Top Items:
New York Times:
Spy Agency Removes Illegal Tracking Files — By The Associated Press The National Security Agency's Internet site has been placing files on visitors' computers that can track their Web surfing activity despite strict federal rules banning most files of that type.
Discussion:
Shakespeare's Sister, David Corn, Pen and Sword, Balloon Juice, Ezra Klein, Donklephant, scout prime, Loaded Mouth, Decision '08 and philly
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Marc Schulman / AMERICAN FUTURE:
Is There an International Community? — The first thing that came to my mind when Dr. Demarche posed the question that's the title of this post is Bill Clinton's most famous words: "it depends on what the meaning of is, is." In this case, of course, it depends on the meaning of "community."
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Washington Post:
Bush Team Rethinks Its Plan for Recovery — President Bush shifted his rhetoric on Iraq in recent weeks after an intense debate among advisers about how to pull out of his political free fall, with senior adviser Karl Rove urging a campaign-style attack on critics while younger aides pushed …
Lisa Sandberg / mysanantonio.com:
Justices agree to consider hearing DeLay's money laundering case — AUSTIN — Media reports that U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay had convinced the state's highest court to hear his appeal were as widely circulated as they were, well, wrong. — Justices for the Texas Court Criminal Appeals agreed merely …
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Reuters:
Would-be suicide bombers blown up in Afghan blast — Two would-be suicide bombers have blown themselves up while strapping on explosives in an Afghan town bordering Pakistan, police said. — No one else was hurt in the blast near the market in Spin Boldak, Afghan border force commander Abdul Raziq told Reuters.
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Michael J. Totten / LA Weekly:
In the Land of the Brother Leader — Vacation in Libya? Totalitarian tourism and the search for truth... and a good meal — Young men who like their comforts, and a dainty table, or who wish to pass their time pleasantly in the company of women, must not go to Arabia.
Mary Beth Sheridan / Washington Post:
U.S. Says It Didn't Target Muslims — Mosques Among Sites Monitored For Radiation — Faced with angry complaints, U.S. officials defended an anti-terrorism program yesterday that secretly tested radiation levels around the country — including at more than 100 Muslim sites in the Washington area …
Sandy Levinson / Balkinization:
Judge Alito and Executive Power — Samuel Alito may turn out, perhaps fortunately for the rest of us, to be a victim of cruel fate, being the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time. Here he is, a noted—and more than competent, in any conventional sense—ultra-conservative …
Discussion:
SCOTUSblog
Newsweek:
Kos-Eye View — The creator of the left's favorite political blog, The Daily Kos, handicaps the 2006 elections and shares his advice for the Democratic Party. — Photos (from left): Keith Srakocic / AP; J.D. Cavrich / AP; David J. Phillip / AP; Andrew H. Walker / Getty Images; Steve Nesius / AP; Matt Stroshane / Getty Images
MSNBC:
'Hardball with Chris Matthews' for December 28 — Read the transcript to the Wednesday show — Guest: Edward MacMahon; John Zwerling; Ron Christie; Nick Callio; Gary — NORAH O'DONNELL, MSNBC ANCHOR: Tonight, defense attorneys for a terror suspect plan to challenge the Bush administration …
Washington Post:
The Fast Rise and Steep Fall of Jack Abramoff — How a Well-Connected Lobbyist Became the Center of a Far-Reaching Congressional Corruption Scandal — Jack Abramoff liked to slip into dialogue from "The Godfather" as he led his lobbying colleagues in planning their next conquest on Capitol Hill.
Kevin Anderson / BBC:
Blogs offer taste of war in Iraq — The war in Vietnam is often referred to as the first war on television, and the wars in Afghanistan and now in Iraq will be known as the first wars to be blogged. — A new generation of soldier bloggers in the US, known as milbloggers …
craigmurray.co.uk:
Damning documentary evidence unveiled. Dissident bloggers in coordinated exposé of UK government lies over torture. — Help us beat the British government's gagging order by mirroring this information on your own site or blog! … - Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, election hustings, Blackburn, April 2005
Margalit Fox / New York Times:
Charles W. Socarides, Psychiatrist and Psychoanalyst, Is Dead at 83 — Dr. Charles W. Socarides, a well-known psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who maintained publicly, long after it was considered scientifically acceptable to do so, that homosexuality was a condition amenable to treatment …
New York Times:
Twenty Years Later, Buying a House Is Less of a Bite — PORTLAND, Me. - Despite a widespread sense that real estate has never been more expensive, families in the vast majority of the country can still buy a house for a smaller share of their income than they could have a generation ago.
Joe Kot / ynetnews.com:
Brit Jew marries dolphin — Unusual wedding: British woman marries her beloved dolphin in Eilat ceremony — Till death do us part? An unusual wedding ceremony was held in the southern resort town of Eilat on Wednesday, as Sharon Tendler, a 41-years-old Jewish millionaire from London married …
