Top Items:
New York Times:
Spy Agency Mined Vast Data Trove, Officials Report — WASHINGTON, Dec. 23 - The National Security Agency has traced and analyzed large volumes of telephone and Internet communications flowing into and out of the United States as part of the eavesdropping program that President Bush approved …
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Charlie Savage / Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
Spy net may pull in all U.S. calls overseas — Many Americans' privacy is at risk, some say — WASHINGTON — The National Security Agency, in carrying out President Bush's order to intercept the international phone calls and e-mails of Americans suspected of links to al-Qaida …
Discussion:
The All Spin Zone
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:
Rantingprofs, The Corner on National …, Think Progress, Mark in Mexico, Gateway Pundit, Radio Blogger, Liberty Street, Hugh Hewitt, NewsBusters.org, Confederate Yankee, AMERICAN FUTURE, Daily Kos, Centerfield, THE ASTUTE BLOGGER, Froggy Ruminations, Varifrank, The Volokh Conspiracy, Macsmind, Mathew Gross, Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler and RedState.org
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Reuters:
Mosques monitored for radiation: report — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. officials have secretly monitored radiation levels at Muslim sites, including mosques and private homes, since September 11, 2001 as part of a top secret program searching for nuclear bombs, U.S. News and World Report said on Friday.
Mohammed / IRAQ THE MODEL:
Dispute continues over election results... Yesterday was an eventful day for the parties that rejected the results of the elections. Those parties and coalitions-more than 30 in total-signed a "charter of honor" and formed a new movement under the name "Maram".
Discussion:
Gateway Pundit, The Belmont Club, Kesher Talk, Associated Press, The Reaction, Decision '08 and Austin Bay Blog
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Robert Mayer / Publius Pundit:
35 IRAQI PARTIES UNITE TO CONTEST ELECTION; LIST OF VIOLATIONS; PROTESTS BEGIN — The Sunni lists, along with ex-PM Iyad Allawi's multi-confessional secular list and others, have joined together to contest the results of the December 15 election in order, at the least, to have the results reviewed and their complaints addressed.
Discussion:
Associated Press
MSNBC:
Slacker Friday — A new Think Again column: 'Humility' is Front Page News, here. — The strike is over, leaving at least 123 reasons to be glad you live here, or wish you did, beginning with this one. 74.3 percent of New Yorkers voted against Bush. In Manhattan, the number was 81.7 percent.
David Espo / Associated Press:
Analysis: Democrats Win Some Fights — WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-controlled Congress is staggering home for the holidays. Democrats, demoralized after last year's election losses, have a spring in their step after outmaneuvering President Bush and GOP congressional leaders in a series of session-ending clashes.
Discussion:
AMERICAblog
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Associated Press:
Daschle: Congress Didn't OK Spying Authority — WASHINGTON - The use of warrantless wiretaps on American citizens was never discussed when Congress authorized the White House to use force against al-Qaida after the Sept. 11 attacks, says former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle.
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Hindrocket / Power Line:
IGNORANCE OR BIAS? TAKE YOUR PICK — The Associated Press breathlessly reports that Judge Sam Alito advocated warrantless wiretaps when he was in the Reagan Justice Department: … For the AP, this story is a twofer—an opportunity to attack Alito and Bush at the same time.
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Steven Greenhouse / New York Times:
Transit Strike Reflects Nationwide Pension Woes — Fast-rising pension costs for government employees - the issue that helped set off this week's transit strike in New York City - are a problem confronting cities, counties and states nationwide, causing many budgetary experts to predict …
Reuters:
Saddam denounces White House 'liars' — BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein denounced American leaders as liars at a turbulent court hearing on Thursday and his once feared intelligence chief abused prosecutors before threatening to walk out. — The former Iraqi president, on trial for his life …
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The Big Trunk / Power Line:
THE TWILIGHT ZONE, PART 3 — Don't miss John's invaluable analysis of the legal issues raised by the NSA program: "On the legality of the NSA electronic intercept program." In my view, the legality of the NSA program described by the president and the New York Times is overdetermined …
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James Gordon Meek / NY Daily News:
Al Qaeda fiend targeted Bush — WASHINGTON - Before he was captured last spring, Osama Bin Laden's top operational commander was solely focused on killing President Bush and Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharaff, the Daily News has learned. — The capture last May of Al Qaeda's No. 3 leader …
volokh.com:
Abstract … Klein & Stern find that 79% of those surveyed self-report as Democratic and 9% self-report as Republican. Moreover, Klein & Stern find that party self-identification turns out to be correlated with views on a range of political issues, such as attitudes toward gun control …
James Wolcott:
NIPS AHOY! — Sometimes the most satisfying instigations are inadvertent. Without meaning to, I seem to have incited the most promising catfight since Krystle and Alexis went after each other's wigs in Dynasty. I recognize "catfight" is a word charged with sexism, and apologize to those it may offend …
Associated Press:
Santorum Breaks With Christian-Rights Law Center — PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 22 — Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) withdrew on Thursday his affiliation from the Christian-rights law center that defended a school district's policy requiring the teaching of "intelligent design."
Kristen Mack / Houston Chronicle:
Sanchez looks to make run for county treasurer seat — Former City Councilman and twice-defeated mayoral candidate Orlando Sanchez wants to wage a comeback — as Harris County treasurer. — If he goes through with it, he will have to take on incumbent Jack Cato in the Republican primary in March.
David Ignatius / Washington Post:
Slogging and Blogging Through Iraq — A Marine blogger who calls himself Captain B is describing the scruffy four-foot Christmas tree at his base in Anbar province, west of Baghdad: "Lacking ornaments for the most part, we used bullets, cigars, Marlboro packs and other things we like and hung them on the tree.
Discussion:
Milblogging.com
Kevin Drum / The Washington Monthly:
MEME OF FOURS....Via Roy, here's another silly but (as usual) oddly compelling internet list meme: — Four jobs you've had in your life: Radio Shack manager, technical writer, product manager, VP of marketing. — Four movies you could watch over and over: Star Wars, Office Space, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Wizard of Oz.
Discussion:
Yellow Dog Blog
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