memeorandum: Liberals fear betrayal by Obama on Social Security in new political climate (Erik Wasson/The Hill)

11:55 AM ET, January 4, 2011

Top Items:

Scalia: Women Don't Have Constitutional Protection Against Discrimination — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? … WASHINGTON — The equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does not protect against discrimination on the basis of gender or sexual orientation, according to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Confederate Yankee, Balkinization, Scholars and Rogues, Hullabaloo and Althouse

callawyer.com:

THE ORIGINALIST — Last October marked the 24th anniversary of Justice Antonin Scalia's appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court. Well known for his sharp wit as well as his originalist approach to the Constitution, Justice Scalia consistently asks more questions during oral arguments and makes …

Discussion: TalkLeft, The Moderate Voice, Wonkette, Shakesville, Raw Story, Towleroad News #gay, Washington Post, The BLT, Pam's House Blend and Advocate

Roger Pilon / Wall Street Journal:
Congress Rediscovers the Constitution

Discussion: National Review and Cold Fury

Liz Goodwin / Yahoo! News:
14 states may target birthright citizenship

Discussion: Flopping Aces, Outside the Beltway and Weasel Zippers

Joshua Green / The Atlantic Online:

Strict Obstructionist — Mitch McConnell is a master manipulator and strategist— the unheralded architect of the Republican resurgence. Now that his relentless tactics have made his party victorious, he is poised to take down the president and win the Senate majority he covets …

Discussion: Yglesias, Ben Smith's Blog, msnbc.com and Connecting.the.Dots

Wall Street Journal:

New Speaker Vows to Share Power—a Tricky Proposition — When John Boehner takes over one of the most powerful jobs in Washington this week, he says his first order of business is to make himself less powerful. — On Wednesday the new speaker of the House of Representatives plans to offer …

Discussion: Publius Forum, A plain blog about politics and Althouse

Erika Niedowski / The Hill:
Obama urges House, Senate GOP leaders to put politics aside

Discussion: CNN, Caffeinated Thoughts, Right Wing News and TPMDC

Paul Kane / Washington Post:

House Republicans set Jan. 12 vote on repeal of health-care law — House Republicans have set Jan. 12 as their day to vote on a repeal of President Obama's health-care law, after a midterm election in which they campaigned against the landmark legislation as a government takeover of the health industry.

Discussion: The Politico, Washington Monthly, Hotline On Call and Big Think

Fox News:
House GOP Health Care Repeal Could Pick Up a Few Dem Votes

Discussion: The Hill and National Review

The Politico:
House freshman throws a party - and GOP cringes

Discussion: National Review, Weigel, CNN, The Political Carnival and Weasel Zippers

rules-republicans.house.gov:
Text of Bills and Resolutions to be Considered during the Weeks …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Nice Deb, The Hill and Doug Ross

Wall Street Journal:
Rules for Smaller Government

Discussion: Betsy's Page

Erik Wasson / The Hill:

Liberals fear betrayal by Obama on Social Security in new political climate — Liberal groups say they are increasingly worried that President Obama will strike a deal with Republicans on Social Security in exchange for a ‘yes’ vote on increasing the nation's debt ceiling.

Discussion: msnbc.com

Roger Hickey / The Huffington Post:

Washington Post refused to print this: President Obama, Ignore the Advice of Your Enemies. Fight for Social Security and Medicare. — What's Your Reaction: — [Note: The following article was rejected by the Washington Post after I asked them to publish it, pointing …

Mark Knoller / CBS News:
National Debt Tops $14 Trillion

Discussion: Top of the Ticket, The Media Consortium, NewsReal Blog, Weasel Zippers, Scared Monkeys, Taylor Marsh, Patterico's Pontifications, Raw Story and Hot Air

Helene C. Cooper / The Caucus:

Ron Klain Leaving Vice President's Staff — 10:26 a.m. | Updated It's not just President Obama who is looking for a new chief of staff. — Ron Klain, Vice President Joe Biden's chief of staff, is leaving his post at the end of January. — Mr. Klain will become president of Case Holdings …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin and The Page

Bloomberg:
Obama Said to Consider William Daley for Top White House Post

The Caucus:
Obama Talks With William Daley About a Job

Discussion: Ezra Klein, Ben Smith's Blog, The Politico, DealBook and Balloon Juice

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:

Incoming House GOP chairmen have a long list of issues to investigate — House Republican leaders announced plans Monday for congressional investigations into a wide range of issues, from corruption in Afghanistan to Washington's regulation of private industries, using the power of their new majority …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, ThinkProgress, THEROOT.COM and The Page

Jackie Calmes / New York Times:
G.O.P. Sets Up Huge Target for Budget Ax

Discussion: Bankrupting America, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, Wonk Room and Washington Post

Darren Goode / The Politico:
Issa to business: Tell me what to fix

Discussion: Yglesias, Washington Monthly and The Hill

Alexander Mooney / CNN:

TRENDING: Palin re-tweet raises questions — (CNN) - Normally, it's what Sarah Palin tweets that makes news. This time it's what she has re-tweeted. — The former Alaska governor Monday relayed a comment from gay conservative pundit Tammy Bruce, who was expressing her criticism …

Discussion: The Politico, The Note, Politics Daily, Gawker and Hot Air

David Dayen / news.firedoglake.com:

Ohio Ruling: No Substitution of Foreclosure Documents in Robo-Signing Cases — Thanks to an obscure ruling from the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, mortgage lenders in the Cleveland, Ohio area trying to substitute new documents for ones found to be faulty will have 30 days to explain …

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Gideon Rachman / Foreign Policy:

Think Again: American Decline — This time it's for real. — “We've Heard All This About American Decline Before.” — This time it's different. — It's certainly true that America has been through cycles of declinism in the past. Campaigning for the presidency in 1960 …

John Rossomando / The Daily Caller: The ACLU's untold Stalinist heritage

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

Obama May Bypass Guantánamo Rules, Aides Say — WASHINGTON — President Obama's legal advisers, confronting the prospect of new restrictions on the transfer of Guantánamo detainees, are debating whether to recommend that he issue a signing statement asserting that his executive powers …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Politics Daily, Daily Kos, Weasel Zippers, ProPublica, Outside the Beltway, Prairie Weather, Oliver Willis, Emptywheel, TalkLeft and TigerHawk

Philip Caulfield / NY Daily News:

Chilling photo captures Philippines politician's killer moments before he is shot dead — A politician in the Philippines who was shot dead while taking a photograph of his family on New Year's Day captured his killer on camera just seconds before the assassin fired the fatal shots.

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications

Gil Ronen / Arutz Sheva:

Vulture in Saudi Custody Suspected as Mossad Agent — Follow Israel news on and . — Saudi Arabian security forces have captured a vulture that was carrying a global positioning satellite (GPS) transmitter and a ring etched with the words “Tel Aviv University.”

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Israel Matzav and Sense of Events

Steven Greenhouse / New York Times:

Strained States Turning to Laws to Curb Labor Unions — Faced with growing budget deficits and restive taxpayers, elected officials from Maine to Alabama, Ohio to Arizona, are pushing new legislation to limit the power of labor unions, particularly those representing government workers, in collective bargaining and politics.

Discussion: Gawker

Glenn Harlan Reynolds / The Atlantic Online:

The Unexpected Return of ‘Duck and Cover’ — Sixty years ago, in 1951, Ray Maurer and Anthony Rizzo produced a film for the federal government's Civil Defense agency in response to Soviet nuclear tests. Featuring an animated turtle named Bert and real-life schoolchildren from New York …

Steve Everley / American Solutions:

Top Five Things Obama Has Done to Raise Gasoline Prices — With gasoline currently above $3 per gallon nationwide and economists expecting that price to rise even further in 2011, America should be getting serious about producing more of its own resources. But instead of focusing on how to bring …

Discussion: Questions and Observations, Wizbang, The Foundry, Michelle Malkin and The Volokh Conspiracy

Leslie Scism / Wall Street Journal:

Insurers Sued Over Death Bets — Scrutiny on Secondary-Market Policies That Paid Investors When Others Died — New investor lawsuits are emerging amid the wreckage of an investment boom in life-insurance policies that spectacularly collapsed. — The suits involve the secondary market in life policies …

Discussion: The Agonist and The Volokh Conspiracy

Tim Mak / FrumForum:

Tucker and Grover End Bitter Feud — Many years ago, Tucker Carlson “accidentally” poured a Bloody Mary onto Grover Norquist's head from above him on a raised platform. This Monday, in what might have been the settling of a legendary long-time feud, Carlson and Norquist sat together …

Discussion: Politics Daily, The Atlantic Online and Weekly Standard

Rachel Slajda / TPM LiveWire:

There's One Huge State Budget Crisis That Everyone Is Refusing To Talk About — You know the story and you know the names: states like Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and California are supposed to be in huge financial trouble thanks to bloated governments, business-unfriendly regulations, and strong public sector unions.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The Moderate Voice and Arkansas Blog