Top Items:
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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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 …
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:Impeachment Nonsense — 2005 was already the year of the demagogue …
Discussion:
Brad DeLong's Semi …
New York Times:
Postponing Debate, Congress Extends Terror Law 5 Weeks — WASHINGTON, Dec. 22 - In a frantic finish before adjourning for the year, Congress extended on Thursday the broad antiterrorism bill known as the USA Patriot Act by five weeks after the Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee balked at a longer extension.
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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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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.
Discussion:
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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Associated Press:
Top Sunni, Shiite groups call vote 'fraudulent' — Bodies threaten to boycott Iraq parliament if complaints aren't addressed — BAGHDAD, Iraq - Dozens of Sunni Arab and secular Shiite groups threatened Thursday to boycott Iraq's new legislature if complaints about tainted voting are not reviewed by an international body.
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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.
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.
New York Times:
Mr. Cheney's Imperial Presidency — George W. Bush has quipped several times during his political career that it would be so much easier to govern in a dictatorship. Apparently he never told his vice president that this was a joke. — Virtually from the time he chose himself …
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.
Josh White / Washington Post:
Unable to End 'Unlawful' Detention, Judge Says — A federal judge in Washington ruled yesterday that the continued detention of two ethnic Uighurs at the U.S. prison facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is "unlawful," but he decided he had no authority to order their release.
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.
Washington Post:
Brown's Turf Wars Sapped FEMA's Strength — Director Who Came to Symbolize Incompetence in Katrina Predicted Agency Would Fail — On Sept. 15, 2003, one of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge's deputies lobbed a bureaucratic hand grenade across his desk.
Discussion:
The Mahablog
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 …
