memeorandum: U.S. Wasting Billions While Tripling No-Bid Contracts After Decade of War in Iraq, Afghanistan (Democracy Now)

6:30 PM ET, September 2, 2011

Top Items:

Investigators Probe White House Role in Massive Energy Loan — House investigators said they have uncovered evidence that White House officials became personally involved in an Energy Department review of a hot-button $535 million loan guarantee to the now-failed California solar company Solyndra.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, iWatch News, Power Line, The Crawdad Hole and Ricochet Conversation Feed

Jeff Gluck / SBNation.com:

Five NASCAR Drivers Decline President Obama's White House Invitation — President Barack Obama will honor NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson and the 11 other Chase drivers from last year in a White House ceremony on Wednesday - but nearly half of the 2010 playoff contenders won't be there.

Discussion: Gawker, Mediaite, UrbanGrounds, No More Mister Nice Blog, americanthinker.com, iOwnTheWorld.com, The Western Experience, The Lonely Conservative, Moe Lane, Wizbang, Politics, Weasel Zippers, The Daily Caller, Ricochet Conversation Feed and The Gateway Pundit

New York Post:

The White House mess — We will little note nor long remember Wednesday's breathless kerfuffle, with the White House deciding to schedule a speech in front of a joint session of Congress without actually asking Congress first — and planning for it during a long-planned Republican debate.

Discussion: Pajamas Media and Instapundit

Jason Horowitz / Washington Post:

Jon Lovett's written for the president, but will that get him to Hollywood? — A young and witty speechwriter for an eloquent but exhausted president escapes a struggling White House and stodgy capital city for Hollywood, where he beats the odds to find fame and fortune writing comedy for more bankable stars.

Rich Lowry / National Review:

Obama's Enron — Bush was flayed for Enron. Where does that put Obama and his green-energy pet? — We have seen the future, and it went bankrupt. — If the praises of high-ranking Obama-administration officials were a viable business plan, the solar-panel maker Solyndra would be an industrial juggernaut.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Hot Air and GlobalWarming.org

Richard A. Serrano / Los Angeles Times:

White House received emails about Fast and Furious gun-trafficking operation — Three national security officials were given some details about the operation. But an administration official says the emails do not prove that anyone in the White House was aware of the covert tactics of the program.

Discussion: The Hill, Weasel Zippers, Sipsey Street Irregulars, Politics, RedState, The Daily Caller, Hot Air, Michelle Malkin, The Heritage Foundation, Big Government, Washington Wire and The Politico

Juliet Eilperin / Washington Post:

Obama pulls back proposed smog standards in victory for business — President Obama abruptly pulled back proposed new national smog standards Friday morning, overruling the Environmental Protection Agency's efforts to compel states and communities nationwide to reduce local air pollution in the coming years or face federal penalties.

Discussion: Democracy in America, Hullabaloo, The Volokh Conspiracy, Little Green Footballs, Daily Kos, Suburban Guerrilla and msnbc.com

The White House:

Statement by the President on the Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards — Over the last two and half years, my administration, under the leadership of EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, has taken some of the strongest actions since the enactment of the Clean Air Act four decades ago …

Discussion: The Hill, The Heritage Foundation, Hot Air, Campaign 2012, The Politico and Online NewsHour

John M. Broder / New York Times:

Obama Administration Abandons Plan to Tighten Air-Quality Rules — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is abandoning its plan to immediately tighten air-quality rules nationwide to reduce emissions of smog-causing chemicals after an intense lobbying campaign by industry …

Discussion: Truthdig, Lawyers, Guns & Money, New York Magazine and The Political Carnival

Brad Plumer / Washington Post:

Did the White House double-cross its supporters on the smog rule? — (BRIAN NICHOLSON/ASSOCIATED PRESS) Get ready to hear a lot about ozone in the coming weeks. On Friday, in a surprise move, the White House told the EPA to pull back on national standards for ground-level ozone pollution …

Discussion: Daily Kos and Hullabaloo

The Hill:
White House shelves smog rule in huge defeat for green groups

Discussion: National Review, Streetsblog Capitol Hill and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Wall Street Journal:
Obama Asks EPA to Withdraw Proposed Ozone Rule

Discussion: Washington Wire, Law Blog, The Caucus, Hit & Run, Michelle Malkin and National Review

Heather Zichal / White House.gov Blog:
Cleaner Air and a Stronger Economy - A Record of Success

Discussion: Politics and The Raw Story

John Fund / NewsMax.com:

Why Sarah Palin Is Not Running — More ways to share... Mixx — Stumbled — LinkedIn — Vine — Buzzflash — Newstrust — Technocrati — Forward Article — Sarah Palin will swoop into Iowa and New Hampshire to speak at tea party rallies this Labor Day weekend …

Discussion: Real Clear Politics and Campaign 2012

Scott Conroy / Real Clear Politics:
Palin to Rip “Crony Capitalism” in Iowa Speech

Discussion: Washington Post, GOP 12, Firedoglake, msnbc.com, Conservatives4Palin, Iowa Caucuses, The Daily Dish and Politics

Peter Hamby / CNN:
Palin will up the ante but not announce run in Iowa speech

Discussion: The Hill, National Review, Hot Air, Iowa Caucuses, Rasmussen Reports and Conservatives4Palin

Matthew Yglesias / ThinkProgress:

The Conservative Recovery Teeters Into Recession — Looks like we had 17,000 thousand new private sector jobs in August, which were 100 percent offset by 17,000 lost jobs in the public sector. — The striking zero result should galvanize minds, but it's worth noting that this has been the trend all year.

Discussion: Hullabaloo and The Hand That Feeds You

Murshedz / Crooks and Liars:
Debunking Austerity Madness: ZERO Job Growth in US, Gloomy Europe - Yet an Argentinean ‘Tango’

Discussion: Washington Post, The Huffington Post and New York Times

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
On the road to the ‘conservative recovery’

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Prairie Weather

Shaila Dewan / New York Times:

U.S. Showed No Job Growth in August; Rate Stays at 9.1% — The economy showed no job growth in August, the first time there has been no increase in net jobs in the United States in 11 months. — The flat performance in the job market was down sharply from a revised 85,000 gain of jobs in July …

Jeff Cox / CNBC:
Economy Gains No Jobs in August, Rate Holds at 9.1%

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Pajamas Media, The Natural Truth, Wizbang, Conservatives4Palin, The Lonely Conservative, Scared Monkeys, Fox News, Campaign 2012 and Viking Pundit

Calculated Risk:
Employment Summary, Part Time Workers, and Unemployed over 26 Weeks

Discussion: BizzyBlog, Globe and Mail, Washington Post, The Atlantic Online and The Huffington Post

Lisa Rein / Washington Post:

Undocumented workers got billions from IRS in tax credits, audit finds — The Internal Revenue Service allowed undocumented workers to collect $4.2 billion in refundable tax credits last year, a new audit says, almost quadruple the sum five years ago. — Although undocumented workers …

Discussion: The Politico, RedState, Hot Air, The Gateway Pundit, neo-neocon and PoliPundit.com

Kevin G. Hall / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Regulations, taxes aren't killing small business, owners say — WASHINGTON — Politicians and business groups often blame excessive regulation and fear of higher taxes for tepid hiring in the economy. However, little evidence of that emerged when McClatchy canvassed a random sample of small business owners across the nation.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Outside the Beltway, Wonkette, The Political Carnival, Washington Monthly and Zandar Versus The Stupid

Rusty Shackleford, Ph.D. / The Jawa Report:

YouTuber Charged with Material Support of Terrorism — Jubair Ahmad, a 24 year old immigrant from Pakistan living in the D.C. suburb of Woodbridge, has been indicted for providing material support for a terrorist organization. The material support in question?

Amy Sullivan / Swampland:

Articles of Faith: What Journalists Should Be Asking Politicians About Religion — A few weeks ago, I opened up my Twitter feed early in the morning and immediately wondered if I was being punk'd. Instead of the usual horse race speculation, my colleagues in the political press corps …

Discussion: American Spectator

Nelson D. Schwartz / New York Times:

U.S. Is Set to Sue a Dozen Big Banks Over Mortgages — The federal agency that oversees the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is set to file suits against more than a dozen big banks, accusing them of misrepresenting the quality of mortgage securities they assembled and sold …

WhyIhateCca / Firedoglake:

Florida Sheriff Saves $1 Million Over CCA by De-Privatizing Jail — Sheriff Michael Page of Hernando County, Florida, is the latest in a line of Sheriffs to inherit the headache that is the county jail. After being operated by CCA for 22 years, the facility had fallen into exceptional disrepair …

Russell Berman / The Hill:

Cheney: We considered bypassing Congress on TARP authorization — Former Vice President Dick Cheney anticipated the conservative uproar over the 2008 Wall Street rescue package, and he writes in his new memoir that the Bush administration “briefly” considered not seeking congressional authorization for the $700 billion bank bailout.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Washington Post

Henry Blodget / The Business Insider:

ARIANNA HUFFINGTON: Mike Arrington Is Out At TechCrunch — TechCrunch founder and editor Michael Arrington no longer works for TechCrunch, says Arianna Huffington, the president and editor-in-chief of AOL Huffington Post Media Group. — This contradicts some initial reports of Mr. Arrington's new role …

Discussion: The Other McCain, New York Times, Fortune, AllThingsD, Poynter, Felix Salmon, New York Magazine, TPM Idea Lab, TechCrunch, L.A. Times Tech Blog and Digits, more at Mediagazer »

Jeffrey T. Kuhner / Washington Times:

Martin Luther King Jr.'s mixed legacy — Embrace of victimology tainted his call for a color-blind society — In Washington, there now stands a new memorial: a 30-foot-tall granite statue of Martin Luther King Jr. overlooking the Tidal Basin. For decades, liberals and some conservatives …

Discussion: alicublog, Hullabaloo and Right Wing Watch

CNNMoney.com:

Black unemployment: Highest in 27 years — NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The August jobs report was dismal for plenty of reasons, but perhaps most striking was the picture it painted of racial inequality in the job market. — Black unemployment surged to 16.7% in August, its highest level since 1984 …

Discussion: ThinkProgress and The Gateway Pundit

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Eric and Irene — “Have you left no sense of decency?” That's the question Joseph Welch famously asked Joseph McCarthy, as the red-baiting demagogue tried to ruin yet another innocent citizen. And these days, it's the question I find myself wanting to ask Eric Cantor, the House majority leader …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Associated Press, Northern Reflections and Washington Monthly

Barney Frank / Washington Post:

The Senate refuses to consider Obama nominees — Once upon a time, we could have expected the following sequence: After considerable debate, Congress would have passed a bill creating an agency. The president would then nominate someone to head that agency. That nomination would be considered on its merits by the Senate.

Discussion: The Politico, The New Republic, Politics and Daily Kos

Shira Schoenberg / Boston Globe:

Republican Party leader in N.H. quits — Rift within GOP; some attribute low fund-raising — Jack Kimball and his allies portray the conflict as one between Tea Party activists and long-term Republicans. — CONCORD, N.H. - Embattled New Hampshire Republican Party Chairman Jack Kimball resigned …

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

GOP leaders stop taking credit for job data — When the jobs reports were looking quite good in the early spring, Republican leaders were eager to take credit for the positive numbers they had nothing to do with. After all, as far as GOP officials were concerned, their mere presence …

Discussion: Daily Kos and Smartypants