memeorandum: Fresh fatalities as Syrians brave crackdown (Aljazeera)

9:50 AM ET, May 28, 2011

Top Items:

Lymari Morales / Gallup:

U.S. Adults Estimate That 25% of Americans Are Gay or Lesbian — Those with lower incomes, the less educated, women, and young people give the highest estimates — WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. adults, on average, estimate that 25% of Americans are gay or lesbian.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Washington Post, Althouse and Towleroad News #gay

Karl Smith / Modeled Behavior:

Asking People About Statistics — As you can see 52% of US adults answered that more than 20% of Americans are gay or lesbian. — About 3.5% of Americans identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered. — By contrast roughly 2.2% of Americans are ethnically or religiously Jewish and 4.8% of Americans are Asian.

Discussion: Mother Jones

Daoud Tyler-Ameen / NPR:

Gil Scott-Heron, Poet And Musician, Has Died — Gil Scott-Heron died Friday afternoon in New York, his book publisher reported. He was 62. The influential poet and musician is often credited with being one of the progenitors of hip-hop, and is best known for the spoken-word piece “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.”

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, The Daily What, Firedoglake, Balloon Juice and Notes From Underground

Robert Stacy McCain / The Other McCain:

Comedy Gold: Meghan McCain Blames Her Lousy Dating Life on Sarah Palin — America's Most Famous Dumb Blonde: — Jay Leno: Are you dating anyone? — Meghan McCain: No. I'm in, like, dating Babylon. Like, I go on dates with men and, literally, like Sarah Palin will come up in like the first 20 minutes …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, The Lonely Conservative and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Edward Lewine / New York Times:
Inside Meghan McCain's Bachelorette Pad

Discussion: Wonkette and Gawker

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Are Dems drawing hard line on Medicare after all? — Is it possible that Democrats participating in the Biden-led deficit reduction talks are drawing a hard line against any cuts to Medicare benefits? — Many liberals fear that Dems will cave on this point.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Hot Air, National Review and Daily Kos

David Kurtz / Talking Points Memo:
A Cornered Animal Is A Dangerous Animal

Discussion: Booman Tribune and The Moderate Voice

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
McConnell puts Medicare in the ransom note

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
McConnell: I Won't Agree To Raise The Debt Limit Without Medicare Cuts

Discussion: Firedoglake, Outside the Beltway, Balloon Juice and The Raw Story

Joby Warrick / Washington Post:

Iran reportedly aiding Syrian crackdown — U.S. officials say Iran is dispatching increasing numbers of trainers and advisers — including members of its elite Quds Force — into Syria to help crush anti-government demonstrations that are threatening to topple Iran's most important ally in the region.

Aljazeera: Fresh fatalities as Syrians brave crackdown

Kevin Hall / The Iowa Republican:

Bachmann's Debacle — “This is a disaster,” said one prominent Polk County Republican. An elected official called it “an embarrassment”. The embarrassing disaster was the result of Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann's last minute cancellation of her appearance at the Polk County GOP's Robb Kelley Dinner.

Discussion: MinnPost and Mediaite

videocafe.crooksandliars.com:
Bachmann's Iowa Debacle

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Nicholas Confessore / New York Times:

Judge Voids Ban on Campaign Donations by Business — A federal judge in Virginia has declared unconstitutional a century-old law banning political contributions from corporations, a ruling that, if upheld, could have major implications for the rules governing campaign fund-raising and spending.

Discussion: Booman Tribune, The Raw Story and Election Law Blog

Matthew Barakat / Associated Press:
US judge rules against corporate contribution ban

Discussion: The Volokh Conspiracy and Patterico's Pontifications

Clay Dillow / Popular Science:

This Time Lapse Video of the Very Large Telescope At Work is the Coolest Thing You'll See Today — Your Universe (As Seen From the Home Planet) ESO/Stephane Guisard and Jose Francisco Salgado — There's very little we can write to preface the imagery below, so we'll just set the scene and get out of the way.

Discussion: Questions and Observations

Matt Taibbi / Rolling Stone:

Wikileaks: Speculators Helped Cause Oil Bubble — When oil prices surged to a ridiculous $147 a barrel in the summer of 2008, conventional wisdom held that normal supply and demand issues were the cause. Both the Bush administration (in the form of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission) …

Discussion: Pacific Views, Notes From Underground, Firedoglake and naked capitalism

Neil MacFarquhar / New York Times:
Saudi Arabia Scrambles to Limit Region's Upheaval

Discussion: Doc's Talk, Newshoggers.com and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Peter Schroeder / The Hill:

By blocking its leader, GOP constrains consumer bureau — Republicans might have found a way to constrain the power of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: make it an agency without a leader. — The increasingly bitter fight over whether Elizabeth Warren should head the new agency might …

Discussion: Reuters, The Note and naked capitalism

Maggie Haberman / The Politico:

Rudy Giuliani leads new national poll — Here we go again, Rudy Giuliani edition. — A new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation national poll shows the former New York City mayor atop the slow-forming Republican primary field. — The survey shows Giuliani getting 16 percent of independents and Republicans …

Discussion: Fox News

Gschwarzcnn / CNN:
CNN Poll: GOP 2012 field still up in the air

Discussion: The Politico, Firedoglake, Gothamist, Washington Post, The Note, Washington Wire, Mediaite, GOP 12, TPMDC, Outside the Beltway, FrumForum, USA Today, No More Mister Nice Blog, Hot Air, Daily Kos and Taegan Goddard's …

Amazon.com:

Amazon.com Reveals the Most Well-Read Cities in America — Cambridge, Mass., tops the list with the most books, magazines and newspapers purchased per capita of any city in the United States — (NASDAQ: AMZN)—Just in time for the summer reading season, Amazon.com announced its list of the Top 20 Most Well-Read Cities in America.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and The New Editor

Dr. Helen:

Is “Now Hiring” the new “We do our part” sign of the Depression? — Why are there “Now Hiring” signs in front of so many businesses these days when so many people are complaining about not finding a job? Everywhere I go in Knoxville, there are generic “Now Hiring” signs from the hotels …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and alicublog

Glenn Hubbard / Financial Times:

Forget the debt ceiling and focus on debt — On May 15, the US hit its “debt ceiling” of $14,300bn, covering publicly owned debt held by the Federal Reserve and government trust funds, and Washington is in a furore. While budget debates are often more talk than action, this one needs more talk - but of a different kind.

Discussion: Paul Krugman

Reuters:

G8 leaders omit mention of 1967 borders in Middle East statement — Diplomats say that Canada objected to a specific mention of the 1967 borders in statement issued by world leaders calling for resumption of Israel-Palestinian peace talks. — Group of Eight leaders had to soften …

Discussion: The Lede and Washington Post

Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:
Wow!... Canada Defends Israel From Obama Administration - Blocks 1967 Line From G8 Statement

Discussion: Power Line, Atlas Shrugs and The Lonely Conservative

The Politico:

Spotlight takes toll on first lady's staff — Less than three years into the job, first lady Michelle Obama is on her third chief of staff and third social secretary. She is on her second communications director, the White House chief usher recently departed, and her press secretary's last day is Friday.

Discussion: The Lonely Conservative and Weasel Zippers

Jonathan Weisman / Washington Wire:

Romney Hearts Ethanol Subsidies — DES MOINES — It was an odd setting for a policy pronouncement, but on the sidewalk outside the Historical Building here, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney embraced ethanol subsidies. It came just days after and blocks from where his rival …

Discussion: RedState