memeorandum: Justice Department survey confirms downward trend in violent crime (CNN)

11:15 AM ET, September 18, 2011

Top Items:

Jackie Calmes / New York Times:

Obama Tax Plan Would Ask More of Millionaires — WASHINGTON — President Obama on Monday will call for a new minimum tax rate for individuals making more than $1 million a year to ensure that they pay at least the same percentage of their earnings as middle-income taxpayers, according to administration officials.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Moderate Voice, Business Insider, Mediaite, Hullabaloo, No More Mister Nice Blog, Outside the Beltway, Politics, AmSpecBlog, The Lonely Conservative, State of the Union, Don Surber, Vos Iz Neias, JustOneMinute, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Eschaton, TalkLeft and National Review

Washington Post:

Obama to call for new minimum tax rate for millionaires — President Obama plans to call Monday for a new minimum tax rate on millionaires as part of a comprehensive rewrite of the U.S. tax code to force the wealthiest Americans to pay the same share of income in taxes as middle-class families.

Discussion: Don Surber, Runnin' Scared and Daily Kos

CBS News:

House GOP rejects Obama jobs proposals — WASHINGTON — House Republican leaders say they are rejecting President Barack Obama's jobs proposals to rebuild schools and blighted neighborhoods, and help keep state and local employees on the job. — In a memo to GOP lawmakers that was also issued publicly …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Moderate Voice, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Balloon Juice and Don Surber

Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times:
House G.O.P. Leaders Find Some Things to Like About Obama's Jobs Plan

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Balloon Juice, ThinkProgress and Booman Tribune

Lori Montgomery / Washington Post:

Ever-increasing tax breaks for U.S. families eclipse benefits for special interests — As President Obama and congressional Republicans argue over how to rewrite the U.S. tax code, the debate has revolved around “loopholes” for corporate jets and ending “carve-outs” for well-heeled special interests.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Prairie Weather, AMERICAN FUTURE and americanthinker.com

Associated Press:

Kara Kennedy, senator's daughter, dies of heart attack — WASHINGTON — Kara Kennedy, the oldest child of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, died at a Washington-area health club, her brother said Saturday. She was 51. — Patrick Kennedy, a former congressman from Rhode Island, said his sister died Friday.

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, CNN, LA Observed and TalkLeft

Kirk Semple / New York Times:

Eleanor Mondale, Daughter of Former Vice President, Dies at 51 — Eleanor Mondale Poling, a former television and radio personality and the daughter of former Vice President Walter F. Mondale, died early Saturday at her home in Prior Lake, Minn. She was 51.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Time, Boston Herald, TwinCities.com and TalkLeft

CBS News:
Kara Kennedy, daughter of Teddy, dies

Discussion: The Democratic Daily, msnbc.com and American Power

National Post:

Rex Murphy: The media's love affair with a disastrous president — As the bad economic news continues to emanate from the United States — with a double-dip recession now all but certain — a reckoning is overdue. American journalism will have to look back at the period starting with Barrack Obama's rise …

Discussion: Conservatives4Palin, M.JOSEPH SHEPPARD'S …, Pajamas Media and Instapundit

Washington Post:

Book portrays dysfunction in Obama White House — The book, which covers Obama's presidency through February of this year and is based on more than 700 hours of interviews, suggests that the president was not always the dominant figure in his White House. — Suskind cites a series of memos …

Discussion: NewsBusters.org and Ben Smith's Blog

Tom Kington / Guardian:

Silvio Berlusconi wiretaps reveal boast of spending night with eight women — Conversations show that Italian PM resented meetings with the Pope and world leaders interfering with his partying — Magistrates investigating an alleged prostitution ring in Italy have published wiretaps …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …, Mediaite, Gawker and Business Insider

Gretchen Morgenson / New York Times:

Suddenly, Over There Is Over Here — THE debt crisis in Europe has finally, and officially, washed up on American shores. Last week, the mighty Federal Reserve moved to help European banks that have been having trouble finding people who are willing to lend them money.

Discussion: americanthinker.com, AMERICAN FUTURE and American Power

David Feith / Wall Street Journal:

The Masters of Hispanic Destiny — ‘Do we want to be the next victimized minority group, or do we want to be the next successful immigrant group?’ — Fourteen months out, it's a safe bet that Election 2012 won't hinge on immigration. But with no major federal action on the issue since 1986 …

Jerusalem Post:

The myth of Palestinian peoplehood — Senior Palestinian leaders have admitted - openly, consistently and continually - that Palestinians are not a discrete people identifiably different from others in the Arab world. — For example, on March 14, 1977, Farouk Kadoumi …

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Israel Matzav and Israpundit

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

When the parts are more popular than the whole — The New York Times/CBS News poll, released in full last night, has plenty of results you'd probably expect to see. President Obama's support continues to slip; Congress' support has fallen off a cliff; Dems are slightly more popular than Republicans …