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Rick Perry's camp defends 1993 HillaryCare praise — Texas Governor Rick Perry has been among the most vocal critics of President Obama's health care reform initiative, and of Mitt Romney's preceding health care program in Massachusetts. But in 1993, while serving as Texas Agriculture Commissioner …
Discussion:
Wonkette, Politics, Hot Air, ThinkProgress, Swampland, New York Magazine and Campaign 2012
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Rick Perry Is A Lot Closer To The 2012 GOP Presidential Nomination Than You Think

Mitt Romney's ‘Career Politician’ Jab At Rick Perry Is First Sign Of ‘Death By A Thousand Cuts’ Strategy
Discussion:
Campaign 2012 and Washington Post

The scourge of ‘career politicians’
Discussion:
The Caucus, No More Mister Nice Blog, Philly.com, A plain blog about politics and Daily Kos


Former Powell Chief of Staff: Cheney “Fears Being Tried as a War Criminal” — Former Vice President Dick Cheney's memoir, “In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir,” is out Tuesday, and it's full of criticism and attacks on his Bush administration colleagues — from describing Condoleezza Rice as …
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …, Little Green Footballs, Liberal Values and No More Mister Nice Blog
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Why Dick Cheney Left Office Unpopular and Reviled — As the former vice president releases his memoir, it's useful to recall the many reasons why the vast majority of Americans disapproved of his tenure — When Vice President Dick Cheney left office, his approval rating stood at a staggeringly low 13 percent.
Discussion:
Moe Lane, Sky Dancing, Booman Tribune, Attackerman, Raw Replay and Newshoggers.com

In New Memoir, Dick Cheney Tries to Rewrite History
Discussion:
Guardian, skippy the bush kangaroo, Felix Salmon, Attackerman, Oliver Willis and Outside the Beltway

Never-Wrong Pundit Picks Obama to Win in 2012 — Allan Lichtman, the American University professor whose election formula has correctly called every president since Ronald Reagan's 1984 re-election, has a belated birthday present for Barack Obama: Rest easy, your re-election is in the bag.
Discussion:
Hot Air and The Political Carnival


How Bill O'Reilly Tried to Get His Wife's Boyfriend Investigated By the Cops — Last summer, Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly came to believe that his wife was romantically involved with another man. Not just any man, but a police detective in the Long Island community they call home.
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, Adweek, Mediaite, News Hounds and Booman Tribune, more at Mediagazer »


Daryl Hannah Arrested at White House — Much-arrested Hollywood actress Daryl Hannah was taken away from the White House in restraints Tuesday afternoon. — Hannah was taking part in an ongoing protest against the unbuilt Keystone XL oil pipeline. — “Sometimes it's necessary to sacrifice …
Discussion:
Scared Monkeys, Washington Post, Gawker, Politics, Mudville Gazette, iOwnTheWorld.com and AMERICAblog News

The Case Against a Payroll Tax Cut — Bruce Bartlett held senior policy roles in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations and served on the staffs of Representatives Jack Kemp and Ron Paul. — It's rare for Republicans to find a tax cut they don't support, but last week …
Discussion:
The New Republic, Washington Monthly, Cato Institute, Firedoglake, Mother Jones, FrumForum, TalkLeft, AmSpecBlog and Eschaton
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It's not a Ponzi Scheme if you can't exit!
Discussion:
RedState and National Review

A Venn Diagram for Rick Perry: Social Security Is Not a Ponzi Scheme
Discussion:
Hullabaloo and The Maddow Blog


New body ‘liquefaction’ unit unveiled in Florida funeral home — Resomation founder Sandy Sullivan explains how the machine works — A Glasgow-based company has installed its first commercial “alkaline hydrolysis” unit at a Florida funeral home. — The unit by Resomation Ltd is billed …
Discussion:
The Daily Pulp

White House takes shot at Rep. Cantor over Hurricane Irene disaster aid — White House press secretary Jay Carney on Tuesday took a shot at House Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor for insisting disaster aid for Hurricane Irene should be offset with other spending cuts.
Discussion:
National Review, The Politico, Washington Monthly, TPMDC and The Impolitic
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Sources: ATF Director to Be Reassigned Amid Fast and Furious Uproar — The acting director of the Justice Department division caught up in a firearms trafficking scandal is being removed from his post, sources told Fox News on Tuesday. — Kenneth Melson, who heads the Bureau of Alcohol …
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Gunwalker scandal: ATF director out of top job
Discussion:
Hot Air, Confederate Yankee, Politics and AmSpecBlog


Rick Perry's God — Does the Texas governor believe his idiotic religious rhetoric, or is he just pandering for votes? — I happened to spend several weeks in Texas earlier this year, while the Lone Star State lay under the pitiless glare of an unremitting drought.
Discussion:
Pharyngula


9/11 Coloring Book Draws Criticism for Portrayal of Muslims — As the 10th anniversary of 9/11 approaches, one publisher has memorialized it in a manner that's generating a lot of controversy. Instead of appealing to kids with doe-eyed puppies and flowers, his new coloring book …
Discussion:
Stars & Stripes, Raw Replay and ThinkProgress


Justice Ginsburg: If I Were Nominated Today, My Women's Rights Work For The ACLU Would Probably Disqualify Me — Justice Ginsburg During Her Time As Director of the ACLU Women's Rights Project — In a speech yesterday at Southern Methodist University law school, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg offered …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Associated Press, Poliglot, Sky Dancing and ACS Blog

My First Blogiversary! — Today is the Zilla Blog's first birthday! — It was one year ago today that I opened this blog, which was originally named PolitiZilla but then I discovered that there was already a website with that name so I changed it to Zilla of the Resistance soon after.
Discussion:
Maggie's Notebook and The Lonely Conservative

President Obama's uncle had Social Security ID — President Obama's accused drunken-driving uncle — who was busted after a near collision with a Framingham cop — has had a valid Social Security number for at least 19 years, despite being an illegal immigrant ordered to be deported back to Kenya, the Herald has learned.

43% Now View ‘Tea Party’ Label As A Negative — Looks like it's a little more popular to be a liberal or a progressive these days, although conservative remains the best political label you can put on a candidate for public office. Being linked to the Tea Party is the biggest negative.
Discussion:
Hot Air, Outside the Beltway and Daily Pundit


Thousands of public employees laid off in 2010 — (Reuters) - Local and state governments axed more than 200,000 jobs in 2010, according to U.S. Census data released on Tuesday that showed the growing threat of public employee layoffs to the economic recovery.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, The Politico and Daily Kos

Fischer: Make Homosexuality “A Criminal Offense” — On his radio show Focal Point yesterday, American Family Association spokesman Bryan Fischer called on all fifty states to criminalize homosexuality. In 2003, the Supreme Court's decision in Lawrence v. Texas overturned anti-sodomy laws …
Discussion:
Good As You, Shakesville, Little Green Footballs and Towleroad News #gay

Developments in Financial Markets and the Federal Reserve's Balance Sheet — The Manager of the System Open Market Account (SOMA) reported on developments in domestic and foreign financial markets during the period since the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) met on June 21-22, 2011.

New CBO Report Finds Up to 2.9 Million People Owe Their Jobs to the Recovery Act — A new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report estimates that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) increased the number of people employed by between 1.0 million and 2.9 million jobs as of June. [1]
Discussion:
Firedoglake and Daily Kos


Seduced by the cult of experts — It isn't surprising that Obama and his economic advisors' predictions have been so wrong. — When asked what posed the greatest challenge to statesmen, Harold Macmillan, the former British prime minister, responded, “Events, my dear boy, events.”
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Opinion L.A., ThinkProgress, Patterico's Pontifications, Mother Jones and Betsy's Page

ACLU battles schools over gay websites — Use of filters a rights issue — A fierce legal battle on free speech and family values is brewing about Internet filters used by school administrators to block students' access to gay educational and advocacy websites.

North Carolina Rep Paul Stam Likens Gay Marriage To Incest, Polygamy — North Carolina House Majority Leader Paul “Skip” Stam on Tuesday likened gay marriage to incest and polygamy. — The 61-year-old Stam made his remarks during a noontime press conference on a proposed constitutional amendment …
Discussion:
Towleroad News #gay, The American Independent, Associated Press and ThinkProgress

About Edward Glaeser — Refinancing Mortgages Won't Fix Housing Market: Edward Glaeser — The New York Times reported last week that the Obama administration was considering a proposal to “allow millions of homeowners with government-backed mortgages to refinance them at today's lower interest rates, about 4 percent.”
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Modeled Behavior and AmSpecBlog

Beshear up big, could have down ballot implications — It doesn't look like there's going to be much to see in the Kentucky Governor's race this year. Incumbent Steve Beshear leads by 27 points right now with 55% to 28% for Republican David Williams and 10% Gatewood Galbraith.
Discussion:
WFPL News


Christine O'Donnell Won't Appear After All at Tea Party Rally — UPDATE: Former U.S. Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell will not speak at a tea party event featuring former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in Indianola, Iowa, this weekend, an organizer told Washington Wire.

Obama's New Jobs Man Alan Krueger Was a Terrorism Truth-Teller — In 2004, the Bush State Department had to wipe egg off its face after he made it correct a report that wrongly said terrorism was going down — Yesterday, President Obama announced his intention to nominate Alan B. Krueger …
Discussion:
NO QUARTER, Ben Smith's Blog, White House.gov Blog and americanthinker.com