Top Items:
Washington Post:
Pushing the Limits Of Wartime Powers — In his four-year campaign against al Qaeda, President Bush has turned the U.S. national security apparatus inward to secretly collect information on American citizens on a scale unmatched since the intelligence reforms of the 1970s.
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David E. Sanger / New York Times:
In Speech, Bush Says He Ordered Domestic Spying — President Bush delivered his radio address in the Roosevelt Room. In the live address, he criticized senators who voted not to renew the antiterrorism law known as the USA Patriot Act. — WASHINGTON, Dec. 17 - President Bush acknowledged …
Jeff Goldstein / protein wisdom:
The Revolution will be blogged, 8 (UPDATED) — The Democratic spin doctors, spurred on by their disingenuous Congressional taskmasters , are all over the tube this morning trying to gin up additional outrage over this NSA domestic "spy story"—even as the President stands firm and defends the practice.
Los Angeles Times:
Spying Scandal Draws Heat — Lawmakers call on Bush to explain his post-9/11 order allowing a secret agency to monitor U.S. citizens without first getting a warrant. — WASHINGTON — Members of Congress demanded Friday that President Bush and his administration explain his decision to permit …
Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:Bush And The "Secret" Eavesdropping
Discussion:
AMERICAN FUTURE, Instapundit.com, Decision '08, Gateway Pundit, INTEL DUMP and USS Neverdock
Hindrocket / Power Line:BUSH SLAMS CRITICS, SENATE DEMOCRATS
Discussion:
Ezra Klein, Carol Platt Liebau, The Political Pit Bull, The Right Coast, Solomonia, TBogg and Tammy Bruce
Seneca the Younger / YARGB:Opening Act — President Bush in today's radio address …
Discussion:
The Corner on National …, Let Freedom Ring, Silent Running, Mark in Mexico, Atlas Shrugs and Ace of Spades HQ
BBC:
Powell raps Europe on CIA flights — Ex-US Secretary of State Colin Powell has indicated that Europeans are being disingenuous when they deny knowledge of the rendition of terror suspects. — Mr Powell said the recently highlighted practice of moving people to places where they are not covered …
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Herald Sun:
White House 'never told' of WMD doubts — THE US administration was never told of doubts about the secret intelligence used to justify war with Iraq, former secretary of state Colin Powell told the BBC in an interview to be broadcast on Sunday night. — Mr Powell, who argued the case …
iranvajahan.net:
Iran President's Bodyguard Dies in Ambush — Tehran, Iran — One of the bodyguards of Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was killed and another wounded when an attempt to ambush the presidential motorcade was thwarted in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan, according to a semi-official newspaper and local residents.
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Ezra Klein:
FISA — On the wiretapping, I want to be crystal clear on one issue: the issue here isn't the espionage, it's the secrecy. Of course law enforcement agencies will need to gather intelligence on domestic elements. They do it to drug dealers, mob bosses, militia men, and gang lords.
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Glenn Greenwald / Unclaimed Territory:Bush's unchecked Executive power v. the Founding principles of the U.S.
Discussion:
firedoglake, The Heretik, Eschaton, Middle Earth Journal, Brilliant at Breakfast and Mathew Gross
CNN:
THE SITUATION ROOM — Spying on Americans wihout Court Approval; Burbank Airplane Incident; Morgan Freeman on Black History Month; Howard Stern Signs Off — THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. — WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much, Kitty.
Los Angeles Times:
Planted PR Stories Not News to Military — U.S. officials in Iraq knew that a contractor was paying local papers. Discretion was the key. — WASHINGTON — U.S. military officials in Iraq were fully aware that a Pentagon contractor regularly paid Iraqi newspapers to publish positive stories …
New York Times:
Louisiana's Deadly Storm Took Strong as Well as the Helpless — NEW ORLEANS - More than 100 of them drowned. Sixteen died trapped in attics. More than 40 died of heart failure or respiratory problems, including running out of oxygen. At least 65 died because help - shelter, water or a simple dose of insulin - came too late.
Abby Goodnough / New York Times:
Tensions Rise as More Flee Cuba for U.S. — MIAMI, Dec. 17 - The number of Cubans intercepted at sea while trying to reach the United States is at its highest level since tens of thousands took to the Florida Straits on makeshift rafts and in small boats in the 1994 exodus sanctioned by President Fidel Castro.
Discussion:
EU Rota
Philip P. Pan / Washington Post:
Chinese Evade Censors To Discuss Police Assault — HONG KONG, Dec. 16 — At first glance, it looked like a spirited online discussion about an essay written nearly 80 years ago by modern China's greatest author. But then again, the exchange on a popular Chinese bulletin board site seemed a bit emotional, given the subject.
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Bush's Fumbles Spur New Talk of Oversight on Hill — After a series of embarrassing disclosures, Congress is reconsidering its relatively lenient oversight of the Bush administration. — Lawmakers have been caught by surprise by several recent reports, including the existence …
Discussion:
Hullabaloo
Associated Press:
AP: Frist AIDS Charity Paid Consultants — WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's AIDS charity paid nearly a half-million dollars in consulting fees to members of his political inner circle, according to tax returns providing the first financial accounting of the presidential hopeful's nonprofit.
Washington Post:
Bush Picks Controversial Nominees for FEC — President Bush nominated two controversial lawyers to the Federal Election Commission yesterday: Hans von Spakovsky who helped Georgia win approval of a disputed voter-identification law, and Robert D. Lenhard, who was part of a legal team …
