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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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.
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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
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.
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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.
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 Carpetbagger Report, The Mahablog, First Draft, Pam's House Blend, Brendan Nyhan and The Moderate Voice
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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.
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 …
Scott Burgess / The Daily Ablution:
Ablution Exclusive: Weapons Expert Challenges White Phosphorus Claims — Predictably, the "US used chemical weapons at Fallujah" story is spreading like phosphorus fire, and the Independent reprises its coverage today. — Interestingly, a careful reading of the latest Indy article …
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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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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
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 …
Discussion:
firedoglake
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, Taegan Goddard's … and Oliver Willis
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 …
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.
Kris Lofgren / Nothing Aside:
Chalabi in DC — I've just returned from a circus-like appearance by Ahmed Chalabi at the American Enterprise Institute. This was Chalabi's first visit to the U.S. in two and a half years and the first since he has been accused of passing American codes to the government of Iran …
