Top Items:
Ross Douthat / www.AndrewSullivan.com:
CONSERVATISMS OLD AND NEW: — Everybody seems to have an opinion about Jeffrey Hart's anatomy of the conservative mind, so I suppose I should as well. The main points of contention seem to be whether conservatives are often inclined to a kind of free-market utopianism …
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Matthew Yglesias / TAPPED:
EDUCATION AND REGIONALISM. Yesterday's Wall Street Journal editorial page contained what struck me as a fairly inoffensive self-assessment of contemporary conservatism by Jeffrey Hart that produced an awful lot of discontent over at the Corner. Much of the ire is directed at Hart's assertion …
Andrew / www.AndrewSullivan.com:REPUBLICANS VS. CONSERVATIVES:
Discussion:
The Corner on National …
Carrie Johnson / Washington Post:
Enron Executive Agrees to Plea Deal — Prosecutors Gain Witness Against Lay and Skilling — Enron Corp.'s former chief accountant agreed to plead guilty today to criminal conduct that preceded the company's collapse into bankruptcy, according to sources familiar with the negotiations …
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Bloomberg:
Top Texas Criminal Court Will Hear DeLay's Bid for Speedy Trial — Dec. 28 (Bloomberg) — Texas' top criminal court agreed to consider U.S. Representative Tom DeLay's motion for a speedy trial on money laundering charges. — The state Court of Criminal Appeals, in a decision released late yesterday …
Kurt Eichenwald / New York Times:Plea Deal Is Seen for Enron Figure
Discussion:
White Collar Crime Prof Blog
Chicago Tribune:
Judging the case for war — Did President Bush intentionally mislead this nation and its allies into war? Or is it his critics who have misled Americans, recasting history to discredit him and his policies? If your responses are reflexive and self-assured, read on.
Weekly Standard:
Where The Boys Aren't — Here's a thought that's unlikely to occur to twelfth—grade girls as their college acceptances begin to trickle in: After they get to campus in the fall, one in four of them will be mathematically unable to find a male peer to go out with.
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Robert Fitch / New York Times:
Big Labor's Big Secret — AS most Americans are aware, our auto industry is in a crisis. — Workers' wages are falling, and hundreds of thousands of jobs are being sent offshore. America's largest parts supplier, Delphi, filed for bankruptcy protection, and General Motors …
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Dan Balz / Washington Post:
Balancing Act: Iowa, N.H. vs. Critics — Democrats Weigh Plan to Stretch 2008 Calendar — For much of the past year, a Democratic Party commission labored to build a better mousetrap. The goal is to create a 2008 presidential nominating calendar that reduces the outsized influence of Iowa …
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Julie Cart / Los Angeles Times:
Wolves Thrive but Animosity Keeps Pace — Wildlife officials fear that hunters will move in for the kill if federal protection is dropped. — BOISE, Idaho — Since the first captured Canadian gray wolves bounded out of their cages 10 years ago and disappeared into the trees …
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Jeremy / Jeremy Hermanns dot org:
Alaska Flight #536 - Rapid De-Pressurization and Panic at 30K Feet — Boy, what a day. In what started as a typical flight home from a typical holiday weekend, changed drastically twenty minutes after take off. My fiancée and I were returning from a few days in Seattle …
Editor and Publisher:
Koppel and Brokaw Agree: Clinton Would Have Gone Into Iraq, Too — NEW YORK Appearing on "Meet the Press" with Tim Russert this week, two broadcast veterans, Tom Brokaw of NBC and Ted Koppel, agreed that the press shouldn't be faulted too harshly for not questioning more deeply the claims of WMD in Iraq …
White House:
Press Gaggle by Trent Duffy — MR. DUFFY: Good morning. One update to the President's schedule to inform you about. The President, on Sunday, January 1st, will visit the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, where he will visit with wounded soldiers. We anticipate that most will be from Iraq.
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Reuters:
God sees embryos as full and complete humans - Pope — VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - God sees embryos as "full and complete" humans, Pope Benedict said on Wednesday in an address that firmly underlined the Roman Catholic Church's stance against abortion and scientific research on embryos.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Presidents all the same when scandal strikes — Two of the most powerful moments of political déjà vu I have ever experienced took place recently in the context of the Bush administration's defense of presidentially ordered electronic spying on American citizens.
Discussion:
Daily Kos
MSNBC:
An interview with a Taliban commander — Behind some of the most deadly attacks against U.S. troops is one man: a 35-year-old Afghan who calls himself 'Commander Ismail' … WASHINGTON - — Four years after the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, Taliban and al Qaeda fighters are showing renewed strength …
Kathleen Parker / Townhall.com:
Lord of the blogs — Of all the stories leading America's annual greatest-hits list, the one that subsumes the rest is the continuing evolution of information in the Age of Blogging. — Not since the birth of the printing press have our lives been so dramatically affected by the way we create …
Discussion:
Middle Earth Journal, PoliBlog, Mark in Mexico, Running Scared, Decision '08 and Daily Pundit
Stephanie McCrummen / Washington Post:
Manassas Changes Definition Of Family — Activists Criticize New Housing Limits As Anti-Immigrant — The inspector slid into his Crown Victoria, a police radio on his belt, addresses in hand. It was after 5 p.m., and he and his interpreter rolled into Manassas, down a street of benign ranch houses strung with lights.
Austin Bay / realclearpolitics.com:
The Big Story of 2005 (Someone Tell The New York Times) — In December 2004, I wrote a column that led with this line: "Mark it on your calendar: Next month, the Arab Middle East will revolt." — The column placed the January 2005 Palestinian and Iraqi elections in historical context.
