memeorandum: The New Normal — We're going to be doing a lot of deficit cutting … (David Brooks/New York Times)

12:05 PM ET, March 1, 2011

Top Items:

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 …

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 Foundry, Hit & Run, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Wonk Room, The Politico, Power Line, The Lonely Conservative and Ben Smith's Blog

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: Politics Daily, The Fix, Online NewsHour, Taegan Goddard's …, JSOnline and The Page

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:

A peek under the hood of the NYT/CBS poll — Allahpundit did a great job last night of dissecting the latest NYT/CBS poll based on its results from CBS' reporting. The survey found that a large majority of their respondents support keeping current collective bargaining rights in the public sector …

Discussion: The Raw Story and TPMDC

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 …

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

Michael Symons / Capitol Quickies:
Rep. Rush Holt beats IBM's Watson in ‘Jeopardy!’

Discussion: The Political Carnival

Alison Harding / CNN:
Rep. Holt holds his own against IBM's Watson

Discussion: New York Magazine

David Brody / The Brody File:

Speaker Boehner to Brody File: Preparing For “one giant fight over the future for our country.” — Speaker John Boehner tells The Brody File that when it comes to issue over the budget and raising the debt ceiling he is preparing for “one giant fight over the future for our country.”

Discussion: The Politico, The Huffington Post, Washington Monthly, ThinkProgress and TPMDC

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Boehner likens state budgets to hostages with machine guns at head

Discussion: FrumForum

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
THE MORALITY OF BUDGET CHOICES.... House Speaker John Boehner …

Discussion: The Maddow Blog and The Fix

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

Chatter grows over possible John Edwards indictment — Former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) faces growing chatter about facing a possible indictment on campaign finance charges. — The New York Times reported Tuesday that Edwards may soon face charges stemming from his affair during his 2008 presidential campaign.

Discussion: WBTV-TV

Kim Severson / New York Times:
Edwards Lies Low, but That Won't Last

Discussion: The BLT

Wall Street Journal:

A Union Education — What Wisconsin reveals about public workers and political power. — The raucous Wisconsin debate over collective bargaining may be ugly at times, but it has been worth it for the splendid public education. For the first time in decades, Americans have been asked …

Discussion: The Big Picture

Wall Street Journal:
The Democrats' Collective Bargain

Discussion: Betsy's Page

Jordan Ellenberg / The Atlantic Online:
Gov. Scott Walker's Secret Weapon: The Wisconsin Veto

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

JSOnline:
Walker responds to Obama

Discussion: Power Line, Wake up America, NewsBusters.org, Hot Air, Pundit & Pundette, UNCOVERAGE.net, Weasel Zippers and The Lonely Conservative

Mike Lillis / The Hill:

Dem senator: Senate has accepted House GOP spending plan — As House and Senate leaders haggle over ways to avoid a government shutdown, a Democratic senator said the Republicans' short-term spending bill - including billions of dollars in cuts - has been largely accepted by upper-chamber Democrats.

Discussion: The Note

Michael O'Brien / The Hill: Pelosi needles GOP over return of styrofoam cups

Cathy Horyn / New York Times:

Natalie Portman Condemns Galliano — The actress Natalie Portman, who has an endorsement contract with Dior for its Miss Dior Cherie fragrance, has strongly condemned its chief designer, John Galliano, for anti-Semitic remarks after a video surfaced of Mr. Galliano appearing to deliver a tirade in a Paris bar.

Discussion: BlogPost, AOL News, The New Republic and PopEater

Richard White / The Sun:
Film of Galliano's racist rant in bar

Discussion: blogs.telegraph.co.uk, PoliPundit.com, Guardian, The Huffington Post, AOL News, PopEater, The Moderate Voice, Towleroad News #gay, News Desk and Harry's Place

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: Questions and Observations, driftglass, The Future of Capitalism, Eschaton and Sadly, No!

New York Magazine:

Frank Rich Joins New York Magazine — Frank Rich is joining New York Magazine, beginning in June. Rich will be an essayist for the magazine, writing monthly on politics and culture, and will serve as an editor-at-large, editing a special monthly section anchored by his essay.

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, CBS New York, Gawker, Mediaite and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

Barbour: ‘RomneyCare’ bad for states — Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) on Tuesday piled on the Massachusetts healthcare program critics have dubbed “RomneyCare.” — Barbour, a possible Republican candidate for president, said in congressional testimony that while it was the right …

Discussion: The Page and FrumForum

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, UNCOVERAGE.net, Michelle Malkin and Patterico's Pontifications

Damian Paletta / Wall Street Journal:

Billions in Bloat Uncovered in Beltway — The U.S. government has 15 different agencies overseeing food-safety laws, more than 20 separate programs to help the homeless and 80 programs for economic development. — These are a few of the findings in a massive study of overlapping …

Discussion: Liberty Pundits Blog, Big Government and Washington Wire

Ed O'Keefe / Federal Eye:
Government overlap costs taxpayers billions, GAO reports

Discussion: The Note

Chris Chase / Yahoo! Sports:

Iran threatens London boycott over ‘racist’ Olympic logo — Iran is threatening to boycott of the 2012 London Olympics because it claims the official logo for the games resembles the word “Zion,” which is a biblical term for Jerusalem. — Bahram Afsharzadeh, the secretary-general …

Discussion: Power Line, Pundit Press and iOwnTheWorld.com

Cindy Boren / The Early Lead:
Iran threatens to boycott 2012 London Olympics because of logo

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Patterico's Pontifications, TigerHawk and The Moderate Voice

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: Moonbattery, Pirate's Cove, theblogprof, Pajamas Media, This Just In, Scared Monkeys and Sister Toldjah

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: Washington Post, News Desk, New York Magazine, 2chambers, The Other McCain, FishbowlDC and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »

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, nancynall.com and The Political Carnival

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: Emptywheel, AlterNet, The Raw Story, The BRAD BLOG, The Nation, Ben Smith's Blog and Runnin' Scared

Patrick Poole / Pajamas Media:

PJ Tatler Exclusive: Was the U.S. a victim of an economic 9/11 in 2008? — Bill Gertz has an article running in this morning's Washington Times, “Financial terrorism suspected in '08 economic crash,” on a report prepared by the Department of Defense in June 2009.

Discussion: Washington Times and National Review