Top Items:
Joel Brinkley / New York Times:
Rice Chides Europeans on Detention Center Complaints — WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice chastised Europe leaders today, saying that before they complain about secret jails for terror suspects in European nations, they should realize that interrogations of these suspects …
Discussion:
ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES
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Joel Brinkley / New York Times:Rice to Defend U.S. on Reports of Prisons for Terror Suspects
Discussion:
TalkLeft
Juan / Informed Comment:
Allawi Attacked by Mob in Najaf; — In Baghdad, 2 GIs Killed — Former interim prime minister Iyad Allawi and his entourage were attacked by mobs on Sunday. Najaf governor Asad Abu Kalal complained that Allawi had not cleared his visit with the provincial authorities …
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Toby Harnden / Telegraph:US Army admits Iraqis outnumber foreign fighters as its main enemy
Discussion:
The Heretik, Prairie Weather, QandO, Middle Earth Journal, The Left Coaster and Rising Hegemon
MSNBC:
Transcript for December 4 — MR. TIM RUSSERT: Our issues this Sunday: the president digs in again on Iraq. — (Videotape): — PRES. GEORGE W. BUSH: We will never back down, we will never give in and we will never accept anything less than complete victory.
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Sally Buzbee / Associated Press:
AP Shocker: Iraq VP Disputes Bush on Training of Forces — DUBAI The training of Iraqi security forces has suffered a big "setback" in the last six months, with the army and other forces being increasingly used to settle scores and make other political gains, Iraqi Vice President Ghazi al-Yawer said Monday.
Jerusalem Post:
Suicide bombing outside Netanya mall kills 5 — Four people were killed and 66 were wounded - three seriously - in an explosion that rocked the entrance to the Hasharon shopping mall on Herzl Street in Netanya at 11:25 a.m. Monday morning. Another person died on the operating table at Laniado Hospital in Kfar Saba.
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Bloomberg:
Bush to Delay Major Push for Tax Overhaul, People Familiar Say — Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) — President George W. Bush will delay a major push for revamping the tax code because administration officials concluded the changes are too tough to sell to the public and lawmakers, two people familiar with the matter said.
Cori Dauber / Rantingprofs:
Shame on NBC — As I noted last night, NBC reports that al Jazeera is showing video from a terrorist group that is claimed to be footage of the attack that recently killed 10 Marines. While NBC notes that the military has told them that it can't be footage of that attack …
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BBC:
Venezuela 'landslide' for Chavez — Parties allied to President Hugo Chavez say they have won all 167 seats in the country's parliament, after elections boycotted by the opposition. — None of the five main opposition parties took part, accusing the electoral body of bias.
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David D. Kirkpatrick / New York Times:
Court Nominee Presents Father as Role Model — WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 - When a Democratic senator asked the Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. why he might empathize with the plight of minorities or the poor, he had his answer ready: the example of his late father, an Italian immigrant …
Michelle Malkin:
THANK YOU, JOSHUA SPARLING — Lots of readers watched Fox & Friends this morning and e-mailed about the disgusting greeting card a wounded soldier received while hospitalized at Walter Reed Army Hospital. Thanks to reader Shari for taking these cell phone camera shots of the card displayed by co-host Brian Kilmeade:
Discussion:
Two Babes and a Brain, Stuck On Stupid, The Strata-Sphere, RedState.org and The Truth Laid Bear
Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
NBC's Brian Williams, On Top of the News — NEW YORK — Brian Williams still has nightmares about New Orleans, and on Thursday morning he woke up with an irritated throat from being around the dried mud that continues to cover the Ninth Ward. — He had returned the night before from his sixth visit …
Discussion:
JustOneMinute
James M. Buchanan / Cato Unbound:
THREE AMENDMENTS: RESPONSIBILITY, GENERALITY, AND NATURAL LIBERTY — INTRODUCTION — A central message of public choice theory tells us that if politics generates undesirable results, it is better to examine the rules than to argue about different policies or to elect different representatives.
Joe Gandelman / The Moderate Voice:
McCain Won't Back Down On Torture Ban — It sounds like the Bush administration is now finding itself smack against an immovable force — Arizona Senator John McCain, who insists he will not be backing down on his demand for a ban on torture. — Not that he's simply not talking with the administration.
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Robin Wright / Washington Post:
Democrats Find Iraq Alternative Is Elusive — Party's Elite Differ on How to Shift U.S. Policy — Around the country, many grass-roots Democrats are clamoring for a quick withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. On Capitol Hill, Democratic politicians have grown newly aggressive in denouncing …
Discussion:
workingforchange.com, Sirotablog, TAPPED, Hit and Run, NewsBusters.org, The Next Hurrah, Daily Kos and ScrappleFace
Telegraph:
Saddam trial resumes after defence walk-out — The trial of Saddam Hussein has resumed after his defence team stormed out of court in protest at the legitimacy of the proceedings. — The court reversed an earlier decision not to allow Ramsey Clark, the former US Attorney General and member …
John Fund / Opinion Journal:
Arnold's 'Harriet Miers Moment' — Has Gov. Schwarzenegger jumped the shark? — Arnold Schwarzenegger stunned California last week by selecting the former deputy chief of staff to Gray Davis, the Democratic governor ousted by the recall that brought Mr. Schwarzenegger to power, to be his own chief of staff.
New York Times:
Fixing the Game — The rules of American democracy say every president may install his own team of like-minded people in the government - even at a place like the Justice Department, which is at its root a law-enforcement agency and not a campaign branch office.
Andrew C. Revkin / New York Times:
On Climate Change, a Change of Thinking — IN December 1997, representatives of most of the world's nations met in Kyoto, Japan, to negotiate a binding agreement to cut emissions of "greenhouse" gases. — They succeeded. The Kyoto Protocol was ultimately ratified by 156 countries.
