Top Items:
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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Kurt Eichenwald / New York Times:
Plea Deal Is Seen for Enron Figure — In a reversal that transforms the criminal case against Enron's former top officers, the company's former chief accounting officer has reached an agreement with prosecutors to plead guilty to violating federal law during his employment there, people briefed on the decision said yesterday.
Discussion:
White Collar Crime Prof Blog
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 …
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.
Discussion:
Right Wing Nut House, L'Ombre de l'Olivier, Dr. Sanity, The Glittering Eye, Daily Pundit and Mark in Mexico
New York Times:
Defense Lawyers in Terror Cases Plan Challenges Over Spy Efforts — WASHINGTON, Dec. 27 - Defense lawyers in some of the country's biggest terrorism cases say they plan to bring legal challenges to determine whether the National Security Agency used illegal wiretaps against several dozen Muslim men tied to Al Qaeda.
Discussion:
Right Wing Nut House, Booman Tribune, Unclaimed Territory, Generation Why?, Lean Left, TAPPED, The Washington Monthly, IntoxiNation-News …, PunditGuy, The Heretik, The Counterterrorism Blog, AMERICAN FUTURE, Opinio Juris, THE ASTUTE BLOGGER, Donklephant, Centerfield, The All Spin Zone, Booker Rising, Confederate Yankee, Wonkette, Say Anything, PrawfsBlawg, The Corner on National …, War and Piece, Michelle Malkin, Althouse, Mathew Gross and Politics in the Zeros
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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 …
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Tom Lasseter / Knight Ridder:
Kurds preparing takeover; U.S. exit strategy at risk — The U.S. plan for leaving Iraq is in trouble, with more than 10,000 Kurds in the Iraqi army prepared to seize control of northern Iraq for an independent state. — KIRKUK, Iraq - Kurdish leaders have inserted more than 10,000 …
Discussion:
Daily Kos, NewsHog, AMERICAblog, PBD, Left in the West, THE NEWS BLOG, Middle Earth Journal, Balloon Juice, Main and Central and Brilliant at Breakfast
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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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 …
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Andrew / www.AndrewSullivan.com:REPUBLICANS VS. CONSERVATIVES:
Discussion:
The Corner on National …
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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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 …
Matthew Yglesias / yglesias.tpmcafe.com:
Matthew Yglesias — Gifted Children Left Behind? — A Washington Post op-ed complaints that with No Child Left Behind forcing schools to focus more attention on their worst-performing students, the "gifted" are being left out of the picture. Paul Glastris says "Progressive-minded folks ought …
Discussion:
The Washington Monthly, Eduwonk.com, Shakespeare's Sister, Mark in Mexico and www.AndrewSullivan.com
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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.
Raymond Hernandez / New York Times:
Frustration Over Iraq Vote Unlikely to Trouble Clinton — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's support for the war in Iraq has outraged many liberal activists in the Democratic Party, who are warning of retribution, including a primary challenge to her re-election campaign next year.
Discussion:
The Corner on National …, A Chequer-Board of Nights …, Althouse, Balloon Juice and Booman Tribune
Robert F. Turner / Opinion Journal:
FISA vs. the Constitution — Congress can't usurp the president's power to spy on America's enemies. — In the continuing saga of the surveillance "scandal," with some congressional Democrats denouncing President Bush as a lawbreaker and even suggesting that impeachment hearings may be in order …
Discussion:
The Heretik, Power Line, Donklephant, Bench Memos …, Atlas Shrugs, First Draft and GOP Bloggers
Donald Lambro / Washington Times:
Centrist Democrats hit anti-Bush tactics — Some centrist Democrats say attacks by their party leaders on the Bush administration's eavesdropping on suspected terrorist conversations will further weaken the party's credibility on national security. — That concern arises from recent moves …
Discussion:
The Carpetbagger Report, Dr. Sanity, The Strata-Sphere, Blogs for Bush, Power Line, Michelle Malkin and BrothersJudd Blog
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 …
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 …
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.
