Top Items:
New York Times:
Majority in Poll Back Employees in Public Sector Unions — As labor battles erupt in state capitals around the nation, a majority of Americans say they oppose efforts to weaken the collective bargaining rights of public employee unions and are also against cutting the pay or benefits …
Discussion:
Hot Air, Yglesias, Washington Monthly, American Power, New York Magazine, Federal Eye, The Maddow Blog, TPMDC, The Lonely Conservative, The Future of Capitalism, The Gateway Pundit, JSOnline, Paul Krugman, Prairie Weather, Sky Dancing, Politicususa, AlterNet, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Crooks and Liars, WisPolitics Budget Blog, Daily Kos, The Political Carnival, Firedoglake, Taegan Goddard's …, The Caucus, Pajamas Media and The Mahablog
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Charles G. Koch / Wall Street Journal:
Why Koch Industries Is Speaking Out — Crony capitalism and bloated government prevent entrepreneurs from producing the products and services that make people's lives better. — Years of tremendous overspending by federal, state and local governments have brought us face-to-face with an economic crisis.
Discussion:
The Politico, Wonk Room, Power Line, The Lonely Conservative and Ben Smith's Blog
Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Do over? — We'll have our full poll on the Wisconsin conflict out tomorrow but here's the most interesting finding: if voters in the state could do it over today they'd support defeated Democratic nominee Tom Barrett over Scott Walker by a a 52-45 margin. — The difference between how folks …
Discussion:
Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Taylor Marsh, No More Mister Nice Blog, Mother Jones, The Politico, Sky Dancing, Da Techguy's Blog, Firedoglake, The Moderate Voice, The Nation, Taegan Goddard's …, FOK News Channel, Comments from Left Field, The Raw Story, The Political Carnival, The Plum Line, Swing State Project, WisPolitics Budget Blog, AOL News, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Balloon Juice, JSOnline and Politics Daily
People-Press.org:
More Side with Wisconsin Unions than Governor — Obama, GOP Leaders Would Share Blame in Gov't Shutdown — By a modest margin, more say they back Wisconsin's public employee unions rather than the state's governor in their continuing dispute over collective bargaining rights.
Discussion:
The Fix, Taegan Goddard's …, JSOnline and The Page
Jordan Ellenberg / The Atlantic Online:
Gov. Scott Walker's Secret Weapon: The Wisconsin Veto — Two weeks into the collective bargaining protests in Madison, the interior of the Wisconsin state Capitol feels like a high-traffic liberal website given physical form. It's a world of text. Sheets of paper are affixed …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice and Wall Street Journal
The Politico:
Darrell Issa probes staff; spokesman Kurt Bardella at center of controversy — Rep. Darrell Issa, the Republican chairman of the powerful Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has launched an inquiry into whether spokesman Kurt Bardella improperly shared e-mails from other reporters …
Discussion:
New York Magazine, Washington Post, 2chambers, The Other McCain, FishbowlDC and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »
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The Note:
The Note: Road To 2012: Newt Gingrich Will Launch Exploratory Committee This Week — After months of will-he-or-won't-he speculation, ABC News has learned that Newt Gingrich has decided to form a presidential exploratory committee and that he'll make it official before the end of the week …
Discussion:
GOP 12, CNN, Roll Call and Political Insider
David Shepardson / Detroit News:
Consumer Reports: GM's Volt 'doesn't really make a lot of sense' — Washington — Consumer Reports offered a harsh initial review of the Chevrolet Volt, questioning whether General Motors Co.'s flagship vehicle makes economic “sense.” The extended-range plug-in electric vehicle is on the cover …
Discussion:
Fausta's Blog, Michelle Malkin, UNCOVERAGE.net and Patterico's Pontifications
Wall Street Journal:
The Democrats' Collective Bargain — What happens when a political party disconnects from the economy's productive sector. — Beneath a grayish Michigan sky, before a frozen crowd standing in the snow, a MoveOn-organized protest aims to rally support for government workers in Wisconsin.
Discussion:
Betsy's Page
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JSOnline:
Missing senators rely heavily on union campaign dollars — By Daniel Bice and Ben Poston of the Journal Sentinel — The 14 Wisconsin Democratic senators who fled to Illinois share more than just political sympathy with the public employees and unions targeted by Gov. Scott Walker's budget-repair bill.
Discussion:
Hot Air, Maggie's Notebook, NewsBusters.org, Weasel Zippers, GayPatriot, theblogprof, Reuters and The Lonely Conservative
Richard White / The Sun:
Film of Galliano's racist rant in bar — FASHION guru John Galliano was filmed having a vile racist rant during which he declared: “I love Hitler.” — The British designer - an alleged Jew hater - then tells a horrified woman: “People like you would be dead. Your mothers, your forefathers, would all be f****** gassed.”
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San Francisco Chronicle:
Low-flow toilets cause a stink in SF — San Francisco's big push for low-flow toilets has turned into a multimillion-dollar plumbing stink. — Skimping on toilet water has resulted in more sludge backing up inside the sewer pipes, said Tyrone Jue, spokesman for the city Public Utilities Commission.
Discussion:
Pirate's Cove, This Just In, Scared Monkeys, Pajamas Media and Sister Toldjah
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Pelosi needles GOP over return of styrofoam cups — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) marked the return of styrofoam cuts in congressional cafeterias by jabbing at the Republican majority in the House. — The top Democrat and former Speaker said that the House will now send 535 …
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Fhardingj / CNN:
House Republican Leaders Vow to Defend Defense of Marriage Act
Discussion:
The Politico
Daniel Strauss / The Hill:
Pelosi splits with Reid, dismisses GOP plan to avoid a shutdown
Discussion:
Ezra Klein, The Politico, Weigel, CNN, National Review, Hot Air and Questions and Observations
Cindy Boren / The Early Lead:
Iran threatens to boycott 2012 London Olympics because of logo — Iran is threatening to boycott the 2012 Olympic Games in London because of the Games' logo. — According to an Iranian official, the logo, with its blocky, abstract rendering of “2012,” is racist because it appears to spell the word …
Discussion:
The Jawa Report, TigerHawk and The Moderate Voice
RELATED:
BBC:
German Defence Minister Guttenberg resigns over thesis — Mr Guttenberg said he was not able to defend himself any further — German Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg has stepped down after he was found to have copied large parts of his 2006 university doctorate thesis.
David Brooks / New York Times:
The New Normal — We're going to be doing a lot of deficit cutting over the next several years. The country's future greatness will be shaped by whether we cut wisely or stupidly. So we should probably come up with a few sensible principles to guide us as we cut.
Discussion:
The Future of Capitalism, Eschaton and Sadly, No!
Michelle Hunter / New Orleans Times-Picayune:
Southern Decadence protest leader booked with masturbating at Metairie park — The Rev. Grant Storms, the Christian fundamentalist known for his bullhorn protests of the Southern Decadence festival in the French Quarter, was arrested on a charge of masturbating at a Metairie park Friday afternoon.
Discussion:
Towleroad News #gay, AOL News and The Political Carnival
Christina Wilkie / The Hill:
Rep. Holt beats Watson the super-computer at ‘Jeopardy!’ — There are a lot of smart people on Capitol Hill. But none of them can claim quite the same brainy bragging rights as Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.). — On Monday, Holt beat IBM's super-computer, known as Watson, at a round of “Jeopardy! …
Discussion:
CNN
Washington Post:
Obama offers states more flexibility in health-care law — President Obama sought to defuse criticism of the new health-care overhaul Monday by saying he is willing to give states an earlier opportunity to opt out of certain key requirements - but only if they can find their own ways to accomplish the law's goals.
Discussion:
Prairie Weather
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Fhardingj / CNN:
GOP governors remain skeptical after Obama meeting
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, GOP 12, NewsReal Blog, Ben Smith's Blog, The Politico and FrumForum
Mary Elizabeth Williams / Salon:
Is motherhood Natalie Portman's “greatest role”? — In her acceptance speech, the “Black Swan” star suggests that pregnancy trumps a career. She's wrong — Late Sunday night, when many of us at home were praying for the sweet release of a Celine Dion-serenaded death …
Discussion:
The Other McCain, Big Journalism, LifeNews.com, PunditMom, Politics Daily and pandagon.net
thenorthwestern.com:
State Rep. Gordon Hintz apologizes for comments made on Assembly floor following budget repair bill vote — An Oshkosh Assemblyman issued a second public apology in as many weeks Monday, the latest for comments he made on the floor of the Assembly following a vote on a contentious budget repair bill.
Discussion:
NewsBusters.org, 620wtmj.com, Maggie's Notebook, Hot Air, Fire Andrea Mitchell!, Weasel Zippers, The Daily Caller, Shows and RedState
Kim Severson / New York Times:
Edwards Lies Low, but That Won't Last — CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Over the past few weeks, people in this tight-knit university community have not seen much of John Edwards. — They used to. He would hang out on a metal stool at Bowbarr, a short walk from the environmentally friendly condominium complex …
Discussion:
The BLT
Dan Eggen / Washington Post:
Democrats call for an investigation of law firm, 3 tech companies — A group of House Democrats is calling on Republican leaders to investigate a prominent Washington law firm and three federal technology contractors, who have been shown in hacked e-mails discussing a “disinformation campaign” …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, The BRAD BLOG, The Nation, Ben Smith's Blog, Runnin' Scared and TPMDC
Scout Prime / First Draft:
This is what Dedication looks like — Today the Capitol was closed down to most people. (see A's post below) — There were people protesting outside however. — I was able to enter today and by my count late in the afternoon, there were about 50 protesters still inside.
Ed O'Keefe / Federal Eye:
Government overlap costs taxpayers billions, GAO reports — You think the government redundancies President Obama recently griped about were bad? Federal auditors found plenty more. — During his State of the Union address, Obama noted that 12 federal agencies or offices deal …
Alexis Madrigal / The Atlantic Online:
Revealing the Man Behind @MayorEmanuel — It was the best fake Twitter account ever, deftly satirizing Rahm Emanuel, and elevating the Tweet and the f-word to the level of literature. But the mystery writer was never revealed - until now. — There were many storylines in Rahm Emanuel's romp …
Hendrik Hertzberg / New Yorker:
UNION BLUES — “Fifteen million Americans bring you Edward P. Morgan and the news.” From 1955 to 1967, that line, heard on the ABC radio network every weeknight at 7 P.M., heralded the nation's best news broadcast. Those fifteen million Americans were the members of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. …
Discussion:
The Daily Dish, Weigel and News Desk
Richard A. Oppel Jr / New York Times:
In Wisconsin, Flinging Blame and Citing Deadlines — MADISON, Wis. — Time may or may not be running out to make some crucial decisions in the Wisconsin fight over labor unions and budgets. But the blame game is definitely coming to a boil. — In his two-week-long standoff with Democrats …
Discussion:
Econbrowser, Hot Air, FrumForum, Althouse and JSOnline
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