Top Items:
New York Times:
Chinese Leader Gives President a Mixed Message — BEIJING, Nov. 20 - In a day of polite but tense encounters, President Hu Jintao of China told President Bush on Sunday that he was willing to move more quickly to ease economic differences with the United States, but he gave no ground on increasing political freedoms.
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Washington Post:
Bush's Asia Trip Meets Low Expectations — BEIJING, Nov. 20 — When President Bush was flying toward Asia a week ago, his national security adviser, Stephen J. Hadley, predicted to reporters in the back of the plane that the four-nation trip would yield no "headline breakthroughs." He turned out to be right.
Peter Baker / Washington Post:
The China Opening Of 2005: Don't Ask — For Bush in Beijing, It's Hard to Get Out — BEIJING, Nov. 20 — After all the pomp and circumstance, after all the mind-numbing statements in all the mind-numbing meetings, President Bush finally seemed happy. — He slipped into athletic shorts …
Dr. Rusty Shackleford / The Jawa Report v3.0 Beta:
Zarqawi Still Alive, The Left Celebrates — The White House is now saying that it is "highly unlikely" that Abu Musab al Zarqawi died in a Mosul raid Saturday. Earlier Jawa post from Traderrob here. — *Sigh* — Not that killing the al Qaeda in Iraq leader—and the man personally responsible …
Discussion:
Happy Furry Puppy Story …, Confederate Yankee, Daily Kos, MSNBC, Gateway Pundit and The World Wide Rant
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Evan Kohlmann / The Counterterrorism Blog:Al-Qaida Takes Casualties in Iraq — But Apparently Not Zarqawi
Joe Gandelman / The Moderate Voice:Was Terrorist Bigwig Abu Musab al-Zarqawi Killed? (UPDATED)
Discussion:
BBC, Dreams Into Lightning, Donklephant, TigerHawk, The Heretik, Tammy Bruce and Don Surber
New York Times:
G.M. to Cut 30,000 Jobs and Close 12 Facilities in 3 Years — DETROIT, Nov. 21 - General Motors said it would cut up to 30,000 jobs and close a dozen automobile and parts factories and distribution centers in the next three years in an effort to stem the company's billion-dollar losses.
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Dee-Ann Durbin / Associated Press:
GM to Cut 30,000 Jobs, Close 9 Plants — DETROIT (AP) — General Motors Corp. will eliminate 30,000 jobs and close nine North American assembly, stamping and powertrain plants by 2008 as part of an effort to get production in line with demand and position the world's biggest automaker …
OSM:
Look back, in pajamas — Edited by Glenn Reynolds, Chair, OSM Editorial Advisory Board — A CARNIVAL OF PRE-WAR INTELLIGENCE: WHAT WE KNEW, WHEN WE KNEW IT, AND WHAT WE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN GOING INTO THE IRAQ WAR. — On Friday, OSM extended an open-invitation to bloggers everywhere …
Neil A. Lewis / New York Times:
Alito Often Ruled for Religious Expression — WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 - Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. has compiled a brief but unmistakable record, lawyers and analysts say, that makes him a leader in the camp of conservative theorists and judges who believe federal courts have been too quick to limit religious activities in public life.
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Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:
General Shinseki, Again — Via Glenn, we find ourselves wondering - Is Pejman missing a link? He is, of course, correct in disputing the connection between Shinseki's June 2003 retirement and his controversial Feb 2003 Congressional testimony about troop levels in Iraq.
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Rowan Scarborough / Washington Times:
Military fears critics will hurt morale — Pentagon officials say they are increasingly worried that Washington's political fight over the Iraq war will dampen what has been high morale among troops fighting a tenacious and deadly enemy. — Commanders are telling Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld …
William Yardley / New York Times:
After Eminent Domain Win, Project Goes Nowhere — NEW LONDON, Conn. - They have still not moved out. Not Susette Kelo. Not the Derys. Not Byron Athenian or Bill Von Winkle or the others. — Five months after the United States Supreme Court set off a national debate by ruling …
lileks.com:
At Least Ezra Pound was Nuts — I never "got into" Vonnegut, or "dug" his work like my "buds," several of whom pronounced his work as "intense," so I am not particularly bothered to find he applauds suicide bombers, and thinks they experience "an amazing high."
James Carroll / Boston Globe:
The fall of Bob Woodward — AT WHAT point does naiveté become something to be ashamed of? The revelation last week that Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward abetted the Bush administration's program of lies and character assassination left you feeling as if you, too, have been a coconspirator in the sleaze.
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Katharine Q. Seelye / New York Times:
Journalist, Cover Thyself — Here's something you do not see every day: a newspaper reporter interrogating his own boss - on live television yet. — Howard Kurtz, the media writer for The Washington Post, posed tough questions yesterday for nearly eight minutes to Leonard Downie Jr. …
Ellen Knickmeyer / Washington Post:
Under U.S. Design, Iraq's New Army Looks a Good Deal Like the Old One — TAJI, Iraq, Nov. 20 — Clad in the olive-green uniform of old, his heart rising to the sound of the lilting march to which he once went to war for President Saddam Hussein, Sgt. Bashar Fathi, a veteran …
The Australian:
Muslim fanatics terrorise a nation — Islamist murders and threats have transformed the once-tolerant Netherlands into a place of armed bodyguards and fear, writes Anthony Browne — A FILM about gay rights should hardly raise an eyebrow in The Netherlands, which for centuries has prided itself …
