Top Items:
Denise Lavoie / Associated Press:
Judge: Federal gay marriage ban unconstitutional — BOSTON — A U.S. judge in Boston has ruled that a federal gay marriage ban is unconstitutional because it interferes with the right of a state to define marriage. — U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro on Thursday ruled in favor …
Discussion:
The Daily Dish, Hot Air, GLAD breaking news …, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Raw Story, TalkLeft, ACS Blog, Shakesville, The Eye and Truthdig
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Balkinization:
Be Careful What You Wish For Department: Federal District Court Strikes Down DOMA — Today Judge Joseph Tauro in the federal district court in Massachusetts struck down section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in two opinions, Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, and Massachusetts v. HHS.
Michael Levenson / Boston Globe:
Judge declares US gay-marriage ban is unconstitutional — A federal district court judge in Boston today struck down the 1996 federal law that defines marriage as a union exclusively between a man and a woman. — Judge Joseph L. Tauro ruled that the federal Defense of Marriage law violates …
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Law Blog, Mediaite, The Moderate Voice, Above the Law and GLAD breaking news …
The Huffington Post:
Sharron Angle's Advice For Rape Victims Considering Abortion: Turn Lemons Into Lemonade — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle has moderated a host of policy positions in her transition from a primary candidate to general election contender battling Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Discussion:
TPMDC, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, theblogprof, Washington Monthly, Gawker, msnbc.com, RHRealityCheck.org, Hullabaloo, DaTechguy's Blog and Shakesville
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Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Sharron Angle: The $20 billion in BP escrow cash was “slush fund” — Looks like Sharron Angle has now had her ultimate Rand Paul moment: During a radio appearance she labeled the $20 billion BP escrow fund secured by the White House as a “slush fund.” — Angle also seemed to agree …
Discussion:
Think Progress, Mother Jones, Swing State Project, Washington Monthly, Little Green Footballs, msnbc.com and TPMDC
Tanya Somanader / Think Progress:
Angle: Rape victims should use their pregnancies as a way to turn …
Angle: Rape victims should use their pregnancies as a way to turn …
Discussion:
ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES
Haaretz:
Obama: Israelis suspicious of me because my middle name is Hussein — U.S. president tells Channel 2 Israel is unlikely to attack Iran without coordinating with the U.S. — U.S. President Barack Obama told Channel 2 News on Wednesday that he believed Israel would not try to surprise the U.S. with a unilateral attack on Iran.
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Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Octavia Nasr's firing and what The Liberal Media allows — (updated below) — CNN yesterday ended the 20-year career of Octavia Nasr, its Atlanta-based Senior Middle East News Editor, because of a now-deleted tweet she wrote on Sunday upon learning of the death of one of the Shiite world's …
Benjamin Kerstein / The New Ledger:
The Paper Greenwald — The fallout from the Gaza flotilla incident …
The Paper Greenwald — The fallout from the Gaza flotilla incident …
Carol E. Lee / The Politico:
Obama's new slogan: ‘Yes we did!’ — KANSAS CITY, Mo. — President Barack Obama has a new campaign slogan. — “Yes, we did.” — And it doesn't stop there. Republicans, an animated Obama argued Thursday, wouldn't have. — They wouldn't have set the economy back on track …
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers
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Reid Wilson / Hotline On Call:
Carnahan Drops Prices For Obama Event
Carnahan Drops Prices For Obama Event
Discussion:
Ballot Box, Kansas City Star, Las Vegas Sun, Left Coast Rebel, Wake up America, RedState, National Review and Taylor Marsh
Shane D'Aprile / Ballot Box:
GOP: Obama Missouri trip helps them
San Francisco Chronicle:
Mehserle convicted of involuntary manslaughter — (07-08) 16:22 PDT LOS ANGELES — A jury found former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle guilty today of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the New Year's Day 2009 shooting of an unarmed train rider, finding that he had acted …
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Zombie / Pajamas Media:
Leftist groups plan a riot as Oakland boards up downtown — UPDATE: Johannes Mehserle has been convicted of Involuntary Manslaughter of Oscar Grant. — Oakland is boarded up. — Fearing the inevitable riots that will erupt if ex-transit cop Johannes Mehserle isn't found guilty of murder …
David Weigel / Esquire:
How I Learned to Stop Worrying & Love Sarah Palin (Kinda) — I hailed the cab outside the offices of The Huffington Post around 10:30 P.M., bone-tired, slumping into my seat. Five seconds later, the call came in from a number I didn't recognize. At that moment, I knew I was screwed.
Diana Furchtgott-Roth / RealClearMarkets:
Racial, Gender Quotas in the Financial Bill? — WASHINGTON - What one finds when reading congressional legislation is invariably surprising. Take the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill, for instance, which was created by merging Senate and House bills. When the Senate returns from recess …
Discussion:
Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, Don Surber, The Corner on National …, EconLog, LewRockwell.com Blog and Real Clear Politics
David Streitfeld / New York Times:
Walking Away From Million-Dollar Mortgages — LOS ALTOS, Calif. — No need for tears, but the well-off are losing their master suites and saying goodbye to their wine cellars. — The housing bust that began among the working class in remote subdivisions and quickly progressed …
Carolyn Jones / San Francisco Chronicle:
S.F. considers banning sale of pets except fish — Sell a guinea pig, go to jail. — That's the law under consideration by San Francisco's Commission of Animal Control and Welfare. If the commission approves the ordinance at its meeting tonight, San Francisco could soon have what is believed …
Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Online:
Spy Swap a Sign That Reset Is Working — Sure, U.S. and Russian spy services are agitating for a spy swap, but the fact that the two countries managed to so quickly figure out a mutually beneficial solution after the arrests of Russian spies last week suggests that Moscow and Washington work together …
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New York Times:
The Constitution Trumps Arizona — The Obama administration has not always been completely clear about its immigration agenda, but it was forthright Tuesday when it challenged the pernicious Arizona law that allows the police to question the immigration status of people they detain for local violations.
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Arthur B. Laffer / Wall Street Journal:
Unemployment Benefits Aren't Stimulus — Let's not reduce the incentive to find work. A federal tax holiday is a better way to cut the high jobless rate. — The current debate over extending and increasing federal unemployment benefits encapsulates the disagreement between the Democrats …
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, TBogg, Conservatives4Palin.com, Think Progress, The Other McCain and EconLog
Ben White / The Politico:
W.H.: We're not anti-business — The White House has launched a coordinated campaign to push back against the perception taking hold in corporate America and on Wall Street that President Barack Obama is promoting an anti-business agenda. — Obama has been happy to be seen by voters …
The Huffington Post:
Democrats Fear They Can't Match $200 Million GOP Campaign Avalanche — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — Over the past few weeks, top strategists throughout the Democratic Party have been passed a chart by a concerned, well-respected operative underscoring the daunting task they face in the 2010 elections.
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Suburban Guerrilla, Ian Welsh, Taylor Marsh, AFL-CIO NOW BLOG, Corrente and Washington Monthly
Eric Alterman / The Nation:
Kabuki Democracy: Why a Progressive Presidency Is Impossible, for Now — Few progressives would take issue with the argument that, significant accomplishments notwithstanding, the Obama presidency has been a big disappointment. As Mario Cuomo famously observed, candidates campaign in poetry but govern in prose.
Discussion:
Balloon Juice
Lars Bevanger / BBC:
Norway no longer safe from harm — Most Norwegians reacted with disbelief when al-Qaeda - seemingly out-of-the-blue -threatened to attack the Scandinavian country back in 2003. — There was even speculation al-Qaeda had mistaken Norway for neighbouring Denmark, which at the time had sent troops to support the US invasion of Iraq.
Dan Whitcomb / Reuters:
Democratic senator's lead shrinks in California: poll — (Reuters) - Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer's edge over Republican challenger Carly Fiorina has dwindled to 3 points as she seeks re-election in November, with more Californians now holding an unfavorable view of the three-term senator, a poll released on Thursday showed.
City Journal:
The Beholden State — How public-sector unions broke California — The camera focuses on an official of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), California's largest public-employee union, sitting in a legislative chamber and speaking into a microphone.
Manu Raju / The Politico:
Holder: Spill probe not confined to BP — ASPEN, Colo. — Attorney General Eric Holder signaled here that the Justice Department may be conducting a sweeping criminal investigation into the Gulf Coast oil spill, saying that its suspected targets may cover more than just BP.