memeorandum: There's Too Much Crude in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (Austan D. Goolsbee/Wall Street Journal)

2:45 PM ET, April 11, 2012

Top Items:

Politifact.com Truth-O-Meter rulings from National:

Mitt Romney: “Women account for 92.3 percent of the jobs lost under Obama.” — Romney campaign says women were hit hard by job losses under Obama — Mitt Romney's campaign wants you to know that the same president who argues for contraceptive coverage and suggests that a Congress …

Discussion: Firedoglake, msnbc.com, American Prospect, 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com, ABCNEWS, The Hill, The Maddow Blog, NY Daily News, Wonkette, The Caucus, Los Angeles Times, Guardian, Mediaite, The Raw Story, CNN, BuzzFeed, New York Magazine and Washington Post

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

Romney Telegraphing Loss — As noted this morning, Wednesday April 11th is day one of the general election. But there are things I'm seeing that tell me that Mitt Romney is kicking off the campaign in a telling defensive posture. What I mean is that on various fronts, Romney is kicking off within Obama's campaign narrative.

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

BuzzFeed:

Romney Starts Looking For A Veep — Gillespie will lead the hunt, a source says. Nobody wants another Palin. — Source: cache.daylife.com — WILMINGTON, Del. — The Republican primary campaign effectively ended yesterday, and Mitt Romney's aides and supporters have already begun turning …

Discussion: Booman Tribune, Hot Air and GOP 12

Rick Santorum / CNN:
Romney on Dems' ‘war on women’

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Politico, ABCNEWS, The Raw Story, Daily Kos, Hot Air, Shakesville, Cognitive Dissidence, Pirate's Cove, Washington Post and This Just In

CNN:
TRENDING: Obama campaign: Romney's greatest hits

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Politico, ABCNEWS, Towleroad News #gay and The New Republic

Meghashyam Mali / The Hill:
Report: Gingrich's $500 check for Utah primary filing fee bounces

Discussion: CNN and Politico

Kyle Mantyla / rightwingwatch.org: Fischer: Electing a ‘Spiritually-Compromised Candidate’ Like Romney Will Weaken America

John Hawkins / Right Wing News:
The Co-Founder Of NotMittRomney.Com's Reaction To Mitt Sewing Up The Nomination

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Dan Amira / New York Magazine:
Every Candidate Endorsed by God Has Now Lost to Mitt Romney

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and ThinkProgress

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:
Mitt Romney, a ‘private man in a public world,’ is silent on tales of altruism

Discussion: Democracy in America, Instapundit, NO QUARTER and Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
What Does Santorum's Future Hold?

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Politico, Weekly Standard, americanthinker.com, New York Times, News Desk, The Reaction, ThinkProgress, alicublog, The New Republic and Connecting.the.Dots

Jonathan Mattise / Palm Beach Post:

Allen West hears cheers, jeers at town-hall meetings in Palm City, Jensen Beach — U.S. Rep. Allen West told about 90 largely supportive Palm City voters Tuesday that locally prioritized federal projects — such as the St. Lucie Inlet dredging — aren't going to matter if Washington officials don't address a mounting deficit.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Washington Monthly, Riptide 2.0, ThinkProgress, Suburban Guerrilla, Indecision Forever, The New Civil Rights Movement, Mediaite, New York Magazine, The Raw Story, Hullabaloo and Towleroad News #gay

Jennifer Bendery / The Huffington Post:

Allen West: I've ‘Heard’ 80 House Democrats Are Communist Party Members … REACT: — FOLLOW: — Allen West, Allen West Barack Obama, Allen West Communist Party, Allen West Democrats Commies, Politics News — WASHINGTON — As many as 80 House Democrats are communists, according to Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.).

Discussion: American Prospect, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Hot Air, The Gateway Pundit, The Moderate Voice, The New Civil Rights Movement, The Maddow Blog, TalkLeft, Booman Tribune and Daily Kos

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:

Allen West: Half the Democrats in Congress are Communists — Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) says he's heard that almost half of all the Democrats in Congress are secretly part of the Communist Party. — He offered no names or proof of his accusation. — West told almost 100 Floridians …

Discussion: The POH Diaries, Weasel Zippers and Joe. My. God.

Darius Dixon / Politico:
Allen West: 80 communists in the House

Discussion: The Loyal Opposition, Campaign 2012 and Outside the Beltway

Jon Bershad / Mediaite:

Fox News Spokesperson Tells Mediaite: We Found The Mole — So, when we asked readers how long it would take for Fox News to find the mole that Gawker had in their midst, did anyone put money down on “24 hours”? If so, it would appear that you just won the jackpot.

Discussion: BuzzFeed, The Daily Caller, TBogg, New York Magazine, Outside the Beltway, Gawker, TVNewser, NewsHounds blog, Indecision Forever and The PJ Tatler, more at Mediagazer »

Sari Horwitz / Washington Post:

George Zimmerman to be charged in Trayvon Martin shooting, official says — Florida special prosecutor Angela Corey plans to announce as early as Wednesday afternoon that she is charging neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in the shooting of Trayvon Martin, according to a law enforcement official close to the investigation.

Discussion: New York Times, ThinkProgress, CNN, Michelle Malkin, clickorlando.com, Weasel Zippers, protein wisdom, Macsmind, The New Civil Rights Movement, Riptide 2.0, Mediaite, The Daily Pulp and Hit & Run

Gabriel Arana / American Prospect:

My So-Called Ex-Gay Life — Early in my freshman year of high school, I came home to find my mom sitting on her bed, crying. She had snooped through my e-mail and discovered a message in which I confessed to having a crush on a male classmate. — “Are you gay?” she asked. I blurted out that I was.

Discussion: Truth Wins Out, Gay Politics, Towleroad News #gay and PinkNews.co.uk

Warren Throckmorton:
Robert Spitzer Retracts 2001 Ex-gay Study

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Truth Wins Out and Good As You

Bob Van Voris / Bloomberg:

U.S. Files Antitrust Lawsuit Against Apple, Hachette — The U.S. sued Apple Inc. (AAPL), Hachette SA, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin and Simon & Schuster in New York district court, claiming the publishers colluded to fix eBook prices. — CBS Corp. (CBS)'s Simon & Schuster …

Discussion: Media Decoder, Swampland, Wired, The BLT, TechCrunch, New York Magazine, Law Librarian Blog, Poynter and The Daily Caller, more at Mediagazer »

Brendan Sasso / The Hill:
Justice sues Apple over price-fixing

Discussion: ABCNEWS and Politico

Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Sues Apple, Publishers Over E-Book Pricing

Discussion: FT Alphaville

Annie-Rose Strasser / ThinkProgress:

National Review Fires Another Racist Writer — National Review Writer Robert Weissberg Speaks At White Nationalist Conference — Following the uproar over John Derbyshire's racist rant that led to his firing last week, National Review ended its relationship with another racist writer today.

Discussion: iOwnTheWorld.com

Rich Lowry / National Review:
Regarding Robert Weissberg

Discussion: Politico, The New Republic, Wonkette, Mediaite and The Spectacle Blog, more at Mediagazer »

Cindy Adams / New York Post:

Too much ‘Boss’ for NJ gov — Bruce Springsteen's marathon, highenergy gig at MSG had a celebrity crowd rocking — except for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who was caught dozing by fans. — Christie — an ardent Boss buff who's said to have caught fellow New Jersey heavy-hitter Springsteen's show …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Hotline On Call and The Daily Caller

Josh Lederman / Ballot Box:
Chris Christie more popular than ever

Discussion: National Review

Quinnipiac University:
New Jersey Voters Back NYPD In Garden State 3-1, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Dems' Property …

Discussion: Politico, Hot Air and CNN

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:

EXPERTS: Hannity Could Be Required To Testify About His Conversation With George Zimmerman — According to several experts in Florida law, Sean Hannity could be compelled to testify about his conversations with George Zimmerman. Tamara Lave, a professor of criminal law at the Universtiy …

Media Matters / Media Matters for America:
George Zimmerman's Legal Team Cites Zimmerman's Phone Call To Sean Hannity As They Withdraw From The Case

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Crooks and Liars, Firedoglake and Gawker

Raleigh News & Observer:

Amendment goes too far — We are native Southerners and we oppose legalizing same-sex marriage. — One of us (David), reared in Mississippi, has for more than two decades directed a think tank, the Institute for American Values, that aims to strengthen marriage and reduce divorce and unwed childbearing.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Firedoglake, Towleroad News #gay, Taylor Marsh, Good As You, Advocate and Joe. My. God.

Washington Examiner:

Astronauts condemn NASA's global warming endorsement — Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, left , and Walt Cunningham, Apollo 7 astronaut, in front of the Apollo 14 capsule at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Cunningham has signed a letter demanding that NASA stop endorsing global warming.

Discussion: National Review and GILL REPORT

Anthony Watts / Watts Up With That?:
Hansen and Schmidt of NASA GISS under fire for climate stance: Engineers, scientists …

Discussion: Power Line, Questions and Observations, JustOneMinute, Samizdata.net, Pirate's Cove, The Daily Caller and Tim Blair

Washington Post:

Poll: More Americans expect Supreme Court's health-care decision to be political — More Americans think Supreme Court justices will be acting mainly on their partisan political views than on a neutral reading of the law when they decide the constitutionality of President Obama's health-care law …

Discussion: Firedoglake, TalkLeft, Althouse, Wake up America, NewsBusters.org, Suburban Guerrilla, ThinkProgress, Taegan Goddard's …, Los Angeles Times, Campaign 2012, New York Magazine and Conservatives4Palin, more at Mediagazer »

Jason Millman / Politico:

White House pushes back against report - Experts: Too early to judge ACO interest - Arizona Legislature approves abortion restrictions - Nursing homes back Hatch — With help from Brett Norman and Kathryn Smith — WHITE HOUSE ON ACA DEFENSE — What else is new?

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Washington Post

Claudia De La Roca / Arts & Culture:

Matt Groening Reveals the Location of the Real Springfield — Twenty-five years after The Simpsons made their TV debut, the show's creator talks about Homer's odyssey—and his own — Matt Groening, creator of the Simpsons, was going to name the main character Matt but didn't think it would …

Discussion: News Desk, Show Tracker, The Daily Caller, Boing Boing and Gawker