Top Items:
Dr. Rusty Shackleford / The Jawa Report v3.0 Beta:
Terrorists Announce Murder of American Hostage Ronald Schulz — Reports have begun circulating that Ronald Schulz has been murdered. The website used by The Islamic Army in Iraq, though, has not carried this message. Instead, it was posted at an Islamic bulletin board.
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MSNBC:
U.S. hostage killed, Iraq militant group says — U.S. has no confirmation; statement follows video of an American captive … MSNBC TV — BAGHDAD, Iraq - An Iraqi insurgent group said Thursday in an Internet posting that it killed a U.S. security consultant it had taken hostage.
William Branigin / Washington Post:
Bush Lauds Progress in Iraq, Rejects Timetable — Democrats Release Report Highlighting Shortfalls — President Bush asserted today that despite insurgent attacks and problems such as corruption, the United States is making "steady progress" in helping Iraq rebuild its economy …
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Shelley K. Wong / Associated Press:
Heckling causes Coulter to cut UConn speech short — STORRS, Conn. — Conservative columnist Ann Coulter gave up trying to finish a speech at the University of Connecticut on Wednesday night when boos and jeers from the audience became overwhelming. — Coulter cut off the talk after 15 minutes …
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Colum Lynch / Washington Post:
U.N. Official Faults U.S. Detentions — Terrorism Fight Hurts Torture Ban, Human Rights Chief Says — UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 7 — The U.S.-led fight against terrorism is eroding the time-honored international prohibition of torture and other forms of cruel or degrading treatment of prisoners …
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NY Daily News:
Rummy exit rumored; Lieberman eyed for job — WASHINGTON - White House officials are telling associates they expect Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to quit early next year, once a new government is formed in Iraq, sources said yesterday. — Rumsfeld's deputy, Gordon England …
Paul Hughes / Reuters:
Iran's president questions Holocaust — TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday expressed doubt that the Holocaust occurred and suggested Israel be moved to Europe. — His comments, reported by Iran's official IRNA news agency from a news conference he gave …
John B. Judis / The New Republic:
Chair Lift — Howard Dean is being vilified again—not only by Republicans in the White House and Congress, but by his fellow Democrats as well. And once again it's for making a critical comment about the administration's conduct of the Iraq war. In an interview Monday with a San Antonio radio station …
Discussion:
Eschaton
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Jonathan Finer / Washington Post:
In Iraq, Signs of Political Evolution — Parties That Shunned January Vote Are Now Embracing the Process — BAGHDAD, Dec. 7 — Tucked into a bunker-like former headquarters of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, a type of war room unfamiliar in this country buzzed with life Wednesday.
ABCNEWS:
EXCLUSIVE: Shoe Bomber Alert Preceded Airport Shooting — Egyptian Man Had Been Stopped at New York Airport; Shoes Tested Positive for Explosive — Dec. 7, 2005 — Federal law enforcement sources tell ABC News they had been on the alert for a possible shoe bomber when a federal air marshal opened fire …
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Burt Prelutsky / Townhall.com:
The Jewish Grinch who stole Christmas — I never thought I'd live to see the day that Christmas would become a dirty word. You think it hasn't? Then why is it that people are being prevented from saying it in polite society for fear that it will offend?
Josh Gerstein / New York Sun:
How the CIA Blew Its Prisons Cover — WASHINGTON - While Secretary of State Rice fends off questioning in Europe over CIA-run air flights of prisoners in the war on terror, some analysts outside the CIA are asking how the flights were exposed so easily. — The CIA's legendary capacity for stealth …
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Jesse J. Holland / Associated Press:
House, Senate Reach Deal on Patriot Act — WASHINGTON - House and Senate negotiators reached an agreement Thursday to extend the USA Patriot Act, the government's premier anti-terrorism law, before it expires at the end of the month. But a Democratic senator threatened a filibuster to block the compromise.
Suzanne C. Ryan / Boston Globe:
At 87, Wallace still tells it like it is — Mike Wallace and his hard-hitting brand of journalism have been synonymous with ''60 Minutes" since CBS introduced the program in 1968. Now 87 years old, Wallace, who has interviewed everyone from Malcolm X to Johnny Carson, has written his second memoir.
Discussion:
The Carpetbagger Report
Jonathan Weisman / Washington Post:
House Passes 3 Tax Cuts, Plans a 4th — Cost Would Outstrip Recent Action on Deficit — The House passed three separate tax cuts yesterday and plans to approve a fourth today, trimming the federal revenue by $94.5 billion over five years — nearly double the budget savings that Republicans muscled through the House last month.
Peggy Noonan / Opinion Journal:
The American Way — What does it mean that your first act on entering a country is breaking its laws? — As Congress considers the Bush administration's guest-worker plan, as Republicans try to figure out what their immigration philosophy is, and as political observers parse the implications …
Peter Savodnik / The Hill:
NRSC plans multi-state attack tying Democrats to Abramoff — The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) is planning a public-relations offensive tying leading Democrats to lobbyist Jack Abramoff in an effort to neutralize accusations that Republicans have been embroiled in a "culture of corruption."
White House:
Press Briefing by Scott McClellan — MR. McCLELLAN: Good afternoon, everyone. I want to make one announcement. Our economic team is having their weekly luncheon here today at 1:00 p.m., and following that luncheon, Secretaries Snow and Gutierrez will go to the stakeout and talk about the state …
