memeorandum: Debate over Obama's budget role (The Politico)

2:35 PM ET, March 13, 2011

Top Items:

Kevin Voigt / CNN:

Quake moved Japan coast 8 feet; shifted Earth's axis — (CNN) — The powerful earthquake that unleashed a devastating tsunami Friday appears to have moved the main island of Japan by 8 feet (2.4 meters) and shifted the Earth on its axis. — “At this point, we know that one GPS station moved …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Daily Mail, Fox News, protein wisdom, Telegraph, Right Wing News, The Reaction, The Atlantic Online, NPR Topics, Don Surber and Kyodo News

Steven Mufson / Washington Post:

Japanese nuclear plants' operator scrambles to avert meltdowns — Japanese authorities said Sunday that efforts to restart the cooling system at one of the nuclear reactors damaged by Friday's earthquake had failed, even as officials struggled to bring several other damaged reactors under control.

Discussion: The Other McCain, Wake up America, Taylor Marsh, Firedoglake, Prairie Weather, Verum Serum, Fox News, naked capitalism, Israel Matzav, FrumForum and Wall Street Journal

New York Times:
Crisis Underscores Fears About Safety of Nuclear Energy

Discussion: Connecting.the.Dots, Washington Post, Bloomberg, Time, No More Mister Nice Blog, Fox News and CNN

Robin McKie / Guardian:
Japan ministers ignored safety warnings over nuclear reactors

Discussion: neo-neocon, First Draft, AMERICAblog News, Washington Post and The Jawa Report

New York Times:
Partial Meltdowns Presumed at Crippled Reactors

Discussion: BraveNewClimate, Guardian, Firedoglake, Politics Daily, Patterico's Pontifications, CNN, Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine, Al Jazeera Blogs, Boing Boing, The Political Carnival, The Lede and Booman Tribune

CNN:
Report: Explosion at Japanese nuclear plant

Discussion: This Just In, Kyodo News, e.nikkei.com, Atomic Insights Blog, Los Angeles Times, BraveNewClimate, NPR Topics, Hullabaloo, The Democratic Daily, Daily Kos, New York Magazine, Mother Jones and iOwnTheWorld.com

Gschwarzcnn / CNN:

Crowley resigns as State Department spokesman — WASHINGTON (CNN) - P.J. Crowley abruptly resigned Sunday as State Department spokesman over controversial comments he made about the Bradley Manning case. — Sources close to the matter the resignation, first reported by CNN …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Cubachi and Hot Air

Mike Allen / The Politico:

P.J. Crowley out at State — P.J. Crowley is out as chief spokesman at the State Department after he publicly criticized the Defense Department's handling of WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning, a senior administration official said Sunday. — Crowley, a respected National Security Council …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and The Raw Story

The Politico:

Debate over Obama's budget role — Democrats and Republicans offered divergent opinions Sunday morning about whether President Barack Obama has been avoiding plunging into talks with Congress on the long overdue budget for the current fiscal year. — Even though the subject was largely eclipsed …

Discussion: CNN

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Sen. Durbin predicts GOP stop-gap to pass, averting shutdown — Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, predicted a House GOP proposal to cut spending by $6 billion over three weeks would pass the upper chamber. — “I think it will pass …

Discussion: CNN

Vicki Needham / The Hill:
GOP freshmen uneasy about latest stopgap bill, lawmaker says

Discussion: Washington Post and FrumForum

Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:

Madison Rally Bigger Than Biggest Tea Party Rally — Police estimated up to 100,000 people turned out in Madison, WI yesterday to protest Gov. Scott Walker's (R) assault on unions, making it bigger than any protests the city has witnessed, even those during the Vietnam War.

Discussion: Hullabaloo

James B. Kelleher / Reuters:

Up to 100,000 protest Wisconsin law curbing unions — * Wisconsin battle has ignited national struggle — Up to 100,000 people protested at the Wisconsin state Capitol on Saturday against a new law curbing the union rights of public workers that is seen as one of the biggest challenges in decades facing U.S. organized labor.

Discussion: USA Today, Econbrowser and FrumForum

A. G. Sulzberger / New York Times:
For Wisconsin Lawmakers, a Hero's Homecoming

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Prairie Weather

Sapa- / Times LIVE:

Japanese volcano erupts — A volcano in southwestern Japan erupted Sunday after nearly two weeks of relative silence, sending ash and rocks up to four kilometres (two and a half miles) into the air, a local official says. — It was not immediately clear if the eruption was a direct result …

Discussion: Hot Air

Natasha Lennard / The Politico:

OBAMA, DANIELS SCORE LAUGHS AT GRIDIRON DINNER — Obama, seen here in a 2010 photo, delivered remarks at the Gridiron Dinner on Saturday. It was his first time attending the dinner as president. Photo by Reuters — President Obama used his first appearance at the annual Gridiron Club Dinner …

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, Weasel Zippers and The Page

Ben Armbruster / ThinkProgress:

Kristol Wants ‘More Than A No-Fly Zone’ In Libya, Says U.S. Should Attack Qaddafi's War Ships And Tanks — While the U.S. and NATO allies work with the international community to get consensus on and authorization for a no-fly zone in Libya to prevent Muammar Qaddafi's forces from killing …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Hill and New York Times

Karim Talbi / Agence France Presse:
Arab League backs Libyan no-fly zone as rebels hit

Discussion: Maggie's Farm, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Informed Comment and The Page

Zach Howard / Reuters:

Lost city of Atlantis, swamped by tsunami, may be found — (Reuters) - A U.S.-led research team may have finally located the lost city of Atlantis, the legendary metropolis believed swamped by a tsunami thousands of years ago in mud flats in southern Spain.

Discussion: The Impolitic