memeorandum: Exclusive: How the Sierra Club Took Millions From the Natural Gas Industry—and Why They Stopped [UPDATE] (Bryan Walsh/Ecocentric)

2:20 PM ET, February 3, 2012

Top Items:

Tom Benning / The Scoop:

Komen apologizes for ‘recent decisions,’ pledges to continue funding Planned Parenthood — UPDATE, 10:44 a.m. Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards just released a statement praising Komen for “clarifying” its grant process, saying “we look forward to continuing our partnership with Komen partners, leaders and volunteers.”

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Komen caved. Or did it? — As you may have heard, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation just announced that it was reversing its decision to ban Planned Parenthood from applying for grants to cover breast cancer screenings — after a massive outcry that spread from women's groups to social media to Capitol Hill.

Discussion: LifeNews.com, Crooks and Liars, Weasel Zippers, Wonkette, Daily Kos, Wake up America, Outside the Beltway, Planned Parenthood, Political Mojo, Nation Now, The Agonist, The Atlantic Online, Capital New York, The Lede, Feministe and Taylor Marsh

Susan G. Komen for the Cure:

Statement from Susan G. Komen Board of Directors and Founder and CEO Nancy G. Brinker — We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women's lives. The events of this week have been deeply unsettling for our supporters …

Discussion: New York Times, Nation Now, Guardian, LifeSiteNews.com Latest …, GetReligion, Big Government, TBogg, Associated Press, Datechguy's Blog, National Review and Pundit & Pundette

Ezra Klein / Washington Post:

Is the Susan G. Komen Foundation backing down? — The Susan G. Komen Foundation has just released a new statement from CEO Nancy Brinker. The first line is a mea culpa: “We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women's lives.”

Discussion: Runnin' Scared, The Daily Dish, National Review, The American Independent, The Hill, No More Mister Nice Blog, Political Mojo, Wizbang and Hot Air

Marie Diamond / ThinkProgress:

Victory! Komen Apologizes And Reverses Decision To Cut Planned Parenthood Funding — The Dallas Morning News reports that Susan G. Komen For the Cure is reversing its decision to stop funding cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood health centers. — Facing an avalanche of criticism …

Discussion: US Politics, The Scoop and The Huffington Post

Michael Brendan Dougherty / Business Insider:
HOPE KILLS: Susan G Komen Foundation Would Rather Be Associated With A Handgun Than Planned Parenthood

Discussion: LifeNews.com, The Daily Caller, Los Angeles Times, Gothamist, CBS Seattle, Washington Post, Pirate's Cove, The Moderate Voice, LifeSiteNews.com Latest …, The Mahablog, The Jawa Report, The PJ Tatler, Campaign 2012, Rumproast, Balloon Juice, Runnin' Scared and Newshoggers.com

Washington Post:
Komen Foundation revises funding policy

Discussion: LifeNews.com, The Lonely Conservative and Political Mojo

New York Times:
A Painful Betrayal — With its roster of corporate sponsors …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Business Insider, Balloon Juice, TBogg, Washington Post, Crooks and Liars, Bloomberg, NewsBusters.org, Outside the Beltway, Feministing, NewsBusters.org blogs, AUL.org, Wall Street Journal, CatholicVote.org, The Maddow Blog, Daily Kos and The Loyal Opposition

David Nather / Reuters:
Susan G. Komen backs down on Planned Parenthood

Discussion: New York Times, Politico and Colorlines

Kate Noceraand David Nather / Politico:
Susan G. Komen fights to contain Planned Parenthood damage

Discussion: CBS Los Angeles, Weasel Zippers, The Raw Story, The Reid Report, LifeNews.com and Daily Kos

This Just In:
Komen reverses decision to stop Planned Parenthood funding

Discussion: The Raw Story and The Daily Caller

Jeffrey Goldberg / The Atlantic Online:
Susan G. Komen Reverses Course, Will Allow Planned Parenthood Funding

Discussion: CatholicVote.org, blogs.wsj.com, Gothamist, TIME Ideas and Washington Post

Daniel Foster / National Review:
You Should Find the Anti-Komen Backlash Disgusting, Even If You're Pro-Choice

Discussion: Big Think, The Huffington Post, Prairie Weather and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Washington Post:
Komen gives new explanation for cutting funds to Planned Parenthood

Discussion: Associated Press, Firedoglake, Guardian, The New Republic, The Maddow Blog, Rod Dreher, NewsBusters.org blogs, Don Surber, Campaign 2012, The Atlantic Online, Daily Kos, The Huffington Post and Slate

Kate Shellnutt / Newswatch:
Komen reverses, says it will keep funding Planned Parenthood

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The PJ Tatler

Tyler Durden / ZeroHedge:

Record 1.2 Million People Fall Out Of Labor Force In One Month, Labor Force Participation Rate Tumbles To Fresh 30 Year Low — A month ago, we joked when we said that for Obama to get the unemployment rate to negative by election time, all he has to do is to crush the labor force participation rate to about 55%.

Discussion: FreeEnterprise.com, The PJ Tatler, Wake up America, Swampland, Daily Pundit, Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit, The Right Scoop and The Strata-Sphere

Jeff Cox / CNBC:

Employment Jumps; Rate 8.3%, 243,000 New Jobs Created — The pace of job creation surged in January, with the US economy generating 243,000 new positions while the unemployment rate dropped to 8.3 percent, according to government data released Friday. — Both numbers were far better than consensus …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Outside the Beltway, Questions and Observations and The Lonely Conservative

Motoko Rich / New York Times:
U.S. Economy Added 243,000 Jobs in January; Unemployment Rate Is 8.3%

Discussion: The Caucus, Economix, TalkLeft and Prairie Weather

Bob Willis / Bloomberg:
Unemployment Drops to 8.3%; Payrolls in U.S. Jump 243,000

Discussion: ThinkProgress

Wall Street Journal:
Economy Adds 243,000 Jobs

Discussion: Real Time Economics, Washington Wire, Washington Post, Deal Journal, The Maddow Blog, blogs.wsj.com, Gothamist and Saint Petersblog

Lucia Mutikani / Reuters:
Job growth surges, jobless rate drops to 8.3 percent

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Vodkapundit and The Page

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Faced with good news about economy, Romney dissolves into incoherence — Since Mitt Romney announced his candidacy last June, he has continually made two core claims about Obama's economic record, each of which contradicts the other. Depending on the moment, Romney has said either:

Discussion: A plain blog about politics, Political Mojo and The Maddow Blog

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine: Economic Pessimism Is Still Romney's Best Bet

Byron Tau / Politico:
Obama campaign plays Trump card against Romney

Discussion: Guardian

Byron York / Campaign 2012:
Team Obama shocked to learn Romney wants to win

Discussion: Betsy's Page

Brent Budowsky / Pundits Blog:
Mitt Romney, Donald Trump, Ron Paul and the ‘Hope America Fails’ Republicans have a problem: Jobs

Discussion: Daily Kos

Cameron Joseph / The Hill:
Romney gaffes alarm GOP

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Washington Post, ThinkProgress, ABCNEWS, Wall Street Journal, The Other McCain, Mediaite, Hot Air and The Daily Caller

OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL:

A.G. SCHNEIDERMAN ANNOUNCES MAJOR LAWSUIT AGAINST NATION'S LARGEST BANKS FOR DECEPTIVE & FRAUDULENT USE OF ELECTRONIC MORTGAGE REGISTRY — Complaint Charges Use Of MERS By Bank Of America, J.P. Morgan Chase, And Wells Fargo Resulted In Fraudulent Foreclosure Filings

Discussion: TalkLeft, Daily Kos and Business Insider

David Dayen / Firedoglake:

Schneiderman Sues Three Big Banks, MERS for Deceptive Practices, Illegal Foreclosures — In the latest of a flurry of under-the-wire lawsuits that seem to conflict with an imminent foreclosure fraud settlement, Eric Schneiderman, the Attorney General of New York and a co-chair …

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

GOP lawmaker walked out on Obama's speech at National Prayer Breakfast — Republican Rep. Phil Gingrey (Ga.) walked out of President Obama's speech at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, his spokesman confirmed to The Hill. — Jen Talaber said the five-term lawmaker “left quietly” in the middle of the president's remarks.

Discussion: Right Wing Watch, Weasel Zippers, Randy's Roundtable and Washington Post

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Obama's Magic Number? 150,000 Jobs Per Month — The unemployment report on Friday will give us the most tangible read to date on how the economy is performing in 2012. It might also represent the most important number yet for President Obama's prospects of winning re-election.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, American Prospect, A plain blog about politics, Political Mojo, Washington Post and Jay Bookman

Edward Wyatt / New York Times:

S.E.C. Is Avoiding Tough Sanctions for Large Banks — WASHINGTON — Even as the Securities and Exchange Commission has stepped up its investigations of Wall Street in the last decade, the agency has repeatedly allowed the biggest firms to avoid punishments specifically meant to apply to fraud cases.

Discussion: New Deal 2.0, Booman Tribune, naked capitalism, Felix Salmon, Prairie Weather, The BLT and Economix

Politics:

Mitt Romney Was A Democrat — It may only have been for a few minutes in 1992. But this is a little-known, true fact: The likely GOP nominee is a former Democrat. — Mitt Romney's 1992 Democratic Primary vote for Paul Tsongas — a technocratic modernizer and reformer, but very much a Democrat …

Discussion: Mediaite and Saint Petersblog

Andy Pierrotti / WBBH-TV:

NBC2 Investigates: Voter fraud — Two elections supervisors are taking action after an NBC2 investigation uncovers flawed record keeping and human error allowing people who are not citizens of the United States to vote. — No one knows how widespread this problem is …

Discussion: Pat Dollard and UrbanGrounds

Pew Internet:

Why most Facebook users get more than they give — Most Facebook users receive more from their Facebook friends than they give, according to a new study that for the first time combines server logs of Facebook activity with survey data to explore the structure of Facebook friendship networks and measures of social well-being.