memeorandum: Earth will bite us back, warns Irons (Amy Turner/Times of London)

3:40 PM ET, May 23, 2010

Top Items:

Palin: Maddow Was ‘Prejudiced’ In Her Rand Paul Interview — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin accused MSNBC's Rachel Maddow on Sunday of conducting a “prejudiced” interview with Rand Paul, in which the Tea Party candidate infamously aired skepticism about the reach of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, No More Mister Nice Blog and FrumForum

Frank Rich / New York Times:

The ‘Randslide’ and Its Discontents — IF there is one certain outcome to recent American elections, it's this: The results will invariably prove most of the Beltway's settled political narratives wrong. — Tuesday's pre-midterms were no exception. We were told that all incumbents …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Prairie Weather, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic Wire, NewsBusters.org, New York Times, Big Brass Blog and Daily Kos

Political Punch:

Steele not comfortable with Rand Paul's views on civil rights — In a “This Week” interview Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said he was not comfortable with Rand Paul's views on civil rights. Steele's comments came in a debate with DNC Chairman Tim Kaine.

Discussion: Firedoglake, New York Times, Mediaite, Time, Gawker and Washington Monthly

Fox News:

Rand Paul is Learning What It's Like to Be Me, Says Sarah Palin — Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul is feeling what it is like to be Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice presidential candidate said Sunday, comparing the media's preoccupation with Paul's recent statements …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
QUOTE OF THE DAY.... Following up on an earlier item …

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Political Punch and Balloon Juice

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Steele and Kaine stand by Paul, Blumenthal despite controversies

Discussion: CNN

Maamoun Youssef / Associated Press:

Yemeni cleric advocates killing US civilians — CAIRO - An American-Yemeni cleric whose Internet sermons are believed to have helped inspire attacks on the U.S. has advocated the killing of American civilians in an al-Qaida video released Sunday. — Anwar al-Awlaki has been singled …

Discussion: Associated Press, The Talking Dog, The Jawa Report, American Power, Jihad Watch, Liberty Pundits Blog and Weasel Zippers

Amena Bakr / Reuters:

U.S. cleric urges Muslims to kill U.S. soldiers — (Reuters) - A U.S.-born militant cleric has urged Muslims to kill U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan and vowed to step up attacks against the U.S. military, according to a videotape released on Sunday. — Anwar al-Awlaki …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, The Page and FrumForum

B.J. Reyes / Star Bulletin:

Djou wins special election for Congress — Hanabusa leads Case with nearly all the votes counted — Republican Charles Djou emerged victorious tonight in the special election to fill Hawaii's vacancy in Congress, giving Hawaii it's first GOP member of Congress in 20 years.

Discussion: Outside The Beltway, Weasel Zippers, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Impolitic, The Other McCain, No Sheeples Here, Another Black Conservative, Wake up America and Scared Monkeys

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Charles Djou, Republicans capture Hawaii House seat

Discussion: Politics Daily, Taylor Marsh, Washington Post, American Power, Weekly Standard, Big Government and Freedom's Lighthouse

B.J. Reyes / Star Bulletin:
Special race draws 50% of voters

Discussion: Daily Kos and Gateway Pundit

Associated Press:
Republicans Capture House Seat in Obama's Hometown

Discussion: Associated Press, Michelle Malkin and Gateway Pundit

Amy Turner / Times of London:

Earth will bite us back, warns Irons — There are too many humans and disease may restore the balance, the actor claims — The world is becoming so overpopulated that nature will one day wreak its revenge, claims Jeremy Irons, the actor. — Launching himself as a green campaigner …

Discussion: blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Dennis the Peasant, JammieWearingFool and normblog

Satyamkhanna / Matthew Yglesias:

Washington Post: ‘Most women...cross their legs when sitting, but not Elena Kagan.’ — Given that the oil spill, along with other events, has overshadowed the recent SCOTUS nomination, I was scouring my RSS for news this morning regarding Elena Kagan and stumbled upon this …

Washington Post:
Elena Kagan goes on Supreme Court confirmation offensive in drab D.C. clothes

Discussion: Althouse and Mediaite

Arthur C. Brooks / Washington Post:

America's new culture war: Free enterprise vs. government control — America faces a new culture war. — This is not the culture war of the 1990s. It is not a fight over guns, gays or abortion. Those old battles have been eclipsed by a new struggle between two competing visions of the country's future.

Discussion: Dennis the Peasant and Matthew Yglesias

Pat G. / Think Progress:

Sen. Lamar Alexander Advocates A Government Takeover Of BP — The oil spill that resulted from a British Petroleum rig exploding in the Gulf of Mexico is still continuing unabated, and many scientists are now saying that BP and the Obama administration are downplaying the amount of oil that is gushing into the water.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Ann Althouse / Althouse:

If you're going to criticize the new social studies curriculum adopted by the Texas Board of Education, you'd better quote it. — Or at least link to the text. And if you choose to paraphrase and not even link, and I have to look up the text myself, and your paraphrase is not accurate …