Top Items:
Jonathan S. Landay / Knight Ridder:
U.S. military pays Iraqis for positive news stories on war — WASHINGTON - U.S. Army officers have been secretly paying Iraqi journalists to produce upbeat newspaper, radio and television reports about American military operations and the conduct of the war in Iraq.
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Garance Franke-Ruta / TAPPED:
EW. The women of Broadsheet have been having fun with some of the bizarre reactions to Maureen Dowd in the reader comments left on Amazon.com. One irate male reader, in particular, was emphatic about asserting that Dowd is past her "expiration date," repeating "WOMEN HAVE AN EXPIRATION DATE.
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John Derbyshire / The Corner on National Review Online:SHIP-SHAPE AND BRISTOL FASHION
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns and Money
William Kristol / Weekly Standard:
Pelosi's Disastrous Miscalculation — Today, Nancy Pelosi endorsed withdrawal from Iraq. Her statement is a political opportunity for the GOP. — Until now, it seemed to me more likely than not that Democrats would win back the House in 2006: Bush's numbers are bad …
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Trevor / The Will to Exist:
Pulling out early and other lunacy … I watched Bush speaking on television last night. It was my first day off since arriving in theater one month ago. — Please, America, listen to the man. — The moment anyone puts a timetable on coalition forces leaving, we've lost the war.
Dalton Conley / New York Times:
A Man's Right to Choose — MANY liberals who oppose Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr.'s nomination to the Supreme Court focus on his (losing) position in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a 1991 case about a Pennsylvania law that would have required women seeking abortions to notify their husbands.
Discussion:
Eschaton
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Rick Richman / Jewish Current Issues:
Bush and Churchill's Mid-War Speeches — George W. Bush's extraordinary "Strategy for Victory" speech yesterday was a direct response to the crisis of confidence created from a combination of adverse developments in the war, incessant political attacks from Democrats, and the nonstop criticism of a hostile mainstream media.
BBC:
Miller 'sorry' for WMD inaccuracies — Judith Miller, the US journalist at the heart of the CIA leak probe, has apologised to her readers because her stories about WMD and Iraq turned out to be wrong. — The US journalist, who spent 85 days in prison over the summer before agreeing …
Craig Timberg / Washington Post:
South African Court Rules for Same-Sex Marriage — JOHANNESBURG Dec. 1 — South Africa's highest court ruled on Thursday that gays and lesbians have a right to marry, and it gave the national parliament one year to change the words "husband" and "wife" to "spouse" in its marital laws.
Discussion:
www.AndrewSullivan.com
Associated Press:
Feds Search Office of Mich. Candidate — SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (AP) — Federal agents raided the office of Geoffrey Fieger, a prominent lawyer and Michigan attorney general candidate, as part of what Fieger said was an investigation into contributions to the 2004 Democratic presidential campaign.
Discussion:
TalkLeft
New York Times:
For Once, President and His Generals See the Same War — BAGHDAD, Iraq, Nov. 30 - For anyone who has spent time in the field with American officers here, President Bush's speech on Wednesday was a watershed: for the first time in the two years since the conflict here turned brutal …
John Hawkins / Right Wing News:
The 10 Most Fascinating People In The Blogosphere For 2005 — Barbara Walters' list of the most fascinating people for 2005 came out and it was well, execrable. Camilla Parker Bowles? Tom Cruise? Kayne West? What a list! — But, if Barbara Walters could do a list that lame, why couldn't I do my own lame list — of bloggers?
Peter H. Schuck / LAW.com:
Leftward Leaning — Two recent studies reveal what the insiders have known all along: Professors at top U.S. law schools are predominantly liberal. — The American Lawyer — Elite law schools cherish robust debate, iconoclasm, and arguing issues from all sides, right? Wrong.
Digby / Hullabaloo:
"Cultural Discomfort" — The New Republic and The LA Times this week both feature articles about the Minutemen of Herndon, Virginia. The TNR piece is framed as a cautionary tale for liberals who think that the Minutemen are out of the mainstream: … Not really.
Discussion:
The Talent Show
David S. Broder / Washington Post:
A Pox on Both Parties — To understand why the level of public disillusionment with politics is so high in this country right now, it helps to go back a dozen years. — The Democrats took power in 1993 with a young and obviously talented Bill Clinton succeeding George H.W. Bush …
Associated Press:
Murtha Says Army Is 'Broken, Worn Out' — LATROBE, Pa. (AP) — Most U.S. troops will leave Iraq within a year, and the Army is "broken, worn out" and may not be able to meet future military threats to the country's security, Rep. John Murtha said. — Two weeks ago, Murtha created a storm …
Chris Tomlinson / Associated Press:
Bombings in Iraq Fall to Seven-Month Low — BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. military said Thursday that suicide bombings fell in November to their lowest level in seven months after joint U.S.-Iraqi operations west of the capital. — In Ramadi, the U.S. military played down reports by residents …
