memeorandum: Recession rips at US marriages, expands income gap (Hope Yen/Associated Press)

12:40 AM ET, September 29, 2010

Top Items:

Jann S. Wenner / Rolling Stone:

Obama in Command: The Rolling Stone Interview — In an Oval Office interview, the president discusses the Tea Party, the war, the economy and what's at stake this November — The following is an article from the October 15, 2010 issue of Rolling Stone. — We arrived at the southwest gate …

Wall Street Journal:

Tea-Party Movement Gathers Strength — The tea party has emerged as a potent force in American politics and a center of gravity within the Republican Party, with a large majority of Republicans showing an affinity for the movement that has repeatedly bucked the GOP leadership this year …

Discussion: Another Black Conservative, CNN and Hot Air

Matt Taibbi / Rolling Stone:

Tea & Crackers — How corporate interests and Republican insiders built the Tea Party monster — This is an article from the October 15, 2010 issue of Rolling Stone, available on newsstands on October 1, 2010. — It's taken three trips to Kentucky, but I'm finally getting …

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
A PASSIONATE PLEA.... President Obama sat down with Rolling …

Discussion: Liberal Values, Mother Jones, Mediaite, Wonk Room, Frank Chow: Asian, Political Punch, Wonkette, New York Magazine, TalkLeft and The Daily Caller

The FOX Nation:
President of the United States Loves Gangsta Rap

Discussion: The Huffington Post, American Power, alicublog, Gawker, Althouse, Swampland, Washington Monthly, The New Republic and Marbury

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

Another Christine O'Donnell embellishment: She misleadingly claims she studied at Oxford — In another move that will raise further questions about Christine O'Donnell's embellishment of her education record, she claims she studied at the University of Oxford — but a look at her actual record shows …

Discussion: gary scott, Rough Sketch, Firedoglake, Politics Daily, Mediaite, Guardian, Think Progress, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Lez Get Real, Outside the Beltway, Washington Monthly, Wonkette, The Atlantic Online, Mock, Paper, Scissors, Daily Kos, New York Magazine and msnbc.com

Christina Bellantoni / TPMDC:

Christine O'Donnell Lies About Attending Oxford University — Senate nominee Christine O'Donnell (R-DE) proclaimed on her LinkedIn the University of Oxford under “education,” but it turns out that's another exaggeration on her resume. The claim is that O'Donnell earned a certificate …

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Joe. My. God. and Hot Air

Manu Raju / The Politico:

DeMint vows roadblock — South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint warned Monday evening that he would block all legislation that has not been cleared by his office in the final days of the pre-election session. — Bret Bernhardt, DeMint's chief of staff, said in an e-mail to GOP aides that his boss …

Discussion: The Hill, The Reality-Based Community, Economist's View, Ezra Klein, Opinion L.A., CNN, Open Congress, Oliver Willis, Free exchange, Washington Monthly, Firedoglake, Wake up America, Outside the Beltway and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
Jim DeMint Plans To Grind Senate To A Halt

Discussion: The New Republic and The Political Carnival

Ezra Klein:
Did Jim DeMint just take control of the Senate?

Discussion: The New Republic and Weigel

Laurie Goodstein / New York Times:

Basic Religion Test Stumps Many Americans — Americans are by all measures a deeply religious people, but they are also deeply ignorant about religion. — Researchers from the independent Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life phoned more than 3,400 Americans and asked them 32 questions about the Bible …

Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life:

Nonreligious Knowledge — For comparison purposes, the survey also included nine questions about knowledge of topics other than religion. These consisted of two questions about politics (the name of the vice president of the United States and which political party currently holds a majority …

Discussion: Top of the Ticket, The Political Carnival and msnbc.com

Jamelle Bouie / American Prospect:
Nonbelievers, Privilege, and Religious Knowledge.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, The League of Ordinary … and Matthew Yglesias

Peggy O'Hare / Houston Chronicle:

Parents: Bullying drove Cy-Fair 8th-grader to suicide — They claim school district took no action — Asher Brown's worn-out tennis shoes still sit in the living room of his Cypress-area home while his student progress report — filled with straight A's — rests on the coffee table.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Lez Get Real, Pam's House Blend, Joe. My. God. and Advocate

John / Power Line:

Is Barack Obama My Keeper? — Some commentators are criticizing President Obama's response to a supporter at a campaign event who asked him why he is a Christian: … I have no interest in questioning Obama's religious faith, which I believe to be sincere.

Discussion: Whiskey Fire, Rumproast and Instapundit

Political Correction RSS:

Anti-Government Crusader Sharron Angle Receives Government Health Care — 6 hours and 13 minutes ago — Matt Finkelstein — Sharron Angle (R-NV) is running for the U.S. Senate with a far-right agenda that can be adequately summed up as “drown the government in the bathtub.”

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Political Carnival, Think Progress and TPMDC

Robert Weisman / Boston Globe:
Harvard Pilgrim cancels Medicare Advantage plan

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Questions and Observations, The Incidental Economist, The Apothecary, AmSpecBlog and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:
Some Good News from California, Assuming Arnold Goes Along

Discussion: Mercury News, Wall Street Journal, Wonk Room and Ezra Klein

Brian Montopoli / CBS News:

Poll: Dogfight in Ohio Governor's Race — CBS News Poll analysis by the CBS News Polling Unit: Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto. — Democratic incumbent Ted Strickland is statistically tied with Republican challenger John Kasich among likely voters …

Discussion: New York Times, Riehl World View and Swing State Project

John Whitesides / Reuters:
Poll gives former Bush official big lead in Ohio

Discussion: Daily Kos and iOwnTheWorld.com

Andy Barr / The Politico:

Rep. Alan Grayson's ‘Taliban’ ad backfires — Rep. Alan Grayson's attempt to equate his Republican challenger with the Taliban is having a big impact — just not the one Grayson may have hoped. — In an ad, Grayson's campaign calls Republican Daniel Webster a “religious fanatic” …

Discussion: Religion Dispatches and iOwnTheWorld.com

Digby / Hullabaloo:
Disavowal Movement Resurgent

Discussion: Religion Dispatches and The Plum Line

Allan Hall / Telegraph:

First World War officially ends — The First World War will officially end on Sunday, 92 years after the guns fell silent, when Germany pays off the last chunk of reparations imposed on it by the Allies. — The final payment of £59.5 million, writes off the crippling debt …

Discussion: newsfeed.time.com, Outside the Beltway, Cato @ Liberty, Wonkette and Gawker

David M. Herszenhorn / New York Times:

Bill to End Tax Provision on U.S. Jobs Is Blocked — WASHINGTON — The Senate on Tuesday rejected efforts by Democratic leaders to advance a bill to end a tax provision that supporters of the measure said encourages American companies to ship jobs overseas.

Discussion: Seeing the Forest

Sky News:

Multi-Attack Terror Plot On European Cities — Alex Watts, Sky News Online — Intelligence agencies have intercepted a terror plot to launch Mumbai-style attacks on Britain and other European countries, according to Sky News sources. … Sky's foreign affairs editor Tim Marshall …

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, The American Pundit, New York Times and Wall Street Journal

Annie Lowrey / The Washington Independent:

The Real Impact of Food Stamp Cuts — Congress is poised to cut food stamps, taking away an extended benefit created by the 2009 stimulus before its original expiry date and setting up an unprecedented “cliff” in food stamps, now known as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits.

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

Dear White House: Here's how to handle the left's “whining” — I had planned to avoid the whole battle over Joe Biden's demand that the Democratic base “stop whining,” because it's impossible to wade into this topic without getting caught up in a food fight over whether Obama and Dems …

Discussion: Eschaton, The Democratic Daily, Salon, CBS News, Ezra Klein, Emptywheel, msnbc.com, Pam's House Blend, The Agonist and Shakesville

Stephanie Vallejo / Boston Globe:

Dukakis shared his strategy for midterm elections at the White House — WASHINGTON — Former Massachusetts Governor Michael S. Dukakis, the failed 1988 presidential nominee, recently visited the White House and delivered his strategy for the midterm elections: pound key precincts across …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Weasel Zippers, Taegan Goddard's … and The American Pundit

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

Pelosi: ‘I fully expect to be speaker of the House five weeks from now’ — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said she still expects to have her job in five weeks after voters head to the polls. — Pelosi, the top Democrat in the House, whose job as speaker makes her third in line to the presidency …

Discussion: The Politico, Media Decoder, CNN, Hot Air, The TrogloPundit, Weasel Zippers, JustOneMinute and The Atlantic Online

Ezra Klein:

CBO: Extending the Bush tax cuts will hurt the economy, reduce incomes — CBO Director Doug Elmendorf testified before the Senate Budget Committee today and dropped something of a bombshell. Extending the Bush tax cuts, he said, will “probably reduce income relative to what would otherwise occur in 2020.”

Discussion: Director's Blog, National Review, TPMDC, Washington Monthly, The Washington Independent and New York Magazine

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Supreme Court Takes Cases on Corporate Rights — WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court added 14 cases to its docket on Tuesday, including three concerning the rights of corporations in unusual settings. — In two of the cases, the justices will consider how the state secrets privilege …

Discussion: SCOTUSblog, The BLT, The Atlantic Online, ACS Blog and Gawker

Molly K. Hooper / The Hill:

Bloomberg to address House GOP — New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is scheduled to address House Republicans on Thursday, according to an invitation obtained by The Hill. — The mayor, a Republican-turned-Independent who is considered a presidential contender, will speak …

Discussion: Another Black Conservative, JammieWearingFool and Beltway Confidential

msnbc.com:

Poll: Battle for Congress tightens between parties — Ethics panel GOP accuses Dems of stalling on trials — Despite what the NBC/WSJ pollsters say is natural tightening, however, the overall dynamics heading into the election remain the same: Nearly six in 10 think the country is headed …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …, Hot Air and The Political Carnival

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:

Pity the Northeast Corridor — If the Boston-to-Washington megalopolis were its own country it would have over five times the population of Sweden and a population density higher than any European country. In other words, nobody woud say it was an area unsuited to intercity passenger rail.

Discussion: NBC Washington and Economix

Hope Yen / Associated Press:

Recession rips at US marriages, expands income gap — WASHINGTON - The recession seems to be socking Americans in the heart as well as the wallet: Marriages have hit an all-time low while pleas for food stamps have reached a record high and the gap between rich and poor has grown to its widest ever.

Discussion: Mediaite, AMERICAblog News and Delaware Way

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

NOW to deliver 1,500 baby bottle nipples to former Sen. Simpson — When former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.) presides over the next meeting of President Obama's fiscal commission, he'll receive a surprising package from a women's rights group upset with one of his controversial comments.

The Note:

O'Donnell Says GOP Leaders ‘Lazy’ in Approach to Health Care Law — ABC News' Devin Dwyer reports: Christine O'Donnell, Delaware's GOP U.S. Senate candidate, broke her week-long silence in the national media this morning calling party leaders' approach to the Democrats' health care reform law “lazy.”

Discussion: The Politico