Top Items:
Washington Post:
Chalabi Lacks Votes Needed to Win Spot in Iraqi Assembly — BAGHDAD, Dec. 26 — Unexpectedly low support from overseas voters has left Ahmed Chalabi — the returned Iraqi exile once backed by the United States to lead Iraq — facing a shutout from power in this month's vote for the country's …
Discussion:
David Corn, Talking Points Memo, Crooks and Liars, Air America Radio and skippy the bush kangaroo
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Juan / Informed Comment:
Top Ten Myths about Iraq in 2005 — Iraq has unfortunately become a football in the rough and ready, two-party American political arena, generating large numbers of sound bites and so much spin you could clothe all of China in the resulting threads. — Here are what I think are the top ten myths …
Richard A. Oppel Jr / New York Times:Iraq Vote Shows Sunnis Are Few in New Military
Discussion:
TAPPED, Informed Comment, Total Information Awareness, Eric Umansky, Air America Radio and The Heretik
Deborah Howell / Washington Post:
The Whole Story on Military Recruiting? — Numbers aren't just facts. They can be interpreted in many ways, even if they come from the same or similar sources. — Ann Scott Tyson, a respected military reporter just back from Iraq, wrote in a front-page story Nov. 4 that …
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Digby / Hullabaloo:Truthiness — Jane appropriately excoriates the WaPo ombudsman …
Discussion:
The Sideshow
BBC:
'Worst' historical Britons named — Historians have put together a list of the 10 "worst" Britons of the last 1,000 years. — They chose one rogue from each century of the last millennium to compile the list for the BBC History Magazine. — Jack the Ripper, King John and Oswald Mosley …
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Alexandra von Maltzan / All Things Beautiful:A Challenge To The Blogosphere: 'The Ten Worst Americans' List
Thomas Sowell / Townhall.com:
Cheap politicians — I don't make a million dollars a year but I think every member of Congress should be paid at least that much. It's not because those turkeys in Washington deserve it. It's because we deserve a lot better people than we have in Congress.
Eugene Robinson / Washington Post:
Power That Bush Can't Just Take — Since the holiday season is a time of generosity and goodwill toward all — even those who torture the Constitution and hoodwink the nation into ill-advised wars — let's do a little thought experiment. — Let's assume that George W. Bush's claim …
New York Times:
Unwarranted Complaints — SHORTLY after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush ordered surveillance of international telephone communications by suspected members of Al Qaeda overseas, even if such calls also involved individuals within the United States. This program was adopted …
Evelyn Nieves / Washington Post:
S.D. Makes Abortion Rare Through Laws And Stigma — Out-of-State Doctors Come Weekly to 1 Clinic — SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — The waiting room at the Planned Parenthood clinic was packed by the time the doctor arrived — an hour late because of weather delays in Minneapolis.
Washington Post:
Policy Adrift on Darfur — For two years the Bush administration has made commendable efforts to improve the lives of people in Darfur. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick has become personally invested in the crisis, recently completing his fourth trip to the region in the past seven months.
James Wolcott:
HEADHUNTERS — The dainty stench of burnt envy drew me to the comments section of Little Green Footballs, where I found my reputation and personhood under mass grubworm assault. I don't know you've ever ventured into the subterranean underworld that is LGF's comments section …
James Bone / Opinion Journal:
Where Is the Car? — Why Kofi Annan said I'm not a "serious journalist." — UNITED NATIONS—Kofi Annan, U.N. secretary-general and Nobel peace laureate, is normally the meekest of diplomats. He is so accommodating he once described Saddam Hussein as a man "I can do business with."
USA Today:
Iraq debate eclipses heroic acts — This season, 155,000 of our men and women in uniform will spend the holidays fighting in Iraq. Though this period is traditionally a time for celebration and hope, our U.S. troops are being confronted with a message of a different sort emanating from the home front …
Discussion:
Gateway Pundit
Shankar Vedantam / Washington Post:
A Political Debate On Stress Disorder — The spiraling cost of post-traumatic stress disorder among war veterans has triggered a politically charged debate and ignited fears that the government is trying to limit expensive benefits for emotionally scarred troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Discussion:
Rantingprofs, DIRELAND, the talking dog, The Democratic Daily Blog, Debsweb, Mia Culpa, Politics in the Zeros and Donklephant
Aljazeera:
'My kidnappers were not criminals' — A former German hostage who spent 24 days in the hands of unknown captors in Iraq has said her kidnappers are not criminals and have demanded humanitarian aid for Sunni Arab regions. — Speaking to Aljazeera satellite channel, Susanne Osthoff …
