memeorandum: Weekly Address: American Jobs Through Exports to Latin America (Jesse Lee/White House.gov Blog)

1:20 PM ET, March 19, 2011

Top Items:

Obama Takes Hard Line With Libya After Shift by Clinton — WASHINGTON — In a Paris hotel room on Tuesday night, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton found herself juggling the inconsistencies of American foreign policy in a turbulent Middle East. She criticized the foreign minister …

Discussion: Power Line, The Nation, Swampland, Outside the Beltway, National Review, The Atlantic Online, American Power, Pundit & Pundette, JustOneMinute, The Cable and NewsBusters.org blogs

New York Times:

Allies in Libya Airspace to Stop Assaults — PARIS — American, European and Arab leaders began the largest international military intervention in the Arab world since the invasion of Iraq on Saturday, in an effort to stop Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi's war on the Libyan opposition.

Discussion: The Daily Dish, The Hill, Guardian, Mediaite and Booman Tribune

Times of India:

‘To my Dear Obama, our son’, says Gaddafi, defending attack on rebels — CAIRO: Calling Barack Obama as “our son”, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi sent a message to the US President defending his decision to attack the rebels fighting to overthrow him. — Gaddafi (68) also wrote a letter …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Guardian

CNN:

French fighter jets deployed over Libya — Tripoli, Libya (CNN) — French fighters jets soared over Libya on Saturday to counter Moammar Gadhafi's military forces who were intent on destroying the opposition as they pushed into the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, BBC, The Jawa Report and Next Big Future

Ann Althouse / Althouse:

A feminist milestone: Our male President has been pulled into war by 3 women. — It's the opposite of the Code Pink idea that women bring the peace. How long have I heard this feminist plaint: If only women had the power, we would have peace, not phallocratic war. — But no:

Washington Post:
Gaddafi's forces enter Benghazi as U.S., allies prepare military action against Libya

Discussion: BBC and National Review

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
The Imperial President — The president's speech was disturbingly empty.

Discussion: Foreign Policy, Eunomia, democracyarsenal.org, Guardian and Gawker

Jonathan Chait / The New Republic:
The Libya Question is Only About Libya — There's an argument …

Discussion: Salon, Yglesias, The Daily Dish, Washington Post, Eschaton and Opinionator

CNN:

Nuclear plant's power restoration closer — Tokyo (CNN) — Efforts accelerated Saturday to restore power to nuclear reactors' cooling systems at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi plant, with government and power company officials citing a need to increase the limit of permissible radiation exposure …

Discussion: New York Magazine and The Jawa Report

New York Times:

Japan Finds Contaminated Food Up to 90 Miles From Nuclear Sites — TOKYO — The government said Saturday that it had found higher than normal levels of radioactive materials in spinach and milk at farms up to 90 miles away from the ravaged nuclear power plants, the first confirmation …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Ecocentric, Boing Boing and Kyodo News

Kate Sheppard / MoJo Articles:
How Bad Could Japan's Nuclear Crisis Get?

Discussion: Mother Jones, Frank Munger's Atomic …, Philly.com, Next Big Future, The BRAD BLOG, Kyodo News, Salon and Booman Tribune

James Fallows / The Atlantic Online:

Warren Christopher, 1925-2011 — Let me break into the sequence of guest voices here to express sadness at news that Warren Christopher has just died, at age 85. — He is best known as the first Secretary of State during the Clinton Administration, and his public image was of a very careful, even colorless person.

Discussion: Gawker

Robert D. Hershey Jr / New York Times:

Warren Christopher, Ex-Secretary of State, Dies at 85 — Warren M. Christopher, secretary of state in President Clinton's first term and the chief negotiator for the 1981 release of American hostages in Iran, died Friday night in Los Angeles. He was 85 and had been ill with kidney and bladder cancer.

Discussion: Althouse, Mediaite, Outside the Beltway and Guardian

CNN:
Former Secretary of State Warren Christopher dies

Discussion: New York Magazine

NASA Science:

Super Full Moon — March 16, 2011: Mark your calendar. On March 19th, a full Moon of rare size and beauty will rise in the east at sunset. It's a super “perigee moon”—the biggest in almost 20 years. — “The last full Moon so big and close to Earth occurred in March of 1993,” …

Discussion: Making Light

Yahoo! News:
‘Supermoon’ Rises: Biggest Full Moon in 18 Years Occurs Saturday Night

Discussion: The Raw Story and Outside the Beltway

Kerry Picket / Washington Times:

DOJ to white male bullying victims: Tough luck — The viral video sensation showing a bullying incident at an Australian school has brought the issue of bullying back into the spotlight. Here in the United States, the Obama administration has made school bullying a federal issue.

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Weasel Zippers, Instapundit and The Volokh Conspiracy

Sam Youngman / The Hill:

At campaign event Biden mentions rape in criticizing Republicans — Vice President Joe Biden, speaking at a fundraiser in Philadelphia Friday, compared Republicans in Congress to people who excuse rapists by blaming their victims. — The vice president, known for speaking his mind …

Discussion: Booman Tribune, CNN, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, JammieWearingFool and Ballot Box

Associated Press:

Giuliani mocks Obama as foreign policy weakling … MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, whose drive-by approach to campaigning in New Hampshire drove his 2008 presidential campaign into the ground, is setting the stage for a do-over.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Politico, Weasel Zippers and Cubachi

James O'Keefe / APP.com:

Hidden-camera activist James O'Keefe turns away APP videographer — have made headlines, apparently was not thrilled about the idea of being videotaped himself during a speech he gave Thursday evening. — O'Keefe, who spoke to about 100 members of the Bayshore Tea Party and their supporters …

Discussion: FreakOutNation

George Zornick / ThinkProgress:
Hidden Camera Activist James O'Keefe Refuses To Be Taped During Speech

Discussion: The Political Carnival

CBO's Latest 10 Documents:

PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF THE PRESIDENT'S BUDGET FOR 2012 — Letter to the Honorable Daniel K. Inouye — ABSTRACT — The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), with contributions from the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, has analyzed the President's budget submission for fiscal year 2012.

Discussion: Questions and Observations, The Daily Caller, Power Line, The Lonely Conservative and AmSpecBlog