATED:
The Corner on National Review Online:
Liberty, Tyranny, and the Globe — By: NRO Staff — I don't know Jim Manzi, but given his out-of-nowhere rant, you'd think I ran over his dog or something. Feel free to read my book, and the chapter Manzi distorts and cherry-picks, yourself. You don't need Manzi to interpret it.
Discussion:
Erick's blog, The Other McCain, Riehl World View, Democracy in America, The Daily Dish, Sadly, No!, Balloon Juice and AmSpecBlog
RELATED:
Hogan / RedState:
Epistemic Nonsense - Count Me on Team Levin
Epistemic Nonsense - Count Me on Team Levin
Discussion:
Julian Sanchez, The Corner on National …, Riehl World View, The American Scene and Sadly, No!
Dave Itzkoff / ArtsBeat:
‘South Park’ Episode Is Altered After Muslim Group's Warning — A message posted on SouthParkStudios.com, the Web site of Trey Parker and Matt Stone's production company. — 8:56 a.m. | Updated — An episode of “South Park” that continued a story line involving the Prophet Muhammad …
Discussion:
NewsBusters.org, Another Black Conservative, Gates of Vienna, Mediaite, MLive.com, This Just In, New York Times, The Live Feed | THR, Little Green Footballs, Atlas Shrugs, Hit & Run, Commentary, Tim Blair, Big Hollywood, theblogprof, Left Coast Rebel, Jihad Watch, NY Daily News, PopEater and The Daily Dish
RELATED:
Ann Althouse / Althouse:
Comedy Central cowers in the face of a murder threat/warning against …
Comedy Central cowers in the face of a murder threat/warning against …
Discussion:
ArtsBeat, Instapundit, GayPatriot, Mediaite, Hit & Run, The Other McCain and DaTechguy's Blog
Matt Corley / Think Progress:
Cheney: Telling Leahy to ‘f*ck’ himself was ‘sort of the best thing I ever did.’ — In 2004, then-Vice President Dick Cheney had a “frank exchange of views” with Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) on the Senate floor over Cheney's ties to Halliburton and President Bush's judicial nominees.
Thomas Fitzgerald / Philly.com:
In Pa. House race, identity politics with a twist — It's happened so often that it's now a cultural cliche: the gay politician pretending to be straight. In most parts of the nation, homosexuality or bisexuality is a clear electoral liability. — Not in Center City's 182d state House district.
RELATED:
Joe Gandelman / The Moderate Voice:
Democrat “Outs” Another Democrat For Being Straight
Fox News:
Franklin Graham Regrets Army's Decision to Rescind Invite to Pentagon Prayer Service — Evangelist Franklin Graham said Thursday that he regrets the Army's decision to rescind its invitation to him for the Pentagon's National Day of Prayer service on May 6, but expressed “strong support” for the U.S. military.
RELATED:
Time:
BANKS: Deposits Guaranteed … Through the great banking houses of Manhattan last week ran wild-eyed alarm. Big bankers stared at one another in anger and astonishment. A bill just passed by both houses of Congress would rivet upon their institutions what they considered a monstrous system of guaranteeing bank deposits.
Wall Street Journal:
Democrats at the Edge of the Cliff — Democrats are spending trillions at the worst possible moment, with a new poll showing public trust in government at a historic low of 22%. — There was always something eerie about the way the Democrats said their health-care legislation was what the American people had waited “70 years” for.
Reuters:
Exclusive: WellPoint routinely targets breast cancer patients — (Reuters) - One after another, shortly after a diagnosis of breast cancer, each of the women learned that her health insurance had been canceled. First there was Yenny Hsu, who lived and worked in Los Angeles.
Mike Lillis / The Washington Independent:
In Coal Country, a Culture of Fear — Massey Intimidates Workers, Families Into Silence … Charleston, W.Va. — Two weeks after the horrific explosion that killed 29 coal miners in southern West Virginia, it's business as usual for the owner of the project.
Discussion:
Grist, The Washington Independent, The Political Carnival, Think Progress and Wall Street Journal
Peterhamby / CNN:
Pawlenty makes moves in South Carolina — Tim Pawlenty is scheduled to visit South Carolina in May. — Washington (CNN) - His top advisers have already started talks with key political players in South Carolina, and now Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a potential 2012 presidential contender …
Discussion:
The Politico
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Clegg and America — The sudden prospect (though not likelihood) that the next British Prime Minister could be third-party leader Nick Clegg is stirring some alarm over here, with conservatives, in particular, warning that Clegg would be a very liberal, and “anti-American,” British leader.
RELATED:
Martin Kady II / Glenn Thrush's Blog:
GOP brings KBH back into leadership — Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) is being rewarded for sticking with Republicans in the Senate. — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Thursday appointed Hutchison as a “counsel” to GOP leadership to serve alongside Judd Gregg of New Hampshire and Bob Bennett of Utah.
Jonathan Karl / ABCNEWS:
SEC Officials Surfed Porn, Ignored Fraud — Gov't Report Finds Securities and Exchange Commission Employees Surfing Pornographic Websites at Work — On a day when President Obama argued for more government regulation over the financial industry, a new government report reveals …