memeorandum: Union Bonds in Wisconsin Begin to Fray (New York Times)

1:45 PM ET, February 22, 2011

Top Items:

Union Bonds in Wisconsin Begin to Fray — JANESVILLE, Wis. — Rich Hahan worked at the General Motors plant here until it closed about two years ago. He moved to Detroit to take another G.M. job while his wife and children stayed here, but then the automaker cut more jobs.

Discussion: American Power, Firedoglake, Hot Air, Moe Lane, The Confluence, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Wake up America, Unfogged, Balloon Juice, Conservatives4Palin and The Politico

Noel Sheppard / NewsBusters.org:

Wisconsin State Senator Smacks Down Chris Matthews: 'You're Completely Uninformed' — MSNBC's Chris Matthews tried Monday to push the liberal media meme that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker exempted police and firefighters from his budget repair plan because their unions endorsed him in last November's election.

Discussion: TalkLeft, Outside the Beltway, Politics Daily, Fire Andrea Mitchell!, UrbanGrounds, Badger Blogger and Verum Serum

David Brooks / New York Times:

Make Everybody Hurt — Over the past few weeks we've begun to see the new contours of American politics. The budget cutters have taken control of the agenda, while government's defenders are waging tactical retreats. Given the scope of the fiscal problems, it could be like this for the next 10 or 20 years.

Discussion: The Daily Dish, Yglesias, TalkLeft, PostPartisan, DownWithTyranny!, The Plum Line, NewsBusters.org, Right Turn, The Monkey Cage, driftglass, Balloon Juice and The Politico

Eric Lipton / New York Times:

Billionaire Brothers' Money Plays Role in Wisconsin Dispute — WASHINGTON — Among the thousands of demonstrators who jammed the Wisconsin State Capitol grounds this weekend was a well-financed advocate from Washington who was there to voice praise for cutting state spending by slashing union benefits and bargaining rights.

Discussion: The Raw Story, AFL-CIO NOW BLOG, AMERICAblog News, New York Magazine and CBS News

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

In Wisconsin, the gap widens between GOP and Dems — “They've painted themselves in a corner,” Wisconsin Republican state senator Randy Hopper says of his Democratic colleagues. “There's no way for them to get out of it.” — Democratic senators last week fled Wisconsin rather than allow …

Discussion: The Note, Hot Air, Bloomberg, theblogprof and FrumForum

Mark Blumenthal / The Huffington Post:

AFL-CIO Polls Show Wisconsin Supports Protestors, Opposes Walker … WASHINGTON - New polling conducted for the AFL-CIO and shared with The Huffington Post shows Wisconsin voters siding with the state workers, unions and protestors by large majorities and expressing net disapproval of Republican Governor Scott Walker

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Reuters, Guardian, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, The American Independent, Balloon Juice and Chicago Boyz

Josh Dorner / ThinkProgress:
Priorities? GOP Governors Shift Burden To Poor, Middle Class To Pay For Tax Breaks For Rich, Corporations

Discussion: Firedoglake

Ezra Klein:
Wonkbook: Are Republicans overreaching? Or just negotiating effectively?

Discussion: Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Classical Values and Daily Kos

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Rasmussen Poll on Wisconsin Dispute May Be Biased

Jamison Foser / Media Matters for America:
George Will's Dishonest Assault On Unions

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money

Eugene Robinson / Washington Post:
Starving Wisconsin's unions

Discussion: New York Times

Ezra Klein:
Column: Wisconsin is about power, not money

Discussion: The New Republic, Wonk Room and NPR

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
First look: Unions launch TV ad campaign backing Wisconsin public employees

Discussion: Firedoglake, TPMDC and WisPolitics Budget Blog

News Item:

› - Statement from John and Kimberley Thune — For months now, my wife Kimberley and I have received encouragement from family, friends, colleagues, and supporters from across South Dakota and the country to run for the presidency of the United States.

Discussion: The Politico, GOP 12, Washington Monthly, Firedoglake, The Hill, Liberty Pundits Blog, The Note, Cubachi, Power Line, Politics Daily, The Caucus, New York Magazine, The Right Sphere, Wonkette and FrumForum

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Sen. John Thune won't run for president in 2012

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog

Sky News Australia:

Cleric orders Gaddafi killed — Influential Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi has issued a fatwa that any Libyan soldier who can shoot dead embattled leader Muammar Gaddafi should do so ‘to rid Libya of him.’ — 'Whoever in the Libyan army is able to shoot a bullet at Mr Gaddafi should do so …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Other McCain, The Investigative Project …, Questions and Observations, The Gateway Pundit, Outside the Beltway, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Infidel Bloggers Alliance, Weasel Zippers, Babylon & Beyond, PoliPundit.com, The Jawa Report, Pundit Press and Aljazeera

Al Jazeera Blogs:

Live Blog - Libya Feb 22 — on February 22nd, 2011. — Alleged mercenaries deployed by Gaddafi in Tripoli, the Libyan capital. — As the uprising in Libya enters its ninth day, we keep you updated on the developing situation from our headquarters in Doha, Qatar.

Discussion: The Daily Dish, Guardian, News Desk, Mish's Global Economic …, Libya February 17th, AMERICAblog News, Outside the Beltway and Firedoglake, more at Mediagazer »

Andrew Solomon / News Desk: How Qaddafi Lost Libya

BBC:
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi appears on state TV

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications, The Foundry, Michelle Malkin, A Chequer-Board of Nights …, ABCNEWS, The Other McCain, FrumForum, Guardian and Mediaite

New York Times:
Chaos Grows in Libya as Strife in Tripoli Intensifies

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Washington Monthly, New York Magazine, FP Passport, The Agonist, The Big Picture, Democracy Now, Towleroad News #gay, Hot Air and Time

Laura Rozen / The Politico:
Among Libya's lobbyists

Discussion: Harry's Place, Mock, Paper, Scissors, Gawker and Salon

CBS News:

4 Americans on hijacked yacht dead off Somalia — U.S. Navy warship shadowing seized vessel takes action after gunshots are heard; 4 hostages apparently killed by captors, some pirates dead — The four Americans aboard a yacht hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia are dead.

Discussion: Politics Daily, Guardian, New York Magazine, USA Today, L.A. NOW, Washington Post, Human Events, Maggie's Notebook, Confederate Yankee, BLACKFIVE, Mediaite, Moe Lane, neo-neocon, FrumForum, Gawker and The Gateway Pundit

Fox News:
Four Americans Killed on Yacht Hijacked by Somali Pirates

Discussion: The Jawa Report

Tony Perry / L.A. NOW:
Four American hostages killed by Somali pirates during rescue attempt [Updated]

Discussion: Michelle Malkin and Wizbang

The Politico:

Ex-aide's book paints harsh portrait of Sarah Palin — A new memoir from an embittered former aide to Sarah Palin includes a trove of emails that vividly illustrate her intense focus on image and depiction in the media. — The emails, apparently from the former Alaska governor …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, Salon, Hot Air and New York Magazine

Jack Stuef / Wonkette:

Sarah Palin Has Secret ‘Lou Sarah’ Facebook Account To Praise Other Sarah Palin Facebook Account — Sarah Palin has apparently created a second Facebook account with her Gmail address so that this fake “Lou Sarah” person can praise the other Sarah Palin on Facebook.

Discussion: The Daily Dish, Outside the Beltway, TPM LiveWire and Gawker

Daily Mail:

Four men slashed teacher's face and left him with fractured skull ‘for teaching other religions to Muslim girls’ — Four men launched a horrific attack on a teacher in which they slashed his face and left him with a fractured skull because they did not approve of him teaching religion to Muslim girls.

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Left Coast Rebel, Jihad Watch and Atlas Shrugs

Terence P. Jeffrey / CNSNews:

Two-Thirds of Wisconsin Public-School 8th Graders Can't Read Proficiently—Despite Highest Per Pupil Spending in Midwest — (CNSNews.com) - Two-thirds of the eighth graders in Wisconsin public schools cannot read proficiently according to the U.S. Department of Education …

Discussion: protein wisdom, Confederate Yankee and Weasel Zippers

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

Sen. Scott Brown says, 'I'm not a Tea Party member,' welcomes GOP primary — “You're talking about being an ideologue? If you're looking for one, I'm not it,” said Sen. Scott Brown. — Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) said he doesn't consider himself a member of the Tea Party movement and would welcome any primary challenger.

Discussion: CNN, The Politico, Hotline On Call, The Impolitic and AMERICAblog News

Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:

WI State Rep Busted For Sexual Misconduct - Says Charges Are a Distraction From Larger State Issues — Now we know what they do when they're not at work... Wisconsin State Rep. Gordon Hintz told reporters today that his arrest for sexual misconduct is a distraction from larger issues facing the state.

Discussion: Associated Press, UrbanGrounds, TPMMuckraker, Fire Andrea Mitchell! and The Other McCain

John Sides / The Monkey Cage:

The Relationship between Union Membership and State Budget Deficits … That is from Joseph McCartin's piece in The New Republic on the current battle in Wisconsin. I wanted to look at the relationship between unions and deficits more systematically. Like McCartin I used the CBPP data …

Discussion: Yglesias, Mother Jones and AFL-CIO NOW BLOG

Jennifer Chambers / Detroit News:

Michigan orders DPS to make huge cuts — Bobb told to consolidate services, close half of schools to end deficit — Lansing— Swift and severe changes are coming to Detroit Public Schools. — State education officials have ordered Robert Bobb to immediately implement a financial restructuring plan …

Discussion: AOL News, POWIP, The American Independent and Salon

J.P. Freire / Washington Examiner:

BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL — White House denies assisting Wis. union, but ties run deep — White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer is claiming that “This is a Wisconsin story, not a Washington one,” contradicting the Washington Post's reporting that the president and his political apparatus …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, Betsy's Page, RedState and About.com US Liberal Politics

Javier Manjarres / The Shark Tank:

Allen West Confronted by Koran-Wielding CAIR Executive(VIDEO) — At a townhall meeting hosted by Congressman Allen West on Monday evening in Pompano Beach, the Q&A segment of the meeting featured a Koran wielding Nezar Hamze, Executive Director of the Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR).

Discussion: Pajamas Media, iOwnTheWorld.com, UrbanGrounds, Fire Andrea Mitchell!, All American Blogger, Sister Toldjah, Weasel Zippers, Jihad Watch and Nice Deb

David Streitfeld / New York Times:

Home Prices Slid in December in Most U.S. Cities, Index Shows — Real estate prices slid again in December, pushing a leading price index within a whisper of its lowest level since the housing crash began, data released Tuesday showed. — The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller Home Price Index …

Discussion: protein wisdom and Mother Jones

Thomas M. Burton / Wall Street Journal:

Indiana Democrats Stage Walkout — INDIANAPOLIS—House Democratic lawmakers in Indiana have begun a de facto walkout in an effort to block a Republican-backed bill that would restrict private-sector union rights. — Republicans arrived at the statehouse Tuesday morning to find no Democrats present …

Discussion: JammieWearingFool