Top Items:
Steve Chapman / Chicago Tribune:
Why Obama should withdraw — When Ronald Reagan ran for re-election in 1984, his slogan was “Morning in America.” For Barack Obama, it's more like midnight in a coal mine. — The sputtering economy is about to stall out, unemployment is high, his jobs program may not pass …
Discussion:
The Crawdad Hole and Hot Air
Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
Egghead and Blockheads — THERE are two American archetypes that were sometimes played against each other in old Westerns. — The egghead Eastern lawyer who lacks the skills or stomach for a gunfight is contrasted with the tough Western rancher and ace shot who has no patience for book learnin'.
Discussion:
CANNONFIRE, Northern Reflections, Prairie Weather and Althouse
RELATED:
Gail Collins / New York Times:
Rick Perry, Uber Texan — YOU think of Rick Perry, you think of Texas. And more Texas. Perry the cowboy coyote-killer, the lord of the Texas job-creation machine, the g-dropping glad-hander with a “howdy” for every stranger in the room. He barely exists in the national mind outside of the Texas connection.
Discussion:
Connecting.the.Dots, The Crawdad Hole and Althouse
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:
Firedoglake, JustOneMinute, NewsBusters.org and Ben Smith's Blog
RELATED:
Mike Allen / The Politico:
W.H. pushes back hard at Suskind
W.H. pushes back hard at Suskind
Discussion:
New York Magazine, Pajamas Media, The Crawdad Hole, National Review, CNN and Ben Smith's Blog
Henry K. Lee / San Francisco Chronicle:
Michelle Le search turns up body in Sunol Canyon — Sunol — Ten days after Hayward police arrested a woman on suspicion of murdering a nursing student whose body has not been found, a volunteer searcher discovered human remains Saturday in rural Alameda County.
Discussion:
L.A. NOW, ABCNEWS and Associated Press
Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:
Israel: Adrift at Sea Alone — I'VE never been more worried about Israel's future. The crumbling of key pillars of Israel's security — the peace with Egypt, the stability of Syria and the friendship of Turkey and Jordan — coupled with the most diplomatically inept and strategically incompetent government …
Discussion:
Israel Matzav, Salon and Elder of Ziyon
RELATED:
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:
Outside the Beltway, ThinkProgress, Prairie Weather, AMERICAN FUTURE and americanthinker.com
Matthew Yglesias / ThinkProgress:
Reinventing The HMO — The Stewart Community Choice health care plan concept, being launched in Massachusetts, seems like an obvious future step for a financially constrained world. They'll be essentially offering people lower insurance premiums if they accept less choice of where they accept treatment.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Boston Globe and Modeled Behavior
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.
RELATED:
Jessica Yellin / CNN:
Obama to propose new tax rate for millionaires
Imtiyaz Delawala / ABCNEWS:
President Clinton Says Gridlock in Washington Hurting the Economy — On the eve of the annual meeting of his Clinton Global Initiative, Former President Bill Clinton says that partisanship in Washington is hampering any ability to reach economic solutions for the country.
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars
New York Post:
Manhattan AG's office suspends lawyer who moonlights as a dominatrix — A well-respected lawyer in the state Attorney General's Office spends her days toiling in securities fraud — and her nights moonlighting as a dominatrix, The Post has learned. — Alisha Smith, 36, who dresses demurely …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, The Huffington Post, Power Line, New York Magazine, Gothamist and Gawker
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 …
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:
Mediaite, Gawker, Taegan Goddard's … and Business Insider