Top Items:
David M. Herszenhorn / New York Times:
Leaders in House Seek to Tax Rich for Health Plan — WASHINGTON — House Democrats will ask the wealthiest Americans to help pay for overhauling the health care system with a $550 billion income tax increase, the chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee said Friday.
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Lori Montgomery / Washington Post:
Democrats Agree on Tax Hike to Fund Health Care — House Democrats agreed yesterday to raise taxes on the wealthy to pay for a sweeping expansion of the nation's health-care system, proposing a surtax on the highest earners that could send the top federal tax rate toward 45 percent.
Mike Soraghan / The Hill:Band of House centrists offers support for ‘robust’ public health insurance plan
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Open Left, Firedoglake, Open Congress, TPMDC, Campaign Silo and American Power
Jonathan Cohn / The Treatment:EXCLUSIVE: Early CBO Score on Public Plan. It's Good!
Discussion:
Daily Kos, Think Progress, Media Matters Action Network, TPMDC, Ezra Klein and Washington Monthly
McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Sotomayor backers urge reporters to probe New Haven firefighter — WASHINGTON — Supporters of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor are quietly targeting the Connecticut firefighter who's at the center of Sotomayor's most controversial ruling. — On the eve of Sotomayor's Senate confirmation hearing …
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The Ninth Justice:
How Ricci Almost Disappeared — For all the publicity about the Supreme Court's 5-4 reversal of Judge Sonia Sotomayor's decision (with two colleagues) to reject a discrimination suit by a group of firefighters against New Haven, Conn., one curious aspect of the case has been largely overlooked.
Washington Post:
White House Kept Justice Lawyers in Dark on Warrantless Wiretapping — The Bush White House so strictly controlled access to its warrantless eavesdropping program that only three Justice Department lawyers were aware of the plan, which nearly ignited mass resignations and a constitutional crisis …
Discussion:
Salon, Raw Story, Balkinization, The Washington Independent, At-Largely, Threat Level, The Confluence, Daily Kos, unbossed.com, Obsidian Wings, Liberal Values and TalkLeft
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Spencer Ackerman / The Washington Independent:CIA Played a Leading Role in Warrantless Surveillance
Spencer Ackerman / The Washington Independent:‘Most PSP Leads Were Determined Not to Have Any Connection to Terrorism’
New York Times:U.S. Wiretaps Were of Limited Value, Officials Report
Discussion:
Salon, Washington Monthly, Emptywheel, Big Brass Blog, The Gavel and The Washington Independent
Matt Corley / Think Progress:
David Brooks: A Republican senator put ‘his hand on my inner thigh’ for a ‘whole’ dinner party. — Earlier this week, New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote about how “the dignity code” has been “completely obliterated” in Washington, DC. Discussing the concept on MSNBC today …
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David Cho / Washington Post:
Administration Considers Bailout Funds for Small Businesses — Proposal Would Take Money From $700B Program for Banking System — The Obama administration is developing an initiative to take money from the $700 billion program for the banking system and make it available to millions of small businesses …
Discussion:
Wizbang, Blue Crab Boulevard, naked capitalism, American Power, Clusterstock and Felix Salmon
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Wall Street Journal:
Lender CIT Group Is Facing a Crunch — CIT Hires Bankruptcy Adviser as Payment Looms; Financier to 1 Million Businesses — CIT Group Inc., a lender to almost a million mostly small and midsize businesses across the country, is preparing for a possible bankruptcy filing after so far failing …
Discussion:
DailyFinance
Andrew Alexander / Washington Post:
The Stumbles That Led to an Ethics Blunder — The Washington Post's ill-fated plan to sell sponsorships of off-the-record “salons” was an ethical lapse of monumental proportions. — Publisher Katharine Weymouth and Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli have now taken full responsibility …
El Paso Times:
Two gay men kicked out of Chico's Tacos restaurant for kissing — EL PASO — Two gay men kissed at a Chico's Tacos restaurant, prompting guards to eject them and a police officer to endorse their ouster. — Civil-rights lawyers say the security staff was out of line.
Melanie Kirkpatrick / Wall Street Journal:
Why We Don't Want a Nuclear-Free World — The former defense secretary on the U.S. deterrent and the terrorist threat. — Printer — Friendly — Maclean, Va. — 'Nuclear weapons are used every day. " So says former Defense Secretary James Schlesinger, speaking last month …
Mark Silva / The Swamp:
Obama's African journey: ‘Promise’ — President Barack Obama, the first African-American president of the United States, founded with the slavery of Africans and perpetuating legalized racial discrimination well into the 20th Century, addressed the parliament of Ghana today in his first journey to Africa as president.
Discussion:
The Politico
The Sleuth:
Palin Camp Takes on Levi Johnston — Just when you thought the plot couldn't possibly thicken more in the Days of Our Lives in Alaska, it has. Outgoing Gov. Sarah Palin is now fighting back against claims made by her daughter's ex-boyfriend that she bailed out on Alaska in order to cash in on her fame.
James Risen / New York Times:
U.S. Inaction Seen After Taliban P.O.W.'s Died — WASHINGTON — After a mass killing of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Taliban prisoners of war by the forces of an American-backed warlord during the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, Bush administration officials repeatedly discouraged efforts …
Discussion:
Informed Comment, Associated Press, JONATHAN TURLEY, Hullabaloo, Balkinization, Raw Story, Boing Boing, Emptywheel and Prairie Weather
Jesse Lee / WhiteHouse.gov Blog:
Weekly Address: Recovery and the Jobs of the Future — The President explains how the Recovery Act helped end our economic free fall, and how his agenda is helping to set a new foundation for our economy. From health reform, to energy, to creating the jobs of the future …
Katie Connolly / Newsweek Blogs:
Was Obama Checking Out This Girl's Butt? — Photo courtesy Jason Reed / Reuters-Landov — You may have seen this rather misleading photo doing the rounds this morning. The photo appears to depict President Obama checking out the rear of 16 year old Brazilian girl Mayora Taveres.
M Peretz / The New Republic:
Christian Believers Would Be Excluded From Government If The Left Liberals Had Their Way — I don't know who's behind President Obama's appointment of Dr. Francis S. Collins as head of the National Institutes of Health. Maybe it was the influence on the president of Nobel Laureate in Medicine …
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