Check out Mini-memeorandum for simple mobiles or memeorandum Mobile for modern smartphones.
12:35 PM ET, January 30, 2009

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
RELATED:
The Politico:
Gregg confirms he's in Commerce mix  —  President Barack Obama is considering New Hampshire Republican Judd Gregg for the still-open Commerce secretary slot — a possibility that could give Democrats the 60-vote margin in the Senate that they weren't able to win at the polls in November.
RELATED:
Ben Smith / The Politico:
Hardball politics stays in the Oval  —  Despite his past denunciations of the “perpetual campaign” — and “political hacks like Karl Rove” — President Barack Obama's version of change doesn't include banishing hardball politics from the environs of the Oval Office.
Joe Biden / USA Today:
Time to put middle class front and center  —  For years, we had a White House that failed to put the middle class front and center in its economic policies.  —  President Obama has made it clear that is going to change.  And it's why he has asked me to lead a task force on the middle class.
RELATED:
Monica Langley / Wall Street Journal:
After Jabs at Cheney, Biden Pursues an Activist Role
Discussion: TIME.com
Charles Hurt / New York Post:
CHANGE FOR THE WORSE  —  WASHINGTON - Buried deep inside the massive spending orgy that Democrats jammed through the House this week lie five words that could drastically undo two decades of welfare reforms.  —  The very heart of the widely applauded Welfare Reform Act of 1996 is a cap …
RELATED:
Wall Street Journal:
Democratic Stealth Care  —  With the nation preoccupied by the financial crisis, Democrats have been quietly working to nationalize health care.  —  Tom Daschle is still waiting to be confirmed as secretary of health and human services, not that he's in any rush.
RELATED:
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
Obama Distorts America's Stance on Muslims  —  Every new president flatters himself that he, kinder and gentler, is beginning the world anew.  Yet, when Barack Obama in his inaugural address reached out to Muslims by saying “to the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward …
David Brooks / New York Times:
Cleaner and Faster  —  Throughout 2008, Larry Summers, the Harvard economist, built the case for a big but surgical stimulus package.  Summers warned that a “poorly provided fiscal stimulus can have worse side effects than the disease that is to be cured.”  So his proposal had three clear guidelines.
Ramesh Ponnuru / New York Times:
Social Security on the First Date  —  DEMOCRATS will probably get their way on most policy matters over the next two years, but bipartisan accomplishments won't be easy.  Congressional Republicans won their elections too, and they didn't do so by promising to agree to everything that Democrats want.
RELATED:
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Alice Rivlin: “Now Is An Excellent Time To Fix Social Security And Medicare”
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Health Care Now  —  The whole world is in recession.  But the United States is the only wealthy country in which the economic catastrophe will also be a health care catastrophe — in which millions of people will lose their health insurance along with their jobs, and therefore lose access to essential care.
BBC:
Turkish PM given hero's welcome  —  Turkey's PM has received a hero's welcome on his return to Istanbul after he stormed out of a debate about Gaza at the World Economic Forum in Davos.  —  Recep Tayyip Erdogan had reacted angrily when he was refused the chance to respond to Israeli President Shimon Peres' defence of the operation
RELATED:
Erik Larson / Bloomberg:
Cuomo Said to Eye Return of $4 Billion in Early Merrill Bonuses  —  Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) — New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo may demand the return of $4 billion in bonuses paid by Merrill Lynch & Co. just before it was acquired by Bank of America Corp., a person familiar with the matter said.
Ruth Simon / Wall Street Journal:
Option ARMs See Rising Defaults  —  Woes Mount in $750 Billion Home-Loan Market; Analysts' Dim Views  —  Defaults on a popular form of mortgage that gave home buyers a choice of how much to pay each month are rising and could rival those on subprime loans, potentially causing more trouble for investors and banks.
Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
Are you with Obama or Rush?  —  President Obama and a key outside ally are stepping up efforts to ensure passage of the massive economic stimulus package, reaching out to Congress with both carrots and sticks.  —  While the president and his top aides are using all the trappings of the office …
Lynnley Browning / New York Times:
A Rich Income in '06 Was $263 Million  —  The income of the 400 wealthiest Americans swelled in 2006, soaring nearly 23 percent from the previous year, to an average of $263 million, according to data released Thursday by the Internal Revenue Service.  Since 1996, this group has nearly doubled …
Monica Davey / New York Times:
Blagojevich Makes a Day of It on Way Out  —  CHICAGO — As the nine-seat airplane raced through the skies on Thursday somewhere between Springfield and here, an onboard telephone began to ring.  —  Rod R. Blagojevich, the soon-to-be ex-governor of Illinois, instructed his aides not to answer.
Eric Schmitt / New York Times:
Obama Taps a General as the Envoy to Kabul  —  WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has picked Lt. Gen. Karl W. Eikenberry, a former top military commander in Afghanistan, to be the next United States ambassador to Kabul, an administration official said Thursday.
Noam Scheiber / The New Republic:
Border War  —  Geithner-Summers psychodrama, Round 1.  —  Larry Summers has a cutting sense of humor.  For example, when he thinks a proposal calls for government heavy-handedness, he will dismiss it as “Putinesque,” a reference to the statist Russian leader.
Discussion: The Daily Dish
Elisabeth Rosenthal / New York Times:
New Jungles Prompt a Debate on Rain Forests  —  CHILIBRE, Panama — The land where Marta Ortega de Wing raised hundreds of pigs until 10 years ago is being overtaken by galloping jungle — palms, lizards and ants.  —  Instead of farming, she now shops at the supermarket and her grown children …
Discussion: Reason and Pajamas Media
David Harsanyi / Denver Post:
Proof that all debate is now over  —  Imagine that.  The most expensive social experiment in American history — one that will cost taxpayers more than both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined — was allotted less than a single day of debate in Congress.
Washington Post:
GOP Stakes Its Claim With Stimulus Vote  —  The unanimous vote by House Republicans against President Obama's stimulus plan provided an early indication that the GOP hopes to regain power by becoming the champion of small government, a reputation many felt slipped away during the high-spending Bush years.
Ceci Connolly / Washington Post:
Senate Passes Health Insurance Bill for Children  —  The Senate overwhelmingly approved legislation yesterday to provide health insurance to 11 million low-income children, a bill that would for the first time spend federal money to cover children and pregnant women who are legal immigrants.
 
 
 Archived Page Info: 
This is a snapshot of memeorandum at 12:35 PM ET, January 30, 2009.

View the current page or another snapshot:


 
 See Also: 
memeorandum: site main
memeorandum River: reverse chronological memeorandum
memeorandum Mobile: for phones
memeorandum Leaderboard: memeorandum's top sources
 
 Subscribe: 
memeorandum RSS feed
memeorandum on Mastodon
 
 
 More Items: 
Portfolio:
Cuts Coming Next Week at ‘The Wall Street Journal’
Chicago Breaking News:
Quinn's 1st executive order pushes reform
Discussion: The Capitol Fax Blog and TIME.com
Yaacov / Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations:
The Muted Frightened Pride of Israeli-Arab Troops
Discussion: Commentary
Michael Gerson / Washington Post:
What Israel Gained in Gaza
Alex Spillius / Telegraph:
USEU trade war looms as Barack Obama bill urges ‘Buy American’
Discussion: Chicago Boyz and Power Line
Michelle Malkin:
Stimulus slush fund for the housing entitlement mob
John Porretto / Associated Press:
Exxon Mobil sets record with $45.2 billion profit
 Earlier Items: 
Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:
Best bipartisan buddies: Sarah Palin and Barack Obama
Discussion: The Swamp
Raphael Ahren / Haaretz:
For first time, U.S. professors call for academic and cultural boycott of Israel
Discussion: Atlas Shrugs and normblog
Al Kamen / Washington Post:
Redecorating Time in Foggy Bottom
Discussion: Taylor Marsh and Firedoglake