The Commentariat -- March 31

GOP Attacks AARP. Dan Eggen of the Washington Post: with the issue of a report yesterday and with hearings scheduled for tomorrow, "House Republicans, who are continuing their efforts to chip away at President Obama’s health-care law, have now set their sights on a powerful group that strongly supported the legislation: the AARP seniors lobby.... The lawmakers ... also said they have asked the IRS to examine the group’s tax-exempt status."

Rajiv Chandrasekaran of the Washington Post: "Military leaders and President Obama’s civilian advisers are girding for battle over the size and pace of the planned pullout of U.S. troops from Afghanistan this summer, with the military seeking to limit a reduction in combat forces and the White House pressing for a withdrawal substantial enough to placate a war-weary electorate."

Here's President Obama's full speech on energy security, delivered yesterday at Georgetown University:

     ... Here's the transcript of the speech, as delivered.

** William Cohan of the New York Times: "... for all its bluster and heft, the July 2010, 2,200-page Dodd-Frank law, which purports to force Wall Street to change its bad behavior, has of course done nothing even remotely close to that and merely reinforced the longstanding cozy relationships.... And because of the demise of firms like Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Wachovia and Washington Mutual, competition among the survivors is much diminished, to their delight.... The so-called 'junk bond' market has rallied to levels not found since the height of the previous bubble in 2005 and 2006.... Bonus payments in 2010 hovered close to $150 billion, more evidence of how completely out of whack Wall Street pay continues to be."

Glenn Greenwald: "... the war in Libya ... has unquestionably departed far from the claims that were made about it in the beginning. The no-fly zone was established long ago; the focus is now on attacking Gadaffi's ground forces, enabling rebel advancements, and regime change. Despite claims about Arab League and French leadership, the U.S. has provided the overwhelming bulk of bombs, jet fighters, intelligence and other resources." ...

The Libya Connections ...

... So There's This News Report from crack investigative reporter Mark Hosenball, now of Reuters, that "within the last two or three weeks ... President Barack Obama ... signed a secret order authorizing covert U.S. government support for rebel forces seeking to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. ...

... AND This News Report from Mark Mazzetti & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times that the CIA "has inserted clandestine operatives into Libya to gather intelligence for military airstrikes and to contact and vet the beleaguered rebels...." ...

... AND This News Report from Chris Adams of McClatchy News: "The new leader of Libya's opposition military spent the past two decades in suburban Virginia but felt compelled — even in his late-60s — to return to the battlefield in his homeland, according to people who know him. Khalifa Hifter was once a top military officer for Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, but after a disastrous military adventure in Chad in the late 1980s, Hifter switched to the anti-Gadhafi opposition. In the early 1990s, he moved to suburban Virginia, where he established a life but maintained ties to anti-Gadhafi groups." ...

... ALL of Which Causes David Dayan of Firedoglake to wonder if President Obama's secret order "has anything to do with the Libyan expat resident of Northern Virginia, 10 miles from Langley, showing up in Benghazi to command the rebel army." CW: I'd say a ten-mile commute to the office was pretty standard.

Four New York Times journalists who were captured, imprisoned & beaten in Libya, discuss the situation there:

Nicholas Kristof says "Egypt is a mess," which is what we should expect. Comments are here.

Having flunked Budget Negotiations 101 this year, Hill Democrats plan to bone up on their negotiating skills & introduce tax hikes for the rich for the FY 2012 budget. Why, they say even the President might back them. Alexander Bolton of The Hill reports.

What to Do? What to Do? Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: polls show that the tea party is becoming unpopular among Americans. "With the tea party coming to Washington for a major rally on Thursday, Republicans leaders will come face to face with the tough decision before them. Side with the tea party and risk tying yourself to a group that is not broadly popular with the public. Go against them and risk alienating the most active and passionate members of the party’s base, the men and women most responsible for helping deliver the GOP across-the-board gains in 2010."

Dahlia Lithwick skewers right-wing Supremes: "... judging from [Monday] morning's argument in McComish v. Bennett, there is no principle those five justices will fight harder to preserve than the right of the impossibly wealthy to purchase as much speech as they want and need to win a political campaign. The free speech issue in McComish is a swirly one, predicated on the novel constitutional theory that less speech makes us all freer." Lithwick reprises the justice's questions/arguments as to why "leveling the playing field" so that candidates without billionaire backers can be heard, too, is a terrible thing to do.

Marc Lacey of the New York Times: "... several of [Rep. Gabrielle] Giffords’s [D-Ariz.] longtime aides are whispering behind the scenes that she just might recover in time to run for the seat that Senator Jon Kyl, a Republican, is vacating next year. While it might be wishful thinking, Ms. Giffords’s noncampaign is already having a major effect on Arizona politics; other prospective Democratic candidates say they feel compelled not to jump in unless she bows out, allowing Republicans to get a head start organizing their campaigns."

Michelle Goldberg in the Daily Beast: "On Tuesday, a billboard went up on the South Side of Chicago featuring Barack Obama’s face, drawn in a crude approximation of Shepard Fairey’s iconic image, next to the words “Every 21 minutes, our next possible leader is aborted.” The group behind the ad, Texas’ Life Always, has promised to unveil 30 more such signs in the president’s hometown. It’s just the latest attempt by the antiabortion movement to wrap itself in the cloak of the civil-rights struggle."

Carol Rosenberg of McClatchy News: "The Bush administration was so intent on keeping Guantanamo detainees off U.S. soil and away from U.S. courts that it secretly tried to negotiate deals with Latin American countries to provide 'life-saving' medical procedures rather than fly ill terrorist suspects to the U.S. for treatment, a recently released State Department cable shows.... The secret effort is spelled out in a Sept. 17, 2007, cable from then assistant secretary of state Thomas Shannon to the U.S. embassies in those four countries. Shannon is now the U.S. ambassador in Brazil.... The cable, which was posted on the WikiLeaks website March 14, draws back the curtain on contingency planning at Guantanamo, but also contradicts something the prison camp's hospital staff has been telling visitors for years — that the U.S. can dispatch any specialist necessary to make sure the captives in Cuba get first-class treatment."

Emi Kolawole of the Washington Post: "P. J. Crowley, the now-ex State Department spokesman who resigned after he called the treatment of alleged WikiLeaks source, Pfc. Bradley Manning, 'ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid,' is speaking out.... In an interview with the BBC’s HardTalk, Crowley said he had 'no regrets' regarding his remarks, and that Manning’s treatment was detrimental to the United States." BBC print story & video here. ...

... In a Guardian op-ed, Crowley explains why he called the treatment of Manning "stupid": "I stand by what I said. The United States should set the global standard for treatment of its citizens -- and then exceed it. It is what the world expects of us. It is what we should expect of ourselves."

Right Wing World *

Media Matters is still leaning on Bill Sammon:

Lawrence O'Donnell goes off on House Majority Leader Eric Cantor whose lack of knowledge of "how a bill becomes a law" demonstrates that he couldn't pass a citizenship exam or even a grade-school test:

... Here's a Washington Post item by Felicia Sonmez on Cantor's lamebrained remarks.

AND, while he's at it, O'Donnell takes on Sen. Rand Paul & makes a point that slipped my notice: the Senate passed a resolution by unanimous consent approving imposition of the no-fly zone over Libya. "Thanks, Senator; now we know what you look like when you're lying." Thanks to Jeanne B.:

Gail Collins' column was funny, as usual; I'm linking it here as a public service & not because it approaches a must-read. Her topic: "the fight over federal regulation of light bulb efficiency.... Michele Bachmann ... is the author of the Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act, which would repeal a federal requirement that the typical 100-watt bulb become 25 percent more energy efficient by 2012. Bachmann hateshateshates that sort of thing, as you would expect from a woman whose Earth Day speech in 2009 was an ode to carbon dioxide. ('It’s a part of the regular life cycle of the earth.')" Comments are here.

Dave Weigel in Slate: "For what it's worth, the DOJ's Office of Professional Conduct's report on the unending New Black Panther Party affair -- the charge that the Civil Rights Division failed to pursue more charges against two members of the hate group who held nightsticks outside a mostly-black polling place on Election Day 2008 -- clears the DOJ of any wrongdoing, and clears the Obama administration of any wrongdoing. A day after this came out, I can't detect any mellowing-out from the people who pushed for the investigation." [Emphasis added.]

Finally, Jon Stewart looks at how Republican candidates for President are appealing to "the broadest swath of narrow people." Play through to the second segment which covers Santorum, Barbour & Trump:

* Where facts never intrude.

News Ledes

Guardian: "Colonel Gaddafi's regime has sent one of its most trusted envoys to London for confidential talks with British officials.... Mohammed Ismail, a senior aide to Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam, visited London in recent days.... The contacts with Ismail are believed to have been one of a number between Libyan officials and the west in the last fortnight, amid signs that the regime may be looking for an exit strategy." ...

... New York Times: "President Obama’s top two national security officials signaled on Thursday that the United States was unlikely to arm the Libyan rebels, raising the possibility that the French alone among the Western allies would provide weapons and training for the poorly organized forces fighting Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s government." ...

... New York Times: "Members of the NATO alliance have sternly warned the rebels in Libya not to attack civilians as they push against the regime of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, according to senior military and government officials." ...

... New York Times: "Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told a Congressional panel that he strongly opposed putting any American forces in Libya. Asked if there would be American 'boots on the ground' — that is, uniformed members of the military — Mr. Gates swiftly replied, 'Not as long as I’m in this job.' At the same time, Mr. Gates declined to address reports that the Central Intelligence Agency has sent clandestine operatives to Libya to gather intelligence for military airstrikes and to contact and vet the rebels. Mr. Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, faced tough questions on Thursday from members of Congress who are angry about the administration’s push into Libya and deeply skeptical about President Obama’s plans to end the conflict." ...

... AP: "Libya conceded Thursday that Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa had resigned but claimed that it was a personal decision driven by health problems, not a sign that the embattled regime is cracking at the highest levels.... Despite the setbacks and ongoing airstrikes — now led by NATO — Gadhafi loyalists have retaken much of the territory the rebels had captured since airstrikes began March 19. The latest fighting centered on Brega, a town important to Libya's oil industry on the coastal road that leads to Tripoli. It has gone back and forth between rebel and loyalist hands, and on Thursday it was a no-man's land, with Gadhafi's forces at the western gate and rebels east of the city." ...

... New York Times: former Libyan foreign minister Moussa Koussa reportedly "is voluntarily talking to British officials, including members of the British Embassy in Tripoli now based in London, and our ambassador. Also, "... in another sign that the cracks in the Libyan government may be widening, a second top Libyan official, Ali Abdussalam el-Treki, defected Thursday to Egypt. In decades of service, Mr. Treki had served as both foreign minister and United Nations representative."

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: "A state law to sharply curb union bargaining by public employees is not in effect, a Dane County judge ruled Thursday.... Gov. Scott Walker's administration said it would comply with the order by halting its implementation of the law."

New York Times: "The speaker of the House, John A. Boehner [R-Ohio]..., said Thursday that there was not yet any budget deal for the rest of the year.... Facing pressure from conservatives in his ranks not to compromise –- and a Tea Party rally on Capitol Hill on Thursday intended to send the same message -– Mr. Boehner disputed Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s assertion Wednesday night that the White House, Senate Democrats and House Republicans had effectively settled on budget cuts for this fiscal year of about $33 billion."

New York Times: "Microsoft plans to file a formal antitrust complaint on Thursday in Brussels against Google, its first against another company. Microsoft hopes that the action may prod officials in Europe to take action and that the evidence gathered may also lead officials in the United States to do the same. In Europe, Microsoft is joining a chorus of complaints, but until now they have come mainly from small Internet companies saying that Google’s search engine unfairly promotes its own products, like Google Product Search, a price comparison site, over rival offerings."

AP: "A letter bomb has exploded at an office of the Swiss nuclear power industry in the northern city of Olten, injuring two people...."

Reality Chex & the NYT Paywall

Sunday I linked to a New York Times op-ed on the unknown evidence of life in other solar systems that is about to become known (See Infotainment). In the tiny universe of the Constant Weader, the unknown that is about to become known in the initiation of the New York Times online paywall.

The paywall went up Monday, March 28. Nonsubscribers are allowed 20 "free" hits per four-week period (or month -- not sure which) on Times content, after which they will be locked out; i.e., invited to subscribe. Here's a letter from publisher A. O. Sulzberger "explaining" the Times firewall policy. There's more information here in an FAQ format.

Supposedly, you will be able to link through to any page I link even after you've reached your 20-page "free" limit. I'll believe that when I see it.* My experience with the Times programmers leads me to suspect there will be many, many glitches.

So if you are a non-Times subscriber, after you reach your 20-hit limit, please e-mail me via this link to let me know what your experience is when you try to link through. I intend to keep linking to Times articles, but I will adjust how much and what I link depending upon your experiences. If the links appear to be working for you, I'll probably increase the number of Times articles I link. If they don't, I'll look for other sources, at least on news content. I thank you.

-- The Constant Weader

* A few readers who have used up their 20 hits have told me this is working for them. I remain pessimistic.

Update: Karen Garcia sent me a link to this video of A. O. Sulzberger & NYT CEO Janet Robinson discussing the Times paywall system at a Media Council forum. Garcia suggests you watch starting about 20 minutes in. Are you one of those low-brow people who don't value the New York Times? Are you a creepy high school geek or an out-of-work slacker? Well, Mr. Sulzberger thinks you're pretty much like a punk who steals the dead-tree edition from a newsstand on Sixth Avenue. Here's the money quote:

Can people go around the [paywall] system? The answer is yes. There are gonna be ways, just as you run down Sixth Avenue and you pass a newsstand and you grab the paper and you keep running. You can actually get the Times for free.... So, yes, there are ways. We have to accept that.... Is it going to be done by the kind of people who value the quality news & opinion of the New York Times and analysis? No, we don't think so. We don't think so. It'll be mostly high schools kids & people out of work. -- A. O. Sulzberger

Kinda makes you wanna jump that paywall, doesn't it?

The Commentariat -- March 30

President Obama explains why I love Steven Chu. Hear it through:

Karen Garcia has a new post about former Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold's effort to remove GE CEO Jeff Immelt as head of the President's Craven Council on Jobs. As Feingold writes, not only did GE pay no taxex on $14 billion in profits [actually, GE got government grants, too, so they had a net gain], Immelt's salary doubled & Feingold hears GE is planning to ask union workers for major concessions in wages & benefits. Garcia's post includes a link to Feingold's petition drive, which is also here. 

President Obama speaks with NBC News' Brian Williams about assistance to Libya. He says he will not rule out arming the rebels:

... CNN Staff: "President Barack Obama made clear in interviews Tuesday with the three major U.S. television networks that he was open to arming the rebel fighters."

** This is a Blood-Boiling Must-Read. Neil Barofsky, who is retiring today as Special Inspector General for TARP, says TARP utterly failed the American people:

The government has declared [TARP's] mission accomplished, calling the program remarkably effective 'by any objective measure.' ... I regret to say that I strongly disagree. The bank bailout, more formally called the Troubled Asset Relief Program, failed to meet some of its most important goals.... Treasury’s mismanagement of TARP and its disregard for TARP’s Main Street goals ... may have so damaged the credibility of the government as a whole that future policy makers may be politically unable to take the necessary steps to save the system the next time a crisis arises. This avoidable political reality might just be TARP’s most lasting, and unfortunate, legacy." ...

... Michael Powell & Andrew Martin of the New York Times: "... the [Obama] administration’s broader foreclosure prevention effort [was a dismal failure], as tens of billions of dollars remain unspent and hundreds of thousands of homeowners have been rejected. Now the existence of the main program, the Home Assistance Modification Program, is in doubt. Saying it is a waste of money, the Republican-controlled House voted on Tuesday night to kill the foreclosure relief program. The Senate, which the Democrats control, will pursue a rescue. But Democrats, too, consider the program badly flawed. The effort has failed to stanch a wave of foreclosures and a decline in home prices, which have fallen for six consecutive months and are now just barely above their recession low, according to a key index updated on Tuesday. All of this threatens the fragile economy...."

Mark Bittman, a New York Times food critic, "stopped eating on Monday and joined around 4,000 other people in a fast to call attention to Congressional budget proposals that would make huge cuts in programs for the poor and hungry." ...

... Bittman, et al., would not have to go hungry if fat, lazy Democrats had done their jobs. Steve Benen: "... most of the country has no idea the extent to which the GOP's proposed cuts would be devastating to key domestic priorities. These are cuts that, if put to a poll, the vast majority of the American mainstream would reject out of hand. But here's another thought: maybe most of the country has no idea how brutal these cuts are because Dems haven't told them.... It might be frustrating to Democrats in Washington to be on the defensive right now, but much of this is the result of the party choosing not to go on the offensive when it had the chance." CW: WTF is the leadership doing? Partial answer here: ...

... Party Line. Jennifer Steinhauer: in a conference call to reporters, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) lets slip that House Republicans are extremists. ...

... Michael O'Brien of The Hill: "Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said riders to defund Planned Parenthood and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wouldn't fly in the upper chamber.... Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) signaled earlier Tuesday that while he wasn't thrilled with the riders, he'd be willing to consider them." ...

... Government Shutdown, Step 2. Molly Hooper & Erik Wasson of The Hill: "House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) on Tuesday ruled out another short-term measure to fund the government, raising pressure on both parties to reach a deal to avert a government shutdown after April 8." ...

Artwork for Politico.Twitterwars. The Budget Debate in 140 Characters or Less. Meredith Shiner of Politico reports on the dueling tweets of Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) & House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.).

"Everybody Floss!" Karen Garcia. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius -- in a letter to all 50 governors reminding them their states could opt out of, well, optional portions of the Affordable Care Act -- provides a blueprint for reducing coverage.

Bill Maher isn't sorry he called Sarah Palin a cunt & Michele Bachmann a bimbo, says the local reviews for his standup gig in Dallas, Texas, were great:

... Bush Administration foreign policy advisor & serious hawk Dan Senor on Sarah Palin's and other Republicans' criticism of President Obama's speech on Libya (the video quality sucks, but it's worth hearing):

     ... Video of Half-Gov. Palin's "analysis," in which she calls President Obama's speech "full of chaos", "dodgy", and "dubious," is here.

Justice Scalia Violently Forces American People to the Right (would make a good HuffPost headline). The Reliable Source: on his way to court yesterday, Justice Antonin Scalia caused a four-car pileup on the Washington Parkway when he rear-ended the car in front of him. The Park Police ticketed the justice. Brooke Salkoff, a former NBC reporter, "told us she was just behind Scalia’s vehicle, a shiny black BMW in the left lane. 'It slammed into the car in front of his, which pushed the other two forward,' and caused them all to skew into the right lane." [Emphasis added.]

Right Wing World *

Her action today again flies in the face of the separation of powers between the three branches of government. -- Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, on Judge Sumi's restatement of her injunction barring implementation of Wisconsin's anti-union law. Fitzgerald of course has it backwards; by refusing to conform to the judge's ruling, it is he who violates separation of powers. Oh, and that's "among the three branches," you illiterate twit. ...

... Extremer & Extremer. Patrick Marley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "A Dane County judge [Maryann Sumi] said Tuesday she is concerned the Department of Justice has a conflict in representing Secretary of State Doug La Follette and must provide him with independent counsel.... The issue arose after La Follette grew frustrated that his attorneys were not asking questions of a witness. 'My attorney won’t ask a question on my behalf,' La Follette told the court." CW: I think an attorney's refusal to represent his client is grounds for disbarment.

Eric Hananoki of Media Matters: "In newly uncovered audio, a Fox News executive boasts that he lied repeatedly during the closing days of the 2008 presidential campaign when he speculated on-air 'about whether Barack Obama really advocated socialism.' Speaking in 2009 onboard a pricey Mediterranean cruise sponsored by a right-wing college, Fox Washington managing editor Bill Sammon described his attempts the previous year to link Obama to 'socialism' as 'mischievous speculation.' Sammon, who is also a Fox News vice president, acknowledged that 'privately' he had believed that the socialism allegation was 'rather far-fetched.' ... Sammon also pushed Fox News colleagues to play the socialism card." Includes audio. ...

... Howard Kurtz in the Daily Beast: but now Sammon says "he doesn’t regret repeatedly raising it on the air because ... 'it was a main point of discussion on all the channels, in all the media' — and by 2009 he was 'astonished by how the needle had moved.'”

... Greg Sargent: Sammon "... doesn’t regret having spread an idea he personally found far-fetched, because so doing helped ensure that the far-fetched idea ultimately gained widespread acceptance. That’s a peculiar attitude for a 'news' executive, isn’t it?"

... So Adam Serwer of American Prospect suggests an appropriate new Fox slogan:

Fox News: We lie to you. But it's okay, because you believe it.

     ... Simon Miloy of Media Matters Update: "Bill Sammon: 'It wasn't a lie. It was pre-truth!'"

The "Squirmish" in Libya." George Zornick of Think Progress: "Last night [Monday] on Fox News, Greta van Susteren hosted former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) to discuss what Palin termed the 'squirmish' in Libya.... The former governor ... casually septupled the cost of U.S. intervention. According to figures released by the Pentagon, the intervention cost $600 million in the first seven days. Palin, however, claimed that the no-fly zone — which, for the record, she called for — cost that amount daily." With video.

Joe Klein of Time: "It is particularly excrutiating watching the Republican Party presidential candidates who, on a daily basis, pronounce some ignorant racist or irreligious twaddle.... I have never before seen such a bunch of vile, desperate-to-please, shameless, embarrassing losers coagulated under a single party's banner. They are the most compelling argument I've seen against American exceptionalism."

* Where facts never intrude.

Local News

Reuters: "Arizona Governor Jan Brewer on Tuesday signed into law a controversial bill that makes the state the first in the nation to outlaw abortions performed on the basis of the race or gender of the fetus.... Under the new Arizona statute, doctors and other medical professionals would face felony charges if they could be shown to have performed abortions for the purposes of helping parents select their offspring on the basis of gender or race.... Opponents [of the law] have maintained that while such abortions may be happening in other countries like China, no clear evidence can found of it occurring in Arizona."

News Ledes

NBC News: the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) "the U.N. nuclear watchdog, suggested Japan consider widening the evacuation zone around the stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant." ...

... NBC News: "The Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration say that very low levels of radiation have turned up in a sample of milk from the West Coast state of Washington. The FDA said such findings are to be expected in the coming days because of the nuclear crisis in Japan, and the levels are expected to drop relatively. (Iodine-131 has a very short half-life — only about eight days.)"

Washington Post: "After weeks of arguing, Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill began negotiations Wednesday on a possible budget agreement that would slash federal spending by as much as $33 billion and avert a government shutdown." ...

... Washington Post: "Having difficulty finding consensus within their own ranks, House Republican leaders have begun courting moderate Democrats on several key fiscal issues, including a deal to avoid a government shutdown at the end of next week."

New York Times: "The two houses of the Ohio Legislature approved a far-reaching bill on Wednesday that would hobble the ability of public-employee unions to bargain collectively and undercut their political clout. They sent the bill to Gov. John R. Kasich, a Republican, who lawmakers said would sign it in the next few days.The Republican-dominated Senate voted 17 to 16 in favor of the bill Wednesday evening, hours after the House passed it, 53 to 44, with 5 Republicans joining 39 Democrats in opposition."

Wisconsin State Journal: "State officials have not stopped putting in place changes to collective bargaining rules for public employees despite a judge's order barring the law's implementation — and a threat of sanctions against anyone who violates it."

** Reuters: "President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing covert U.S. government support for rebel forces seeking to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, government officials told Reuters on Wednesday. Obama signed the order, known as a presidential 'finding', within the last two or three weeks, according to government sources...." ...

... Boots on the Ground? New York Times: pursuant to that finding, "the Central Intelligence Agency has inserted clandestine operatives into Libya to gather intelligence for military airstrikes and to contact and vet the beleaguered rebels battling Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s forces, according to American officials." ...

... Al Jazeera: "Moussa Koussa, the Libyan foreign minister, has defected to the United Kingdom, the British foreign ministry has confirmed. The ministry said in a statement that Koussa had arrived at Farnborough Airport, in the south of England, on a flight from Tunisia on Wednesday. 'He travelled here under his own free will. He has told us that he is resigning his post. We are discussing this with him and we will release further details in due course,' the statement said.... It added that Koussa was one of the most senior officials in Gaddafi's government with a role to represent it internationally, which is 'something that he is no longer willing to do'."

... AP: "Rebels retreated Wednesday from the key Libyan oil port of Ras Lanouf along the coastal road leading to the capital Tripoli after they came under heavy shelling from ground forces loyal to leader Moammar Gadhafi. NATO planes flew over the zone where the heaviest fighting was under way and an Associated Press reporter at the scene heard explosions, indicating a new wave of airstrikes against Gadhafi's forces."

... New York Times: "The Obama administration is engaged in a fierce debate over whether to supply weapons to the rebels in Libya, senior officials said on Tuesday, with some fearful that providing arms would deepen American involvement in a civil war and hat some fighters may have links to Al Qaeda. The debate has drawn in the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon, these officials said, and has prompted an urgent call for intelligence about a ragtag band of rebels who are waging a town-by-town battle against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, from a base in eastern Libya long suspected of supplying terrorist recruits."

New York Times: "The Syrian government resigned Tuesday in what might have been a prelude to other concessions in a speech President Bashar al-Assad is expected to give to the nation on Wednesday, part of an expanding effort to address protests against his authoritarian rule. The resignation was seen as a significant — if primarily symbolic — gesture in a nation where the leadership rarely responds to public pressure and where decisions are made not by the cabinet but by the president and his inner circle, including multiple security services."

New York Times: "Ivory Coast tipped further toward civil war on Wednesday as forces opposed to the nation’s strongman, Laurent Gbagbo, dismissed a ceasefire offer and advanced toward the nation’s political capital, Yamoussoukro."

** Washington Post: "An ideologically divided Supreme Court on Tuesday stripped a $14 million award from a wrongfully convicted man who had spent 14 years on death row and successfully sued New Orleans prosecutors for misconduct. Conservative justices prevailed in the 5 to 4 ruling, which shielded the district attorney’s office from liability for not turning over evidence that showed John Thompson’s innocence. It was the first decision of the court term that split the justices into ideological camps, and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg emphasized her disagreement by reading a summary of her dissent from the bench." Read the opinion, concurring opinion & dissent here (pdf).