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Another Runaway General: Army Deploys Psy-Ops on U.S. Senators — The U.S. Army illegally ordered a team of soldiers specializing in “psychological operations” to manipulate visiting American senators into providing more troops and funding for the war, Rolling Stone has learned …
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ABCNEWS, Firedoglake, New York Times, Swampland, Taylor Marsh, Democracy in America, Mother Jones, democracyarsenal.org, AOL News, New York Magazine, The Raw Story, Outside the Beltway, Politics, Projo 7 to 7 News Blog, The Atlantic Online, Dependable Renegade, WPRI.com Blogs and Oliver Willis
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Report: Army targeted U.S. senators with psy-ops
Discussion:
The Hill, Politics Daily, Ben Smith's Blog, BlogPost, The Huffington Post, JammieWearingFool and Simply Left BehindThe …

Could Get Ugly: Rolling Stone Says Army Deployed ‘PsyOps’ To Influence Senators
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online and The Politico


Lobbyists: White House sends meetings off-site to hide them — Caught between their boss's anti-lobbyist rhetoric and the reality of governing, President Barack Obama's aides often steer meetings with lobbyists to a complex just off the White House grounds - and several of the lobbyists involved …
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Poll: Slash spending but avoid shutdown
Discussion:
New York Times, Swampland, Washington Monthly, The Hill, Washington Post, Boehner and Wonk Room

Neither Party Has Edge on Federal Budget Dealings
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, TPMDC, Top of the Ticket, CNN and The Hill

Policy Paralysis — How John Boehner made a government shutdown inevitable.
Discussion:
Ezra Klein, The Maddow Blog and A plain blog about politics


Video: Rhode Island union supporter to cameraman - “I'll f**k you in the ass, you faggot” — The hits keep on coming. Here's another fine specimen of Big Labor civility: — At AFSCME's “solidarity” rally in Providence, Rhode Island on Tuesday, a cameraman was accosted by a fuming pro-union protester.
Discussion:
Associated Press, Nice Deb and Founding Bloggers
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Video: CWA union thug strikes young female FreedomWorks activist; Updated — This is Tabitha Hale, a young conservative activist/original Tea Party organizer/blogger who works for Washington, D.C.-based FreedomWorks. I know her from her great grass-roots work with Smart Girl Politics when the Tea Party movement was just emerging.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, RedState, Liberty Pundits Blog, Boston Globe, Examiner, Common Sense Political Thought, UNCOVERAGE.net, Big Journalism, Fire Andrea Mitchell!, theblogprof, Townhall.com, And So it Goes in Shreveport, Hot Air, Mofo Politics, Human Events, Doug Ross, The Sundries Shack, NewsReal Blog, Breitbart.tv, The Gateway Pundit, Cold Fury, Moe Lane, AmSpecBlog, POWIP, Weasel Zippers, JammieWearingFool, American Power, Red White Blue News, The Other McCain, Wall Street Journal, No Runny Eggs, Sister Toldjah, protein wisdom, The Daley Gator, Pajamas Media, Da Techguy's Blog and Instapundit


Union Thuggery Descends On FreedomWorks — Today, union thugs descended on the FreedomWorks office. It was the middle of the day, and there was some excitement outside as all the buses pulled up and people started to fill the courtyard. We decided to go out and show our support for freedom.

Capuano ‘bloody’ comment becomes flashpoint in union flap
Discussion:
Right Wing News, Maggie's Notebook, Weasel Zippers, AmSpecBlog, theblogprof and The Gateway Pundit

Texas Resident Arrested on Charge of Attempted Use of Weapon of Mass Destruction … WASHINGTON - Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, 20, a citizen of Saudi Arabia and resident of Lubbock, Texas, was arrested late yesterday by FBI agents in Texas on a federal charge of attempted use of a weapon …
Discussion:
USA Today, Weasel Zippers, Jihad Watch, Emptywheel, The Foundry, National Review, msnbc.com, Atlas Shrugs, Oliver Willis and The Gateway Pundit
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Nebraska Resurrects “Justifiable Homicide” Abortion Bill — A state legislator pushes a bill that's even more sweeping than the South Dakota proposal that sparked a national controversy. — Post Comment — Just when abortion rights supporters thought they had beaten a controversial bill …
Discussion:
Yglesias, The Raw Story, Mother Jones, Outside the Beltway, Iowa Independent and FrumForum
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Iowa bills open door for use of deadly force to protect the unborn
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Mother Jones, Shakesville and Joe. My. God.


Records Say Fox News Chief Told Employee to Lie — It was an incendiary allegation — and a mystery of great intrigue in the media world: After the publishing powerhouse Judith Regan was fired by HarperCollins in 2006, she claimed that a senior executive at its parent company, News Corporation …

Poll suggests challenging re-election for Hatch — Washington (CNN) - A new poll suggests that Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah could have a tough road ahead of him as he makes a bid next year for a seventh term in office. — A survey by UtahPolicy.com indicates that 31 percent …
Discussion:
Cubachi and Liberty Pundits Blog
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Daniels '71: Into the spotlight — After Mitch Daniels '71 was arrested, indicted and convicted on charges of drug use as an undergraduate in May 1970, he said that he thought his aspiring political career was doomed. “Any goal I might have had for competing for public office were shot,” …
Discussion:
Politics Daily, Ben Smith's Blog, Cincinnati.com, CNN and The Politico
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Daniels in the Lions Den
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Right Turn and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

67% Disapprove of Legislators Fleeing Wisconsin to Avoid Vote — Half of America's voters favor public sector unions for government workers, but they strongly oppose the tactic by Wisconsin state senators to flee their state to prevent a vote that would limit the rights of such unions.
Discussion:
protein wisdom, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, Pajamas Media, The Gateway Pundit, GayPatriot, JSOnline and WisPolitics Budget Blog

Liberals to stage Tea Party-like revolts against GOP spending cuts — Democratic strategists believe their Tea Party moment has arrived. — Working with labor unions and liberal groups, they are using the Presidents Day congressional recess to organize a public backlash against billions of dollars in cuts to federal programs.
Discussion:
The Politico, Fox Nation, Prairie Weather, Weasel Zippers, protein wisdom and Wake up America


Andy Stern: ‘It may not end beautifully in Wisconsin.’ — Last year, Andy Stern retired as the president of SEIU, the service employees union that he'd built into a 2.2 million member heavyweight. During his tenure, Stern was known — and sometimes reviled — for his efforts to reform organized labor …
Discussion:
Wonkette


How Chris Christie Did His Homework — Like a stand-up comedian working out-of-the-way clubs, Chris Christie travels the townships and boroughs of New Jersey, places like Hackettstown and Raritan and Scotch Plains, sharpening his riffs about the state's public employees …
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, Politics, Felix Salmon and The Page


McCain's Shift Makes Him Senate's Most Conservative — Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., along with seven of his colleagues, voted most often on the conservative side. — The politician who once best exemplified the idea of a “maverick” independent has shifted so far to the right that he is now tied …
Discussion:
Indecision Forever, Hot Air, The Caucus and New York Magazine

U.S. Pushes Mortgage Deal — Obama Proposal Seeks Multibillion-Dollar Settlement of Loan-Servicing Cases — The Obama administration is trying to push through a settlement over mortgage-servicing breakdowns that could force America's largest banks to pay for reductions in loan principal worth billions of dollars.
Discussion:
Felix Salmon, naked capitalism, Mish's Global Economic …, Emptywheel, Sweetness & Light, UNCOVERAGE.net, The Page and Calculated Risk


Tripoli: a city in the shadow of death — Gunfire in the suburbs - and fear, hunger and rumour in the capital Thousands race for last tickets out of a city sinking into anarchy — Robert Fisk, with the first dispatch from Libya's war-torn capital, reports
Discussion:
Guardian, Aljazeera, Al Jazeera Blogs, The Daily Dish, Shanghaiist, The Field on the Narcosphere, Libya February 17th and The Lede

When Lincoln Fled — Legislators fleeing to prevent a quorum is nothing new. In fact, KPMH-TV reports Abraham Lincoln did it in “one of the most bizarre episodes” of his political career by trying to keep the Illinois House of Representatives in session so the Illinois State Bank might survive.
Discussion:
New York Magazine


UFT spends millions on dinners, parties, parking, coffee as thousands of teachers face layoffs — As nearly 5,000 city teachers face the ax, their union shells out millions of dollars on feasting, boozing and partying, the Daily News has learned. — Free-spending United Federation …
Discussion:
JammieWearingFool and POWIP

Madison police chief troubled by Walker's comments on protesters — By Sharif Durhams of the Journal Sentinel — Madison Police Chief Noble Wray said Thursday that he found comments by Gov. Scott Walker made about protesters at the state Capitol during a prank phone call “very unsettling and troubling.”
Discussion:
The Plum Line, Wonkette, AFL-CIO NOW BLOG, TPMDC and TPMMuckraker


U.S. Fears Tripoli May Deploy Gas As Chaos Mounts — WASHINGTON—The government of Col. Moammar Gadhafi hasn't destroyed significant stockpiles of mustard gas and other chemical-weapons agents, raising fears in Washington about what could happen to them—and whether they may be used—as Libya slides further into chaos.
Discussion:
Babalú Blog, Maggie's Notebook and Sweetness & Light