memeorandum: Gingrich says Obama administration ‘amateurish’ on Egypt (Gschwarzcnn/CNN)

11:50 AM ET, February 8, 2011

Top Items:

Olbermann Said to Be Going to Current TV — Keith Olbermann, the former top-rated host on the news channel MSNBC, will announce his next television home on Tuesday, and people on Monday familiarwith his plans pointed to a possible deal with the public affairs channel Current TV.

Laurence H. Tribe / New York Times:

On Health Care, Justice Will Prevail — THE lawsuits challenging the individual mandate in the health care law, including one in which a federal district judge last week called the law unconstitutional, will ultimately be resolved by the Supreme Court, and pundits are already making bets on how the justices will vote.

Discussion: Althouse, The New Republic, LewRockwell.com Blog, The Politico, ACS Blog and Marginal Revolution

James Taranto / Wall Street Journal:

What They Mean by ‘Civility’ — The New York Times raises no objection to murderous, racist rhetoric at a Common Cause rally. — (Best of the tube tonight: We'll discuss Common Cause's smear campaign on “America's Nightly Scoreboard” with David Asman. Fox Business, 7 p.m. ET tonight, with a repeat showing at midnight ET.)

Discussion: Betsy's Page, Doug Ross, SCOTUSblog, Don Surber, Jay Currie, TigerHawk, Shot in the Dark, The Daily Caller and Commentary

Adam Liptak / New York Times:
In Arguments on Corporate Speech, the Press Is a Problem

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Hit & Run and Althouse

Gschwarzcnn / CNN:

Gingrich says Obama administration ‘amateurish’ on Egypt — (CNN) - Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich said he's “concerned” about the Obama administration's handling of the situation in Egypt and what he sees as a divide between the White House and diplomat Franks Wisner.

Discussion: AOL News, GOP 12, TPMDC, theblogprof and The Hill

New York Times:
In Egypt, U.S. Weighs Push for Change With Stability

Discussion: Wonk Room, Guardian, Salon and Washington Post

Telegraph:
WikiLeaks: Israel's secret hotline to the man tipped to replace Mubarak

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Suburban Guerrilla and The Nation

John Tierney / New York Times:

Social Scientist Sees Bias Within — SAN ANTONIO — Some of the world's pre-eminent experts on bias discovered an unexpected form of it at their annual meeting. — Discrimination is always high on the agenda at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology's conference …

Discussion: Hit & Run, Paul Krugman, Althouse, The Mahablog, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Outside the Beltway, Power Line, A Chequer-Board of Nights …, JustOneMinute, TigerHawk, The Reality-Based Community and Grim's Hall

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Democratic Leadership Council will fold — The Democratic Leadership Council, the iconic centrist organization of the Clinton years, is out of money and could close its doors as soon as next week, a person familiar with the plans said Monday. — The DLC, a network of Democratic elected officials …

Ben Smith / The Politico:
The end of the Democratic Leadership Council era

Discussion: The Nation and The Western Experience

Lbentzterp / CNN:

CNN Poll: Republicans want winner over ideology in 2012 — Washington (CNN) - Given the choice between a candidate who agrees with them on the issues or a candidate who can defeat President Barack Obama in 2012, a new national poll indicates Republicans overwhelming want a winner.

Discussion: GOP 12 and The Politico

Alexander Burns / The Politico:
That's the ticket: GOP loves look of VP field

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

Christine McConville / Boston Herald:

Comic treatment for health plan — MIT econ whiz's hip idea to explain overhaul — The MIT economics whiz who crafted President Obama's national health-care overhaul now plans to explain the complex and controversial plan to the masses — in one long comic book.

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Weasel Zippers, NewsBusters.org, National Review, JammieWearingFool and Pajamas Media

Ryan Crowe / CBS Dallas:

Mandatory Arabic Classes Coming To Mansfield — MANSFIELD (CBSDFW.COM) - Some Students at Mansfield ISD schools could soon be learning Arabic as a required language. The school district wants students at select schools to take Arabic language and culture classes as part of a federally funded grant.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Pajamas Media, Don Surber and Liberty Pundits Blog

Matthew Belloni / Hollywood Reporter:

Michael Moore Sues Weinsteins Over ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’ (Updated) … Filmmaker Michael Moore has sued Harvey and Bob Weinstein, accusing the brothers of “Hollywood accounting tricks” and “financial deception” that cheated him out of at least $2.7 million in profits from the hit documentary Fahrenheit 9/11.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Nikki Finke / Deadline.com: Michael Moore vs Movie Accounting: Sues Weinsteins For More 9/11 …

Manu Raju / The Politico:

A new Dem threat to health care law — A handful of moderate Senate Democrats are looking for ways to roll back the highly contentious individual mandate — the pillar of President Barack Obama's health care law — a sign that red-state senators are prepared to assert their independence ahead of the 2012 elections.

Discussion: The Note, Washington Post, The New Republic, Mock, Paper, Scissors, New York Times, Hot Air and The Huffington Post

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Ditching unwritten rules for freshmen, Paul does it his way — Rand Paul has broken with tradition by eschewing the unwritten rules for freshman senators: Keep a low profile, learn the chamber's arcane procedures and cozy up to senior colleagues. — Unlike ex-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton …

Discussion: The Hill, Barefoot and Progressive, Wonkette and Taegan Goddard's …

Lynn Bartels / Denver Post:

Wadhams drops bid for re-election as Colorado GOP chairman — Dick Wadhams on Monday unexpectedly dropped his bid for re-election as chair of the Colorado Republican Party, warning GOP leaders that their chances in 2012 could be “severely undermined” by a strategy aimed solely at uniting conservatives.

Discussion: TPMDC

The Fix:
The GOP's nuclear option on spending

Discussion: Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Hot Air and Washington Monthly

Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Online:

Inside the Secret Service — When President Obama and two-thirds of the world's leaders gather in New York City, it is up to the U.S. Secret Service to keep them all safe. Granted unprecedented access, our author tells the story of how the agency pulls off the most complicated security event of the year …

New York Times:

On Evolution, Biology Teachers Stray — Teaching creationism in public schools has consistently been ruled unconstitutional in federal courts, but according to a national survey of more than 900 public high school biology teachers, it continues to flourish in the nation's classrooms.

Discussion: The Volokh Conspiracy and Joanne Jacobs

Sharon Otterman / New York Times:

Most New York Students Are Not College-Ready — New York State education officials released a new set of graduation statistics on Monday that show less than half of students in the state are leaving high school prepared for college and well-paying careers. — The new statistics …

Discussion: Mother Jones and Balloon Juice

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

‘Absurd’ for Israel to become partisan issue, says ex-Obama adviser — HERZLIYA, Israel — It would be “absurd” if support for Israel becomes a divisive, partisan issue in the U.S. political arena, one of President Obama's former top advisers said Monday. — Amid signs that Israel …

Discussion: The Politico and JammieWearingFool

Gil Ronen / Arutz Sheva:

Digging on Temple Mount ‘to Erase Traces of Jewish Altar’ — Follow Israel news on and . — Muslim religious authorities are concluding a clandestine eight-month dig on the Temple Mount that is intended to erase traces of the Jewish Temple's Altar, Temple activists charge.

Discussion: Israel Matzav and Pajamas Media

Bettina Wassener / New York Times:

China Raises Interest Rates to Quell Inflation — HONG KONG — China on Tuesday staged its third interest rate increase since October, the latest sign of authorities' intensifying efforts to temper the blistering pace of economic growth and prevent already worrisome inflation levels from escalating further.

Discussion: Yglesias and Mother Jones

Lawrence Wright / New Yorker:

THE APOSTATE

Discussion: Pharyngula, Raw Story, BlogPost, AOL News, Runnin' Scared, boy culture and Balloon Juice, more at Mediagazer »

Patrick Healy / ArtsBeat:

‘Spider-Man’ Turns Off the Critics — Most of the nation's leading theater critics published their reviews of “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” online Monday night and in print on Tuesday morning, and the judgments — while somewhat varied in tone and focus, adjectives and invective …

Discussion: Culture Monster, The Theater Loop, Variety, Poynter and Runnin' Scared

Wall Street Journal:

Pay Gap Widens at Big Law Firms as Partners Chase Star Attorneys — Some of the biggest law firms are paying outsize salaries to star attorneys, in some cases 10 times what they give other partners, in a strategy that is stretching compensation gaps and testing morale at firms.

Discussion: Truth on the Market and Above the Law