memeorandum: Lawmaker Who Compared Obamacare To Holocaust: You're Missing My Point (Catherine Thompson/Talking Points Memo)

10:55 AM ET, May 6, 2014

Top Items:

Sabrina Tavernise / New York Times:

Mortality Drop Seen to Follow '06 Health Law — BOSTON — The death rate in Massachusetts dropped significantly after it adopted mandatory health care coverage in 2006, a study released Monday found, offering evidence that the country's first experiment with universal coverage …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Taegan Goddard's Wonk Wire, healthinsurance.org, The Mahablog, WJLA-TV, The Reality-Based Community, The Dish and Prairie Weather

ACP Journal Club:

Changes in Mortality After Massachusetts Health Care Reform: A Quasi-experimental Study — Benjamin D. Sommers, MD, PhD; Sharon K. Long, PhD; and Katherine Baicker, PhD — Ann Intern Med. 2014;160(9):585-593. doi:10.7326/M13-2275 — Background: The Massachusetts 2006 health care reform …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Talking Points Memo, ThinkProgress, Business Insider and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Elise Viebeck / The Hill: Mass. discarding broken ObamaCare site

Adrianna McIntyre / The Incidental Economist:
Health insurance saves lives. That means it improves health, too.

Discussion: The New Republic and Lawyers, Guns & Money

The Boston Globe:
Mass. scrapping flawed health insurance website

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and National Review

Liz Kowalczyk / The Boston Globe:
Mass. says flawed health website is too broken to fix

Discussion: Townhall.com, Boston Herald, Daily Mail, The Heritage Foundation, Hit & Run, Instapundit and The PJ Tatler

CNN:

White House says effects of climate change are here — Washington (CNN) — Flooded rail lines. Bigger, more frequent droughts. A rash of wildfires. — Those are some of the alarming predictions in a White House climate change report released Tuesday, part of President Barack Obama's …

Discussion: Guardian, The Huffington Post, EcoWatchEcoWatch and The Agonist

Justin Gillis / New York Times:

Wide Impact of Climate Change Already Seen in U.S., Study Says — The effects of human-induced climate change are being felt in every corner of the United States, scientists reported Tuesday, with water growing scarcer in dry regions, torrential rains increasing in wet regions …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Taegan Goddard's Wonk Wire, Mediaite and Althouse

Reuters:
White House climate change report unveils dire warning, calls for action

Discussion: National Review and Shakesville

Melissapamerktla / KTLA 5:

Rialto Assignment Asking Students to Question Holocaust to Be Revised — The Rialto school district planned to revise an eighth-grade assignment that raised red flags by asking students to consider arguments about whether the Holocaust — the systematic killing by the Nazis of some 6 million Jews …

Discussion: Hot Air, Patterico's Pontifications, The Daily Caller, RedState, The Week, The Raw Story, The PJ Tatler, Instapundit and Los Angeles Times

Beau Yarbrough / sbsun.com:
EXCLUSIVE: Rialto Unified defends writing assignment on confirming or denying Holocaust

Discussion: National Review, TheBlaze.com, The Week and Pamela Geller, Atlas Shrugs

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Republican senators turning against their own in 2016 — Fearful of a third successive Democratic triumph, concerned Senate Republicans are turning against 2016 presidential bids by upstart hopefuls within their own ranks. — In forceful comments to The Hill, GOP senators made it plain …

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Paul Steinhauser / CNN:
Jeb Bush edges up, Hillary Clinton slightly slides, in CNN 2016 poll

Discussion: Politico

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times: Judicial Nominee's Memos on Drones Stirring Bipartisan Concern in the Senate

Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo:

Lawmaker Who Compared Obamacare To Holocaust: You're Missing My Point — The Tennessee lawmaker who compared Obamacare's individual mandate to Nazis deporting Jews to concentration camps thinks his critics missed the point. — State Sen. Stacey Campfield (R) caused a stir Monday morning …

Discussion: Mediaite, The Raw Story, No More Mister Nice Blog, Liberal Values, News, Nashville Scene and Camp4u

The Sen / Camp4u:

Here you go. — I regret that some people miss the point of my post. It was not to offend. It was to warn. To draw attention to Obamacare and the slippery slope that I see occurring in the lives of myself, my constituents, and the rest of the country with the continued taking of freedom by the federal government.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Washington Post, Mediaite and Talking Points Memo

New York Times:

A Defeat for Religious Neutrality — The American values of pluralism and inclusion are central to the First Amendment, which forbids government from favoring or aligning itself with any particular religion or believers over nonbelievers. — In a lamentable ruling on Monday …

Discussion: Daily Kos, The Reaction, Taylor Marsh and susiemadrak.com

Dahlia Lithwick / Slate:
The Supreme Court gives its blessing for prayer at town meetings. Get ready for a lot more Jesus in your life.

Discussion: American Prospect, law.cornell.edu, msnbc.com and Talking Points Memo

Lyle Denniston / SCOTUSblog:
Opinion analysis: Prayers get a new blessing

Discussion: Constitutional Law Prof Blog, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, ACS Blog, Outside the Beltway and USA Today

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:

Pelosi Calls For Equal Ratio Of Dem, GOP Members On Benghazi Panel — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Tuesday called for an equal ratio of Democrats and Republicans on the GOP's upcoming select committee to investigate the Benghazi attacks of 2012. — “If this review is to be fair, it must be truly bipartisan.

Discussion: Daily Kos

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
How the White House helped Republicans on Benghazi

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog

Speaker.gov:
Boehner Taps Gowdy to Lead Select Benghazi Panel

Discussion: Hot Air, ThinkProgress, Power Line, CBS DC, Daily Mail and National Review

Vanity Fair:

Exclusive: Monica Lewinsky Writes About Her Affair with President Clinton — Monica Lewinsky writes in Vanity Fair for the first time about her affair with President Clinton: “It's time to burn the beret and bury the blue dress.” She also says: “I, myself, deeply regret what happened between me and President Clinton.

Discussion: CBS DC

Juan Williams / The Hill:

House GOP walking into a trap — What happens to the House Republican caucus if Speaker John Boehner (Ohio) forces a vote on immigration reform? — Here are three predictions: — 1. The bill passes. An overwhelming majority of Republicans vote for it.

Cornelius Swart / KGW-TV:

Gov. Kitzhaber performs CPR, helps save woman's life — PORTLAND — Oregon's governor performed CPR on an unconscious woman in downtown Portland Monday, providing her medical assistance and helping to keep her alive until paramedics could arrive. — Gov. John Kitzhaber was traveling …

Discussion: Oregonian, Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, Mediaite and OnPolitics

Wall Street Journal:

The Catholic Church and the Convention on Torture — Child sexual-abuse cases and teachings on abortion don't put the Vatican in violation of an international treaty. — The United Nations committee that monitors compliance with the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel …

Cosmopolitan:

Why I Filmed My Abortion — When Emily Letts got pregnant, she knew she would get an abortion. Then she decided to film it. Letts, 25, is an abortion counselor at Cherry Hill Women's Center in New Jersey, which is where she had her abortion. The non-graphic video focuses on her face …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, National Review and The Other McCain