memeorandum: US deficit up 15.7% in first half of fiscal 2011 (Agence France Presse)

9:35 AM ET, April 13, 2011

Top Items:

Mike Lillis / The Hill:

Left's angst grows over Obama's shift to the political center — Anxiety over President Obama's shift to the political center is threatening to alienate the White House's liberal base. — As Obama prepares Wednesday to outline his deficit reduction strategy, liberals worry he'll embrace Medicare …

Discussion: Prairie Weather and JammieWearingFool

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:

Progressive Group To Supporters: Withhold Donations To Obama If He Cuts Medicare, Medicaid … WASHINGTON — One of the thorniest progressive groups in the side of the Obama administration is launching a new campaign against the president on Tuesday, this time targeting the president's vaunted grassroots donor base.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and The Politico

Washington Post:

Obama risks losing liberals with talk of cutting budget — Alex Wong/ GETTY IMAGES - President Obama's speech Wednesday on how to rein in the nation's debt will be the first in a series of steps he will take in coming weeks to promote fiscal discipline, not just a one-time nod toward cutting spending, the White House said Tuesday.

Discussion: Firedoglake, AMERICAblog News and Wonkette

Lydia Saad / Gallup:

Americans Back Budget Deal but Declare No Winner — Split on whether next year's budget should further cut domestic spending — PRINCETON, NJ — Six in 10 Americans approve of the 11th-hour federal budget agreement that congressional leaders reached in time to avert a government shutdown.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Hot Air

The Hill:

Rand Paul says he's considering filibuster of budget agreement — Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Tuesday that he's considering a filibuster of the budget agreement to fund the government for the remainder of this fiscal year. — Paul, who said yesterday that he would vote against the agreement reached …

Discussion: Reuters, Cubachi, The Politico, The Note, Left Coast Rebel, Hot Air, Zandar Versus The Stupid and A plain blog about politics

Susan Page / USA Today:
Poll: Budget deal wins support, but Americans wary

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and The Daily Caller

Sarah Kliff / The Politico:
Fight stokes Planned Parenthood

Discussion: Sky Dancing, Jill Stanek, The Moderate Voice, Outside the Beltway, AmSpecBlog, Ben Smith's Blog and Don Surber

Kasie Hunt / The Politico:

Mitt Romney to birthers: Barack Obama was born here. Period. — Mitt Romney forcefully said Tuesday night that he believes President Barack Obama was born in America and that “the citizenship test has been passed.” — “I think the citizenship test has been passed.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Atlantic Online, The Reaction, CNN and This Just In

Jennifer Jacobs / Des Moines Register:
Quotes: Michele Bachmann in her own words on marriage, judges, a stolen election

Discussion: ACS Blog and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
Michele Bachmann Calls For Stripping Judges' Power To Enforce Parts Of The Constitution She Doesn't Like

Discussion: Wonk Room and Sky Dancing

Justin Bieber / Haaretz:

Netanyahu cancels Bieber date over refusal to meet kids affected by Gaza rockets — PM was scheduled to host pop star at his Jerusalem office; taking advantage of the PR situation, Netanyahu's advisers invited group of kids from communities near Gaza border to attend.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Israel Matzav and Religion Dispatches

Isabel Kershner / New York Times:
Diplomatic Breakdown Amid Bieber Fever in Israel

Discussion: Global Public Square

Eric Lichtblau / New York Times:

Lobbyists Won Key Concessions in Budget Deal — WASHINGTON — At a quarter till midnight last Friday, with a deal to avert a government shutdown barely an hour old, Senator Harry Reid phoned a fellow Democratic senator, Ron Wyden, at home and startled him with some bad news.

Discussion: ThinkProgress and No More Mister Nice Blog

Tim Fernholz / NationalJournal.com:
Budget Cutting Ain't Easy

Discussion: Pundit & Pundette, Cubachi, OpenMarket.org, Weasel Zippers, Liberty Pundits Blog, Doug Ross, Firedoglake, Fox News, Washington Post, The Atlantic Online and Washington Monthly

Gschwarzcnn / CNN:

Pawlenty: 'I'm running for president' — (CNN) - Former Republican Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty told CNN's Piers Morgan Tuesday he's focused on running for the White House. — “I'm running for president,” Pawlenty said in an interview Tuesday on “Piers Morgan Tonight.”

Discussion: Associated Press, Derek Wallbank, Gawker and InvestmentWatch

Piers Morgan:
Tim Pawlenty says “I'm running for President” and comments on Trump as possible opponent

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, CNN and The Politico

Mark Blumenthal / The Huffington Post:
Trump's Polls: A Reality Check

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, Daily Kos, Alaska Dispatch, Taylor Marsh, CNN, Conservatives4Palin, Crooks and Liars and Outside the Beltway

Dave Itzkoff / New York Times:

Ex-Governor Apologizes for Using Song in Ad — Some days Charlie Crist is an ally of rock stars, and some days he is their adversary. — On Monday, Mr. Crist, the former governor of Florida who, before he left office, helped champion a posthumous pardon for Jim Morrison, the front man of the Doors …

Discussion: Hotline On Call, Rolling Stone, Hot Air and Balkinization

Holly Bailey / Yahoo! News:
David Byrne forces Charlie Crist to record embarrassing apology for stealing Talking Heads song

Discussion: Swampland, Scared Monkeys, GOOD, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Ben Smith's Blog

Matt Taibbi / Rolling Stone:

The Real Housewives of Wall Street — Why is the Federal Reserve forking over $220 million in bailout money to the wives of two Morgan Stanley bigwigs? — By — America has two national budgets, one official, one unofficial. The official budget is public record and hotly debated …

Discussion: Zandar Versus The Stupid and The Moderate Voice

Igor Volsky / Wonk Room:

ThinkProgress Leaves Bachmann Speechless: Doesn't ‘Have An Answer’ On Whether Homosexuality Is A Public Health Hazard — Yesterday, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) — who is seriously considering launching a campaign for the presidency — appeared before the FAMiLY Leader, an anti-gay social conservative group in Iowa.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Towleroad News #gay, Pam's House Blend and Good As You

Annie Lowrey / Slate:

How Congress can balance the budget in eight years by literally doing nothing. This is not a joke. — The Simpson-Bowles blue-ribbon deficit commission longs to slash Social Security and defense spending. The Bipartisan Policy Center's Alice Rivlin and Peter Domenici yearn for a value-added tax.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Capital Gains and Games blogs and The New Republic

Steven Edwards / canada.com:

UN document would give ‘Mother Earth’ same rights as humans — PHOTOS ( 1 ) — Bolivia is planning to table a draft United Nations treaty giving “Mother Earth” the same rights as humans. — UNITED NATIONS — Bolivia will this month table a draft United Nations treaty giving “Mother Earth” …

Discussion: Right Wing News, Pajamas Media, Weasel Zippers, Scared Monkeys, Don Surber, The Lonely Conservative and The TrogloPundit

Agence France Presse:

US deficit up 15.7% in first half of fiscal 2011 — WASHINGTON — The US budget deficit shot up 15.7 percent in the first six months of fiscal 2011, the Treasury Department said Wednesday as political knives were being sharpened for a new budget battle. — The Treasury reported a deficit …

Discussion: Conservatives4Palin, Questions and Observations, The Gateway Pundit and NewsBusters.org

John Melloy / Fast Money:

Inflation Actually Near 10% Using Older Measure — After former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker was appointed in 1979, the consumer price index surged into the double digits, causing the now revered Fed Chief to double the benchmark interest rate in order to break the back of inflation.

Discussion: Doug Ross

Ann Friedman / GOOD:

Equal Pay Day Tips for Working Women — Ladies, today we celebrate a great milestone. As of April 12, 2011, we have officially caught up to what our male counterparts earned in 2010. It only took us an extra 102 days! Personally I'm feeling as empowered as a vintage Virginia Slims ad …

Carrie Lukas / Wall Street Journal:
There Is No Male-Female Wage Gap

Discussion: AMERICAN DIGEST, ECHIDNE of the snakes, The White House, Big Government, The Enterprise Blog, National Review, Cafe Hayek, That Mr. G Guy's Blog, The Lonely Conservative and protein wisdom

Alexander Burns / The Politico:

Wisconsin previews 2012 chaos — Here we go again. — Wisconsin's contested Supreme Court race has set in motion a drama that's by now almost painfully familiar. It goes something like this: A hard-fought election comes down to a few troublesome precincts.

Amie Parnes / The Politico:

PRESIDENT AND MICHELLE OBAMA APPEARING ON ‘THE OPRAH SHOW’ — President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama are heading back to the Windy City later this month to appear on “The Oprah Show.” — The first couple will be in Chicago to tape the show on April 27 (while in town to attend …

Discussion: The Lonely Conservative and The Page

Robert Borosage / The Politico:

President Obama doesn't need to be an accountant in chief — With his Wednesday address to the nation, President Barack Obama enters the lists in the debate over the nation's deficits. His path, no doubt, will contrast with the plan offered by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).

Discussion: CNN

Leland Vittert / Fox News:

Hamas' Powerful New Weapon Alters Strategic Calculations Along the Gaza Strip — April 7: A wounded Israeli is treated by medics at the site where an Israeli school bus was hit by a mortar shell fired from the Gaza Strip near the border between southern Israel and Gaza Wednesday.

Discussion: American Power