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Barack Obama's Dangerous Embrace Of Economic Fatalism — Even as the Obama administration continues to defend the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act from its critics, the White House appears to have sincerely pivoted away from the idea that a higher level of aggregate demand …
Discussion:
Paul Krugman, The New Republic and TalkLeft
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Obama really might have made it worse — The Republican charge is a body shot aimed right at the belly of President Barack Obama's re-election effort: He made it worse. — No, not that White House efforts at boosting the American economy and creating jobs and “winning the future” …

Despite White House Protests, Stimulus Still Cost Taxpayers $278,000 Per Job
Discussion:
AmSpecBlog, The Heritage Foundation, Althouse and TPMDC

What became of ‘repeal and replace’? — When they took control of the House, Republicans could barely stop talking about their plans to “repeal and replace” the health care reform law. — Six months later, they hardly talk publicly about those plans at all. And they're nowhere close to “replacing” the law.
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Republican spending measure would block EPA climate rules — A fiscal 2012 spending bill unveiled Wednesday by House Republican appropriators includes a policy rider that would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and refineries for one year.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers

House GOP expected to ax transportation funds
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The New Republic, Daily Kos, Weigel and Eschaton


Worse Than O.J.! — While the stunning Casey Anthony acquittal defied logic, O.J. Simpson prosecutor Marcia Clark details how juries often delude themselves—and why this verdict trumps even her case. — Sick, shaken, in disbelief. As I listened to the verdicts in the Casey Anthony case …
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, New York Times, Mediaite and Lawyers, Guns & Money
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Casey Anthony and the court of public opinion
Discussion:
Verum Serum

Better Lives for Mexicans Cut Allure of Going North — AGUA NEGRA, Mexico — The extraordinary Mexican migration that delivered millions of illegal immigrants to the United States over the past 30 years has sputtered to a trickle, and research points to a surprising cause …
Discussion:
Indecision Forever, The Atlantic Online, Greg's Opinion, Swampland and The Business Insider


Pawlenty's Homespun Tale — SOUTH ST. PAUL, Minn.—Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty brings a biographical peculiarity to his quest for the White House. Were he to win, he'd be the first president who had never lived outside his home state. — In fact, Mr. Pawlenty has lived …
Discussion:
Eunomia, The Note, The Politico, Minnesota Independent and ABCNEWS
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Accused Fort Hood Shooter to Have Military Trial, Will Face Death Penalty — DEVELOPING: The Army psychiatrist charged in the deadly Fort Hood rampage in Texas will be court-martialed and face the death penalty, Fox News confirms. — Fort Hood's commanding general announced the decision Wednesday for Maj. Nidal Hasan.
Discussion:
The Jawa Report, BLACKFIVE and Weasel Zippers
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WHY CLIMATE CHANGE HAS BECOME THE “DEAD PARROT SKETCH” OF AMERICAN POLITICS — For years now the climate campaign and the politicized science community has been complaining that it has a “communications problem,” which can be solved if only they shout louder, or get the human car alarm former …
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There has been no global warming since 1998
Discussion:
Hawaii Reporter, Right Wing News, China Digital Times and Watts Up With That?

Mitt Romney raises $18.25 million — Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney talks with reporters outside Allentown Metal Works in Allentown, Pa., last week. (AP Photo/Rich Schultz)Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney raised $18.25 million …
Discussion:
TPMDC, And So it Goes in Shreveport, msnbc.com, Daily Kos, Hot Air, Outside the Beltway, Balloon Juice, The Page, WMUR and americanthinker.com
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Mitt Romney's initial fundraising goal: $50 million
Discussion:
GOP 12, Taegan Goddard's … and Conservatives4Palin


Watch a 50-Mile Wide Dust Storm Devour Phoenix — Now, we have a new reason to compare the Great Recession to the Great Depression: Steinbeck-style dust storms. Tuesday evening, a massive cloud of darkness known as a “habub” overtook Phoenix. The National Weather Service reports that the wall …
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50-mile wide, mile-high dust storm engulfs Phoenix
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway

Investigation into APS cheating finds unethical behavior across every level — Across Atlanta Public Schools, staff worked feverishly in secret to transform testing failures into successes. — Teachers and principals erased and corrected mistakes on students' answer sheets.
Discussion:
The Nation, Althouse, Joanne Jacobs and Freakonomics
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Investigation Finds ‘Widespread’ Cheating in Atlanta Schools
Discussion:
The Jawa Report

Jeff Sessions: Saying Millionaires Should Share Pain Is ‘Rather Pathetic’ … WASHINGTON — Having the Senate declare that millionaires should share more of the pain involved in putting America's financial house in order is “rather pathetic,” Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) declared Tuesday.
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Policy shift in presidential condolence letters — PLAY CBS NEWS VIDEO — NEW YORK - Most families who lose a loved one in the war zones receive a letter of condolence from the President of the United States. But there are a few who do not receive this honor.
Discussion:
The Politico
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Obama will send condolence letters for military suicides
Discussion:
CNN

CNN Cancels ‘In the Arena’ With Eliot Spitzer — 1:30 p.m. | Updated CNN on Wednesday cancelled Eliot Spitzer's 8 p.m. political talk show, “In The Arena,” and said it would shift Anderson Cooper's 10 p.m. nightly newscast into the time slot. — The cable news channel also said that Erin Burnett …
Discussion:
Runnin' Scared, Weasel Zippers and Capital Tonight, more at Mediagazer »


Michele Bachmann's husband shares her strong conservative values — Lake Elmo, Minn. — In an interview last year with a Christian- — radio talk show, Marcus Bachmann, a therapist who runs a faith-infused counseling center here, compared homosexuals to “barbarians” who “need to be educated, need to be disciplined.”
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Pam's House Blend, Ben Smith's Blog, Pajamas Media and The Awl


The 2012 Horse Whisperers — Who's giving foreign-policy advice to the crop of GOP front-runners? — Michele Bachmann: The Tea Party's new hawk — Despite all of Bachmann's Tea Party credentials, she's not looking like an isolationist when it comes to foreign policy.
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog and Eunomia

The jobs — Even the union goons are unhappy with Obama's failed economic strategy! — Posted By: RyanT. This republican congress is too busy breaking up unions and planned parenthoods to worry about job creation. Obama has some work projects he has offered up, but no one is biting.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers and AmSpecBlog

Antitax Extremism in Minnesota — How far will Republican lawmakers go to protect millionaires? Those who think a default on the federal government's credit seems implausible should take a sobering look at the “closed” signs dotting Minnesota. The Republican Party there readily shut …
Discussion:
Shot in the Dark, Minnesota Independent, Ricochet Conversation Feed and Prairie Weather

Invoke the 14th — and end the debt standoff — On its current course, the United States is four weeks away from defaulting on its debt for the first time in its history. If that happens, businesses will fail. Financial institutions will fail. Home values will decline. Mortgage rates will skyrocket.
Discussion:
The New Republic, Balkinization, Felix Salmon, Outside the Beltway, The Hill, Swampland, ThinkProgress, FrumForum and Advancing a Free Society


As Plastic Reigns, the Treasury Slows Its Printing Presses — WASHINGTON — The number of dollar bills rolling off the great government presses here and in Fort Worth fell to a modern low last year. Production of $5 bills also dropped to the lowest level in 30 years.
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway and FrumForum

Apple Preparing For New iPhone in Third Quarter — TAIPEI—Apple Inc. has placed orders for key components used in a next-generation iPhone it is preparing to launch sometime in the third quarter, according to people familiar with the situation. — According to some suppliers of components to Apple …
Discussion:
The Next Web, Gothamist and AllThingsD, more at Techmeme »


Presidential Candidate Openly Campaigning for Poker Player Vote — For the first time, a presidential candidate is openly campaigning for the poker-player vote. Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson has set up a Web page targeting poker players. — “Support me for President …