Top Items:
Associated Press:
House GOP makes concession on Arctic drilling — Leaders drop hotly debated ANWR drilling plan from omnibus budget bill — WASHINGTON - House leaders late Wednesday abandoned an attempt to push through a hotly contested plan to open an Alaskan wildlife refuge to oil drilling …
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Carl Hulse / New York Times:
House Shelves Alaska Drilling in Budget Fight — WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 - House Republican leaders were forced to jettison a plan for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska on Wednesday night to save a sweeping spending bill, a concession that came one day after the party suffered significant election loses.
Robert Novak / Chicago Sun Times:
Dem's win in Va. gov race gives GOP a scare — House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert and the House Republican campaign chairman, Rep. Tom Reynolds, were given a sobering warning last week by senior GOP political operatives. They were told that on Tuesday, Nov. 8, the Democrats were sure to win the governorship of Virginia.
Dan Froomkin / Washington Post:
An Important Indictment — The flailing Bush presidency continues to spin off new compelling story lines almost daily; yesterday it was torture, today it's Bush as electoral albatross. It's almost inevitable that the media will let some fall by the wayside.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, The Carpetbagger Report, The Mahablog, First Draft, Pam's House Blend and Brendan Nyhan
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BBC:
'Al-Qaeda' claims Jordan attacks — Al-Qaeda in Iraq carried out the triple bomb attack which killed at least 57 people in Jordan's capital Amman, a statement posted on the internet says. — Jordan's Deputy Prime Minister, Marwan Muasher, had said earlier that al-Qaeda in Iraq was a "prime suspect".
Discussion:
Patridiot Watch
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Philip Shenon / New York Times:
Lobbyist Sought $9 Million to Set Bush Meeting — WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 - The lobbyist Jack Abramoff asked for $9 million in 2003 from the president of a West African nation to arrange a meeting with President Bush and directed his fees to a Maryland company now under federal scrutiny, according to newly disclosed documents.
Walter Pincus / Washington Post:
Intelligence Probe Takes Shape — Senators Discuss Inquiry Into Administration Statements About Iraq — The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence yesterday worked out a tentative arrangement for pursuing its inquiry into how the Bush administration publicly portrayed the intelligence …
Rob Stein / Washington Post:
Down Syndrome Now Detectable In 1st Trimester — Earlier Diagnosis Allows More Time for Decisions — A first-trimester screening test can reliably identify fetuses likely to be born with Down syndrome, providing expectant women with that information much earlier in a pregnancy than current testing allows …
Jonathan Weisman / Washington Post:
Senator Seeks to Defer Probe of CIA Prison Leak — The chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence told Senate leaders yesterday that Congress should hold off on a probe of the disclosure of classified information on secret prisons to The Washington Post until the Justice Department completes its own inquiry.
Discussion:
War and Piece
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Linda Greenhouse / New York Times:
Roberts Court Hears Its First Case in Federalism Debate — WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 - The latest constitutional clash between the federal government and the states took place on Wednesday in a Supreme Court argument on whether prison inmates can sue states for damages under the federal law …
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Hilzoy / Obsidian Wings:
Stop This Amendment. — From the AP: … To repeat: this could come up for a vote tomorrow. TalkLeft has posted a pdf of the amendment. The relevant text: … This is seriously bad news. As best I can tell, it strips the courts of all power to hear any habeas motion from a detainee …
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Weekly Standard:
The Party of Sam's Club — THE PRESIDENCY OF GEORGE W. Bush has three years yet to run, but this season of scandal and disillusionment is an opportune moment for conservatives to start thinking seriously about the post-Bush era—and particularly how to fashion a domestic policy from the wreckage …
Discussion:
Marginal Revolution, Donklephant, Bull Moose, The Washington Monthly and danieldrezner.com
Judith Miller / New York Times:
Judith Miller's Farewell — To the Editor: — On July 6 I chose to go to jail to defend my right as a journalist to protect a confidential source, the same right that enables lawyers to grant confidentiality to their clients, clergy to their parishioners, and physicians and psychotherapists to their patients.
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Yoav Stern / Haaretz:
Israelis evacuated from Amman hotel hours before bombings — A number of Israelis staying on Wednesday at the Radisson hotel were evacuated before the bombing by Jordanian security forces, apparently due to a specific security alert. They were escorted back to Israel by security personnel.
Discussion:
Captain's Quarters, Needlenose, Yourish.com, A Blog For All, normblog, Booman Tribune ~ Boo! and This Blog Is Full Of Crap
Daily Kos:
US Army Admits Use of White Phosphorus as Weapon — (From the diaries. Let's see them deny this s**t now — kos) — That's right. Not from Al Jazheera, or Al Arabiya, but the US f**king Army, in their very own publication, from the (WARNING: pdf file) March edition of Field Artillery Magazine …
Discussion:
Lean Left, Discourse.net, MSNBC, AMERICAblog, Through the Looking Glass, Pam's House Blend, QandO and Needlenose
Lynne Duke / Washington Post:
The Reporter's Last Take — In an Era of Anonymous Sources, Judy Miller Is a Cautionary Tale of the Times — NEW YORK Judy Miller's fumbling with the tape recorder. It's not even her tape recorder. — "This is off the record," she's saying, her voice high and nasal.
Mark Murray / MSNBC:
Bush, GOP mired in political quicksand — NBC/WSJ poll shows president at new lows in all job approval categories — WASHINGTON - Democrats might be overstating that their gubernatorial victories Tuesday in New Jersey and Virginia are glaring signs for next year's midterm congressional elections …
Discussion:
Rantingprofs, The Moderate Voice, The Left Coaster, Shakespeare's Sister, Taegan Goddard's … and Oliver Willis
Dana Bash / CNN:
White House to 'hit back' at Democrats — Aides plan aggressive response to claims intelligence misused — WASHINGTON (CNN) — Top White House officials say they're developing a "campaign-style" strategy in response to increasing Democratic allegations that the Bush administration twisted intelligence to make its case for war.
