Top Items:
Alastair Macdonald / Reuters:
Bombs, protests as Iraq election mood sours — BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least five Iraqis and a U.S. soldier were killed in violence in Iraq on Sunday as fresh street protests over election results kept up tension that has soured the mood after a peaceful ballot 10 days ago.
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Sabrina Tavernise / New York Times:
Shiites Decline Sunni Bid for More Iraq Parliament Seats — Baghdad, IRAQ, Dec. 25 - Sunni Arab political leaders asked the main Shiite political block today to give them 10 Shiite seats in the new parliament in an early attempt to defuse tensions over the results of last week's election.
Discussion:
Informed Comment
Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
Bush Presses Editors on Security — President Bush has been summoning newspaper editors lately in an effort to prevent publication of stories he considers damaging to national security. — The efforts have failed, but the rare White House sessions with the executive editors of The Washington Post …
Discussion:
NewsHog, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Why Are We Back In Iraq?, scout prime, firedoglake, TalkLeft, Daily Kos and Economist's View
John Grisham / New York Times:
Silent Nights on the Gulf Coast — IN the harrowing days after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, the shellshocked and homeless survivors strung up tents and tarps wherever they could find standing shelter, anything to hide from the sun. Now, four months later, many of the tents remain …
Discussion:
Rantingprofs
New York Times:
Huge Rise Looms for Health Care in City's Budget — When the Metropolitan Transportation Authority proposed making new workers chip in more to its pension fund than current workers do, it was enough to send the union out on strike and bring the nation's largest mass-transit system to a halt for three days.
Discussion:
Asymmetrical Information
Eric Lipton / New York Times:
On Gulf Coast, Big Difference Between Corps and Private Cleanups — PASCAGOULA, Miss. - There is an eerie stillness here on Edgewood Avenue. Toys, broken glass and random pieces of furniture are strewn across yards. Not a single person is in sight. The only movement …
Discussion:
Jay Currie
BBC:
Queen highlights year's tragedies — The Queen has praised the "quite remarkable" humanitarian responses to natural disasters and terrorist acts in 2005 in her Christmas Day message. — She recalled events from the Asian tsunami to Hurricane Katrina and the 7 July London bombings and highlighted the efforts by people of all faiths.
Discussion:
The Right Coast
Mark Weinraub / Reuters:
Christmas Eve sales slower than predicted — CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. retailers faced slower-than-expected traffic in stores on the last shopping day before Christmas as extended hours and steep discounts failed to draw a big crowd of shoppers. — "I don't think the day is the kind …
Los Angeles Times:
U.S. Spying Is Much Wider, Some Suspect — WASHINGTON — President Bush has acknowledged that several hundred targeted Americans were wiretapped without warrants under the National Security Agency's domestic spying program, and now some U.S. officials and outside experts say they suspect …
Joshua Muravchik / Los Angeles Times:
Freedom had a good year — ALTHOUGH LAST week's Iraqi elections boost the prospects for democracy in that long-suffering land, a new report on the state of freedom globally gives hope that we are at the start of a tectonic shift toward liberty across the Muslim world.
Jesus' General:
Less painful than a crucifix — Confederate Yankee — Free Republic Poster — Dear Mr. Yankee, — My reaction was similar to yours when I saw what Google returns for the phrase "baby Jesus." "Certainly," I thought, "those rotten bastards at Google intentionally designed their algorithms to mock our Lord."
James Bamford / New York Times:
The Agency That Could Be Big Brother — DEEP in a remote, fog-layered hollow near Sugar Grove, W.Va., hidden by fortress-like mountains, sits the country's largest eavesdropping bug. Located in a "radio quiet" zone, the station's large parabolic dishes secretly and silently sweep in millions …
Discussion:
firedoglake, Unclaimed Territory, Booman Tribune ~ Boo!, Media Lies, Balloon Juice and Bad Attitudes
Roy / alicublog:
AND WE'RE GONNA GET BORN NOW. I am a Christmas crank from way back. As recently as last year I was collecting negative Xmas carols. Old-time edroso.com fans may even remember my 2000 Charlie Brown Christmas parody, now lost to the internet, in which Linus and Good Ol' Roy Edroso predicted …
