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Judge declares U.S. military's 'don't ask, don't tell' policy openly banning gay service members unconstitutional [updated] — A federal judge in Riverside declared the U.S. military's ban on openly gay service members unconstitutional Thursday, saying the “don't ask, don't tell” …
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Judge Rules That Military Policy Violates Rights of Gays — The “don't ask, don't tell” policy toward gay members of the military is unconstitutional, a federal judge in California ruled Thursday. — Judge Virginia A. Phillips of Federal District Court struck down the rule in an opinion issued late in the day.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, Above the Law and Daily Kos

Judge: Military's ban on gays is unconstitutional — RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A federal judge in Southern California has declared the U.S. military's ban on openly gay service members unconstitutional. — U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips on Thursday granted a request for an injunction halting …
Discussion:
All articles at Blogcritics, Gawker, GayPatriot, THEROOT.COM and The Moderate Voice

Federal judge overturns 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' — A Federal Judge in California has ruled that the ban on gays in the military violates the Constitutional rights of gay and lesbian soldiers to due process and to freedom of expression. — District Court Judge Virginia Phillips …
Discussion:
theblogprof, The Confluence, Hit & Run, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and TPMMuckraker


Pastor cancels Quran-burning, then reconsiders — GAINESVILLE, Fla. - An anti-Islamic preacher backed off and then threatened to reconsider burning the Quran on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, angrily accusing a Muslim leader of lying to him Thursday with a promise to move an Islamic center …
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Coverage of Koran Case Stirs Questions on Media Role — A renegade pastor and his tiny flock set fire to a Koran on a street corner, and made sure to capture it on film. And they were ignored. — That stunt took place in 2008, involving members of the Westboro Baptist Church from Topeka …
Discussion:
PostPartisan, Right Wing News, The Daily Dish, No More Mister Nice Blog and Balloon Juice, more at Mediagazer »


Fla. imam: No deal to move NYC mosque — GAINESVILLE, Fla. - A Florida imam says that no deal has been reached to move the site of a mosque at the site of ground zero in exchange for a Florida minister to call off plans to burn Qurans. — Imam Muhammad Musri tells The Associated Press …


Quran burning on again? Florida pastor says maybe
Discussion:
The BRAD BLOG, TalkLeft and Firedoglake

Beyond belief: Koran-burning called off …
Discussion:
Mediaite, THEROOT.COM, ABCNEWS and The Jawa Report

Fox News says it will not cover burning of Quran
Discussion:
TVNewser, PostPartisan, Mediaite, AMERICAblog News, Reuters, msnbc.com, The Hill, Neptunus Lex, Raw Story, CNN, Don Surber, Romenesko, The Wire, ABCNEWS and JustOneMinute, more at Techmeme »

Florida pastor says he's reconsidering plan to burn Korans
Discussion:
Politics Daily, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, The Politico, Associated Press, Sister Toldjah, Swampland and Daniel W. Drezner

Westboro Baptist Church to burn Qurans if Dove doesn't
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers and RealClearPolitics Video Log

Fla. minister cancels burning of Qurans on 9/11
Discussion:
Hot Air, Local News from Star-Banner and Mediaite

Colin Powell Says Ground Zero Mosque Should Go Forward
Discussion:
The Reaction, The Talking Dog, Think Progress, Raw Story, Weasel Zippers, Balloon Juice and HotAirPundit

What if media had ignored Terry Jones?
Discussion:
Agence France Presse, NewsBusters.org, Hot Air, ABCNEWS, Hit & Run, Yahoo! News, CNN and GayPatriot, more at Mediagazer »


Top Adviser to Lead Panel on Economy — WASHINGTON — President Obama on Friday will promote a longtime economic adviser, Austan D. Goolsbee, to chairman of his Council of Economic Advisers, signaling continuity even as a high unemployment rate has left much of the public dissatisfied with administration policies.
Discussion:
Ezra Klein, The Page and The Politico
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Officials: Goolsbee to get key economic post at White House — Washington (CNN) - President Obama could announce as early as Friday morning that he will tap Austan Goolsbee to be chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, according to two senior administration officials familiar with the announcement.
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog and The Politico


Bring solar power back to the White House — A few of us have spent the past week carefully transporting a relic of American history down the East Coast, trying to return it to the White House, where it belongs. — It's not a painting spirited from the Lincoln Bedroom or an antique sideboard stolen …
Discussion:
Wonk Room, The Washington Independent and The Atlantic Online


Pentagon Plan: Buying Books to Keep Secrets — WASHINGTON — Defense Department officials are negotiating to buy and destroy all 10,000 copies of the first printing of an Afghan war memoir they say contains intelligence secrets, according to two people familiar with the dispute.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo

Americans OK Allowing Tax Cuts for Wealthy to Expire — One in three favor keeping tax cuts for all taxpayers — PRINCETON, NJ — A majority of Americans favor letting the tax cuts enacted during the Bush administration expire for the wealthy. While 37% support keeping the tax cuts for all Americans …
Discussion:
The New Republic, Politics Daily, The Page, Hotline On Call, Hullabaloo and Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!
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Dart, Meeks take top two in first Chicago mayor poll — But all 9 in statistical dead heat; 'don't know' leads with 35% — It's Chicago's first open-seat mayoral election in more than 60 years, and the field is wide open. — Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart and state Sen. James Meeks might …
Discussion:
Washington Wire, Ben Smith's Blog, WBBM-TV, Ballot Box, NBC Chicago and The Politico


Massive Cache of Iraq War Docs to Be Published by WikiLeaks — A massive cache of previously unpublished classified U.S. military documents from the Iraq War is being readied for publication by WikiLeaks, a new report has confirmed. — The documents constitute the “biggest leak of military intelligence” …
Discussion:
Samizdata.net and The Agonist
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If Obama names Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic base erupts like a volcano and votes — Within hours and possibly minutes I expect the president will name Elizabeth Warren to lead the new consumer protection agency, and if he does, the Democratic base will erupt and turn out to vote …
Discussion:
JustOneMinute


Phil Davison Of Freakout Viral Video Has Never Used YouTube: ‘It Was On Some Kind Of Electronic Server’ — More people have seen Phil Davison's impassioned plea to become county treasurer than live in his tiny town of Minerva, Ohio, but Davison told TPM in an interview today he wasn't familiar …
Discussion:
Swampland
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Obama to face hungry press corps — With his presidency at a crossroads, President Obama will face the media Friday at his first press conference since the spring. — As an increasing number of political analysts predict that Republicans will win the House this fall …
Discussion:
CNN

9/11: Emotional, Political Flashpoint Nine Years After Attacks — Former New York Gov. George Pataki, Sept. 11 Victims' Families Lament Politicization of Tragedy — Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck will rendezvous in Alaska Saturday for what Palin calls a gathering of “patriots who will ‘never forget’” the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
Discussion:
The Politico

Science scorned … The anti-science strain pervading the right wing in the United States is the last thing the country needs in a time of economic challenge. … “The four corners of deceit: government, academia, science and media. Those institutions are now corrupt and exist by virtue of deceit.
Discussion:
DownWithTyranny!, The Huffington Post, Liberal Values and Climate Progress

Statement by Apple on App Store Review Guidelines — The App Store℠ has revolutionized the way mobile applications are developed and distributed. With over 250,000 apps and 6.5 billion downloads, the App Store has become the world's largest mobile application platform and App Store developers …
Discussion:
Scott Rosenberg's Wordyard, New York Times, Washington Post, ReadWriteWeb, msnbc.com and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »


China's UN diplomat in drunken rant against Americans — China's top-ranking UN diplomat embarked on a drunken rant against the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, telling his boss he'd “never liked” him, and adding for good measure that he didn't like Americans either.
Discussion:
Weekly Standard
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EXCLUSIVE: After a Year of Setbacks, U.N. Looks to Take Charge of World's Agenda
Discussion:
Questions and Observations, Infowars and AmSpecBlog