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MSNBC:
Transcript for January 1 — Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jon Meacham, William Safire & Eugene Robinson — MR. TIM RUSSERT: Our issues this New Year's Day: What was the biggest story of 2005? What stories should we watch for in 2006? And the New Hampshire primary is only two years away.
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Newsweek:
Full Speed Ahead — After 9/11, Bush and Cheney pressed for more powerand got it. Now, predictably, the questions begin. Behind the NSA spying furor. — Jan. 9, 2006 issue - The talk at the White House in the days and weeks after 9/11 was all about suitcase nukes and germ warfare and surprise decapitation strikes.
Walter Pincus / Washington Post:
NSA Gave Other U.S. Agencies Information From Surveillance — Fruit of Eavesdropping Was Processed and Cross-Checked With Databases — Information captured by the National Security Agency's secret eavesdropping on communications between the United States and overseas has been passed …
Discussion:
firedoglake, The Strata-Sphere, Suburban Guerrilla, Captain's Quarters, Amygdala, AMERICAN FUTURE, Betsy's Page, THE BRAD BLOG and Daily Kos
Digby / Hullabaloo:
Shaft of Sunlight — I wrote the other day that I thought it was time for some angry Justice Department lawyers to step up and reveal what in the hell went on with the White House cherry picking and stovepiping the legal advice that allowed them to create a new commander in chief infallibility doctrine.
Discussion:
Mathew Gross
Jane Hamsher / firedoglake:
Turning the Corner — I have no idea whether or not 2006 will be the year the power of the despots in this country will be checked, but if it happens it will be due to people like James Comey who after only three weeks on the job as the number two man in the Justice Department went …
Jane Hamsher / huffingtonpost.com:
Russert Watch: The Out-to-Lunch Bunch — I realize that a New Year's day "Year in Review" roundtable on Meet the Press is probably devoted to bloviating by design rather than happenstance, but it would've been nice if someone had managed to pick up a newspaper before the cameras started rolling.
Glenn Reynolds / Instapundit.com:
THE NEW YORK TIMES' PUBLIC EDITOR, Byron Calame, criticizes the Times' handling of the NSA story. Jeff Jarvis calls Calame's column "almost tough," and points to this post by Jay Rosen. — The Times' behavior on this story, and the Plame story, has undermined the unwritten …
Glenn Greenwald / Unclaimed Territory:Breaking the Daou Cycle: Conservative opposition to Bush's law-breaking
Discussion:
Power Line
Steve Benen / The Washington Monthly:RESISTANCE AT JUSTICE ON WARRANTLESS SEARCHES....After the Bush …
Deb Riechmann / Associated Press:
Bush Defends Domestic Spying Program — SAN ANTONIO — President Bush on Sunday strongly defended his domestic spying program, saying it's a limited initiative that tracks only incoming calls to the United States. — "It's seems logical to me that if we know there's a phone number associated …
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Eric Lichtblau / New York Times:
Bush Defends Legality of Domestic Spy Program — WASHINGTON, Jan. 1 - President Bush today continued to defend both the legality and necessity of the National Security Agency's domestic eavesdropping program, and he denied that he had misled the public last year when he asserted that any government wiretap required a court order.
Associated Press:
Schumer Seeks Motive in U.S. Spy Probe — WASHINGTON - The investigation into leaks about a domestic spying program should determine whether the motivation was damaging security or revealing a potentially illegal activity, a Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee said Sunday.
Discussion:
Happy Furry Puppy Story …, The Jawa Report v3.0 Beta, WTF Is It Now??, Think Progress, Dohiyi Mir and AMERICAblog
Deb Riechmann / Associated Press:
Bush Contends Spying Program Vital, Legal — SAN ANTONIO - President Bush strongly defended his domestic spying program on Sunday, calling it legal as well as vital to thwarting terrorist attacks, and contended the leak making it public had caused "great harm to the nation."
Pajamas Media:
US planning a strike against Iran? — Compiled by Pajamas Media staff in Barcelona — The speculation that a military strike against Iran might be in the works is growing after the German magazine Der Spiegel published an article in which it also quotes reports in the German and Turkish media.
Discussion:
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler, protein wisdom, Power Line, Main and Central and Decision '08
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Julian E. Barnes / US News:
Cracking An Insurgent Cell — Finding—and breaking—the ruthless killers of Iraq is not a pretty business. An exclusive inside look at how it's done — OSUL, IRAQ—It is 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, December 10, five days before Iraq's national elections. A red four-door sedan carrying …
Digby / Hullabaloo:
Clearing The Ranchette — This is the wierdest damned article I've read in ages. I knew that Junior did the brush clearing thing, but I assumed that he did it for photo-op purposes. It turns out that he's actually obsessed with it. — He's obsessed with brush clearing.
