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Michelle Malkin:
THE NEW YORK TIMES STRIKES AGAIN — Bush's "impeachable crimes"... Yes, the New York Times continues to show its disregard for our nation's security, publishing additional classified information about the NSA's much-hyped surveillance program. Now it's a report that the NSA program traced …
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Kevin Drum / The Washington Monthly:
MORE ON THE NSA PROGRAM....James Risen and Eric Lichtblau provide some additional technical information about the NSA's domestic spying operation today: … This is interesting stuff, and it sounds like pretty useful stuff to me, too. This program and this technology might very well be important elements in the fight against al-Qaeda.
Discussion:
The Left Coaster
Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:
They're Not Going To Stop — The NY Times escalates its war on America with its latest revelations about the high-tech capability of the NSA to monitor and data-mine international communications. — Their first wave of coverage if the "Bush Spied" scandal was fizzling out - even Doug Jehl of the Times admitted the obvious on Friday:
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BrothersJudd Blog
New York Times:Spy Agency Mined Vast Data Trove, Officials Report
Discussion:
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New York Times:
Alito's Zeal for Presidential Power — With the Bush administration claiming sweeping and often legally baseless authority to detain and spy on people, judges play a crucial role in underscoring the limits of presidential power. When the Senate begins hearings next month on Judge Samuel Alito …
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Middle Earth Journal
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Washington Post:
Alito Urged Wiretap Immunity — Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. once argued that the nation's top law enforcement official deserves blanket protection from lawsuits when acting in the name of national security, even when those actions involve the illegal wiretapping of American citizens, documents released yesterday show.
New York Times:
Alito Memo in '84 Favored Immunity for Top Officials — The attorney general should be immune from lawsuits for ordering wiretaps of Americans without permission from a court, Samuel A. Alito Jr., President Bush's Supreme Court nominee, wrote in a memorandum in 1984 as a government lawyer in the Reagan administration.
Thomas G. Donlan / online.barrons.com:
Unwarranted Executive Power — The pursuit of terrorism does not authorize the president to make up new laws — AS THE YEAR WAS DRAWING TO A CLOSE, we picked up our New York Times and learned that the Bush administration has been fighting terrorism by intercepting communications in America without warrants.
Discussion:
The Left Coaster
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Ellen Knickmeyer / Washington Post:
U.S. Airstrikes Take Toll on Civilians — Eyewitnesses Cite Scores Killed in Marine Offensive in Western Iraq — RAMADI, Iraq — U.S. Marine airstrikes targeting insurgents sheltering in Iraqi residential neighborhoods are killing civilians as well as guerrillas along the Euphrates River …
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Jamie Wilson / Guardian:
Stars turn backs on America's troops in Iraq — · Danger and anti-war stance keep celebrities away — · Shows now depend on Christian hip-hop groups — During world war two American troops away from home for Christmas were entertained by Marlene Dietrich, Bing Crosby and the Marx Brothers.
Jonathan Saltzman / Boston Globe:
Student's tall tale revealed — Confesses fabricating US surveillance story — It rocketed across the Internet a week ago, a startling newspaper report that agents from the US Department of Homeland Security had visited a student at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth …
Knight Ridder:
Iraqi court disqualifies prominent Sunni candidates — BAGHDAD, Iraq - An Iraqi court has ruled that some of the most prominent Sunni Muslims who were elected to parliament last week won't be allowed to serve because officials suspect that they were high-ranking members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party.
Wall Street Journal:
A Holiday in Wartime — Writing from his position in Iraq, Capt. Noah Hanners says he and his troops will have no choice on Christmas Day but to carry out the normal yet dangerous tasks of an army at war. Still, Capt. Hanners is thinking about marking the holiday in his own quiet way …
Jack Straw / Times of London:
Have a little faith in the 'C' word — I don't know where the idea about offending other faiths by using 'Christmas' came from, but it's mad — THE CHRISTMAS CARD I sent out as Blackburn's MP is a proper one. It was designed by Anna Souroullas (Year 3 of Holy Souls RC Primary School) …
Discussion:
One Hand Clapping
Washington Post:
U.S. Monitored Muslim Sites Across Nation for Radiation — Clandestine FBI and Energy Department teams have monitored private property in the United States for signs of radiation without warrants, U.S. officials said yesterday. — Officials said the monitoring, which intensified after the Sept. 11 …
Discussion:
Macsmind
Kevin Drum / The Washington Monthly:
PUBLIC EMPLOYEE UNIONS....This single paragraph from the New York Times does a pretty good job of encapsulating the mixed feeling a lot of people probably have about public employee unions: … An average salary of $55,000 a year? That's fine. Sure, it's pretty good money, but my guess is that most people are OK with it anyway.
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Kevin Drum / The Washington Monthly:
LIBERAL WONKERY....Max Sawicky defends liberal policy wonkishness here. Henry Farrell follows suit here. Both make the point that lefty bloggers did a lot of good, wonkish work in the Social Security debate earlier this year, most of which depended on the even more serious ongoing wonkery of lefty policy analysts.
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