Top Items:
James Fallows / The Atlantic Online:
Why Iraq Has No Army — The Bush administration doesn't take the problem seriously—and it never has — W hen Saddam Hussein fell, the Iraqi people gained freedom. What they didn't get was public order. Looting began immediately, and by the time it abated, signs of an insurgency had appeared.
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Joe Gandelman / The Moderate Voice:Bush Administration Reportedly Plans Major Iraq Withdrawals In 2006
Captain Ed / Captain's Quarters:
Biden, Democrats Ask The Wrong Question — Senator Joe Biden writes an op-ed for today's Washington Post that gets the entire war on terror fundamentally wrong — and demonstrates why the Democrats have entirely failed to provide any leadership on Iraq and the wider war.
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Joseph R. Biden Jr / Washington Post:
Time for An Iraq Timetable — The question most Americans want answered about Iraq is this: When will our troops come home? — We already know the likely answer. In 2006, they will begin to leave in large numbers. By the end of the year, we will have redeployed about 50,000.
Adam Liptak / New York Times:
In Terror Cases, Administration Sets Own Rules — When Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales announced last week that Jose Padilla would be transferred to the federal justice system from military detention, he said almost nothing about the standards the administration used in deciding whether …
Walter Pincus / Washington Post:
Pentagon Expanding Its Domestic Surveillance Activity — Fears of Post-9/11 Terrorism Spur Proposals for New Powers — The Defense Department has expanded its programs aimed at gathering and analyzing intelligence within the United States, creating new agencies, adding personnel …
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Jo Fish / Democratic Veteran:WELCOME TO GERMANY, 1933 — Holy Crap. This is some serious s**t …
Discussion:
Jesus' General
Daniel Cooney / Associated Press:
Troops Who Burned Taliban Face Discipline — KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Four U.S. soldiers face disciplinary action for burning the bodies of two Taliban rebels — a videotaped incident that sparked outrage in Afghanistan — but they will not be prosecuted because they their actions were motivated …
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Reuters:
US military admits it burned bodies — KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The U.S. military admitted on Saturday that its soldiers in Afghanistan had burned the bodies of two dead Taliban guerrillas and taunted insurgents about it, but had not meant it as a desecration.
Discussion:
NewsHog
Sarah Baxter / Times of London:
Rumsfeld's Al-Jazeera outburst — THE Middle Eastern news network Al-Jazeera was accused by Donald Rumsfeld, the American defence secretary, of broadcasting "vicious, inaccurate and inexcusable" reports about the war in Iraq the day before President George W Bush met Tony Blair at the White House …
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Helen / Dr. Helen:
Vegetarianism — Many people have written to ask me to talk about my vegetarianism when I was younger and why I went back to being a carnivore. Well—here is the story. When I was younger, I thought it wrong to hurt another living thing. I had compassion for flies, ants and anything else that moved.
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Andrew Jacobs / New York Times:
Just Try to Sleep Tight. The Bedbugs Are Back. — They're the scourge of hobo encampments and hot-sheet motels. To impressionable children everywhere, they're a snippet of nursery rhyme, an abstract foe lurking beneath the covers that emerges when mommy shuts the door at night.
Jeff Jarvis / BuzzMachine:
My content, my readers, my numbers, damnit — Hey, My Yahoo, Google Reader, Pluck, Newsgator Enterprise and other RSS readers: Hand over my numbers. You are taking my RSS feed and caching it to serve more efficiently, which would be fine if only you told me how many times you are doing that.
Associated Press:
Students: Teacher Gave Anti-Bush Vocab Quiz — BENNINGTON, Vt. — A high school teacher is facing questions from administrators after giving a vocabulary quiz that included digs at President Bush and the extreme right. — Bret Chenkin, a social studies and English teacher …
Discussion:
Pyjamas Media
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Charles Burress / San Francisco Chronicle:
Governor agrees to Williams hearing Convicted killer gets closer to possible clemency — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has decided to hold a clemency hearing Dec. 8 for Stanley Tookie Williams, the condemned killer who has attracted a number of high-profile backers calling for his life to be spared.
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Juliet Williams / Associated Press:
Believers Flock to 'Crying' Virgin Mary — SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Carrying rosary beads and cameras, the faithful have been coming in a steady stream to a church on the outskirts of Sacramento for a glimpse of what some are calling a miracle: A statue of the Virgin Mary they say has begun crying a substance that looks like blood.
Discussion:
PunditGuy
New York Times:
Pension Officers Putting Billions Into Hedge Funds — Faced with growing numbers of retirees, pension plans are pouring billions into hedge funds, the secretive and lightly regulated investment partnerships that once managed money only for wealthy investors.
Barb Howe / Lucky White Girl:
Medium rare electronics — Sometimes life is like the movies: just when you think the world is going end, deus ex machina steps in and magically everything is okay. — Today I come rushing home because it's the end of the semester and I have finals coming up and I need to write …
Discussion:
Philobiblon
Angus McDowall / Independent:
Iran's President digs in as leadership crisis deepens — A power struggle of titanic proportions has broken out between Iran's newly elected President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the country's parliament. — Now the President's domestic political agenda is in danger of collapse …
Charles Krauthammer / Weekly Standard:
The Truth about Torture — DURING THE LAST FEW WEEKS in Washington the pieties about torture have lain so thick in the air that it has been impossible to have a reasoned discussion. The McCain amendment that would ban "cruel, inhuman, or degrading" treatment of any prisoner by any agent …
