memeorandum: Topics — Romney's main problem won't be his successful business career. (New York Post)

8:20 AM ET, February 21, 2011

Top Items:

BBC:

Libya protests: Gaddafi's son warns of civil war — Sayf al-Islam, Colonel Gaddafi's son, appears on Libyan TV and accuses people outside Libya of provoking violence — Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son, Sayf al-Islam, has warned of civil war in the country.

Discussion: New York Times, The Other McCain, Pajamas Media and Mother Jones

Ian Black / Guardian:

Libya on brink as protests hit Tripoli — Muammar Gaddafi's son warns of civil war in state television address as regime tries to halt uprising — Muammar Gaddafi's son went on Libyan TV to defend his father's 41-year rule of Libya as protests spread to the capital Tripoli.

Discussion: Obsidian Wings, Hot Air, Sky Dancing, Harry's Place, Sic Semper Tyrannis, Libya February 17th, The Hill, Pajamas Media, The Gateway Pundit, Reuters, The Reaction and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »

BBC:

Libya protests: Col Gaddafi under mounting pressure — Col Muammar Gaddafi's regime is under pressure amid unprecedented protests in the Libyan capital and defections by senior diplomats. — Protesters out on the streets of Tripoli late on Sunday were met by security forces using live ammunition and tear gas.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and Libya February 17th

Aljazeera:
Libya clashes spread to Tripoli

Discussion: Firedoglake, Unqualified Offerings and The Daily Dish

Guardian:
Libya on the brink as protests hit Tripoli

Discussion: Newshoggers.com and Libya February 17th

hrw.org:
Death Toll Up to At Least 233

Discussion: Harry's Place, FP Passport and Guardian

Aljazeera:
Uprising flares in Libyan city

Discussion: A Chequer-Board of Nights …, JOSHUAPUNDIT and The Raw Story

Ian Black / Guardian:
Libya protests analysis: 'For Muammar Gaddafi it's kill or be killed'

Discussion: Maggie's Notebook

BBC:
Libya unrest: Scores killed in Benghazi ‘massacre’

Discussion: Maggie's Notebook, The Daily Dish, The Jawa Report, Outside the Beltway and Libya February 17th

CNN:
Libyan leader's son proposes major reforms — unless unrest continues

Discussion: The Jawa Report, New York Magazine and Sky Dancing

Sarah El Deeb / Associated Press:
Libyan forces fire on mourners at funeral again

Discussion: Guardian, AMERICAblog News and News: News blog

Wall Street Journal:

Moderate Wisconsin Republicans Offer Compromise — With Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker maintaining a hard line on his budget bill and Democratic senators refusing to return to Madison to vote, attention is turning to a group of moderate Republican senators to negotiate a compromise to the stalemate …

Discussion: JSOnline, Donklephant, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Lakeshore Laments, Weasel Zippers, protein wisdom and The Right Sphere

Fox News:

12K State Workers Could Be Fired Without Budget Deal, Wisconsin Governor Warns — Saturday: Protesters gather down State Street in Madison, Wis., after a rally outside the Wisconsin State Capitol. A few dozen police officers stood between supporters of GOP Gov. Scott Walker on the muddy east lawn …

Discussion: Doug Ross, The Huffington Post, TPMDC, GayPatriot, Don Surber, National Review, Cubachi, American Power, Pundit Press and JammieWearingFool

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Wisconsin Power Play — Last week, in the face of protest demonstrations against Wisconsin's new union-busting governor, Scott Walker — demonstrations that continued through the weekend, with huge crowds on Saturday — Representative Paul Ryan made an unintentionally apt comparison: “It's like Cairo has moved to Madison.”

Discussion: Prairie Weather, Taylor Marsh and NewsBusters.org

New York Times:
As Republicans See a Mandate on Budget Cuts, Others See Risk

Discussion: The Page

Monica Davey / New York Times:
Protesters in Wisconsin Say They Are Staying Put

Discussion: Runnin' Scared and The Page

Washington Examiner:
Battle of Wisconsin threatens unions' political might

Discussion: Booman Tribune and Conservatives4Palin

Meredith Shiner / Reuters:
Protesters, impasse remain in Madison

Discussion: The Politico and Pundit & Pundette

Robert Costa / National Review:
Walker: ‘We are willing to take this as long as it takes’

Discussion: Cold Fury and JSOnline

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

A View From The Hard Right — Don Surber: … Instapundit links to this post also decrying the Egyptian revolt, as an opening for Islamist rule. Torture-defender Andy McCarthy is also disturbed by Sheikh Qaradawi's return. (Dish coverage of Qaradawi here, here, and, more skeptically, here.)

Discussion: National Review, Instapundit and Don Surber

William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:
The Yuppie Revolution In Egypt Is Over, The Islamist Revolution Has Begun

Discussion: Power Line, Da Techguy's Blog, American Power, Secular Right and PoliPundit.com

Associated Press:

Wis. union head calls on teachers to go to work — MADISON, Wis. — The head of Wisconsin's powerful teachers' union is calling on educators to return to classrooms Monday and Tuesday rather than continue being absent to protest an anti-union bill at the state Capitol.

Discussion: Tammy Bruce, Michelle Malkin, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Scared Monkeys

MacIver Institute:
Protesting Teachers Could Reap $6 Million from Taxpayers to Attend Rallies

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Fire Andrea Mitchell! and The Greenroom

Guardian:

US official in Lahore deaths was CIA spy — • Raymond Davis employed by CIA ‘beyond shadow of doubt’ — • Former soldier charged with murder over deaths of two men — • Davis accused of shooting one man twice in the back as he fled — • Special report: A CIA spy and a diplomatic whirlwind

Discussion: Sic Semper Tyrannis, Pajamas Media, Reuters, Emptywheel, Balloon Juice and The Daily Caller

Anchorage Daily News:

Former aide rips Palin in leaked book manuscript — UNPUBLISHED: Former governor broke election law, Bailey alleges. — A leaked manuscript by one of Sarah Palin's closest aides from her time as governor charges that Palin broke state election law in her 2006 gubernatorial campaign …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Conservatives4Palin, Washington Post and George's Bottom Line

Tricia Miller / Roll Call:

RNC Surpasses Major Donor Goal Under New Chairman — The Republican National Committee raised $5.7 million in January, and new Chairman Reince Priebus said Sunday that $3.5 million of the total came in after his election Jan. 14. — “We owe a lot of our success to major donors …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and Lakeshore Laments

Jeremy Page / Wall Street Journal:

Call for Protests Unnerves China — BEIJING—Chinese authorities detained dozens of political activists after an anonymous online call for people to start a “Jasmine Revolution” in China by protesting in 13 cities—just a day after President Hu Jintao called for tighter Internet controls to help prevent social unrest.

Discussion: PoliPundit.com, FrumForum and Dean's World

Andrew Jacobs / New York Times:
Chinese Security Officials Respond to Call for Protests

Discussion: Hit & Run

Mark Williams / Mark Williams News & Commentary:

FIGHT THE SEIU WITH TACTIC THEY USE AGAINST US - THIS WEEK! — Late Update: Follow the civil discussion by Obamites in the “comments” section below — . — http://action.seiu.org/page/s/ solidarityaction — . — That link will take you to an SEIU page where you can sign up as an …

Discussion: Mother Jones, Plunderbund, Little Green Footballs, iOwnTheWorld.com, Mercury Rising and Hullabaloo

Campbell Robertson / New York Times:

Marking Davis's Confederate Inauguration — MONTGOMERY, Ala. — One hundred and fifty years and one day later, the South did it again. — Before a cheering crowd of several hundred men and women, some in period costume and others in crisp suits, an amateur actor playing Jefferson Davis …

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, Mock, Paper, Scissors, The Volokh Conspiracy and FrumForum

Irish_Grinder / New York Post:

Topics — Salsumba: so who from Columbia was going to walk into Bagdada and “just arrest” Sadaam? Maybe you? You sir/ma'am are an illiformed nitwit. — SSGT Maschek< you are outstanding! These Columbia BD's are so smart they are stupid.......