memeorandum: Does the Supreme Court care more about free speech for the wealthy than about political corruption? (Richard L. Hasen/Slate)

12:20 PM ET, March 25, 2011

Top Items:

‘Have You No Sense of Decency?’ The Wm. Cronon Story — BEIJING, China. I don't mean to keep butting in and have just a minute to type this out, but I think it's important to direct attention to a new abuse of power underway in Wisconsin. — William Cronon (right), whom I know very slightly …

Discussion: The Nation, The Mahablog, Prairie Weather and Latest Open Salon Blog

Kate Golden / WisconsinWatch.org:

Indiana prosecutor resigns over Walker email — Initially denied encouraging Wisconsin violence — Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism — This is an updated version. Read the Center's original version here. — An Indiana deputy prosecutor and Republican activist resigned Thursday …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Guardian, AFL-CIO NOW BLOG, Shakesville, Mother Jones, TPMDC, The Raw Story, ThinkProgress, Crooks and Liars, Wonkette, Tennessee Guerilla Women, Sky Dancing, Talking Points Memo, Politicususa and Balloon Juice

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

My Worlds Collide — This is a bizarre, ugly turn of events. And for me it's a little weird because of the people involved. I just found out about it from TPM Reader AS. — Bill Cronon — or William Cronon, as I think of him — is a Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Washington Post

Bill / Scholar as Citizen:
Abusing Open Records to Attack Academic Freedom

Discussion: TPMDC, Crooked Timber and Boing Boing

David Kocieniewski / New York Times:

G.E.'s Strategies Let It Avoid Taxes Altogether — General Electric, the nation's largest corporation, had a very good year in 2010. — The company reported worldwide profits of $14.2 billion, and said $5.1 billion of the total came from its operations in the United States. — Its American tax bill?

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Clusterstock, Oliver Willis, This Just In, The Foundry, Hot Air, nancynall.com, Daily Loaf, Outside the Beltway, LewRockwell.com Blog, naked capitalism, The Big Picture, No More Mister Nice Blog, Weasel Zippers, National Review, Philly.com, Shakesville and The Lonely Conservative

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

Huckabee Has Slight Edge, Palin Down, in GOP '12 Preferences — Romney, Palin would tie if Huckabee does not run — PRINCETON, NJ — Mike Huckabee tops a large list of potential GOP presidential candidates in current support for the party's 2012 nomination, with 19% of Republicans saying they are most likely to back him.

Discussion: Yglesias, The Moderate Voice, CNN, USA Today, Ballot Box and HotAirPundit

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:

Mitt Romney's path: Victory by ‘slog’ — Mitt Romney is sketching a path to the GOP nomination that looks nothing like the one blazed by Republicans before him. — Romney's plan, by necessity, more closely resembles the outline of the epic 2008 Democratic presidential primary than the GOP's recent victory-by-early-knockout design.

Discussion: The Note, msnbc.com, GOP 12, Swampland and The Page

Sarah Palin / Facebook:

Lamestream Media: Reload or White Flag? — “Let's keep pivoting around media bias, and not get distracted with the vulgar personal shots. Call out lies and set the record straight, but always keep the ball moving. No one ever won a game only playing defense.”

Discussion: Wonkette, Big Journalism and The Gateway Pundit

Shane D'Aprile / Ballot Box:
Sarah Palin hits back at ‘annoying little mosquito’ Bill Maher

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Pete Kasperowicz / The Hill:

CBO: Taxing mileage a ‘practical option’ for revenue enhancement — The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) this week released a report that said taxing people based on how many miles they drive is a possible option for raising new revenues and that these taxes could be used to offset the costs …

Discussion: Don Surber, Weasel Zippers, International Liberty, Questions and Observations, Hot Air, Grim's Hall, Scared Monkeys and Pajamas Media

Adam C. Smith / St. Petersburg Times:

Connie Mack will NOT run for U.S. Senate — U.S. Rep. Connie Mack IV won't run for U.S. Senate. — “I've got two small children and it's hard enough to get to spend a lot of good quality time now. I have a wife. They are all very important to me and at the end of the day family has to be number one …

Discussion: Ballot Box, CNN, Washington Post, Daily Kos, Swing State Project, Hotline On Call and TPMDC

New York Times:

Allies Are Split on Goal and Exit Strategy in Libya — WASHINGTON — Having largely succeeded in stopping a rout of Libya's rebels, the inchoate coalition attacking Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi's forces remains divided over the ultimate goal — and exit strategy — of what officials acknowledged Thursday …

Discussion: Yglesias, The Cable, Weekly Standard, Connecting.the.Dots, BBC, Reuters, The Foundry, Swampland, Steve Sailer's iSteve Blog, Prairie Weather and Hot Air

Charles Krauthammer / Orange County Register:

The professor's war … President Obama is proud of how he put together the Libyan operation. A model of international cooperation. All the necessary paperwork. Arab League backing. A Security Council resolution. (Everything but a resolution from the Congress of the United States …

Discussion: protein wisdom and Betsy's Page

Steven Hayward / Power Line:
The Libya Farce Goes to 11

Discussion: Hot Air, Reuters, Pundit & Pundette and National Review

First Read / msnbc.com:

First Thoughts: The handoff on Libya — U.S. hands off Libya no-fly enforcement to NATO ... United Arab Emirates to contribute planes ... What about Syria ... The White House's shuts out TV cameras ... What the Census numbers say about importance of Latinos in politics ... An Iowa cattle call …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, The Moderate Voice, Outside the Beltway, The Daily Beast, NationalJournal.com and Weigel

Tim Murphy / Mother Jones:
Bachmann's First 2012 Hire: An Iowa Birther

Discussion: The Daily Beast, GOP 12, Indecision Forever, The Raw Story and Prairie Weather

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
Michele Bachmann bid could shake up GOP field

Discussion: Swampland, Taylor Marsh and Wall Street Journal

Alex Pareene / Salon:

The stupid saga of Andrew Breitbart and the Huffington Post — So! Arianna Huffington — recently put in charge of all the “content” at AOL following the dial-up ISP's acquisition of her former “liberal Drudge” Internet newspaper — gave a blog to her old friend Andrew Breitbart.

Discussion: Capital New York, Washington Post, The Daily Caller, Big Journalism, STRANAHAN dot COM and Hit & Run

David Weigel / Weigel:
Huffington Post Wimps Out on Breitbart

Discussion: Mediaite, ThinkProgress, STRANAHAN dot COM, The Daily Caller, Big Journalism, Patterico's Pontifications, Nice Deb, The Gateway Pundit, FishbowlDC, Verum Serum, Da Techguy's Blog, AMERICAblog News and Washington Post, more at Mediagazer »

New York Times:

Japan Quietly Evacuating a Wider Radius From Reactors — TOKYO — Japanese officials on Friday began quietly encouraging people to evacuate a larger swath of territory around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, a sign that they hold little hope that the crippled facility will soon be brought under control.

Discussion: The Democratic Daily, Latest Open Salon Blog and The Page

Associated Press:
Dangerous breach suspected at Japanese nuke plant

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and News Desk, more at Mediagazer »

Maggie Haberman / The Politico:

Dick Armey says Mitch Daniels would have 2012 tea party cred — Mitch Daniels, an establishment GOP favorite, could also have real tea party appeal, former House Majorrity Leader Dick Armey says. — Armey, who heads the tea party promoting group FreedomWorks, met with Daniels in Indiana Thursday …

Discussion: Indianapolis Star and CNN

Mary Beth Schneider / Indianapolis Star:
Daniels: I'm still undecided about running for White House

Discussion: GOP 12

Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:

Woops, Newt Did It Again: Trying To Defend Libya Flip-Flop, Gingrich Reverses Himself On Air Power — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich went on Fox News last night to “attempt[] to clarify [his] stance on Libya,” as Fox itself put it, but only ran into more trouble.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Daily Beast, Blogcritics, Daily Kos and Yglesias

The Note:
Gingrich Not Alone In No-fly Zone Contradiction

Discussion: CNN, Washington Monthly, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Political Punch

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

Obama fails to grasp the gravity of going to war — Chief Political Correspondent Follow Him @ByronYork — “I see Obama's visiting the United States,” said Rush Limbaugh on Thursday, the president's first full day back in Washington after a spring break diplomatic tour of Latin America.

Discussion: Hot Air, The Gateway Pundit and The Hill

Washington Post:
Pressure building on Obama to clarify mission in Libya

Discussion: The Page, msnbc.com, RedState, Swampland, Danger Room and The Foundry

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

The Austerity Delusion — Portugal's government has just fallen in a dispute over austerity proposals. Irish bond yields have topped 10 percent for the first time. And the British government has just marked its economic forecast down and its deficit forecast up. — What do these events have in common?

Discussion: Sky Dancing, Prairie Weather and Clusterstock

Matea Gold / Los Angeles Times:

Haley Barbour known for fundraising talent and tactics — Mississippi's GOP governor, a possible presidential candidate, raked in massive amounts in campaign donations as chairman of the Republican National Committee and Republican Governors Association. Some question his methods.

Discussion: GOP 12

Bryan Fischer / RenewAmerica:

Islam and the First Amendment: privileges but not rights — Follow me on Twitter: @BryanJFischer, on Facebook at “Focal Point” — The First Amendment was written by the Founders to protect the free exercise of Christianity. They were making no effort to give special protections to Islam.

Discussion: The American Independent, The Western Experience, Sadly, No! and The Raw Story

Jillian Rayfield / tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com:
Bryan Fischer: Muslims Have No First Amendment Rights

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The American Independent, Pam's House Blend and Right Wing Watch

Adam Serwer / American Prospect:

Does Pawlenty Have a Sharia Problem? — Pawlenty's effort to expand Muslim homeownership could hurt him in the GOP primary. — Abid Lakhani wanted to buy a home. — Unfortunately, as an observant Muslim, his options were limited. Many Muslims hold that the paying or charging of interest …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog and Weasel Zippers