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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Glenn Greenwald / Unclaimed Territory:
The Bush justifications for law-breaking (con't) — My post yesterday requested that Bush defenders explain how there can be any limits at all on his power under the theories of Executive Power which they are advocating to argue that Bush had the right to violate Congressional law.
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:Impeachment Nonsense — 2005 was already the year of the demagogue …
Sinan Salaheddin / Associated Press:
Iraqis March, Say Elections Were Rigged — BAGHDAD, Iraq - Large demonstrations broke out across the country Friday to denounce parliamentary elections that protesters say were rigged in favor of the main religious Shiite coalition. Also, the U.S. military said two soldiers were killed …
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David E. Kaplan / US News:
EXCLUSIVE: Nuclear Monitoring of Muslims Done Without Search Warrants — In search of a terrorist nuclear bomb, the federal government since 9/11 has run a far-reaching, top secret program to monitor radiation levels at over a hundred Muslim sites in the Washington, D.C., area, including mosques …
Discussion:
Daily Kos, Shakespeare's Sister, The Volokh Conspiracy, The RCP Blog, Mathew Gross and Think Progress
Donna Cassata / Associated Press:
Alito Defended Officials From Wiretap Suits — WASHINGTON - Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito defended the right of government officials to order domestic wiretaps when he worked for the Reagan Justice Department, documents released Friday show. — He advocated a step by step approach …
Karen Travers / ABCNEWS:
Cheney's iPod Takes Top Priority on Extended Flight — Reporters Wait to File Stories as VP's MP3 Player Charges — WASHINGTON, Dec. 22, 2005 — After a four-day overseas trip that took him to four countries in the Middle East, Vice President Dick Cheney really wanted to get his iPod charged …
Discussion:
Attytood, Shakespeare's Sister, The Washington Monthly, Environmental Republican and Ace of Spades HQ
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 …
Philip Shenon / New York Times:
On Opinion Page, a Lobby's Hand Is Often Unseen — WASHINGTON, Dec. 22 - Susan Finston of the Institute for Policy Innovation, a conservative research group based in Texas, is just the sort of opinion maker coveted by the drug industry. — In an opinion article in The Financial Times on Oct. 25 …
John Cole / Balloon Juice:
The Holiday for the Rest of Us — Partially inspired by this, and wholly inspired by Seinfeld, it is time for the First Annual Airing of Grievances at Balloon Juice: — (Thanks to whoever made this screen capture originally) — The Airing of Grievances is the traditional time of the year …
Radio Blogger:
University of Chicago Professor Cass Sunstein on the NSA intelligence kerfuffle. — HH: Yesterday, you heard me talking with my friend John Eastman, my colleague at Chapman Law School, and Erwin Chemerinsky, my longtime friend, one from the right, one from the left.
Washington Post:
Mike McCurry's 'Munich' Tour of Duty — Every movie needs buzz. But Steven Spielberg didn't want any old red-carpet, klieg-light buzz for "Munich" — he wanted Washington wonk buzz. — Enter Mike McCurry, the former State Department and White House press secretary who was tapped …
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 …
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.
Discussion:
The Washington Monthly, War and Piece, The Carpetbagger Report and Democrat Taylor Marsh …
