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Barton Gellman / Washington Post:
Daschle: Congress Denied Bush War Powers in U.S. — The Bush administration requested, and Congress rejected, war-making authority "in the United States" in negotiations over the joint resolution passed days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, according to an opinion article …
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Tom Daschle / Washington Post:
Power We Didn't Grant — In the face of mounting questions about news stories saying that President Bush approved a program to wiretap American citizens without getting warrants, the White House argues that Congress granted it authority for such surveillance in the 2001 legislation authorizing the use of force against al Qaeda.
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The Washington Monthly
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:Impeachment Nonsense — 2005 was already the year of the demagogue …
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Brad DeLong's Semi …
Mark / Decision '08:
The Wonderful World of Kos — Lots of buzz (just check out Memeorandum) over this Washington Monthly profile of our ol' buddy Markos Moulitsas Zuniga. Some highlights and lowlights: … Psbbbbtt! Patently false; 3.7 million visitors a week is not really 3.7 million visitors …
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Benjamin Wallace-Wells / Washington Monthly:
Kos Call — For America's number one liberal blogger — politics is like sports: It's all about winning. — I hate Washington," says Markos Moulitsas Zuniga. Many people, of course, say that they hate Washington. Jay Leno says so. So do Rush Limbaugh and Monica Lewinsky.
Atrios / Eschaton:
Wonk Off — Garance and Kevin, responding tolWaMo profile of Markos discuss the lack of blogospheric wonkery. — I've said this before, but there's just little point in detail-oriented grand policy proposals when Bush and Republicans are in office. Just about everything their side offers …
Garance Franke-Ruta / TAPPED:WHAT'S THE STORY WITH MARKOS? If you're at all like me you've …
Discussion:
Daily Kos
New York Times:
House Approves 5-Week Extension of Patriot Act — WASHINGTON, Dec. 22 - The House of Representatives approved a five-week extension of the USA Patriot Act this afternoon and sent it to the Senate for final approval this evening in a late flurry of action to prevent the broad antiterrorism law from expiring on Dec. 31.
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Aram Roston / MSNBC:
Chalabi's defeat puts U.S. friends in quandary — Should his backers go with his view that it was a fraudulent election? — Atef Hassan / Reuters file — Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Chalabi talks to his aides during a break while campaigning for Iraq's parliamentary elections in the city of Basra on Dec. 13.
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Edward Cody / Washington Post:
China Vows Peaceful Use Of Its Power — White Paper Tries to Ease Fears of Growing Strength — BEIJING, Dec. 22 — The Chinese government, responding to doubts in the United States and neighboring Asian countries, made what it called a "solemn promise" Thursday that its growing power will never become a threat to other nations.
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The Peking Duck
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Toni Locy / Associated Press:
Bush Administration Defends Spying Program — WASHINGTON - The Bush administration formally defended its domestic spying program in a letter to Congress late Thursday saying the nation's security outweighs privacy concerns of individuals who are monitored. — In a letter to the chairs …
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Laura / War and Piece:
Where Are the Arrests? — Perhaps I'm a little slow, but there's something else that doesn't make sense about spygate. Since October 2001, Bush has authorized 30 times - every 45 days - warrantless NSA domestic surveillance of what I have heard estimated of approximately 1,000 US persons a year.
James Bone / Times of London:
Oil-for-Food questions UN has still not answered . . . AS A journalist, I expect my share of verbal abuse. But it is not everyday that I have my professionalism impugned by the world's top diplomat on global TV. — The advantage is that I have not felt as young for years as I do now that Kofi Annan …
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AMERICAN FUTURE
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Amanda / Think Progress:
UPDATE: Fox Carolina Reporter Active On White Supremacist Website — Tami Birckner, the Fox Carolina reporter who ran the one-sided fluff piece on StormFront.org, a popular hub for white supremacists and anti-Semites, was an active participant in the website's chat forums.
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Ben Macintyre / Times of London:
Mullahs versus the bloggers — The explosive growth of youthful, irreverent online diaries has alarmed Iran's hardline Government — THE MUSIC OF Eric Clapton was banned in Iran this week. Broadcasters were ordered to cease playing "decadent" western songs and stick to "fine Iranian music".
Discussion:
USS Neverdock
Tim Golden / New York Times:
A Midlevel Aide Had a Big Role in Terror Policy — Moments after planes crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, lawyers in the Justice Department's elite Office of Legal Counsel began crowding into the office of one of the agency's newest deputies, John C. Yoo, to watch the horror unfold on his television set.
Dafna Linzer / Washington Post:
GOP Blocks Action on Senate Intelligence Authorization Bill — Senate Republicans late Wednesday blocked the authorization bill that guides the country's intelligence programs. It was the first time in 27 years that the bill had failed to pass before the end of the calendar year.
Edward M. Kennedy / Boston Globe:
On wiretapping, Bush isn't listening to the Constitution — THE PRESIDENT is not above the law; he is not King George. Yet, with sorrow, we are now learning that in this great land we have an administration that has refused to follow well-crafted, longstanding procedures that require …
Amy Wellborn / National Review:
A Sword Will Pierce Your Heart — About a year ago, my husband and I traveled across the chilly cornfields of Indiana to the frigid cornfields of Ohio to have our younger son baptized. — It was not quite, but almost, spur of the moment. A bishop, an old friend of my husband's …
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tapscottscopydesk.blogspot.com
Lawrence Kudlow / Human Events:
2005 Man of the Year: Rep. Mike Pence — If the Republican majority in the Senate and House can somehow stave off a newly energized Democratic assault in the mid-term elections next November and preserve their governing status, they may well have Indiana congressman Mike Pence to thank.
Discussion:
A Chequer-Board of Nights …
Rachel Sylvester / Telegraph:
Letwin: We will redistribute wealth — The Tories should support the redistribution of wealth and try to narrow the gap between rich and poor, Oliver Letwin, the party's new policy chief, says today. — In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, he says: "Of course, inequality matters.
