Top Items:
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
The Flimflam Man — One depressing aspect of American politics is the susceptibility of the political and media establishment to charlatans. You might have thought, given past experience, that D.C. insiders would be on their guard against conservatives with grandiose plans.
Discussion:
Townhall.com, The Nation, culturekitchen, AmSpecBlog, AMERICAblog News, Paul Krugman, DownWithTyranny!, TaxVox, Hullabaloo, No More Mister Nice Blog, Hit & Run, National Review, Clusterstock, Daily Kos, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!, Prairie Weather, Economist's View, Balloon Juice, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Shakesville
RELATED:
James Taranto / Wall Street Journal:
Scalia Was Right — Why the same-sex marriage ruling will stand. — For the first time, a federal judge has held that the Constitution mandates the legal redefinition of marriage. The California Supreme Court had reached a similar conclusion in 2008, and voters responded by amending …
Discussion:
AmSpecBlog, American Spectator, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Betsy's Page, neo-neocon, The BLT, Althouse, RedState, Lean Left, Sadly, No!, ACS Blog, Hot Air and The Huffington Post
RELATED:
David Harsanyi / Denver Post:
Time for a divorce — In the 1500s, a pestering theologian instituted something called the Marriage Ordinance in Geneva, which made “state registration and church consecration” a dual requirement of matrimony. — We have yet to get over this mistake. But isn't it about time we freed marriage from the state?
Discussion:
protein wisdom and GayPatriot
John Schwartz / New York Times:
Conservative Jurist, With Independent Streak — Judge Vaughn R. Walker has ruled on cases involving newspaper mergers, high-tech corporate battles and the Bush administration's use of wiretaps without warrants. But nothing has earned him as much attention — and ire …
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
The alleged political benefits of moderation
The alleged political benefits of moderation
Discussion:
The Monkey Cage, Washington Post, A plain blog about politics, SCOTUSblog and Law Blog
Motoko Rich / New York Times:
Private Growth Is Tepid as U.S. Economy Sheds Jobs Overall — With the American economic recovery hanging in the balance, private employers added 71,000 jobs in July, up from a downwardly revised 31,000 in June but below the consensus forecast of 90,000. The unemployment rate stayed steady at 9.5 percent.
Discussion:
Daily Kos, Reuters, Economix, Political Byline, BBC, Bloomberg, Salon, Guardian, The Atlantic Online, Outside the Beltway, Taylor Marsh, Wonkette, The Other McCain, The Moderate Voice, The Washington Independent, NewsBusters.org, TalkLeft, Wake up America, Truthdig, Left Coast Rebel, AmSpecBlog, National Review, FP Passport and The Big Picture
RELATED:
Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Employers Shed Jobs — Unemployment Rate Held Steady at 9.5% in July — WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy shed more jobs than expected in July while the unemployment rate held steady at 9.5%, a further sign the economic recovery may be losing momentum.
Discussion:
CNBC, Real Time Economics, Clusterstock, The Caucus, Think Progress, Don Surber and Moe Lane
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Private Sector Adding Jobs, State Budget Crises Killing Economy — The new unemployment report highlights the fact that the economy remains lousy and John Boehner is going to be the next Speaker of the House of Representatives. Ironically, it also demonstrates the bankruptcy of Boehner's way of thinking.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and Right Wing Nut House
RELATED:
Bloomberg:
Obama Fed Board Pick Diamond Gets Referred Back to White House by Senate — The Senate sent the nomination of Peter Diamond, one of President Barack Obama's three nominees for the Federal Reserve Board, back to the White House because of objections from at least one lawmaker.
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias, Reuters, Economist's View, Brendan Nyhan, The Washington Independent, The Caucus and Firedoglake
RELATED:
Lori Montgomery / Washington Post:
Christina Romer, chair of Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, to resign
Christina Romer, chair of Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, to resign
Discussion:
CNN, New York Times, The Atlantic Online, Ezra Klein, Wonk Room, The New Republic, Marathon Pundit, Hotline On Call and Greg Mankiw's Blog
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
What Collapsing Empire looks like — As we enter our ninth year of the War in Afghanistan with an escalated force, and continue to occupy Iraq indefinitely, and feed an endlessly growing Surveillance State, reports are emerging of the Deficit Commission hard at work planning how to cut Social Security …
Discussion:
The Mahablog, The Atlantic Online and TPMDC
RELATED:
Michael Cooper / New York Times:
Governments Go to Extremes as the Downturn Wears On — Plenty of businesses and governments furloughed workers this year, but Hawaii went further — it furloughed its schoolchildren. Public schools across the state closed on 17 Fridays during the past school year to save money …
Discussion:
Clusterstock and Ezra Klein
Gretchen Morgenson / New York Times:
Exotic Deals Put Denver Schools Deeper in Debt — In the spring of 2008, the Denver public school system needed to plug a $400 million hole in its pension fund. Bankers at JPMorgan Chase offered what seemed to be a perfect solution. — The bankers said that the school system …
RELATED:
CNN:
Sen. Bennet pushes back against critical report — Sen. Michael Bennet is pushing back against a critical report published Friday in the New York Times. — (CNN) - A front page article in Friday's New York Times could spell trouble for Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado …
Discussion:
Hotline On Call
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
IGNORING AN ALARM.... In light of the latest discouraging jobs report — the third consecutive month in which the job totals were disappointing — there's an obvious course ahead. Heidi Shierholz, an economist from the Economic Policy Institute, said, “The economic case for more government action …
Discussion:
The Politico, Eschaton and The Page
RELATED:
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
YET ANOTHER DISCOURAGING JOBS REPORT.... With the Census Bureau …
YET ANOTHER DISCOURAGING JOBS REPORT.... With the Census Bureau …
Discussion:
Power Line, Associated Press, Ezra Klein and msnbc.com
Christina Romer / White House.gov Blog Feed:
The Employment Situation in July
The Employment Situation in July
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, Guardian, CNN and The Swamp
CNN:
RNC approves 2012 nominating calendar — The RNC has approved a 2012 presidential calendar that pushes the first GOP primaries to February 2012. — Kansas City, Missouri (CNN) - The Republican National Committee on Friday passed an amendment that would shift the 2012 presidential calendar …
Discussion:
Weekly Standard
RELATED:
Brookings Institute:
2010 Arab Public Opinion Poll: Results of Arab Opinion Survey Conducted June 29-July 20, 2010 — Shibley Telhami, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Saban Center for Middle East Policy — On Thursday, August 5, Shibley Telhami, Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development …
RELATED:
Marc Lynch / Foreign Policy:
Arab confidence in Obama collapsing
Arab confidence in Obama collapsing
Discussion:
The Daily Dish, The League of Ordinary … and Daniel W. Drezner
New York Sun:
Palin's Fraternal Greetings — No sooner had President Obama concluded his dirge before the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations than Sarah Palin was out with a posting on her Facebook page, commiserating with her husband's fellow union members on having to sit through another “Blame Bush” lecture.
Discussion:
Weekly Standard
RELATED:
Alan Snyder / Big Government:
Ridicule and Disdain: The Reagan-Palin Connection
Ridicule and Disdain: The Reagan-Palin Connection
Discussion:
Whiskey Fire and Da Techguy's Blog
Kenzaburo Oe / New York Times:
Hiroshima and the Art of Outrage — THE Futenma Marine Corps Air Station on Okinawa, one of the largest United States military bases in East Asia, is in the center of a crowded city. The American and Japanese governments acknowledge the dangers of this situation, and they agreed nearly 15 years ago …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Pajamas Media, American Power and Questions and Observations
RELATED:
Martin Fackler / New York Times:
U.S. Envoy Attends Hiroshima Event
U.S. Envoy Attends Hiroshima Event
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Commentary and Guardian
Andy Barr / The Politico:
Sharron Angle opposes gay adoption — Sharron Angle doesn't believe gays should be able to adopt, according to a questionnaire she filled out. AP — Nevada GOP Senate candidate Sharron Angle believes that gays should not be allowed to adopt children and that religious leaders should be allowed …
Discussion:
Wonkette
RELATED:
Anjeanette Damon / Las Vegas News …:
Sharron Angle's views rooted in biblical law
Sharron Angle's views rooted in biblical law
Discussion:
Liberty Pundits Blog
The Huffington Post:
Dean: Individual Mandate Will Be Removed From Health Care Reform By 2014 — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — Former DNC Chairman Howard Dean has never been a fan of the individual mandate for insurance coverage, both on policy and political grounds. And once Senate negotiators removed any hope …
Discussion:
Think Progress, Center for American Progress, Raw Story, Taylor Marsh and Prime Buzz
Wall Street Journal:
America Is at Risk of Boiling Over — And out-of-touch leaders don't see the need to cool things off. — It is, obviously, self-referential to quote yourself, but I do it to make a point. I wrote the following on New Year's day, 1994. America 16 years ago was a relatively content nation …
Discussion:
Mediaite and Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog
David Weigel / Washington Post:
Five myths about the ‘tea party’ — The grass-roots conservative activists who march under the “Don't tread on me” Gadsen flag and the “tea party” label have put a new twist on Gandhi's maxim: First they were ignored; then they were ridiculed; then they began to fight.
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, sisu, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Don Surber