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Robert Novak / Chicago Sun Times:
Control of Senate may hinge on Lott — Trent Lott within the next week plans to decide between seeking a fourth term in the U.S. Senate from Mississippi or retiring from public life. That could determine whether Republicans keep control of the Senate in next year's elections.
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Steven R. Weisman / New York Times:
Powell Speaks Out on Domestic Spy Program — WASHINGTON, Dec. 25 - Former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said on Sunday that it would not have been "that hard" for President Bush to obtain warrants for eavesdropping on domestic telephone and Internet activity, but that he saw "nothing wrong" with the decision not to do so.
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Shakespeare's Sister:
Powell the Disappointer — Continuing his slide into disgrace and eventual irrelevance by chipping away at his own backbone out both sides of his mouth, Colin Powell has decided to come out as both sort of for and sort of against the administration's secret spy program.
Discussion:
Loaded Mouth
Kenneth Anderson's Law of War and Just War Theory Blog:
Shame on Robert Kuttner for using Lincoln for cheap shots at Bush — Robert Kuttner engages in that most dangerous of all ideological games in American politics - "What would Lincoln have done?" - as a means of baiting George W. Bush. Here, in the Boston Globe.
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The Big Trunk / Power Line:
WHAT KUTTNER COULD LEARN FROM LINCOLN — On Saturday in "Thinking about the Great Liberator" I wrote a little on Lincoln's exercise of the commander-in-chief's war powers during the Civil War. Wielding Lincoln as his club, left-winger Robert Kuttner coincidentally attacked President Bush …
Tomi Soetjipto / Reuters:
Asia remembers tsunami disaster with prayer, silence — BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (Reuters) - Mourners from across the world wept, prayed and observed moments of silence along ravaged Indian Ocean coastlines on Monday to remember those killed by one of nature's deadliest disasters.
Discussion:
PunditGuy
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Thomas Bray / realclearpolitics.com:
And You Think America Is Repressive? — Spying on e-mail and cell phone traffic without a warrant. Searching offices and residences without a court order. Locking citizens away for weeks or months without filing charges. — Sound like your worst nightmare about the supposedly lawless Bush administration?
Charles Lane / Washington Post:
No Date Is Set for Troop Withdrawal From Iraq — General Says Insurgency Affects Timing; Powell Calls Current Levels Unsustainable — As American troops marked their third Christmas in Iraq since the war began in March 2003, the highest-ranking U.S. military officer said their number …
Discussion:
Unqualified Offerings, A Chequer-Board of Nights …, skippy the bush kangaroo and Needlenose
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Marta Falconi / Associated Press:
Character Actor Vincent Schiavelli Dies — ROME - Vincent Schiavelli, the droopy-eyed character actor who appeared in scores of movies, including "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Ghost," died Monday at his home in Sicily. He was 57. — He died of lung cancer, said Salvatore Glorioso …
Mark R. Levin / The Corner on National Review Online:
YOO AND PRESIDENTIAL POWER — John Yoo, a brilliant lawyer, played an important role in writing major aspects of the administration's legal policies respecting detentions and surveillance. So, not surprisingly, he has been under attack for several years now.
Discussion:
Think Progress
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Edward Rothstein / New York Times:
Seeing Terrorism as Drama With Sequels and Prequels — "There's no peace at the end of this," warns Avner, the morally anguished Mossad assassin, as Steven Spielberg's new film, "Munich," draws to a close. And by "this" he means the targeted killings that Israel is said to have begun …
Sebastian Mallaby / Washington Post:
My Son and I, Game to Learn — This year my knowing 11-year-old was told to write to Santa Claus, partly to keep the fun going for his younger siblings and partly because it forced him to write. He seized the opportunity to ask, naturally, for a computer game: more stuff to distract him from writing and books.
Jim Yardley / New York Times:
Seeking a Public Voice on China's 'Angry River' — XIAOSHABA, China - Far from the pulsing cities that symbolize modern China, this tiny hillside village of crude peasant houses seems disconnected from this century and the last. But follow a dirt path past a snarling watchdog …
Discussion:
The Peking Duck
Associated Press:
Gas Sickens 78 in Russian Store — ST. PETERSBURG, Russia - More than 70 people at a home-supply store were sickened Monday as employees at three other outlets of the chain found gas-filled containers and timers hidden in boxes. Police said they believed a commercial dispute or blackmail attempt was behind the incidents.
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