Top Items:
Eric Lichtblau / New York Times:
Bush Again Defends Spy Program — WASHINGTON, Jan. 1 - President Bush continued on Sunday to defend both the legality and the necessity of the National Security Agency's domestic eavesdropping program, and he denied that he misled the public last year when he insisted that any government wiretap required a court order.
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White House:
President Visits Troops at Brooke Army Medical Center — THE PRESIDENT: Happy New Year to you all. Thanks. I can't think of a better way to start 2006 then here at this fantastic hospital — a hospital that's full of healers and compassionate people who care deeply about our men and women in uniform.
Associated Press:
Bush says spying leak causes great harm — President calls domestic surveillance program limited … MSNBC TV — 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 …
Andrew E. Kramer / New York Times:
Russia Cuts Off Gas to Ukraine in Cost Dispute — MOSCOW, Jan. 1 - Russia cut off the natural gas intended for Ukraine on Sunday as talks over pricing and transit terms unraveled into a bald political conflict that carried consequences for Ukraine's recovering economy and possibly for gas supplies to Western Europe.
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Adrian Blomfield / Telegraph:
Putin sends a shiver through Europe — Russia took Europe to the brink of a winter energy crisis yesterday when it carried out a Cold War-style threat and halted gas deliveries to Ukraine, the main conduit for exports to the West. — With a quarter of its gas supplied by Russia …
Discussion:
Samizdata.net
BBC:
Gas row sends shiver through EU — Russia's decision to cut gas imports to Ukraine is causing dismay across Europe, where supplies in a number of countries have been disrupted. — The US has also expressed concern, saying the move raised "serious questions about the use of energy to exert political pressure".
Discussion:
The Brussels Journal
Katharine Q. Seelye / New York Times:
Answering Back to the News Media, Using the Internet — Never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel, or so goes the old saw. For decades, the famous and the infamous alike largely followed this advice. Even when subjects of news stories felt they had been misunderstood or badly treated …
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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Digby / Hullabaloo:Shaft of Sunlight
Discussion:
The Heretik, AMERICAN FUTURE, THE BRAD BLOG, Mathew Gross, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Pandagon and firedoglake
New York Times:
Muslim Scholars Were Paid to Aid U.S. Propaganda — WASHINGTON, Jan. 1 - A Pentagon contractor that paid Iraqi newspapers to print positive articles written by American soldiers has also been compensating Sunni religious scholars in Iraq in return for assistance with its propaganda work, according to current and former employees.
hexblog.com:
Windows WMF Metafile Vulnerability HotFix — This week a new vulnerability was found in Windows: — Browsing the web was not safe anymore, regardless of the browser. Microsoft will certainly come up with a thouroughly tested fix for it in the future, but meanwhile I developed a temporary fix - I badly needed it.
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John / AMERICAblog:
Bush now basically claiming that court wouldn't approve warrants to listen in on Osama's phone calls to Americans — That is exactly what he said today, in so many words. Read on. — Now Bush is claiming that the phone calls he was tapping were solely Al Qaeda members calling people in the US.
Discussion:
MyDD
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Tabassum Zakaria / Reuters:Bush defends eavesdropping amid calls for testimony
Discussion:
WTF Is It Now??
Ted Hayes / Opinion Journal:
Prejudice — Black Republicans should be able to live without fear. — American blacks who are affiliated with the Republican Party are vigorously vilified by Democrats, especially black Democrats. Uncle Tom, sell-out, Oreo—the list of slurs is long. — But it is not only insults.
Larry David / New York Times:
Cowboys Are My Weakness — SOMEBODY had to write this, and it might as well be me. I haven't seen "Brokeback Mountain," nor do I have any intention of seeing it. In fact, cowboys would have to lasso me, drag me into the theater and tie me to the seat, and even then I would make every effort to close my eyes and cover my ears.
David D. Kirkpatrick / New York Times:
Alito Supporters Portray Nominee as Less Polished — WASHINGTON, Jan. 1 - As Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. enters his final week of dress rehearsals for his Supreme Court confirmation hearings, participants say his performance has already made one thing clear: he will never be as polished …
BBC:
Syria party kicks out 'traitor' — Syria's ruling Baath Party has expelled former Vice-President Abdul Halim Khaddam - a day after parliament voted to bring treason charges against him. — The moves follow remarks by Mr Khaddam implicating President Bashar al-Assad in the murder …
Discussion:
Winds of Change.NET
Associated Press:
Florida weirdness spawns three books — TALLAHASSEE, Florida (AP) — How weird is Florida? So weird that not one, not two, but three different books have been titled "Weird Florida." — The first, written by Palm Beach Post reporter Eliot Kleinberg, hit stores in 1998 and detailed years of strange news stories.
Discussion:
Ang's Weird Ideas
John M. Broder / New York Times:
States Take Lead in Push to Raise Minimum Wages — Despite Congressional refusal for almost a decade to raise the federal minimum wage, nearly half of the civilian labor force lives in states where the pay is higher than the rate set by the federal government.
Discussion:
Tim Worstall
