From Redstate:

Redstate:

You may remember the flap over the Secret Service limitations on where protestors could set up near George W. Bush, and the wailing about “free speech zones” being an unconscionable restriction, etc. I have yet to hear anybody (1) complain about the Secret Service’s policy since Obama took over or (2) explain how the policy changed, as I suspect it has not. Like so many routine government activities, it’s only objectionable when it’s Bush.

Anyway, this is a slightly different story - about a private sign-making company, not a government agency - but it’s nonetheless revealing: a billboard company refused to allow signs to call President Obama “pro-abortion,” insisting on altering the billboards to “pro abortion choice.”

Dan McLaughlin at Redstate:

Goldfarb notes this hilarious attempt to claim that Republicans opposed to moving detainees from Guantanamo into their districts are - wait for it - insulting America’s corrections officers:

ON GUANTANAMO, GOP DISPARAGES MEN AND WOMEN WHO KEEP OUR COMMUNITIES SAFE

Why do Republicans think that Americans can’t do their jobs?

Today, John Boehner and the Republican House leadership are introducing legislation to keep Guantanamo detainees from being transferred to facilities in the United States. They claim that this serves American security. But the reality is that our criminal justice system has a long history of holding hardened terrorists successfully, including the perpetrator of the first World Trade Center attacks, numerous 9/11 conspirators, the Shoe Bomber and Timothy McVeigh. The men and women who serve their country by working at these facilities are ready and eager to do their jobs - and they have the confidence of the communities that depend economically on prison facilities. But John Boehner, Mitch McConnell and other Republicans in Congress continue to claim that the men and women who run our prisons and help keep America safe can’t do their jobs.

Richard Murray at Race42012:

Let’s face it, the GOP is down at the moment.  No amount of wishing and hoping is going to change that fact.  Because of this, many of the factions of the GOP are taking the opportunity to try and throw others overboard in order to take command of a sinking ship.  We need every vote we can get, so why throw people overboard?

This brings up social conservatives.  Many feel that we should move more strongly in their direction to win elections.  While I think that would be a bad move (as I don’t think the electorate cares enough about these issues to vote for a candidate based on them), there’s evidence that it wouldn’t hurt.

Take, for example, 2004.  Several social issues were prominent in  that election cycle (particularly SSM), and the GOP did pretty well.  Granted, several other factors were in play that cycle, but my point is that it didn’t hurt.  Move up to 2006, where moral and ethical lapses in the GOP led to several election losses.  Again, being on the wrong side of social issues (personally, not politically) contributed to (though wasn’t the main cause of) the losses.  Finally, in 2008, where was the social crusade?  You can scream at me that Gov Palin’s selection was because of social conservatives (I’d somewhat disagree, but I get the argument), and that her selection cost Sen McCain the election (a dubious charge, as his erratic campaigning, along with a severely tarnished GOP brand, would have made Pres Reagan a tough sell in ‘80, much less Sen McCain in ‘08) all you want, but on social issues, what was the policy being pushed?  We heard almost nothing on the campaign trail concerning any social policy or initiative, and several SSM bans on the ballots significantly outperformed the GOP ticket.

Race42012:

The National Journal reports that Gov. Romney may establish a new primary residence by 2012 - most likely in New Hampshire but possibly even in California:

Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said that the former governor is in the process of opening up the Lake Winnipesaukee house this month and “will be spending more time on the East Coast.” Since last year’s election, Romney has been busy selling houses in Utah and Belmont, MA.

Asked where Romney will establish a primary residence for the purposes of paying taxes and voting, Fehrnstrom demurred. “I have no announcements to make on residency,” he said. “He just recently closed on selling his Belmont house and, as of now, he’s still registered to vote in Massachusetts.”

But sources familiar with Romney’s activities say the Republican, whose 2008 presidential campaign fizzled, intends to make his primary residence at the family vacation home in Wolfeboro, NH, which is also a favorite vacation spot of Romney’s children and grandchildren.

Romney is also maintaining a new home in the San Diego area, where his second eldest son, Matt, lives with his wife and four children; and his wife, Ann, enjoys the warm weather and riding, which is therapeutic for her multiple sclerosis, diagnosed in 1998. She is also recovering from a pre-invasive condition of breast cancer that was treated in December 2008.

Race42012.com. Click for video:

In a television appearance with CBS47, Governor Mike Huckabee refuses to commit to running for President in 2012.

RCS:  “13 Questions With Jason Whitlock”

RCS: A few weeks ago, we started an interview with CBS’s Gregg Doyel by congratulating him for being the second-most-clicked-on writer featured on RealClearSports. Your pieces are the most clicked on. What do you attribute your popularity to?

Whitlock: Good headlines. Editors who allow me to be very different. Media outlets that let me take difficult stances. A column approach that demands trying to write on Monday what everyone else will think to write on Tuesday. A willingness to address sensitive issues in an honest, raw fashion. Good instincts. Consistency. Unafraid to publicly admit when I’m wrong. I work hard to maintain credibility with readers.

RCP blog:

Michael Barone calls the Obama administration’s bullying of Chrysler debt holders an example of “gangster government.” This article (via Kaus) suggests the tactic may be more widespread than originally reported:

Creditors to Chrysler describe negotiations with the company and the Obama administration as “a farce,” saying the administration was bent on forcing their hands using hardball tactics and threats.

Conversations with administration officials left them expecting that they would be politically targeted, two participants in the negotiations said.

Although the focus has so been on allegations that the White House threatened Perella Weinberg, sources familiar with the matter say that other firms felt they were threatened as well. None of the sources would agree to speak except on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of political repercussions.

It will be interesting to see if these numbers hold and are accurate for Gov. Palin.  Politics Nation:

It’s not Sarah Palin, according to a new survey from Hays Research. Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s favorability rating continues to climb as Alaskans have taken a more unfavorable view of their governor, the 2008 Republican nominee for vice president.

Favorability Rating
Palin 54/42 (compared with 60/35 in March)
Murkowski 76/18 (compared with 72/20 in March)

The survey found that 30.5% of respondents had a “very positive” view of Palin, down from 34.9% in March, while 24.8% now have a “very negative” view, up from 21.2% in March. A survey conducted in May of 2008 pegged Palin’s favorability rating at 86% — a 32-point drop in just one year. Then, only 3% had a “very negative” view of their governor.

RCP Blog: “Tough Crowd”

Obama’s big announcement of $17 billion in budget cuts is generating snickers across the political spectrum. Here’s Glenn Greenwald of Salon:

On Thursday — and not for the first time — the Obama administration did its best to hype a relatively small cut in the federal budget as if it would make a truly significant dent in the national debt. Once again, and for good reason, no one’s buying it.

And Brian Montopoli of CBS News notes that after initial news of the cuts “landed with a bit of a thud” in the press, Obama went out of his way during his remarks to tell reporters how they should cover the news:

In his remarks today, the president sought to change that tenor of that coverage. He mocked the notion that smaller savings are considered “trivial” in Washington and stressed that “these savings, large and small, add up.”

And he told journalists directly that they should stress the fact that the cuts are “significant” - a surprisingly direct appeal to reporters concerning which angle they should take in their coverage.

“It is important, though, for all of you, as you’re writing up these stories, to recognize that $17 billion taken out of our discretionary, non-defense budget, as well as portions of our defense budget, are significant,” he said. “They mean something.”

Politics Nation:

House Republicans announced this morning the introduction of a bill that aims to halt the closing of the Guantanamo Bay prison and transfer of detainees into the United States. In the war supplemental appropriations bill, House Democrats stripped the funding requested by President Obama to transfer detainees currently being housed in the prison to domestic facilities — helping fuel the GOP argument that the administration’s plan is unwise.

“Not only should there not be any money in the supplemental to move these detainees, we ought to make clear that none of these detainees should be brought to the United States until such time as the president has had a conversation with the American people, which is the essence of this bill we’re bringing,” Minority Leader John Boehner said, as the “Keep Terrorists Out of America Act” was introduced at a press conference.

From Politico:

Politics Nation:

Tom Ridge says he is grateful for the support and encouragement he received, but that he decided against the race. He says, however, that his career in public service is not over. “There are causes to which I remain intensely committed, including my work on behalf of the disability community, our nation’s veterans, our national security and the GOP — the party I enthusiastically joined more than four decades ago.”

In the long explanation, Ridge speaks about the state of the GOP, saying: “To those who believe that the Republican Party is facing challenges; they are right.” But he adds: “To those who believe the Democratic Party is without its own difficulties, they are wrong. No one party has a monopoly on all of the answers.”

He says he hopes to play a role in helping the Republicans “craft solutions that both sides of the aisle can embrace.”

Politics Nation:

NH Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D) has been underestimated before, much to the chagrin of former GOP incumbent Rep. Jeb Bradley, whom she upset in 2006 and edged out again last year. But Republicans say her last two general election wins were helped by strong Democratic waves nationally, a factor that may not be in play next year.

If so, the GOP’s hopes for a Northeast comeback may end up riding on Manchester Mayor Frank Guinta, who filed paperwork last week to form an exploratory committee for a Congressional run. One of the state’s few prominent Republican officeholders after the retiring Sen. Judd Gregg, Guinta has been mentioned frequently as a potential gubernatorial candidate. But with popular Democratic Gov. John Lynch likely to run again, the National Republican Congressional Committee also identified him as a top recruit for a House race.

Nick Sloan:

A good breakdown of what Libertarians have to do to prevail. My favorite part:

Media: Crying about press coverage will not give us media support.

What the libertarian movement needs are libertarians who are willing to do the hard work (which, incidentally, will create paying jobs for themselves) of developing legitimate press outlets that do a fine job of covering reality, while ensuring that the hidden assumptions used to choose which news is important and what it means are libertarian assumptions.

A successful libertarian political movement will help those libertarians develop their media skills and outlets.

Media Watch:

At the end, the guild caved.

The Boston Globe’s largest union reached a tentative agreement with management just after 3 a.m. today, the last of the paper’s unions to sign off on concessions to the parent New York Times Co. The guild, which represents the newsroom, agreed to a substantial pay cut and unpaid furloughs, but more importantly, it finally allowed for modifications to the lifetime job guarantee provisions. The guild’s previous insistence to keep the guarantee whole had caused the negotiations to reach an impasse.

Neither side released much details on the new agreement, which is still pending a vote by the union members. But the deal should be enough to lift the New York Times Co.’s threat to shut down the Globe. The company had set a May 1 deadline, extended it to May 3, before reaching agreements with all unions.

RCP Media Watch:

Is there nothing sacred anymore?

I first found out about what happened to David Steele and two other Baltimore Sun staffers from an inning-by-inning blog in the Orange County Register (it came in during the eighth inning). I was flabbergasted: Getting laid off by phone. In the press box. In the middle of the game.

I’ve known David since our days as fellow sports columnists in the San Francisco Bay Area. He’s a very good writer, well-versed in all sports but particularly the NBA, of which he was a beat writer for more than a decade. But he’s also a great guy, someone who’s most definitely paid his dues in this business and yet doesn’t have an air of attitude. (Sportswriters can be such curmudgeons sometimes.)

David moved (back) to Baltimore in 2004 to get back to his roots, to be closer to his family. The Sun did its best to pry him away from the San Francisco Chronicle. And now, in less than five years, they couldn’t even bother to say goodbye in person.

“I live 10 blocks away from the paper,” David said to me the other day, with a chuckle. “But they had to FedEx me all the paperwork. I guess they really didn’t want to see me.”

He was ready and willing to tell his story. Not just for himself, but for all of his fellow journalists who were so unceremoniously dumped.

Wichita Eagle:

Washington is bracing for the release Friday of the documentary “Outrage.” The film outs several politicians who campaign against gay rights but are allegedly gay themselves.
Meanwhile, this week Maine became the fifth state to approve gay marriage, and the Washington, D.C., city council voted to recognize gay marriages performed elsewhere.

Prime Buzz:

WASHINGTON (AP) - Kansas Republican Pat Roberts promises to tie the U.S. Senate “up in knots” over any plan to move detainees from Guantanamo Bay to Kansas.

Prime Buzz:

Republican Roy Blunt today announced that he has received endorsements from 71 of 89 Republican lawmakers in the state House.

The move comes as fellow Republican Sarah Steelman continues to consider entering the race.

Prime Buzz:

Kansas City Council members are tired of getting the short end of the stick from the state of Missouri.

First the city is getting left out of any state help for its transit program. Now council members say the city is getting shortchanged in funds for the homeless.

The council voted 13-0 today in favor of a resolution sponsored by Housing Committee Chair Sharon Sanders Brooks, urging the state of Missouri to revise its plan for the allocation of federal homeless prevention and homeless assistance dollars.

Prime Buzz:

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - A Missouri university’s decision to award an honorary degree to former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft is drawing protests from some students and faculty members.

Ashcroft will receive the award and deliver the graduation speech Saturday at Truman State University in Kirksville. As governor, he led the effort to upgrade the school from a regional university to a statewide liberal arts campus.

Nearly 300 opponents signed a petition “voicing discontent” with the decision by the school’s Board of Governors to give Ashcroft an honorary doctorate. A silent protest is planned during his commencement speech.

Ben Smith:

Dick Cheney did an interview today with Scott Hennen, a North Dakota radio host, whose staff sent over a transcript (after the jump), defending the Bush administration and advising the Republican Party to stay with its roots.

“I think it would be a mistake for us to moderate,” Cheney said. “This is about fundamental beliefs and values and ideas … what the role of government should be in our society, and our commitment to the Constitution and constitutional principles. You know, when you add all those things up, the idea that we ought to moderate basically means we ought to fundamentally change our philosophy. I for one am not prepared to do that, and I think most of us aren’t. Most Republicans have a pretty good idea of values, and aren’t eager to have someone come along and say, ‘Well, the only way you can win is if you start to act more like a Democrat.’”

PDF from Drudge:

1. Yahoo! News news.yahoo.com 6.77% 1
2. MSNBC www.msnbc.msn.com 3.55% 4
3. The Weather Channel - US www.weather.com 3.39% 2
4. CNN.com www.cnn.com 3.26% 3
5. Google News news.google.com 2.87% 5
6. Drudge Report www.drudgereport.com 2.19% 6
7. The New York Times www.nytimes.com 1.72% 8
8. Fox News www.foxnews.com 1.71% 7
9. USA Today www.usatoday.com 1.66% 9
10. Time www.time.com 1.55% 13

1. swine flu 0.72%
2. weather 0.57%
3. cnn 0.46%
4. swine flu symptoms 0.37%
5. weather.com 0.33%
6. cnn.com 0.25%
7. fox news 0.24%
8. drudge report 0.21%
9. drudge 0.19%
10. news 0.17%
11. msnbc 0.16%
12. dateline.msnbc.com 0.14%
13. weather channel 0.14%
14. tv guide 0.12%
15. accuweather 0.12%
16. kentucky derby 0.11%
17. cnn news 0.10%
18. bbc news 0.10%
19. new york times 0.09%
20. google news 0.09%

LA Times:

The suspension, for using what a source says is a female fertility drug, begins tonight and will cost him $7.7 million. Ramirez takes responsibility, while the Dodgers support the testing program and their star slugger.

AP:

NEW YORK (AP) - Manny Ramirez was suspended for 50 games by Major League Baseball on Thursday, becoming the latest high-profile player ensnared in the sport’s drug scandals.

The commissioner’s office didn’t announce the specific violation by the Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder, who will lose about one-third of his $25 million salary.

“Recently I saw a physician for a personal health issue. He gave me a medication, not a steroid, which he thought was OK to give me,” Ramirez said in a statement issued by the players’ union.

CBS affiliate in Chicago:

It’s a graduation tradition: a congratulatory handshake along with your diploma. But Wednesday night, the H1N1 flu virus has the University of Illinois at Chicago banning the handshakes. And UIC isn’t alone. CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine questions, is the fear getting out of hand?

WSJ:

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is weeks away from a critical decision on whether to trigger mass production of swine-flu vaccine, which could affect the bottom lines of big vaccine makers as well as public health.

Besides determining whether a vaccine would be effective and safe, government officials and private laboratories will need to answer practical and financial questions: Does it make sense to order hundreds of millions of doses and organize a mass vaccination campaign for a virus that, so far, isn’t widespread and doesn’t seem particularly lethal?

AP:

GENEVA (AP) - The World Health Organization said Thursday that up to 2 billion people could be infected by swine flu if the current outbreak turns into a pandemic. The agency said a pandemic typically lasts two years.

WHO flu chief Keiji Fukuda said the number wasn’t a prediction, but that experience with flu pandemics showed one-third of the world’s population gets infected.

“If we do move into a pandemic then our expectation is that we will see a large number of people infected worldwide,” Fukuda said. “If you look at past pandemics, it would be a reasonable estimate to say perhaps a third of the world’s population would get infected with this virus.”

In Mexico, which has had the most cases, high schools and universities opened for the first time in two weeks as the country’s top health official insisted the epidemic is on the decline. All students were checked for swine flu symptoms and some were sent home.

BBC:

US talk show host Michael Savage has said he was “shocked and angered” at being placed on a list of people banned from entering the UK.

The Conservative political commentator whose real name is Michael Alan Weiner, is one of 22 people barred for fostering extremism or hate.

He told his radio audience that he was intending to sue British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, who he described as the “lunatic … Home Secretary of England”.

Speaking exclusively to the BBC Mr Savage said he would drop the threat if he received an apology.

The AP:

DETROIT (AP) - General Motors Corp. says it lost $6 billion in the first quarter and spent $10.2 billion more cash than it took in, as a sales slump cut revenue by $20 billion.

The nation’s biggest domestic automaker lost $9.78 per share, compared with a loss of $3.3 billion, or $5.80 per share, in the year-ago period.

GM has received $15.4 billion in federal loans and faces a June 1 government deadline to finish a restructuring plan or go into bankruptcy protection.

Revenue dropped 47 percent, to $22.4 billion from $42.4 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Detroit News:

President Barack Obama insists he doesn’t want to run the domestic auto industry — and we should all be thankful for that.

But his actions speak differently — and we should all be worried.

“… I rejected the original restructuring plan” that Chrysler LLC submitted for government loans, he said April 30 in announcing his decision to force Chrysler into bankruptcy. “… And the standard I set was high — I challenged them to design a plan …”

That’s a lot of self promotion and involvement from a guy who doesn’t want to control the companies.

To be sure, the government, with the investment of $4 billion in our tax dollars in Chrysler and $15.4 billion in General Motors Corp. needs to set guidelines and rules for repayment. If not met, call the loans and get our money back.

But forcing a private American company into bankruptcy because the president thinks it’s the most prudent action. Um, no. Not by any measure.

WCBS:

Sutherland surrendered to New York City police Thursday afternoon for questioning about a fashion designer’s claim that the actor head-butted him at a Manhattan nightclub.

He was led into the first precinct at 16 Ericsson Place by authorities after arriving with his lawyer in a Lincoln Town Car. He did not speak to the throng of reporters and photographers surrounding the station.

Sutherland was given a ticket and ordered to appear in court at a later date. It is a minor misdemeanor that is akin to a speeding ticket.

But with Sutherland’s prior arrest record for drunk driving, there may be repercussions beyond the alleged head-butting incident.

Boston Herald:

Gov. Deval Patrick’s free wheels for welfare recipients program is revving up despite the stalled economy, as the keys to donated cars loaded with state-funded insurance, repairs and even AAA membership are handed out to get them to work.

But the program - fueled by a funding boost despite the state’s fiscal crash - allows those who end up back on welfare to keep the cars anyway.

“It’s mind-boggling. You’ve got people out there saying, ‘I just lost my job. Hey, can I get a free car, too?’ ” said House Minority Leader Brad Jones (R-North Reading).

AP:

Retail results also improved as discounter Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other stores reported April sales figures that beat expectations. Analysts acknowledged the positive economic signals but cautioned that any recovery will be subdued as long as unemployment stays high.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that the number newly laid off workers applying for benefits dropped to 601,000 last week. That was far better than the rise to 635,000 claims that economists expected.

Reuters:

EU leaders on Thursday called for a shorter working week and extra state-funded retraining programmes as recession threatens millions of jobs.

However, the results of a special EU meeting on the continent’s labour crisis failed to impress union leaders who are increasingly concerned about mass lay-offs.

With the recession expected to wipe out 8.5 million European jobs over two years, top officials from the Czech Republic, Sweden and Spain — the current and future EU presidencies — agreed to focus on identifying job opportunities, upgrading skills and encouraging labour mobility.

WSMV TV:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A resolution urging the creation of statues to be built on the Tennessee Capitol grounds of the state’s two Nobel Peace Prize winners, Al Gore and Cordell Hull, is on its way to a full Senate vote.The Senate State and Local Government Committee on Tuesday advanced the measure supporting the privately funded statues on a 9-0 vote. The resolution previously passed in the House unanimously.Gore was awarded his Nobel prize in 2007 for his work on global warming, while Hull received the award in 1945 for his role in creating the United Nations and improving international trade relations.Both men served as Democratic congressmen and senators from Tennessee before moving on to the executive branch, Hull as secretary of state and Gore as vice president.