memeorandum: Full statement by MMR scare doctor Andrew Wakefield: 'The Government has tried to cover … (The Independent)

11:45 AM ET, April 13, 2013

Top Items:

Gun debate in Senate likely to feature amendments to weaken or strengthen laws — As the Senate prepares to begin debate next week on the biggest gun-control bill in nearly two decades, the gun rights lobby and its Senate allies are working on a series of amendments that could have the opposite effect …

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Benny Johnson / BuzzFeed: Here's The Democrats' Plan To Get Gun Control Through The Senate

The Independent:

Full statement by MMR scare doctor Andrew Wakefield: 'The Government has tried to cover up putting price before children's health' — This is the full statement by Dr Andrew Wakefield from healthimpactnews.com — In the wake of further media distortion, misrepresentation …

Discussion: Guardian, blogs.telegraph.co.uk and BBC

Simon Tomlinson / Daily Mail:

Chilling images from inside the mass indoctrination ceremonies where communist ‘cult’ leaders brainwash North Korea's children — Youngsters aged seven to 13 inducted into Korean Children's Union, a group likened to the Hitler Youth — Organisation pledges allegiance …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and WorldViews

Charlotte Meredith / Daily Express:
North Korea states ‘nuclear war is unavoidable’ as it declares first target will be Japan

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, New York Times, The Gateway Pundit and CNN

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Carney: North Korea not capable of launching nuclear-armed missile

Discussion: CNN and Rush Limbaugh

Greg Toppo / USA Today:

Memo warns of rampant cheating in D.C. public schools — District of Columbia Public Schools officials have long maintained that a 2011 test-cheating scandal that generated two government probes was limited to one elementary school. But a newly uncovered confidential memo warns as far …

Discussion: Daily Kos and Lawyers, Guns & Money

John Merrow / Taking Note:

Michelle Rhee's Reign of Error — With the indictment of former Atlanta School Superintendent Beverly A. Hall and 34 other public school employees in a massive cheating scandal, the time is right to re-examine other situations of possible illegal behavior by educators. Washington, DC, belongs at the top of that list.

Discussion: Colorlines and Balloon Juice

Mark Murray / First Read:

NBC/WSJ poll: 53 percent support gay marriage — Two weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two highly publicized gay-marriage cases, a majority of Americans continue to say they support same-sex marriage, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

Discussion: The Reaction, The Raw Story, Politico, Poliglot, Hullabaloo and The Week

CNN:
RNC re-affirms its position on marriage

Discussion: Guardian and The Week

James Hohmann / Politico:
RNC's celeb plan falls flat in Hollywood

Discussion: Addicting Info

Sean Sullivan / Post Politics:
Republican National Committee reaffirms opposition to gay marriage

Discussion: Addicting Info, TIME, The Raw Story, The Plum Line, msnbc.com, The Impolitic and Ballot Box

Jesse McKinley / New York Times:

Albany Teacher Gives Pro-Nazi Writing Assignment — ALBANY — High school is full of hypotheticals, like “How does one solve for x?” and “What happens if I skip class?” But this week, students at Albany High School were given an alarming thought puzzle: How do I convince my teacher that I think Jews are evil?

Discussion: Balkinization, Althouse, americanthinker.com and Albany Times Union

Evan McMorris-Santoro / BuzzFeed:

Obama's “Politics 101”: “You Don't Put Stuff On Your Head If You're President” — Obama declines an offer to wear a football helmet and doles out some political advice. — Via: Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP — WASHINGTON — When members of the US Naval Academy football team presented President Obama …

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Obamas' income, effective tax rate dropped last year, return shows

Discussion: The Week and CNN

Alex Seitz-Wald / Salon:

On Gosnell “blackout,” where were conservatives before this week? — While they blame the liberal media for ignoring the story, conservatives have mostly missed it themselves — Piggybacking on Irin Carmon's excellent piece dismantling the myth that the media has intentionally ignored …

Discussion: National Review, Business Insider, LewRockwell.com Blog, Little Green Footballs, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Washington Monthly, The Heritage Foundation, Ed Driscoll, Poynter, Slate and LifeNews.com, more at Mediagazer »

Irin Carmon / Salon:
There is no Gosnell coverup

Tennessean.com:

Sen. Stacey Campfield withdraws welfare bill after run-in with girl, protesters — After a confrontation with an 8-year-old girl and other activists, along with mounting opposition from fellow Republicans, state Sen. Stacey Campfield dropped his effort to tie welfare benefits to grades …

Discussion: Daily Mail, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Crooks and Liars, Addicting Info and Colorlines

Will Oremus / Slate:

The Real Reason No One's Buying PCs Anymore: They've Gotten Too Good — Dude, you're not getting a Dell. — PC sales suffered their steepest decline in history last quarter, plummeting 14 percent worldwide, according to a report from market research firm IDC.

Discussion: CANNONFIRE and Dean's World

Ashley Killough / CNN:

Carson withdraws from another speaking gig — (CNN) - Dr. Ben Carson, the conservative neurosurgeon who has rocketed into the political spotlight this year, withdrew from another speaking engagement Friday after stepping down as this year's commencement speaker at Johns Hopkins medical school.

John DiStaso / unionleader.com:

Exclusive: Former Sen. John E. Sununu won't run for office in 2014 — MANCHESTER — Former U.S. Sen. John E. Sununu has made a long-awaited decision about his political future. — He will not run for the Senate, or for any political office, next year. — “I'm not running for anything …

Discussion: Ballot Box, Post Politics and Roll Call

Jake Ellison / The Pot Blog:

Feds scoop up medical marijuana patient records in Oregon investigation — A record of wrongdoing? (Getty Images) — Despite Oregon's best efforts to keep medical marijuana patient records private, a federal search warrant forced the state agency to hand over some records, according to recently discovered court records.

Discussion: Firedoglake and The Raw Story

James Taranto / Wall Street Journal:

21st-Century Watergate — What did David Corn know and when did he know it? — Mother Jones's story about Sen. Mitch McConnell and actress Ashley Judd, noted here Wednesday, was a huge dud in itself. But it turns out the magazine's David Corn has stumbled upon—and become a player in—a Watergate-like scandal.

Discussion: Politico, WFPL, The Other McCain, Althouse, The Reaction and The Maddow Blog