memeorandum: Key US senator meets Lebanese leaders (Agence France Presse)

11:45 AM ET, February 18, 2009

Top Items:

Buy-Buy, Mr. Burris — WHEN THEN-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested in December for, among other things, allegedly trying to auction off the U.S. Senate seat left open by Barack Obama's election to the presidency, we feared that whomever Mr. Blagojevich eventually chose would be tainted by the association.

Discussion: Chicago Tribune, The Hill, The Opinionator, Chicago Sun Times, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Talking Points Memo, Commentary, The Campaign Spot, Wizbang, Real Clear Politics, The Fix, TPMMuckraker and Political Machine

Newsdesk / Vox Pop:

Roland Burris, resign — The benefit of the doubt had already been stretched thin and taut by the time Roland Burris offered his third version of the events leading to his appointment to the U.S. Senate. It finally snapped like a rubber band, popping him on that long Pinocchio nose of his, when he came out with version four.

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

'HE'S IN DEEP SH*T'.... Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) is probably still getting settled in as a new U.S. Senator. He was, after all, sworn in only 34 days ago. But before Burris finishes unpacking, it'd be best if he didn't get too comfortable in his new job.

Discussion: The Swamp, Top of the Ticket and The Huffington Post

Chicago Sun Times:
Senate opens Burris probe

Discussion: The Capitol Fax Blog and MSNBC

Peter Slevin / Washington Post:
Burris Admits to Fundraising Attempt

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias

Jennifer Parker / George's Bottom Line:
Democratic Source on Burris: 'He's In Deep Sh*t'

Discussion: Bloomberg and Politics Nation

Mark Silva / The Swamp:

Obama's housing plan: ‘All of us pay’ — President Barack Obama, announcing a $75-billion federal aid plan for millions of homeowners facing mortgage foreclosures, today will say the nation is facing “a crisis unlike any we've ever known.” — Appearing in Mesa, Arizona …

Discussion: The Politico and Riehl World View

The White House:

Help for homeowners — The President's strategy for economic recovery is a stool with several legs, as he's said, and one of them is solving the foreclosure crisis. — “We must stem the spread of foreclosures and falling home values for all Americans, and do everything …

Discussion: Think Progress, AmSpecBlog and Los Angeles Times

ABCNEWS:

Help Is on the Way? Obama to Outline Mortgage Plan — President Will Unveil a Plan Today to Stop the Flood of Foreclosures — Perhaps no one word has defined this recession better than “foreclosure.” — In the last year, banks started foreclosure proceedings on more than 2.3 million households …

Discussion: Connecting.the.Dots, The Note, Stephen C. Rose and Reason

Tami Luhby / CNNMoney.com:
Obama's foreclosure fix on the way

Discussion: Weekly Standard and Money & Company

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

Charlie Savage on Obama's embrace of Bush/Cheney “terrorism policies” — During the Bush presidency, there were few reporters, if there were any, who were better on issues of civil liberties and executive power abuses than Charlie Savage, who won the Pulitzer Prize for his work exposing …

Discussion: Brian Beutler

USA Today:
Obama's war: Deploying 17,000 raises stakes in Afghanistan

Discussion: MSNBC and BLACKFIVE

Charlie Savage / New York Times:
Obama's War on Terror May Resemble Bush's in Some Areas

Discussion: The Plum Line, TPMMuckraker, theheretik.us, Villainous Company and TIME.com

Karen DeYoung / Washington Post:
More Troops Headed to Afghanistan

Discussion: New York Times, The New Republic, democracyarsenal.org, The Caucus and MSNBC

Michelle Malkin:

Nutroots suddenly hypersensitive about Nazi/president comparisons — For eight years, we've heard “Bushitler” invoked endlessly. — Again: — And again. — And again. — And again. — And again: — Now, the tables have been turned. Some folks are invoking Nazi allusions against Barack Obama.

Discussion: protein wisdom, The Daily Dish, Peoples Press Collective, American Power, The Sundries Shack, Don Surber, Neptunus Lex, Wake up America and Jules Crittenden

Karl Frisch / Media Matters:
UPDATED: Michelle Malkin takes photo with man holding swastika Obama sign

Discussion: Firedoglake, ProgressNow Colorado and Looking at the Left

Wyatt Buchanan / San Francisco Chronicle:

GOP ousts Senate leader, budget deal in question — (02-18) 02:28 PST Sacramento — A state budget deal to close a $41 billion shortfall has been put further into question early this morning after Senate Republicans ousted their leader who had helped negotiate the long-awaited plan with other top lawmakers in California.

Discussion: Hot Air, Democracy in America, Right Wing News and RedState

Lisa Demer / Anchorage Daily News:

Palin to pay tax on past per diem — EXPENSES: Governor received meal money while living in Wasilla. — ldemer@adn.com — Gov. Sarah Palin must pay income taxes on thousands of dollars in expense money she received while living at her Wasilla home, under a new determination by state officials.

Discussion: Wonkette, Ben Smith's Blogs, Political Machine and The Washington Independent

Michael Calderone / The Politico:

Dem exclusive? Reporters jump ship — In three months since Election Day, at least a half-dozen prominent journalists have taken jobs working for the federal government. — Journalists, including some of those who've jumped ship, say it's better to have a solid job in government than a shaky job …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, JammieWearingFool, Michael Calderone's Blogs and RedState

The Independent:

Howard Jacobson: Let's see the ‘criticism’ of Israel for what it really is — Emotions have run high over recent events in Gaza. And in this impassioned and searching essay, our writer argues that just below the surface runs a vicious strain of ancient prejudice

Discussion: Israellycool and Augean Stables

Patrick Healy / New York Times:
Workshop May Present Play Critical of Israel

Discussion: Elder of Ziyon

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Cheney and the Goat Devil — I was dubious about Will Ferrell doing his Bush impersonation one more time on Broadway. — As we lurch through the disasters bequeathed by W. — the economy tanking, 17,000 more troops going to Afghanistan, Chrysler pleading for a total of $9 billion …

Discussion: The Huffington Post and Prairie Weather

New York Times:
Aides Say No Pardon for Libby Irked Cheney

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Sentencing Law and Policy

Brian Mosely / Shelbyville Times-Gazette Headlines:

Islamic subversion alleged by speaker — A former FBI special agent told law enforcement and Homeland Security personnel that a network of Islamic organizations are working to incrementally implement Islamic law in the United States. — During a presentation at the Bedford County Emergency …

Discussion: Moonbattery

Robert / Jihad Watch:
Former FBI special agent: Every major Muslim organization in the U.S …

Discussion: The Corner

Financial Times:

Bank nationalisation gains ground with Republicans — Long regarded in the US as a folly of Europeans, nationalisation is gaining rapid acceptance among Washington opinion-formers - and not just with Alan Greenspan, former Federal Reserve chairman. Perhaps stranger still …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Gawker, Right Wing News and Balkinization

Financial Times:
Greenspan backs bank nationalisation

Discussion: Westminster Blog, The Moderate Voice, Matthew Yglesias, naked capitalism, Real Time Economics, Think Progress, Political Machine, D-Day, The Raw Story, European Tribune, LewRockwell.com Blog and PoliPundit.com

Brian Montopoli / CBS News:

Jindal Signals Louisiana May Not Take Stimulus Money — Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, a potential 2012 GOP presidential candidate, has suggested his state may not be interested in all of the roughly $4 billion allotted to it in the economic stimulus package to be signed by President Obama today.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, WWL-TV, Washington Monthly, Newshoggers.com, Facing South, USA Today, Think Progress and Riehl World View

Agence France Presse:

Key US senator meets Lebanese leaders — Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition — BEIRUT (AFP) - Former US Democratic presidential candidate Senator John Kerry held talks with Lebanese leaders on Wednesday on the latest leg of a regional tour.

Discussion: TIME.com

Ben Farmer / Telegraph:

Geography professor claims to have found Osama bin Laden — A Californian geography professor has used techniques for hunting endangered species to pinpoint three houses in Pakistan where Osama bin Laden could be hiding. — Using patterns of how animal species spread …

Discussion: FP Passport and Political Machine

Michael Leahy / Washington Post:

Back Home in Alaska, Palin Faces Scrutiny and Second-Guessing From All Sides — Scrutiny Has Been Intense Since Election — JUNEAU, Alaska — A couple of weeks before the Alaska legislature began this year's session, a bipartisan group of state senators on a retreat a few hours from here invited Gov. Sarah Palin to join them.

Discussion: TIME.com, Achenblog, TPMDC and Political Machine