1. Lost: I'm pissed. 1 hour ago   permalink

Slate Magazine

I knew that the detonation of an H-bomb, which closed Season Five of Lost, would be a noisy act to follow. But I never expected the show's creators, always eager to retrace their own steps, would revisit the blast twice in the debut episode of the final season. [ more ... ] Lost - Television - Drama - Arts - Programs

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Www.mtv.com
Lost: I'm pissed. 'Lost' Season-Six Premiere Cheat Sheet   —  Let's be honest. If you haven't already consumed all 103 hours of ABC's "Lost" — every time-travel twist, every return from the dead, every delicious WTF moment — you're pretty much screwed when it comes to the premiere of the show's final season Tuesday night (February 2). Actually, even if you have devoured each episode multiple ...

2. Reuters pulls blatantly wrong tax story 11 hours ago   permalink

Steve Benen / Political Animal

REUTERS PULLS BLATANTLY WRONG TAX STORY.... Reuters ran a lengthy item yesterday claiming that the Obama administration's budget plan includes "backdoor tax increases that will result in a bigger tax bill for middle-class families." It also used right-wing phrasing ("death...

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Jim Newell / Wonkette :   no title

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Tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com
no title White House Gets Reuters To Pull Budget Story   —  Obama administration aides appealed to the Reuters White House reporting team to kill a story by another reporter of the news service that suggested the president's new budget blueprint included "backdoor" tax hikes.

Www.cjr.org
Audit Notes: Reuters Withdraws; Leaving Las Vegas; Reregulation, etc.   —  —Talking Points Memo had a nice catch of Reuters pulling a story headlined “Backdoor taxes to hit middle class” after the White House pointed out “errors of fact.” Reuters straightforwardly explains why here.

3. Open Thread for Night Owls, Early Birds & Expats 3 hours ago   permalink

Daily Kos / Daily Kos

David Streitfield writes : The number of Americans who owed more than their homes were worth was virtually nil when the real estate collapse began in mid-2006, but by the third quarter of 2009, an estimated 4.5 million homeowners had reached the critical threshold, with their home’s value dropping below 75 percent of the mortgage balance. ...

4. Move to block major Sunni-based party contesting Iraq election 3 hours ago   permalink

Www.wsws.org

Iraq’s Justice and Accountability Board, formerly known as the National De-Baathification Committee, recommended last Thursday that 14 parties which derive the bulk of their support from the minority Sunni population be barred from contesting the March 7 national election. The basis for the proposed ban is that they have promoted the ideology ...

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5. The Daily Wrap 4 hours ago   permalink

The Daily Wrap
Andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com

Today on the Dish we primarily focused on the DADT hearings. Reax here. Andrew's take here. Notable quotes here and here. The GOP's exhausted arguments were pointed out by Paul Waldman, Gautham Nagesh, and Steve Benen. Bill Kristol and John McCain stood out in their cynicism. Dan Savage took stock of the overall situation.

6. Open Thread and Diary Rescue 4 hours ago   permalink

Daily Kos / Daily Kos

Tonight's Rescue brought to you by ItsJessMe, YatPundit, mem from somerville, jennyjem, grog, and pico. Diary Rescue is all about promoting good writers, so remember to subscribe to diarists whose work you enjoy reading. In The Raw Politics of Immigration Reform Should Lead to Legislation , Duke1676 suggests the dynamics may actually be ...

7. Illinois primary results: the land of Lincoln weighs in 5 hours ago   permalink

Daily Kos / Daily Kos

It's official: Alexi Giannoulias will face off against Mark Kirk this November to fill Barack Obama's former senate seat. It only took four plus hours after the polls closed to call it, but Giannoulias held off a challenge from David Hoffman, 39% - 34%. The Republican side was never in doubt, with Kirk crushing his teabagger opponent 57% - 19%. ...

8. The Big Push Back 6 hours ago   permalink

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo

The Obama administration and the FBI are making a big push tonight to rebut criticism of trying Abdulmutallab in American courts rather than submitting him to torture and a military tribunal by revealing that he has been cooperating with investigators for days. The claim, which is not that surprising, is that it has been precisely the use of ...

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Www.nytimes.com
The Big Push Back Official Says Terrorism Suspect Is Cooperating   —  WASHINGTON — Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a jetliner bound for Detroit on Dec. 25, started talking to investigators after two of his family members arrived in the United States and helped earn his cooperation, a senior administration official said Tuesday evening.

9. The Right, Obama, And The Deficit 7 hours ago   permalink

The Right, Obama, And The Deficit
Www.tnr.com

Pretty much everything you need to know about President Obama and the budget deficit is contained within this chart: The chart, which is based on Congressional Budget Office figures, shows something which is both incontrovertible yet known by very few people: Obama's budget does not increase the long-term, or even the medium-term, budget deficit. ...

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Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish :   Chart Of The Day II

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Www.nytimes.com
Chart Of The Day II Obama to Meet Dalai Lama Despite China Warnings   —  BEIJING/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama still plans to meet the Dalai Lama, the White House said on Tuesday, despite China's warning that such a meeting would hurt ties already strained by U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan.

10. Poll Finds Dropping Health Care Plan Doesn’t Help Dems. So Pass The Bill! 14 hours ago   permalink

Poll Finds Dropping Health Care Plan Doesn’t Help Dems. So Pass The Bill!
Theplumline.whorunsgov.com

The latest poll from Public Policy Polling finds that Dems are in a tough spot heading into 2010 whether or not they pass health care reform. While this may make some Dems even more skittish about passing reform, this finding, in a rational world, actually presents a pretty strong case for passing it. The poll finds that Republicans lead in the ...

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Www.tnr.com
Virginia Senate Says Cohn: Maybe a Breather Is a Good Thing for Health Reform   —  For most of the last year, time has been health care reform's enemy. Could it now be reform's friend? That's the gamble reform's proponents in the administration and Congress are making now.

11. Top Defense Officials Seek to End ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ 13 hours ago   permalink

Top Defense Officials Seek to End ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’
Www.nytimes.com

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, left, and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified Tuesday at the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in Washington.

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Steve Benen / Political Animal :   DADT hearing

12. Slate adds in-page comments to our articles and blogs. 6 hours ago   permalink

Slate Magazine

Today we're making one of the most important—and overdue—changes to Slate in many years: We're adding in-page comments to Slate articles and blog posts. We've always known that Slate's intelligent, engaged readers—yes, I'm talking to you—are an extraordinary group, but we haven't done a very good job involving you in the site. Whenever ...

13. Why Is McCain Red Hot On Don't Ask, Don't Tell? 7 hours ago   permalink

Politics.theatlantic.com

As has been noted by virtually everyone now, John McCain in 2010 is not the John McCain of 2006. And that might be the reason for his white-hot rage at the Defense Secretary and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, both of whom endorsed an end to the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy today. Long-time McCain aides couldn't point me to a specific ...

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14. The Marriage Equality Debate And DADT 7 hours ago   permalink

Andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com

In their effort to appear reasonable and tolerant [when opposing marriage equality], mainstream conservatives have agreed that it is not acceptable to hate or fear anyone because of their sexual orientation. Once you've agreed that anti-gay feeling is illegitimate, you can't turn around and argue that gays should be kept out of the ...

15. LAX 'millennium bomber' to be resentenced; 22 years is too lenient, court rules 7 hours ago   permalink

LAX 'millennium bomber' to be resentenced; 22 years is too lenient, court rules
Latimesblogs.latimes.com

The 22-year prison sentence given to would-be Los Angeles International Airport bomber Ahmed Ressam is so lenient that it constitutes procedural error and failure by the Seattle judge who sentenced him to adequately protect the public, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

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16. Face Of The Day 8 hours ago   permalink

Face Of The Day
Andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com

Moses, a gay Ugandan man seeking asylum in the United States, hides his face with a makeshift hood as he attends a press conference in Washington, DC, on February 2, 2010. The press conference was organized to announce the formation of 'The American Prayer Hour,' a multi-city event to 'affirm inclusive values and call on all nations, ...

17. Results 8 hours ago   permalink

Results
Www.suntimes.com

Unofficial AP results

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18. Criticism of IPCC Continues American media still missing in action 9 hours ago   permalink

Www.cjr.org

American media are still missing in action on the controversy currently embroiling the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In addition to the criticisms related to glaciers and natural disasters, the IPCC came under fire last week for a statement in its 2007 report that said 40 percent of the Amazon is vulnerable to even a small change in ...

19. Stick A Fork In Cap-and-Trade 12 hours ago   permalink

David Kurtz / Talking Points Memo

At a town hall style event in New Hampshire a short time ago, President Obama acknowledged that cap and trade might have to be cleaved from the energy bill in the Senate and passed separately, which is to say, not passed at all.

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20. Michael Jackon's Doctor in LA, Criminal Charges Expected 9 hours ago   permalink

Jeralyn / TalkLeft

Dr. Conrad Murray is in Los Angeles, where law enforcement sources say a charge of involuntary manslaughter is imminent for his alleged role in the death of Michael Jackson. His legal team says they aren't sure what's happening , but if he's charged, he's prepared to surrender.