memeorandum: Health overhaul to force changes in employer plans (Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar/Associated Press)

12:10 PM ET, June 12, 2010

Top Items:

Roger Simon / The Politico:

Obama to POLITICO: Some in Congress hypocritical on spill — President Barack Obama said Friday that some members of Congress are being hypocritical when it comes to blaming the White House for its handling of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. — In an interview with POLITICO …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, JustOneMinute, Beltway Confidential, Washington Monthly, Riehl World View, Connecting.the.Dots, Comments from Left Field, The Confluence, Weasel Zippers, Sister Toldjah, YID With LID, RedState, Viking Pundit, Patterico's Pontifications and The Page

Josh Gerstein / The Politico:

Enviros give Obama a pass on spill — Last week, it seemed, environmentalists were finally ready to let loose on President Barack Obama over the Gulf oil spill. — Actress Q'orianka Kilcher chained herself to the White House fence while her mother slathered the “Pocahontas” star in black paint meant to look like oozing crude.

Hugh Tomlinson / Times of London:

Saudi Arabia gives Israel clear skies to attack Iranian nuclear sites — Saudi Arabia has conducted tests to stand down its air defences to enable Israeli jets to make a bombing raid on Iran's nuclear facilities, The Times can reveal. — In the week that the UN Security Council imposed …

Discussion: Hot Air, American Power, Weasel Zippers, Outside the Beltway, Comments from Left Field, Commentary, Jay Currie and Patterico's Pontifications

Danny Hakim / New York Times:

State Wants to Borrow From Pension Fund, to Pay the Fund — ALBANY — Gov. David A. Paterson and legislative leaders have tentatively agreed to allow the state and municipalities to borrow nearly $6 billion to help them make their required annual payments to the state pension fund.

Discussion: Hot Air and Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog

Amy Gardner / Washington Post:

‘Tea party’ candidates hurt by lack of organization in movement — The polls hadn't even closed Tuesday when “tea party” activists in Nevada started sniping at one another over whether Sharron Angle, the soon-to-be Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, was the best candidate to bring down Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid.

Discussion: New York Times, Liberal Values, Liberty Pundits Blog, Prairie Weather and Hot Air

Louise Radnofsky / Washington Wire:

Angle, Reid and a Crowded Ballot — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has a tough road ahead in his re-election bid. But the Nevada Democrat may have one important factor in his favor: Voters who oppose him could be divided among several candidates. — The Silver State's ballot …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Ballot Access News, Daily Kos and TPMDC

Dexter Filkins / New York Times:

Karzai Is Said to Doubt West Can Defeat Taliban — KABUL, Afghanistan — Two senior Afghan officials were showing President Hamid Karzai the evidence of the spectacular rocket attack on a nationwide peace conference earlier this month when Mr. Karzai told them that he believed the Taliban were not responsible.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Washington Monthly, Swampland, JustOneMinute, Outside the Beltway, SWJ Blog, The Corner on National …, ATTACKERMAN and The Agonist

Jason Blevins / Denver Post:

Raft guide arrested after helping stranded rafter on Clear Creek — Clear Creek sheriff's deputies on Thursday arrested a rafting guide for swimming to a stranded young rafter who had tumbled from his boat on Clear Creek. — Ryan Daniel Snodgrass, a 28-year-old guide with Arkansas Valley …

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications and LewRockwell.com Blog

Walter Shapiro / Politics Daily:

Nikki Haley and Rand Paul Races: Where Have All the Reporters Gone? — On the cusp of her historic landslide victory in the South Carolina GOP gubernatorial primary, Nikki Haley swooped into Hartsville last Saturday afternoon. More than 100 Tea Party activists waited in the scorching heat …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

New York Times:

Flash Floods Sweep Through Arkansas Camps — LODI, Ark. — At least 16 people were killed and dozens more were unaccounted for after flash floods raged through campgrounds in western Arkansas early Friday morning. — As many as 300 people, including families with vehicles and off-road backpackers …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars

Jill Zeman Bleed / Associated Press:
Flash floods kill at least 16 at Ark. campground

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications

Scott Mayerowitz / ABCNEWS:
At Least 20 Campers Killed in Arkansas Flash Flood

Discussion: New Jersey Online and Scared Monkeys

Geoffrey Wheatcroft / Daily Mail:

America's ALWAYS tried to do down Britain — Has the worm turned at last? As the oil continues to gush in the Gulf of Mexico, angry rhetoric has gushed from President Barack Obama's lips. His rabid denunciations of BP have damaged the interests not only of that company but of most British people …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Michelle Malkin and Grist

Julian Pecquet / The Hill:

Boehner: Dems busy with ‘backroom deals’ so they don't have to pass budget — This week's Republican address was all about jobs, jobs, jobs - and how Democrats aren't creating any. — House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) focused on the largely jobless recovery and the rising deficit, which he said are linked.

Discussion: CNN and The Politico

Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar / Associated Press:

Health overhaul to force changes in employer plans — WASHINGTON (AP) - Over and over in the health care debate, President Barack Obama said people who like their current coverage would be able to keep it. — But an early draft of an administration regulation estimates that many employers …

Discussion: Investor's Business Daily, NewsBusters.org, The Corner on National … and Liberty Pundits Blog

Zaid Jilani / Think Progress:

Schumer Says It ‘Makes Sense’ To ‘Strangle [Gaza] Economically’ Until It Votes The Way Israel Wants — This past Wednesday, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) delivered a wide-ranging speech at an Orthodox Union event in Washington, D.C. The senator's lecture touched on areas such as Iran's nuclear program …

Discussion: Informed Comment, The Moderate Voice, ou.org, Taylor Marsh, Hullabaloo, Firedoglake and Mondoweiss

Adam Klawonn / Yahoo! News:

Arizona's Next Immigration Target: Children of Illegals — “Anchor babies” isn't a very endearing term, but in Arizona those are the words being used to tag children born in the U.S. to illegal immigrants. While not new, the term is increasingly part of the local vernacular because the primary authors …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, The Impolitic, DISSENTING JUSTICE and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Joshua Lott / Newsweek:

Saint Sarah — To white evangelical women, Sarah Palin is a modern-day prophet, preaching God, flag, and family—while remaking the religious right in her own image. — Sarah Palin's pro-woman rallying cry is poised to transform the Christian right into a women's movement.

Discussion: Gateway Pundit, NewsBusters.org, Taylor Marsh, NewsReal Blog, Beltway Confidential, Mediaite, Right Now, The Politico and Jezebel

Michael Hogan / Vanity Fair:
“Sarastopheles,” “Sarah Pagan,” and Other Discarded Newsweek Covers

Discussion: Mediaite and American Power

Fouad Ajami / Wall Street Journal:

Iran and the ‘Freedom Recession’ — Facebook had no answer to the pro-regime vigilantes who ruled the streets. And the U.S. president, who might have helped, stood aside. — Three decades ago, before his final flight to exile, the Shah of Iran had drawn a line: He would not fire on his people.

Discussion: Swampland and Commentary

Tom Schaller / FiveThirtyEight:

Something Fishy in South Carolina? — Is there something suspicious about the results in the US Senate primary victory of unknown Democrat Alvin Greene, who defeated fellow Democrat Vic Rawl, 59 percent to 41 percent? I'm not sure yet, but there is a whiff of something strange going on here.