memeorandum: Schwarzenegger Will 'Declare Fiscal Emergency' In Weeks (KNTV-TV)

10:15 AM ET, December 15, 2007

Top Items:

Bill Clinton, on 'Charlie Rose' Show, Suggests Obama Not Ready — And Would Be a 'Miracle' If Hillary Won Iowa — NEW YORK In a surprisingly frank interview with Charlie Rose on his PBS show late Friday night, former President Bill Clinton declared that his wife was not only far better prepared …

Discussion: The Belmont Club, Riehl World View and Pressing Matters

William Kristol / Weekly Standard:

Time to Move On...From Hillary — And from the Clintons' brand of politics. — The defining moment of the Democratic presidential campaign so far came during the Des Moines Register debate, December 13, at 2:10 P.M. Central time. … As are we all. What we are not looking forward …

Discussion: Power Line

Jeff Zeleny / New York Times:

Campaigns Woo 3 Iowans for Paper's Endorsement — DES MOINES — The other day, as his sport utility vehicle idled outside, former President Bill Clinton held forth on a sofa in the publisher's suite at The Des Moines Register, explaining why he believed Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton should win the newspaper's coveted endorsement.

Discussion: The Politico and Riehl World View

Allahpundit / Hot Air:

Quote of the day — "American foreign policy needs to change its tone and attitude, open up, and reach out. The Bush administration's arrogant bunker mentality has been counterproductive at home and abroad. My administration will recognize that the United States' main fight today does …

Discussion: JammieWearingFool

Michael D. Huckabee / Foreign Affairs:
America's Priorities in the War on Terror

Discussion: CNN Political Ticker, The Trail and Daniel W. Drezner

KNTV-TV:

Schwarzenegger Will 'Declare Fiscal Emergency' In Weeks — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Friday he will declare a "fiscal emergency" in January to give him and the Legislature more power to deal with the state's growing deficit. — Schwarzenegger made the announcement Friday after meeting …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, The American Street and LewRockwell.com Blog

Leslie Wayne / New York Times:

Huckabee Faces Old Queries in New Spotlight — When Mike Huckabee became lieutenant governor of Arkansas in 1993, he complained of being burdened by college tuition bills for his son, the expenses of two residences — one in Texarkana and the other in Little Rock — and the cost of commuting between the two.

Discussion: Washington Post, Bark Bark Woof Woof and Corrente

Kenneth P. Vogel / The Politico:
Huck's gift-givers ended up in state posts

Discussion: Liberal Values, First State Politics, The Corner and Hot Air

David Stout / New York Times:

Attorney General Rejects Demand for Information — WASHINGTON — Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey has firmly rejected Congressional demands that he provide information about the Justice Department's investigation into the Central Intelligence Agency's destruction of videotapes showing interrogations …

Discussion: CNN Political Ticker, The Crypt's Blogs, Prairie Weather and Wake up America

Spencer Ackerman / TPMmuckraker:
Justice Dept. Blocks House Inquiry into CIA Torture Tapes

Discussion: the talking dog, Buck Naked Politics and Matthew Yglesias

Spencer Ackerman / TPMmuckraker:
Reid Chooses Admin-Friendly Measure as Basis for Surveillance Bill

Discussion: Corrente, Scholars and Rogues, All Spin Zone, GovExec.com, Ars Technica, Think Progress, The Huffington Post, Gateway Pundit, AMERICAblog and ACSBlog

Benjamin Schwarz / The Atlantic Online:

His Second Act — Frank Sinatra, the greatest vocalist in the history of American music, elevated popular song to an art. He was a dominant power in the entertainment industries—radio, records, movies, gambling—and a symbol of the Mafia's reach into American public life.

New York Times:

The Court That May Not Be Heard — The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the special court that reviews government requests for warrants to spy on suspected foreign agents in the United States, seems to have forgotten that its job is to ensure that the government is accountable …

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad / Newsweek:
An Arrogant Approach — The danger of unilateralism— for the United States and the world

Discussion: Hot Air

Ross Douthat:

Bring Me The Head of Mitt Romney! — As an early booster of the Huckabee-helps-Rudy meme, it behooves me to note that it really doesn't seem to be working out that way. Obviously, everything could turn on a dime if Huckabee's boom turns out to be a bubble, but if Huck wins Iowa and Romney wins …

Discussion: PoliGazette, The Corner and Eunomia

Jay Cost / HorseRaceBlog:
On the Republican Itinerary — A few months back I put together …

Discussion: Political Machine, race42008.com and Rasmussen Reports

Rich Lowry / The Corner: Friday Afternoon Speculative Horserace Thoughts

Kenneth Anderson / Weekly Standard:

Mormons, Muslims, and Multiculturalism — The deeply dispiriting Romney-Huckabee religion showdown. — Some personal declarations: Mitt Romney is not my candidate. He is (in my humble opinion) a man of principles so pragmatic that he lacks any unshakeable political foundation …

philly.com:

Advice about racism proved to be prophetic — Looking back now, the older construction worker's words were downright prophetic. — Earlier this month, when Shawn Jenkins and his girlfriend decided it was time to move out of Feltonville, he asked his fellow construction workers for their opinions on his planned destination.

Discussion: The Huffington Post and Suburban Guerrilla

ABCNEWS:

Did Immigration Ads Spark Link to Terror? — 5th Grader Questions Obama, Making Immigration-Terror Link — When Iowa Democrat Tod Bowman got home Thursday night, he got an earful from his wife about what their fifth-grader had just done. — Earlier that day, their son, Beau Bowman …

Discussion: Riehl World View and Political Radar

Reuters:

Congress ramps up Iraq, Afghanistan spending — Defense authorization bill sent to Bush — without timetables — WASHINGTON - The Democratic-led Congress authorized more Iraq war spending on Friday, sending President Bush a defense bill requiring no change in strategy after failing again …

Discussion: michellemalkin.com, The Democratic Daily and Captain's Quarters

David Barboza / New York Times:

In China, Farming Fish in Toxic Waters — FUQING, China — Here in southern China, beneath the looming mountains of Fujian Province, lie dozens of enormous ponds filled with murky brown water and teeming with eels, shrimp and tilapia, much of it destined for markets in Japan and the West.

Discussion: The Peking Duck

TigerHawk:

Carbon is hot — Timely, in light of this article in today's Wall Street Journal, "Marrying for Love ... of Money": … Heh. — MORE: The 'Villain is at least a little miffed that I did not link back to his post on the Craigslist story, which is indeed amusing. My bad, your loss.

Discussion: Maggie's Farm