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9:30 PM ET, December 11, 2008

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Wall Street Journal:
Blagojevich Left Legal Bills Unpaid  —  CHICAGO — The criminal complaint against Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich alleges that he complained about financial troubles.  Those problems include more than $500,000 in unpaid legal bills, according to people familiar with the matter.
Discussion: Law Blog
RELATED:
Jack Healy / New York Times:
Obama Says He Never Spoke to Governor on Senate Seat  —  President-elect Barack Obama sought on Thursday to separate himself from the political scandal swirling around Governor Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois, saying he never talked to the governor about who would replace Mr. Obama in the United States Senate.
Jason Rosenbaum / The Seminal:
BREAKING: Schakowsky Will Run For Senate In Illinois  —  Last night at the Midwest Academy Awards and 35th Anniversary Celebration in Washington, DC, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown introduced Illinois Representative Jan Schakowsky by saying, “We may have a special election in Illinois, and if Jan Schakowsky runs, I'll support her.”
New York Times:
Republicans Float Auto Bailout Alternative  —  WASHINGTON — In a last-ditch effort to revive a government rescue for the American auto industry, Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, was trying late Thursday to persuade Senate Democrats to back an alternate plan that would require steep concessions …
RELATED:
Elizabeth Kolbert In / New Yorker:
NOTE TO DETROIT: CONSIDER THE REFRIGERATOR
Discussion: Talking Points Memo
Reuters:
Auto bailout prospects revived in Senate
Discussion: The Moderate Voice
Aluf Benn / Haaretz:
Obama's atomic umbrella: U.S. nuclear strike if Iran nukes Israel  —  U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's administration will offer Israel a “nuclear umbrella” against the threat of a nuclear attack by Iran, a well-placed American source said earlier this week.
RELATED:
Richard Fernandez / Pajamas Media:
Thinking the no longer unthinkable  —  Fox News reports that Barack Obama is offering Israel an nuclear guaranty against Iranian attack, signalling that a nuclear Iran is inevitable. … The really interesting question is what the American nuclear umbrella will add that the Israeli nuclear arsenal does not already provide.
Discussion: The Corner and Commentary
Joby Warrick / Washington Post:
Bipartisan Report: Rumsfeld Responsible for Detainee Abuse  —  Senate Committee Finds Officials Made Decisions That Led to Offenses Against Prisoners  —  A bipartisan Senate report released today says that former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and other top Bush administration officials …
Discussion: RedState and theheretik.us
RELATED:
Associated Press:
Panel Blames White House, Not Soldiers, for Abuse
Discussion: Reuters and D-Day
Rep. Barney Frank / The Huffington Post:
Wall Street Journal Editorial Board Does It Again  —  Recently, the editorial staff of the Wall Street Journal repeated unsupported and flat out wrong conservative talking points about me and the root causes of the subprime mortgage crisis.  I sought to counter their accusations in a letter to the editor …
Discussion: The Crypt's Blogs
RELATED:
Wall Street Journal:
Whitewashing Fannie Mae
Charles Lane / Washington Post:
The Unreal Bill Ayers  —  Three Decades After the Weather Underground's End, He's Still Justifying Its Means  —  I never thought Barack Obama's acquaintance with former Weather Underground leader Bill Ayers disqualified him for the White House.  And now that Obama has been elected …
Ali Frick / Think Progress:
Malkin: Democrats Will ‘Turn On A Dime’ Against Patrick Fitzgerald  —  This morning on Fox and Friends, right-wing pundit Michelle Malkin took up the conservative mantra of linking President-elect Obama to disgraced governor Rod Blagojevich (D-IL).  (In fact, Obama may have “indirectly contributed to the downfall” of Blagojevich.)
Jad Mouawad / New York Times:
Oil Demand Down; 1st Time Since '83  —  Global oil consumption will drop this year for the first time since 1983, as an economic downturn in the West and slower growth in China cuts fuel demand, according to the world's main energy forecaster.  —  The International Energy Agency …
Discussion: Newshoggers.com and On Deadline
RELATED:
Benoît Faucon / Wall Street Journal:
OPEC Faces Steeper Cuts in Output as Stockpiles Rise
Discussion: Crooks and Liars
Domenico Montanaro / MSNBC:
FIRST THOUGHTS: NO ORDINARY HONEYMOON  —  From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Carrie Dann  —  *** No ordinary honeymoon: While the political world continues to focus on the Blagojevich scandal, which at this point has been only a headache for the incoming Obama administration …
Paul Krugman:
Nosedive  —  Another day, another terrifying economic report, this time on unemployment claims.  —  So are we now losing jobs at the rate of 600,000 a month?  700,000?  If fiscal expansion takes, say, 8 months to kick in (and that's optimistic), where will that leave us?
Discussion: Calculated Risk and Open Left
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
A box unchecked  —  An Ambinder reader notices a gap in the diversity of the otherwise extraordinarily, thoroughly diverse Obama cabinet: Southerners.  —  John Edwards probably would have filled that slot, had he not fallen from grace.  Sam Nunn and Max Cleland have been mentioned, but faded.
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
DEMINT WARNS OF BAILOUT ‘RIOTS’.... In general, those who warn of dire consequences for the automotive industry tend to support a rescue package.  As the argument goes, the auto manufacturers are the backbone of U.S. manufacturing, and the collapse of the industry could have devastating ripple effects in the midst of a financial crisis.
Reason.tv:
Killer Chic  —  Gisele Bundchen wears him on the runway, Johnny Depp wears him around his neck, and Benicio Del Toro becomes him in the new, highly acclaimed, two-part epic film from Steven Soderbergh, Che.  Ernesto “Che” Guevara, the revolutionary who helped found communist Cuba, is the celebrity that celebrities adore.
Discussion: Reason
TwinCities.com:
In Senate recount, wrongly rejected votes seem more numerous than first thought  —  At least 358 Minnesotans did everything right on their absentee ballots — they sent them in on time, signed them where they should have and were properly registered — but their votes were not counted.
Butan Amedi / WORLDMEETS.US:
President Bush Should Have No Regrets about Faulty Iraq Intelligence  —  “The U.S. freed a terrorized country from the grips of one of the most dangerous men in the world.  In a matter of weeks, the U.S. Army was able to remove Saddam from power, an operation that sent a clear signal …
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Asking questions, and flagging them  —  A couple of analysts whose opinions I respect, including John Cole, criticized my item yesterday on what I see as an abuse of the “flagging” function on Obama's “Open for Questions” site.  —  I wrote about the ability of some readers to take a highly rated …
Kate Pickert / Time:
Glenn Beck  —  Glenn Beck is not known for his compassion.  As host of the third highest rated radio talk show and a new program soon to debut on Fox News, Beck courts controversy regularly.  His caustic and often conservative commentary has offended Mexicans, Jews and Muslims …
Discussion: TVNewser
Robert Block / The Write Stuff:
NASA has become a transition problem for Obama  —  CAPE CANAVERAL - NASA administrator Mike Griffin is not cooperating with President-elect Barack Obama's transition team, is obstructing its efforts to get information and has told its leader that she is “not qualified” to judge his rocket program, the Orlando Sentinel has learned.
Andrea James / Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
Starbucks won't slug it out in ad wars  —  McDonald's has erected a billboard in sight of Starbucks headquarters declaring, “four bucks is dumb.”  —  If Dunkin' Donuts' taste test commercials were the schoolyard equivalent of blowing spitballs at the coffee giant from afar, then the latest from McDonald's is like pulling a wedgie.
 
 
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 More Items: 
Ian Welsh / Firedoglake:
Senate Republicans Determined to Cause a Depression by Destroying Big 3
Discussion: Open Left
Gareth Porter / IPS Inter Press Service:
SPECIAL SERIES: Iranian Leaders Debate Obama's Policy Freedom
Discussion: Newshoggers.com
SteveK / TVNewser:
Breaking: “Hannity” To Premiere January 12
Michelle Malkin:
Dingy Harry Reid defends stink bomb
Discussion: Trust, But Verify
Pratish Narayanan / Reuters:
Newsweek plans staff cuts in makeover: report
Discussion: democracyarsenal.org
Jack Turner / Jack & Jill Politics:
NPR Cancels Only Black-Issues Program, News & Notes
 Earlier Items: 
John Milton Cooper Jr / New York Times:
The Pause That Depresses
Discussion: Balkinization and Media Blog
Steven Greenhouse / New York Times:
Union Linked to Corruption Scandal
Portfolio:
David Plouffe  —  If he were less shy and had a funny accent …
Discussion: The New Republic and TIME.com
The Daily Beast:
Could Detroit Trigger a New Global Meltdown?
Discussion: Firedoglake and Hullabaloo