Top Items:
Viveca Novak / Time:
What Viveca Novak Told Fitzgerald — It was in the midst of another Washington scandal, almost a decade ago, that I got to know Bob Luskin. He represented Mark Middleton, a minor figure in the Democratic campaign-finance scandals of 1996. Luskin kept Middleton out of the spotlight and never told me much.
Discussion:
firedoglake, The Next Hurrah, Eschaton, The Washington Monthly, Needlenose, Macsmind and First Draft
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Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:
Viveca Novak's Tale — Viveca Novak, reporter for TIME and casual confidante of Karl Rove's lawyer, Don Luskin, tells her side of the story that may have saved Rove from indictment. Let's say this - Matt Cooper of TIME has expressed an aspiration to be a professional comic; maybe he could take Viveca into his act.
Discussion:
The Strata-Sphere, Joust The Facts, Crooks and Liars, The Truth Laid Bear and The Huffington Post
Roger L. Simon / OSM:
Remembering Richard — Some time in 1979, shortly after I had done The Big Fix for Universal, the studio called to ask if I would like to write a movie for Richard Pryor. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Pryor was at the top of his game then, acknowledged by many to be possibly the greatest standup comic of all time.
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Mel Watkins / New York Times:Richard Pryor, Iconoclastic Comedian, Dies at 65
Discussion:
Middle Earth Journal, Houston's Clear Thinkers, the talking dog, THE TENSION, Macsmind and Pandagon
Michael Crowley / New York Times:
Conservative Blogs are More Effective — When the liberal activist Matt Stoller was running a blog for the Democrat Jon Corzine's 2005 campaign for governor, he saw the power of the conservative blogosphere firsthand. Shortly before the election, a conservative Web site claimed …
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Newsweek:
Bush in the Bubble — He has a tight circle of trust, and he likes it that way. But members of both parties are urging Bush to reach beyond the White House walls. How he governs-and how his M.O. stacks up historically. — Dec. 19, 2005 issue - Jack Murtha still can't figure out why the father and son treated him so differently.
Discussion:
ProfessorBainbridge.com, NewsBusters.org, The Heretik, Ace of Spades HQ and PhotoDude.com
Los Angeles Times:
French Told CIA of Bogus Intelligence — The foreign spy service warned the U.S. various times before the war that there was no proof Iraq sought uranium from Niger, ex-officials say. — PARIS — More than a year before President Bush declared in his 2003 State of the Union speech that Iraq …
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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Jack Kelly: Ciao, CIA — The spy agency is damaged beyond repair: Abolish it and start over — On Aug. 2, Dafna Linzer of the Washington Post reported that "a major U.S. intelligence review has projected that Iran is about a decade away from manufacturing the key ingredient for a nuclear weapon …
BBC:
Massive blaze rages at fuel depot — A fire is continuing to blaze at a fuel depot in Hertfordshire after a series of large explosions sent black smoke drifting across south-east England. — Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott is to visit the scene of the blasts which injured 43 people, two seriously.
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Times of London:
Israel readies forces for strike on nuclear Iran — Uzi Mahnaimi, Tel Aviv, and Sarah Baxter, Washington — ISRAEL'S armed forces have been ordered by Ariel Sharon, the prime minister, to be ready by the end of March for possible strikes on secret uranium enrichment sites in Iran, military sources have revealed.
Discussion:
Mark in Mexico, Unclaimed Territory, Hugh Hewitt, The American Thinker, Daily Pundit and Democrats.com
New York Times:
Death of an American City — We are about to lose New Orleans. Whether it is a conscious plan to let the city rot until no one is willing to move back or honest paralysis over difficult questions, the moment is upon us when a major American city will die, leaving nothing but a few shells for tourists to visit like a museum.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, MyDD, Left I on the News, Booker Rising, Think Progress and Brilliant at Breakfast
Condoleezza Rice / Washington Post:
The Promise of Democratic Peace — Why Promoting Freedom Is the Only Realistic Path to Security — Soon after arriving at the State Department earlier this year, I hung a portrait of Dean Acheson in my office. Over half a century ago, as America sought to create the world anew …
Kevin Drum / The Washington Monthly:
SECRET LAWS....John Gilmore is suing the government because he doesn't think he should be required to show ID before boarding a commercial flight. I think this is stupid and he deserves to be thrown out of court. — At least, that's what I'd think if it weren't for this: … WTF?
Associated Press:
Frist Says He's Ready to Block Filibuster — WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Sunday he is prepared to strip Democrats of their to ability to filibuster if they try to stall Samuel Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court. — "The answer is yes," Frist said when asked …
Washington Post:
In Iraq, Bush Pushed For Deadline Democracy — Timeline Yields Constitutional Order, Not Peace — Whenever he was asked in public last winter about the prospect of delaying Iraq's first election since the fall of Saddam Hussein, President Bush flatly dismissed it.
David Adam / Observer:
US retreats at climate change talks — 'Obstructive' White House stung by criticism of its stance as 157 nations extend the Kyoto agreement — The White House was forced into a U-turn on climate change yesterday after appearing to misjudge critically the international and domestic mood on its efforts to tackle global warming.
Discussion:
Liberty Street
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Charles J. Hanley / Associated Press:Clinton Says Bush Is 'Flat Wrong' on Kyoto
Discussion:
The American Mind
Kanan Makiya / New York Times:
Present at the Disintegration — WASHINGTON and Baghdad will be tempted, with the adoption of a new Constitution and the election on Thursday for a four-year government, to declare victory in Iraq. In one sense, they are right to do so. The emerging Iraqi polity undoubtedly represents …
