memeorandum: Senate, House offices sent mail containing suspicious powder (Debbie Siegelbaum/The Hill)

6:10 PM ET, February 22, 2012

Top Items:

Robert Winnett / Telegraph:

50p tax rate ‘failing to boost revenues’ — The amount of income tax paid fell sharply last month in the first formal indication that the new 50p higher rate is not raising the expected amount of revenue. — A Treasury source said the relatively poor revenues from self-assessment returns …

Discussion: Hot Air, The Heritage Foundation, iOwnTheWorld.com, RedState, Big Government, Don Surber, CARPE DIEM, Pirate's Cove, The Lonely Conservative and TigerHawk

Wall Street Journal:

Obama's Dividend Assault — A plan to triple the tax rate would hurt all shareholders. — President Obama's 2013 budget is the gift that keeps on giving—to government. One buried surprise is his proposal to triple the tax rate on corporate dividends, which believe it or not is higher than in his previous budgets.

Discussion: RedState, Vodkapundit, Weasel Zippers, The PJ Tatler, Townhall.com and Betsy's Page

Zachary A. Goldfarb / Washington Post:
Obama proposes lowering corporate tax rate to 28 percent

Discussion: Pirate's Cove, Hit & Run, The New Republic, neo-neocon, Daily Kos, US Politics, The Lonely Conservative, Shakesville and Taylor Marsh

James Pethokoukis / The Enterprise Blog:
Why Obama's corporate tax plan is a total bust

Discussion: New York Times, The Maddow Blog, Political Mojo, Politico, Outside the Beltway, National Review, Hot Air and The Hill

Jackie Calmes / New York Times:
Obama Offers to Cut Corporate Tax Rate to 28%

Discussion: Jared Bernstein, ThinkProgress, Bloomberg, msnbc.com, Reuters, Business Insider, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic Online, Guardian, iOwnTheWorld.com and Economix

Cameron Joseph / Ballot Box:
New Romney proposal would cut individual tax rates by 20 percent

Discussion: The Hill, GOP 12 and CNN

Ezra Klein / Washington Post:
Wonkbook: Tax reform is really, really hard

Discussion: A plain blog about politics, ThinkProgress and Wall Street Journal

CNN:
Romney: Obama tax proposal would kill jobs

Discussion: Ricochet Conversations Feed

ABCNEWS:

Chris Christie: Rick Santorum's Satan Comments Are Relevant — Rick Santorum says his 2008 comments that “Satan has set his sights on the United States of America” are “not relevant” to the 2012 presidential race, but Chris Christie told me on “GMA” that Santorum is wrong.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Michelle Malkin, The Week, Arizona Republic, msnbc.com, CNN, his vorpal sword, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Maddow Blog, Opinion L.A., The Other McCain, The Raw Story, Daily Kos, Washington Post, Drudge Report and The Huffington Post

Byron York / Campaign 2012:

Team Santorum: U.S. is with Rick on devil belief — MESA, Ariz. — Some of Rick Santorum's advisers are frustrated and angry that reporters are focusing more on their candidate's statements about Satan than on his positions on the issues. Here in Arizona Tuesday, Santorum faced repeated questioning …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Atlantic Online, Mediaite, RedState, Pundit & Pundette, The Daily Caller and National Review

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:

Get Thee Behind Me! — Ah, you just gotta love the MSM and its blinders! — Thanks to a handful of obscure researchers and bloggers (I first noticed the story at People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch, but others may have gotten there first), and to the subsequent efforts of a handful …

Discussion: The Agonist and Eschaton

Mollie Reilly / The Huffington Post:

Alan Simpson: Rick Santorum Is ‘Rigid And A Homophobic’ … 2012 Elections , Rick Santorum , Video , Alan Simpson , Politics News , Election 2012 , Rick Santorum 2012 , Santorum , Politics News — Former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-Wy.) weighed in on the Republican presidential primary on Wednesday …

Discussion: Mediaite, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Human Rights Campaign

Howard Kurtz / The Daily Beast:
Rick Santorum Faces a Grilling at CNN Debate

Discussion: Politico, Big Journalism, The Daily Dish, The Week, The Atlantic Online, Daily Kos, The Agonist and Blue Mass Group

Anita Kumar / Washington Post:

Virginia governor no longer fully supports ultrasounds before abortions — RICHMOND — Gov. Robert F. McDonnell is backing off his unconditional support for a bill requiring women to have an ultrasound before an abortion, focusing new attention on one of the most controversial pieces …

Alexander Burns / Politico:
McDonnell comes out against invasive ultrasound mandate (UPDATED)

Discussion: Feministing

Sam Baker / The Hill:
Virginia House passes controversial anti-abortion bill

Discussion: ThinkProgress, msnbc.com, Sky Dancing and Daily Kos

Anita Kumar / Washington Post:
Virginia Republicans look to amend ultrasound bill

Discussion: Politico, The New Republic, Mediaite, Outside the Beltway and iOwnTheWorld.com

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Obama ties Romney with Arizona — Arizona is a great microcosm of how Barack Obama's reelection prospects have improved over the last 3 months. When we polled there in November his approval numbers were atrocious and his prospects for winning the state in the general election didn't look very good.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …, Ballot Box and Guardian

detroitnews.com:
Detroit News endorsement: Mitt Romney for Michigan GOP primary

Discussion: Ballot Box, The Caucus, New York Times, American Prospect, The Impolitic, Politico, Online NewsHour, Washington Post and Guardian

Quinnipiac University:
Santorum Up 9 Points Among Republican Voters, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds …

Discussion: The Hill, msnbc.com, Associated Press, Firedoglake, ABCNEWS, Hot Air, Washington Wire, The Hill, The PJ Tatler, GOP 12, ThinkProgress, Ballot Box, No More Mister Nice Blog and Prairie Weather

Noam Scheiber / The New Republic:

EXCLUSIVE: The Memo that Larry Summers Didn't Want Obama to See — For the past three years, Washington journalists and politicos have obsessed over a 57-page memo that Barack Obama's incoming economic team prepared for him in late 2008. The document has achieved such totemic status for good reason …

Discussion: The Enterprise Blog, Questions and Observations, Economist's View and Business Insider

Megan McArdle / The Atlantic Online:

Some More Thoughts on Heartland — I know that many of you are probably sick of this story, for which I apologize. I'm crunching on a column after a weekend family emergency, so the other blogging which would normally be interspersed with the Heartland stuff is going to be very light through at least tomorrow.

Discussion: The PJ Tatler

John Hinderaker / Power Line:
Global Warming Alarmists Resort to Hoax

Discussion: Via Meadia, Wall Street Journal, Maggie's Farm, JunkScience.com, Tom Nelson, The Volokh Conspiracy, Quark Soup, Online NewsHour and Climate Etc.

Joshua Green / Business Week:

Dow 13,000? Thank Democrats — Yesterday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly peaked above 13,000 before dipping at the close. Like all Dow milestones, this one touched off the usual celebration. It may be no coincidence that the market is rising under a Democratic president.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Atlantic Online and US Politics

Bob Drummond / Bloomberg:
Stocks Return More With Dem in White House

Discussion: Liberal Values and Taegan Goddard's …

Tim Mak / Politico:

Chris Christie tells Warren Buffett: ‘Shut up’ — Chris Christie has heard enough about Warren Buffett, and in typical fashion, the New Jersey governor had a certain blunt way of putting it. — “He should just write a check and shut up,” Christie said Tuesday on CNN's “Piers Morgan Tonight.”

Discussion: Business Insider, Wonkette and The Lonely Conservative

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
A simple solution to inequality: Stop talking about it

Discussion: The Maddow Blog and The New Civil Rights Movement

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

BREAKING: Bush Appointee Finds DOMA Unconstitutional — Moments ago, Judge Jeffery White of the District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) violates the Constitution's equal protection clause in a case brought by Karen Golinski.

Discussion: San Diego Gay and Lesbian and Gay Politics

William Saletan / Slate:

The Conversion — How, when, and why Mitt Romney changed his mind on abortion. — To understand Mitt Romney, you have to understand the most difficult passage of his political life: how he changed his position on abortion. Not the story he tells about it, but the real story.

Discussion: American Prospect, The Atlantic Online, Washington Monthly and The New Republic

Matthew Boyle / The Daily Caller:

The Daily Caller has obtained documents, emails and communications showing how President Barack Obama's Federal Communications Commission demolished wireless broadband company LightSquared's competition through a pattern of regulatory decisions apparently aimed at establishing an “open-access” Internet in the United States.

Discussion: Hot Air, RedState and Clayton Cramer's Blog

James Taranto / Wall Street Journal:

Mystification and Triumphalism — Why the left can't handle the truth about social conservatism. — Social liberals have two basic approaches to social conservatism: mystification and triumphalism. Both reflect a failure of understanding—but more than that, an incapacity to understand …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Democracy in America, Althouse, American Power and Instapundit

Benjamin J. Dueholm / Washington Monthly:

Rules of Misbehavior — Dan Savage, the brilliant and foul-mouthed sex columnist, has become one of the most important ethicists in America. Are we screwed? — ive months after the death of Esther “Eppie” Lederer in 2002, the bulk of her estate—a sprawling Chicago apartment's worth of furniture …

Discussion: American Prospect

Nick Bilton / Bits:

Google to Sell Heads-Up Display Glasses by Year's End — People who constantly reach into a pocket to check a smartphone for bits of information will soon have another option: a pair of Google-made glasses that will be able to stream information to the wearer's eyeballs in real time.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Poynter, The Mary Sue and The TechBlock, more at Techmeme »

KHOU-TV:

1 passenger detained after disturbance on Continental flight headed to Houston — HOUSTON—Charges may be filed against a man accused of causing a disturbance on a Continental Airlines flight bound for Houston on Tuesday. — Passengers said the man was a hassle from the beginning and once …

Discussion: Jihad Watch, The Gateway Pundit and Atlas Shrugs

William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:

Someone forgot to obtain a waiver — Multiple metaphors in this photo. — From reader Eric: … Metaphor Alert:

Ryan McGee / The A.V. Club:

Did The Sopranos do more harm than good?: HBO and the decline of the episode — On last night's episode of HBO's Luck, there was a hypnotic horse race approximately halfway through the hour. For a brief moment, all of the elements that had been in disparate play throughout David Milch's …

Discussion: entertainment.time.com and ThinkProgress

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

Democratic Lawmaker Responds To ‘Fetal Pain’ Bill With Measure Limiting Vasectomies — A Democratic lawmaker in Georgia is responding to a Republican-backed effort to prevent women from receiving abortions 20 weeks after fertilization with a tongue-in-cheek measure that seeks …

Discussion: Metro, Don Surber, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Florida Times Union, Sister Toldjah, The Maddow Blog and The Raw Story

Tina Korbe / Hot Air:

What I'd love to see at tonight's debate: Ashes — It is Ash Wednesday, after all, and, if Joe Biden is willing to sport soot in public, then surely Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum will be, too. — Why do I want to see smudged crosses on their foreheads?

Discussion: Townhall.com