memeorandum: Fat Stigma Spreads Around the Globe (Tara Parker-Pope/New York Times)

5:20 AM ET, March 31, 2011

Top Items:

Mark Hosenball / Reuters:

Exclusive: Obama authorizes secret support for Libya rebels — (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing covert U.S. government support for rebel forces seeking to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, government officials told Reuters on Wednesday.

New York Times:

C.I.A. Agents in Libya Aid Airstrikes and Meet Rebels — WASHINGTON — The Central Intelligence Agency has inserted clandestine operatives into Libya to gather intelligence for military airstrikes and contact rebels battling Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi's forces, according to American officials.

Discussion: Guardian, The Volokh Conspiracy, Pajamas Media, Weasel Zippers, NO QUARTER, LewRockwell.com Blog and Balloon Juice

Ken Dilanian / Los Angeles Times:

CIA officers working with Libya rebels — CIA officers are coordinating with antigovernment fighters and sharing intelligence, but the Obama administration is undecided whether to supply weapons. Leading lawmakers from both parties are against the idea. — Reporting from Washington …

Discussion: Truthdig

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
On The Latest From Libya — I'm still absorbing this news …

Discussion: Ross Douthat

Emptywheel:
Where Will Obama Try Himself for Material Support for Terrorism?

Discussion: Hit & Run, Pajamas Media and The Raw Story

ABCNEWS:
President Obama Authorizes Covert Help for Libyan Rebels

Discussion: American Power, Political Punch and HotAirPundit

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
The wisdom and legality of arming Libyan rebels

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Guardian, NewsReal Blog and AMERICAblog News

Tanya Somanader / ThinkProgress:

VIDEO: Indiana GOP Rep Says Women Will Pretend To Be Raped To Get Free Abortions — Yesterday morning, the Indiana House considered an anti-abortion bill that “would put some of the tightest abortion restrictions in the nation into Indiana law.” Introduced by state Rep. Eric Turner (R) …

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Angry Black Lady Chronicles, Zandar Versus The Stupid, The Reality-Based Community and Booman Tribune

Indianapolis Star:

House GOP tames Dems' efforts on abortion bill — House Republicans this morning defeated numerous attempts by Democrats to moderate a bill that would put some of the tightest abortion restrictions in the nation into Indiana law. — The bill, House Bill 1210, now is eligible for a final vote in the House later this week.

Discussion: The Reality-Based Community, Sky Dancing and Shakesville

Abby Phillip / The Politico:

Shh! Obama gets anti-secrecy award — The president accepted a transparency award in a closed, undisclosed meeting. — President Obama finally and quietly accepted his “transparency” award from the open government community this week — in a closed, undisclosed meeting at the White House on Monday.

Discussion: Pajamas Media, Weasel Zippers, The Daily Caller, Michelle Malkin, Moe_Lane's blog and American Glob

Evan McMorris-Santoro / TPMDC:

GOPers Demand Sean Duffy Salary Tape Be Pulled From The Internet (VIDEO) — First the Republican Party in Polk County, Wisconsin, pulled the tape of Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) fretting about making ends meet on his $174,000 a year salary from its own website. Now they want it gone from the whole Internet.

Discussion: Daily Kos, Washington Post, UrbanGrounds, Examiner, Hullabaloo, Talking Points Memo, The Moderate Voice, First Draft, Angry Black Lady Chronicles and JSOnline

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:

Obama's jaw-dropping hypocrisy on energy — The Post reports: … It's nice that he's discovered the importance of domestic energy development, but his rhetoric overlooks his own policies over the past two years. Yesterday on the Senate floor Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) …

Discussion: The Last Tradition, The Foundry, The Lonely Conservative, Hot Air, Marathon Pundit, The Right Sphere, Zandar Versus The Stupid, JustOneMinute and Pirate's Cove

Democracy in America:
Reheated proposals — FOR 40-odd years now, Barack Obama …

Discussion: Grist, Washington Post, Dot Earth, Free exchange and Mother Jones

The White House:
Remarks by the President on America's Energy Security

Discussion: White House.gov Blog, Mother Jones, AmSpecBlog, Firedoglake and The New Republic

Allahpundit / Hot Air:

GOP report: AARP stands to make $1 billion from ObamaCare, IRS should investigate — Good stuff. AARP is the Death Star of American entitlements, so if the GOP wants to reform Social Security and Medicare, they're going to have to fire some photon torpedoes.

Discussion: Associated Press

Republican Ways and Means:
Congressional Report Details AARP's Financial Gain From Health Care Law

Discussion: RedState and American Glob

The Politico:

Hillary Clinton, Robert Gates win no love on Capitol Hill — President Barack Obama's foreign policy “A” team — led by Cabinet secretaries Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates — failed to quiet criticism of U.S. military action in Libya Wednesday during a pair of classified briefings on Capitol Hill.

Discussion: Hot Air

Lydia Saad / Gallup:
Hillary Clinton Favorable Near Her All-Time High

Discussion: The Hill, Taylor Marsh, The Note and Shakesville

David G. Savage / Los Angeles Times:

Supreme Court rejects damages for innocent man who spent 14 years on death row — In a 5-4 ruling, justices overturn a jury verdict awarding $14 million to John Thompson, who had sued then-New Orleans Dist. Atty. Harry Connick Sr. because prosecutors hid a blood test that would have proved his innocence in a murder case.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Mother Jones, Wonkette, iOwnTheWorld.com, Outside the Beltway, Gawker, Shakesville, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, This Just In, National Review and Washington Post

David Rogers / The Politico:

Budget deal close with $33B in cuts — Budget talks came to life Wednesday but not without new tension between the White House and Senate Democrats, worried that the administration is too quick to agree to $33 billion in cuts to move Speaker John Boehner toward what remains a very uncertain deal.

Discussion: Say Anything and CNN

Daniel Freedman / Freed Thinking:

Israel, The Third Nation on the Moon? — If all goes according to plan, by December 2012 a team of three young Israeli scientists will have landed a tiny spacecraft on the moon, explored the lunar surface, and transmitted live video back to earth, thereby scooping up a $20 million prize …

Discussion: Pajamas Media and NewsReal Blog

George Stephanopoulos / George's Bottom Line:

Budget Negotiators Reach Tentative Deal To Avert Government Shutdown — Sources tell me that budget negotiators on Capitol Hill have tentatively agreed on a deal that would involve at least $33 billion in spending cuts from this year's budget. That's $23 billion dollars more than Democrats …

Discussion: Hot Air, Daily Kos and National Review

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Cantor and the budget — My colleague David Rogers …

Discussion: The Politico, The Hill, Daily Kos, The Political Carnival, Washington Post and Taegan Goddard's …

Benjamin Svetkey / PopWatch:

Arnold Schwarzenegger is back as ‘The Governator’ — EXCLUSIVE — He's been a famous body builder. He's been a killer cyborg from the future. He's been Governor of California. And now, in this week's exclusive cover scoop, Arnold Schwarzenegger reveals his plans for the next phase …

Discussion: Capitol Alert

Fox News:

Republicans Pitch Unusual Backup Plan as Fragile Budget Talks Resume — In the latest gambit out of Washington's head-spinning budget debate, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor announced Wednesday that if the Senate fails to act by next week, Republicans will proffer a bill forcing …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Fox Nation

Scott Whitlock / NewsBusters.org blogs:
Chuck Schumer Caught on Tape Instructing Fellow Dems on How to Spin Media, Networks Ignore

Discussion: Flopping Aces and HotAirPundit

Travis Waldron / ThinkProgress:

With New ‘Monkey Bill,’ Tennessee Takes Evolution Education Back To Scopes — Eighty six years after the infamous Scopes Monkey Trial opened Tennessee classrooms to the teaching of evolution, the state House is trying to slam the door shut again. Tennessee's House Education Committee approved …

Discussion: Knoxville News-Sentinel

New York Times:

Retreat for Rebels; Libyan Foreign Minister Quits — BREGA, Libya — Forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi advanced rapidly on Wednesday, seizing towns they ceded just days ago after intense allied airstrikes and hounding rebel fighters into a chaotic retreat.

Discussion: Newshoggers.com, Outside the Beltway, FrumForum, JustOneMinute and TalkLeft

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
CNN: US changing war “strategy” to all-out attack on Gaddafi forces

Discussion: CNN and Questions and Observations

Chris Geidner / Poliglot:

Immigration Official: “The Hold Is Over” — The “hold” on same-sex married bi-national couples' green card applications — celebrated by immigration and LGBT advocates — is over, according to the spokesman for the agency that processes those requests. — “The guidance we were awaiting …

Discussion: The Raw Story, The Daily Dish and Pam's House Blend

CNN:

Only 14, Bangladeshi girl charged with adultery was lashed to death — Shariatpur, Bangladesh (CNN) — Hena Akhter's last words to her mother proclaimed her innocence. But it was too late to save the 14-year-old girl. — Her fellow villagers in Bangladesh's Shariatpur district had already passed harsh judgment on her.

Discussion: iOwnTheWorld.com, Patterico's Pontifications, Clayton Cramer's Blog and Feministing

Tom Precious / Politics Now:

Protests spread through Capitol — ALBANY — The State Senate has taken the rare step of shutting down its lobby to the public as budget protestors start arriving at the Capitol for a series of demonstrations in the hallways against the budget being adopted today.

Robert Stacy McCain / The Other McCain:

In Case You Missed It: Democrats Waving White Flag on Taking Back House in 2012 — Thanks to Moe Lane for pointing this out. In the immediate aftermath of the mid-term GOP tsunami, Democrats were boasting about how many of the Republican freshmen they were targeting for 2012.

Discussion: The Lonely Conservative and Speaker

Tea Party Patriots:

Continuing Revolution Rally — Where — Robert A. Taft Memorial, Washington, DC (North West of the Capitol Building, Directly West of Upper Senate Park). Click on map to go to Google for directions. — Why — Patriots across the nation spoke loudly last November. You voted for change.

Discussion: Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog and USA Today