memeorandum: Obamacare Is About to Go Live. Here's Why It Was Worth the Wait. (Jonathan Cohn/The New Republic)

1:50 PM ET, September 27, 2013

Top Items:

A Republican Ransom Note — On Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew sent the House a very serious warning that, for the first time, the United States would be unable to pay its bills beginning on Oct. 17 if the debt ceiling is not lifted. House leaders responded on Thursday …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Hit & Run, Scared Monkeys, Why I Still Talk to Jesus, ThinkProgress, The Plum Line, Daily Kos, PolicyMic, Real Clear Politics, Los Angeles Times, Post Politics, Politico, CNN, Bloomberg and FreedomWorks

Todd S. Purdum / Politico:

The GOP should just do it — Shut down the government! Blow through the debt ceiling! Subject the United States to fiscal chaos or financial ruin if your party can't get its way on unrelated ideological priorities! — With apologies to Nike, maybe it's time for the House Republicans to stop threatening and “Just do it.”

Discussion: The Boston Globe and Hot Air

First Read / NBCNews:

First Thoughts: Boehner's bluff? — Back to talk of a government shutdown, but is it real or does Boehner blink? ... If GOP had any hope of blaming Obama and Democrats for a shutdown, the Corker-Cruz spat on the Senate floor didn't help its cause ... Let's remember how we got here …

Discussion: msnbc.com, Taegan Goddard's … and Yahoo! News

Wall Street Journal:
Senate Vote Expected on Funding Bill

Discussion: Washington Wire and Washington Post

Washington Post:
Republican hard-liners block strategy to avoid federal government shutdown

Discussion: Yahoo! News, PostPartisan, The Fix, WJLA-TV, The Hill and The Daily Caller

New York Times:
Senate Is Set to Vote on Budget Bill as House Weighs Options

Discussion: Post Politics, NPR, Prairie Weather and Business Insider

Politico:
House GOP banking on Plan C

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Business Insider

Ian Swanson / The Hill:
House Republicans lack votes to move plan to raise debt ceiling

Discussion: Business Insider, Salon, DCCC, Daily Kos, Roll Call, Booman Tribune, Outside the Beltway, Politico, Talking Points Memo, The Plum Line, The Reaction and New York Times

Stephen F. Hayes / Weekly Standard:

What Cruz Wrought — Ted Cruz has sparked a Republican civil war. He has done the bidding of the GOP fringe, in a self-aggrandizing crusade. And while he has enhanced his own position in the conservative fantasyland he seeks to rule, the practical effect of his quixotic campaign …

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Cruz emerges as GOP leader — PPP's newest national poll finds Ted Cruz is now the top choice of Republican primary voters to be their candidate for President in 2016. He leads the way with 20% to 17% for Rand Paul, 14% for Chris Christie, 11% for Jeb Bush, 10% each for Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …, Weasel Zippers, Outside the Beltway and Talking Points Memo

Mario Trujillo / The Hill:
Cruz can't be president, Texas Dem says

Discussion: Politico

Steve Beshear / New York Times:

My State Needs Obamacare. Now. — FRANKFORT, Ky. — SUNDAY morning news programs identify Kentucky as the red state with two high-profile Republican senators who claim their rhetoric represents an electorate that gave President Obama only about a third of its presidential vote in 2012.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, Post Politics and Booman Tribune

Jennifer Epstein / Politico:
White House says it isn't behind ‘Adorable Care Act’

Discussion: ABC News, americanthinker.com, Heritage Action for America, CNN, msnbc.com, The Week and Talking Points Memo

Steve Liesman / CNBC:
What's in a name? Lots when it comes to Obamacare/ACA

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Raw Story, msnbc.com, NBCNews, Talking Points Memo and The Reaction

Darryl Fears / Washington Post:

IPCC report says humans almost certainly cause global warming — A panel of the world's leading climate scientists strongly asserted Friday that “it is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause” of global warming since 1950 and warned of more rapid ice melt and rising seas …

Discussion: CBS DC, Wonkblog, WTVR-TV and The Verge

USA Today:
U.N. panel delivers landmark climate change report

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, The Week, National Review, Watchdog Earth, Right Wing News, Capital Weather Gang and CNN

Justin Gillis / New York Times:
U.N. Climate Panel Endorses Ceiling on Global Emissions

Discussion: ThinkProgress, RealClimate, Watts Up With That?, Gothamist, Guardian, Institute for Energy Research, NPR, The Agonist and Online NewsHour

Washington Post:

Gore accuses GOP of ‘political terrorism’ — By Aaron Blake and Karen Tumulty, Published: September 27 at 10:49 am — Former Vice President Al Gore on Friday called the GOP's strategy to defund Obamacare “political terrorism.” — Speaking at the Brookings Institution, Gore called it a …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Post Politics, TheBlaze.com and National Review

TIME:
Obama Senior Adviser Compares Republicans To Terrorists

Discussion: The Lead with Jake Tapper, PostPartisan, The Hugh Hewitt Show, The Huffington Post, Mediaite and Politico

Catrina Stewart / The Independent:

Kenya shopping mall attack: Nairobi hostages were tortured before they were killed, says police doctor — Rumours of rapes, disfigurement and beheadings are rife in Kenya's capital — A police doctor scouring Nairobi's Westgate mall for bodies after a four-day siege by Islamist gunmen …

Discussion: National Review

Paul Bentley / Daily Mail:
‘Eyes gouged out, bodies hanging from hooks, and fingers removed with pliers’: Horrific claims …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Power Line and The Gateway Pundit

Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:

Obamacare Is About to Go Live. Here's Why It Was Worth the Wait. — Obamacare's new insurance marketplaces are scheduled to open for business on October 1, just a few days from now. For all the attention that date has received, it is less important than it might seem.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Wall Street Journal and Via Meadia

Sean Higgins / Washington Examiner:
SEIU unionists strike over Obamacare-related cuts

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Betsy's Page, americanthinker.com, Weasel Zippers and Instapundit

Brendan Sasso / The Hill:

NSA: Analysts spied on love interests — The National Security Agency has admitted that analysts have abused their authority to spy on love interests on several occasions. — In response to a letter from Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the NSA identified 12 incidents since 2003 …

Tal Kopan / Politico:
Inspector general: NSA spied on significant others

Discussion: Firedoglake

Matthew Yglesias / Slate:

Average Is Over—if We Want It to Be — Tyler Cowen's new book Average Is Over makes an excellent followup to his previous work The Great Stagnation and I expect it will set the intellectual agenda in much the way that its predecessor did. I want to offer not so much a review as an effort at explication …

Discussion: American Prospect and National Review

Candida Moss / The Daily Beast:

The Gospel According to Bill O'Reilly's New Book ‘Killing Jesus’ — Jesus was killed because of taxes. That's more or less the message of Bill O'Reilly's new book. Professor Candida Moss on what else the Fox host gets wrong—and what he leaves out. — In Killing Jesus: A History …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and The Raw Story

Michael R. Gordon / New York Times:

U.N. Deal on Syrian Arms Is Milestone After Years of Inertia — UNITED NATIONS — The five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council have agreed on a resolution that will require Syria to give up its chemical weapons, but there will be no automatic penalties if the Syrians fail to comply, officials said Thursday.

Discussion: Reuters, The Moderate Voice, Guardian, Lawfare, The Week, Gawker, emptywheel, Taylor Marsh, Online NewsHour, NPR and Yahoo! News

Joby Warrick / Washington Post:
Most of Syria's toxins can be destroyed more easily than officials initially thought

Discussion: Yahoo! News, ThinkProgress, Foreign Policy and Business Insider

Ryan Lizza / Comment:

WHERE THE G.O.P.'S SUICIDE CAUCUS LIVES — On August 21st, Congressman Mark Meadows sent a letter to John Boehner. Meadows is a former restaurant owner and Sunday-school Bible teacher from North Carolina. He's been in Congress for eight months. Boehner, who has served in Congress for twenty-two years …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, The Dish, Washington Monthly and Booman Tribune

Susan Page / USA Today:

Heitkamp warns Obama on Keystone XL Pipeline approval — Senator predicts a partial government shutdown Tuesday in ‘a game of Russian roulette.’ — WASHINGTON — Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, a freshman Democrat from North Dakota, is ready to take on President Obama over the long-delayed approval …

Discussion: The Hill, Hot Air and Weekly Standard

Sen. Rand Paul / Washington Times:

Why must the American people suffer when even so many Democrats don't want Obamacare? — Officials who implemented the law should not escape its pain — Earlier this week, in an effort led by Sen. Ted Cruz, some of my Republican colleagues and I took to the Senate floor with the intent of making Washington listen.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Pirate's Cove