memeorandum: The Destruction of Economic Facts (Hernando de Soto/Business Week)

11:10 PM ET, April 30, 2011

Top Items:

BBC:

Nato strike ‘kills Saif al-Arab Gaddafi’, Libya says — Libya's government took journalists to the site where they said Saif al-Arab Gaddafi was killed — A Nato air strike in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, has killed the son of the Libyan leader, Colonel Gaddafi, a government spokesman has said.

Discussion: Emptywheel, TalkLeft, Bloomberg, Little Green Footballs, Scared Monkeys, Mediaite, The Jawa Report, The Political Carnival and Gawker

New York Times:

Attack Said to Kill Son but Spare Qaddafi — BENGHAZI, Libya — Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi survived a NATO airstrike on Saturday night that struck a house in Tripoli containing several of his family members and killed his youngest son and three of the colonel's grandchildren, a Libyan government spokesman announced early Sunday.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Outside the Beltway and The Other McCain

CNN:

One of Gadhafi's sons killed in NATO airstrike, Libyan official says — Tripoli, Libya (CNN) — One of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's sons — Saif al-Arab Gadhafi — was killed after a NATO airstrike, a spokesman for Libya's government said Sunday at a press conference.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and msnbc.com

Glen Johnson / Boston Globe:

Romney clarifies as he proposes to ‘hang’ Obama with misery index — UPDATED — MANCHESTER, N.H. — Expected Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney tread on socially dangerous ground last night as he talked about the need to “hang” a misery index around the neck of Barack Obama, the nation's first black president.

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Weasel Zippers, The Democratic Daily, Washington Monthly and MyFox Orlando

Alexander Burns / The Politico:
‘Sorry’ state of affairs at GOP forum

Discussion: New York Times, Reuters and The Hill

Alexander Burns / The Politico:
Mitt Romney trips over ‘hang’ metaphor

Discussion: The Raw Story and Runnin' Scared

Evan McMorris-Santoro / TPMDC:
Romney Stumbles Over ‘Hang Him’ Gaffe Aimed At Obama (VIDEO)

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Gawker and Dependable Renegade

The Atlantic Online:
Mitt Romney's Rusty Debut

Discussion: The Other McCain, JammieWearingFool, No More Mister Nice Blog, TPMDC, Left Coast Rebel, Booman Tribune and The Daily Dish

The Politico:

WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS' DINNER 2011: SCENES FROM THE RED CARPET — POLITICO Slideshows require the Adobe Flash Player. — POLITICO brings you minute-by-minute coverage of the White House Correspondents' Dinner and the events leading up to Washington's biggest night below:

Discussion: The Note

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:

The White House Correspondents' Dinner weekend, via Twitter — Before the White House Correspondents' Dinner even began, Twitter was buzzing with the “#nerdprom” hashtag — the self-mocking nickname Washington's twitterati use for the dinner, which is the big night on the capital's social scene.

Discussion: Reuters

Dan Mitchell / International Liberty:

Obama's Medicare Appointee Has Accidental Encounter with Reality, Learns Nothing — I just read something that unleashed my inner teenager, because I want to respond with a combination of OMG, LMAO, and WTF. — Donald Berwick, the person appointed by Obama to be in charge of Medicare …

Cameron McWhirter / Wall Street Journal:

The Big Spill Over ‘Three Cups of Tea’ — Nonprofits working in the developing world are now under intense scrutiny; a revamp in charity ratings — Rye Barcott (in Nairobi, above) has found it harder to raise money for his work in Kenya after questions were raised about author Greg Mortenson.

Discussion: Pajamas Media, The Other McCain and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Associated Press:

Bachmann uses Holocaust to illustrate tax point — MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann on Saturday described the loss of “economic liberty” that young Americans face today as a “flash point of history” in which the younger generation will ask what their elders did to stop it.

Discussion: Mediaite, Hullabaloo and Harry's Place

Mark Steyn / National Review:

Discredited — The other day Paul O'Neill said that . . . Oh, wait. I suppose I ought to explain who Paul O'Neill is. A decade ago, he was President Bush's first Treasury secretary. I have no very clear memory of him except that he toured Africa with Bono and they were photographed …

Discussion: ParaPundit

Detroit Free Press:

Tempers flare at Pastor Terry Jones' Dearborn rally — Amid a heavy police presence, Pastor Terry Jones delivered a rambling speech Friday from the steps of Dearborn City Hall that lashed out at Islam and President Barack Obama, but much of his words were drowned out by the voices of a swarm …

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications, The Gateway Pundit and The Jawa Report

Larry O'Connor / Breitbart.tv:

Breitbart Punches Back on Maher's ‘Real Time’ — Andrew Breitbart was confronted on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher by liberal political analyst Laura Flanders. Ignoring Maher's questions and moving on her own agenda for the show she challenged Breitbart to apologize to Shirley Sherrod.

Discussion: Big Hollywood and Weasel Zippers

David Dayen / Firedoglake:

Geithner Pries Away $30 Trillion Forex Derivative Market from Regulation — Zach Carter reports on a blow to efforts to regulate the runaway derivatives market. Just as most derivatives are set to be put onto clearinghouses, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner exempted a large group of derivatives …

Discussion: The Talking Dog and Corrente

Zach Carter / The Huffington Post: Treasury Blocks Regulation Of Market That Sparked $5.4 Trillion Fed Bailout

Ryan J. Reilly / tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com:

23rd Richest Member Of Congress: I'm ‘Struggling Like Everyone Else’ — Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT), the 23rd richest member of Congress who owns millions of dollars in farm and ranch land, told an audience member at a town hall in Missoula yesterday that he and his wife “are struggling like everyone else” …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Yglesias

Niccolo Machiavelli / Big Peace:

Russia: Would ‘Enthusiastically Embrace’ Obama Second Term; ‘Completely Free Of Cold War Thinking’ — From The Moscow Times: — Amid growing anxiety over whose name will appear on the 2012 presidential ballot, lawmakers and pundits were quick to welcome the news that one president …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:

Clinton: Supreme Court could rule against healthcare law — There's a chance that the Supreme Court could rule the so-called “individual mandate” in the healthcare reform law unconstitutional, but on the whole the bill will stay in tact, former President Bill Clinton said.

Discussion: CNN

Aliyah Shahid / NY Daily News:

Rick Perry, Texas governor, rips Obama's trip to tornado-devastated Alabama: What about our fires? — As President Obama meets with Alabama families affected by deadly tornados that swept through the South earlier this week, Texas Gov. Rick Perry is asking: What about us?

Discussion: The Mahablog, Washington Monthly and News One